Promoting vs. Spamming: What is the Difference?

When trying to promote your online community there can be a fine line between good-hearted self-promotion and down right spam. As an online community administrator, you need to be well aware of that line. It’s easy to spam unintentionally, which is what roughly half of spammers are guilty of, but the other half are just plain trolls who have no qualms about blasting out links left and right. For your reading pleasure, the difference between spam and self-promotion:

These things are good (Promoting):

1. Using discount codes.
2. Being active in other communities without posting links in conversations.
3. Having the appropriate links on your email signature and/or business card.
4. Building a relationship before you pitch.
5. Sending newsletters to members or customers that they have chosen to receive
6. Having an active, non promoting-obsessed community of Twitter or Facebook followers.

These things are NOT good (Spamming):

1. Sending out mass emails to persons who have not opted in.
2. When your only involvement in other communities is to comment with a link and/or pitch.
3. When your social media feeds are nothing but links and sales pitches.
4. When you have keyword search alerts on your Twitter account so that you can immediately send a link once someone mentions one of your flagged terms or phrases.
5. You pitch people on your brand/product/business idea without their permission
6. You jump to similar sites and blogs and bombard the site/community manager with “Hey, I think you’d be interested in (fill in the blank)” messages.

Read More

Ford: Forget the cynics, the Commonwealth Games worked very well for us

As the curtain falls on the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Marketing spoke to Ford of Britain boss Mark Ovenden about why it was right for the car-maker to get involved with the event.

In the build up to the 20^th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the most frequently asked question was whether the event remained relevant – for sports fans, athletes and sponsors alike.

 

For brands, there is little doubt that the Commonwealth Games do not share same lustre as the Olympics.

Activation by sponsors such as Virgin Media, Ford and SSE has been experiential and social media-focused, with a notable absence of the big-budget, above-the-line campaigns which heralded London 2012.

Yet, despite these waves of cynicism, the event has been a success – certainly from a UK perspective.
The home nations exceeded all expectations, with England topping the medals table for the first time since 1986.

In the absence of big names like Mo Farah, new stars have emerged, from quadruple gold medal-winning English gymnast Claudia Fragapane to Scottish swimmer Ross Murdoch.

Even a singing-and-dancing Usain Bolt appeared to enjoy himself, despite certain alleged comments made during the Games.

As the city of Glasgow bid the event farewell at a closing ceremony featuring a performance from Kylie Minogue, the organising body claimed levels of interest in the event could be proven in the numbers: the official Glasgow 2014 website attracted more than one million visits per day; there were more than one million mentions of Glasgow 2014 on social networks; and over 500,000 consumers visited the ‘Live Site’ at Glasgow Green.

Brand positioning

For sponsor Ford, which ended production of vehicles in the UK last year, the Commonwealth Games offered a useful brand positioning exercise to reaffirm the marque’s commitment to the country, as well as promote the design and innovation work still taking place on these shores.

Using the hashtag #playyourpart, Ford activated its sponsorship throughout Glasgow and Scotland with a combination of outdoor, experiential, digital and social media marketing (see below).

Twenty home nations athletes, including Scottish swimming gold medallist Hannah Miley and English gymnast Kristian Thomas, appeared in Ford’s tweets and Vines.

The miniature Transit vans scurrying around Hampden Park during the athletics proved an added bonus.

"The Commonwealth Games has worked very well for us," said Mark Ovenden (right), managing director of Ford of Britain. "In the spirit of [Ford’s global strapline] ‘Go Further’, the Commonwealth Games fitted with that ethos.

"It works, clearly, as we’re the market leader in Britain – when you have a major event like this in Britain, we should be involved.

"You’ve have 71 countries competing here and we sell cars in pretty much all of them.

More locally, this was a major event for Scotland, and Scotland is important to Ford.

The other thing it allowed us to do is showcase the range and breadth of our products, and technology such as our EcoBoost engine."

Sponsorship investment

From dealer feedback to the enthusiastic response of consumers to Ford’s experiential marketing activity in Glasgow, Ovenden – a former UK marketing director at the carmaker – told Marketing he was pleased with the results of the Glasgow 2014 sponsorship and would consider a similar investment in the future.

Sponsorship is always a useful part of the marketing mix, though is it probably the hardest part to define what is good value and what is not.

"Sponsorship is always a useful part of the marketing mix, though is it probably the hardest part to define what is good value and what is not. It has to be something that is consistent with the brand," he said.

"Ford has a long history in sport, from the days of Henry Ford just trying to push the envelope. In that spirit, however good you may be today, you can always be a little bit better in the future.

"That is what top level sport is all about, look at [former Team GB cycling guru] Sir Dave Brailsford and the importance of incremental improvements.

"We will look at sponsorships, but they have to make sense and they have to be consistent with the brand – consumers are very savvy, and if you try to wrap yourselves in a sponsorship that doesn’t feel consistent with the brand then that won’t work," added Ovenden.



Fop Original Article Source click here

Read More

Inbound marketing: how social media can be your startup’s strongest and cheapest lead generation machine

In recent years, inbound marketing has proven to the more popular choice over the traditional outbound marketing strategy, which usually consists of buying ad space on media and waiting for queries to come in. A 2013 study by inbound marketing experts Hubspot shows that 58 percent of marketers have embraced inbound marketing, and more importantly, 34 percent of leads are generated through inbound marketing; only 22 percent of leads are produced through outbound marketing.

This does not even consider the extra cost required for outbound marketing. The study shows that inbound marketing saves marketers about 12 percent the cost per lead and about five percent the cost per customer:

And ultimately, does inbound marketing actually generate considerable enough return-on-investment (ROI) to warrant a change in marketing strategy (if your startup hasn’t already embraced inbound marketing?)

Here’s your answer:

 

Nearly half the marketers testified that inbound marketing generated actual results, notwithstanding the 34 percent of marketers who could not or did not calculate their ROI.

So where does social media come in?

Now that we’ve established the importance of the inbound marketing strategy, let’s discuss why social media is such a powerful inbound marketing tool. Here are three reasons why your startup should use social media to pull in leads:

The ability to create specific content

Every audience has its own needs and wants, and your startup will need to be properly positioned so you can answer their queries or address their issues. And the best way for you to do that flexibly and with immediacy is social media. Traditional marketing platforms are largely one-sided in communication and not nearly adaptable to suit your audience. For example, social media can be used to create content that propagates your brand values, while also providing the latest news on your industry. There are so many ways for you to give value to your audience through social media, and with the instantaneousness that other marketing platforms cannot provide. Your content can be adjusted, skewed, and targeted to directly appeal to your audience. And when your audience sees the value in your highly specific content, that is where qualified leads come in.

Automated nurturing of leads

Many a time, high quality leads do not just appear in front of you. You have to create them. You will have to nurture them individually, making sure any leads with even just a hint of potential will be properly cultivated and convinced of your product’s or service’s benefit. Social media allows just that. You can now support your potential leads by answering their queries on your social media platforms in real-time, increasing their level of confidence in your startup and cementing them as a high-potential lead. Furthermore, most of your leads will probably not be convinced enough to immediately buy from you. You will have to be present throughout their thought processes, which is a perfect time for your social media platforms, because they can…

Help your leads along their buying process

 At different stages of the buying cycle, your potential customers will have growing, changing concerns. And it is very crucial that your startup remains on top of their mental recall by answering them, assuring them, and finally persuading them that your product or service is the best thing for them. What better way for you, as a startup, to utilize social media for that? It all boils back down to the immediacy of social media. Your responses to potential leads on social media can be specifically tailored to make each and every one of them feel like their worries about your product or service are being put to rest. When you’ve guided them through the mental buying process, you’ll not only be seen as a reliable source of information and help, but also close the lead as a customer. If there’s anything you can take away from this article, let it be this: using social media is a highly effective and cheap solution to your inbound marketing strategy. Social media may not be the only tool you can use to create strong inbound marketing for your product or service, but it is certainly the most cost-effective. It’s really a no-brainer if you want to market your startup on a lean budget.

Original written by by Marcus Ho

Marcus Ho is a social media strategist to best-in-class businesses in Asia. Marcus has helped over 200 corporations ranging from MNCs to fast-emerging startups to increase sales through social and digital campaigns. He is also the author of Social Payoff.

Original article read more: http://www.techinasia.com/inbound-marketing-on-social-media-is-strongest-cheapest-lead-generation-machine-for-startups/

Read More