Online Marketing Trends

I came through a very interesting Post by well know blogger Richard Mayer. Richard runs his blog and as well as runs his oiwn consultancy firm Richard runs the blog http://www.richsmarketingblog.com/ and also offers   a range of marketing services from digital  strategy development to execution and measur,ement. and social media Branding.

In a recent post yesterday Richard talks about how ” How more than people getting affected, by the  decreasing Jobs across the US market.. Its the brands that will ultimately suffer most.During a downturn or a recession , most employees even employees who otherwise takes more risk and  comes  up with more innovation and creativity during ordinary times .. stop thinking when the markets are weak .. since they are afraid of trying new things .. Their priority during these uncertain times is not innovation but Job security Richard actually refers to Seth Godwin’s latest Book ” LinchPin ” Are You Indispensable “

Seth focuses on BEING rather than DOING. Seth’s compassionate plea is for everyone to “be” an artist – be a Linchpin rather than a cog in the wheel.
A linchpin, as Seth describes it, is somebody in an organization who is indispensable, who cannot be replaced—her role is just far too unique and valuable. And then he goes on to say, well, seriously folks, you need to be one of these people, you really do. To not be one is economic and career suicide

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In his best-known book, Purple Cow, Seth’s message was, “Everyone’s a marketer now.” In All Marketers Are Liars, his message was, “Everyone’s a storyteller now.” In Tribes, his message was, “Everyone’s a leader now.”

Richard refers to Seth Godwin’s latest Book where Godwin asks people to be a linchpin in their organisation. However Richard takes of Godwin  and clarifies that its not the employees but the management which puts brakes on innovation during hard times. Seth says

It’s hard to have the courage to be a Linchpin when your livelihood is at stake.  I personally know someone who wanted to be a Linchpin but was slapped down at her review by her boss because her peers labeled her “not cooperative”.   So the question becomes “is becoming a Linchpin an evolution or a revolution?”   That depends on a lot of things.  If you look at consumers and how they are changing marketing you could say the change is revolutionary but the problem is that most organizations change comes slowly and only when there are no other options. 

Richard in his blog  rightly says that its not  only the consumers or the  company   which feels the effect of job losses . This  also  causes employees  to surrender to the resistance because they are afraid of losing their jobs.  These are people who are going to go along with other lizard brains because it’s better not to rock the boat even though a lot of marketing today needs a good boat rocking.

For most companies and brands ,social media seems to be a double edged sword. The common perception among most brands are “While positive reviews and online viral buzz might help you take your brand to a couple of notched above your competitors, a negative review might bring you 5 times below consumer perception While some part of this reasoning is true.. The real fact of this double edged nature of the social media, is that the digital medium is a great leveler, while you might have people complaining about some of the services or product of yours, You might also have your online brand endorsers who would be quick to post a positive review of yours if he has something nice to share about you.

Sam decker of Clickz.com  blogged on ” Reasons why companies does not fear negative reviews

Sam points out that contrary to popular perception ,Most reviews are positive. Most reviews - up to 88 percent in the U.S., for example - are four or five stars out of a possible five stars. This percentage holds up worldwide and across a variety of industries. All feedback including negative feedback - builds authenticity. Including customer reviews on your site shows that you care about the direct input of customers; however, a site full of nothing but glowing reviews can make a shopper skeptical.

Allowing a mix of positive and negative reviews proves to customers that you care about what they say - both good and bad. It also shows that no brand can always be 100% correct in their interfacing with their consumers “Bad” isn’t always bad. While some reviewers may rate a camera low because they believe the battery life should exceed six hours, others may not be so stringent. Qualities that matter to one consumer may not matter to all - or even most - consumers.

In other words, it means that reviews per se is both qualitative and quantative..There is nothing that will be correct across all consumers. A product can mean different things to different people, and as a Brand you have to make sure that you cater to the lower common denominator or the segment which you believe has the maximum market potential Reviews .

Numerous case studies and client anecdotes prove that having any reviews has a positive impact over having no reviews. Big Brands always has both users who love to hate and users who hate to love.. A controversial move might alienate a certain class of your customers.. but you might get a thumbs up from another class . Reviews let you know exactly how to improve your products. Sure, negative feedback can be hard to hear, but having reviews or Q&A on your site lets you aggregate what people think, quickly and easily - and you can respond directly to your consumers.

Sam gives the example of , Domino’s Pizza recently made headlines with its “Pizza Turnaround” campaign, publicizing its decision to act on customers’ feedback to radically improve upon its 50-year-old recipe. Recently, when Consumer Reports gave Apple’s iPhone 4 a bad review, Apple deleted all references to the article that consumers posted to its discussion board. This prompted an outrage about censorship, which bloggers and other social network users brought to the forefront.

So, what was really more damaging to Apple’s brand: a less-than-stellar review from Consumer Reports, or the censorship story that followed?

More examples include BP oil Spill which generated heaps and tons of comments on British Petroleum.Web users dismayed by the BP oil leak are using Facebook and Twitter to channel outrage, organize cleanups, and poke fun at the public relations crisis facing the company behind the largest-ever U.S. spill. here is no doubt that BP has heard them loud and clear but can they even begin to control this social media spill?

While most of them have paid lip service to the concept of social media, a few others are doing it the wrong way forgetting that social media is actually meant to connect communities and not connect a brand to a community. Most brands somehow feel that social media is one of those strategies that can give you results overnite and go over the top to promote the brand forgetting that social media are conversations and not a shouting contest. Healthcare is one of those industries that has recently made small beginnings in developing their social media. Healthcare and specially hospitals should by their nature provides a perfect platform for them to integrate social media in their online marketing strategy. For quite some time now, Mayo Clinic has been using social media remarkably well and has been one of the trendsetters in developing a social media mix in their overall marketing plans.

The importance that Mayo Clinic gives to their social media strategy is evident from the fact that they have appointed a ” social media and syndication head led by “Lee Asase” While Hospital’s Marketing strategists open related ” Strategies to high thinking technical marieting jargon, Mayo Clinic’s Social Media Director feels that ” sometimes uncomplicated and simple thinking is also a Strategy”

Focus first on the free platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, mainly because that’s where you will find communities already gathered. This also enables you to prove your concepts before deciding whether to launch a community of your own. Strategic thinking can be an excuse for inaction, and just as it’s easier to alter the direction of a moving car than it is to get one started from a dead stop, I believe it’s best to build social media momentum through low-cost experimentation and iteration. says Lee Asase 

Mayo Clinic has over 22 Fans on Facebook. You can add them to your facebook fans here, and has more than 800 Video uploads across Youtube and has categories like Medical Edge ,Medicine, Tai Chi and Cardiac Rehabilitation, and has more than 61,000 followers across Twitter.

One of the reasons why Mayo Clinic is successful in their quest for using social media for reaching users, bloggers and other stakeholders is because they believe that the Healthcare business is mainly run by word of mouth.. and social media is that platform to talk communicate and interact with your community .

Lee Sums up Mayo Clinics Branding Philosophy

 If your customers are basically happy with the products or services you provide, and if your employees are comparatively satisfied with their work, the potential benefits of active engagement are likely significant. If you have serious employee morale or customer satisfaction deficits, providing social media platforms will amplify those concerns.

Don’t be deluded that avoiding official social media engagement will keep people from talking about your company. Consumers and employees will commiserate online whether you provide a site for them or not. But if you have these problems you should work first on addressing them before launching major social media initiatives. Social media mainly make existing chatter louder.

So  how many Hospitals  are actually in the right frame of kick start off their social media activities. Is it easier for Mayo Clinic  because of the sheer quality and medical skills .. what happens to those hospitals which re not the typical ” Mayo Clinics” 

Does social media follow ground excellence or its the social media that can actually propel you to your consumers.. What about patient mortality rates . Do you think that  Heathcare and Hospitals ” need to tread cautiously before they move to social media

For most marketers  today, Facebook seems to be the bigger  than  search engines or their  own website. From Yahoo to local classifieds,   most digital  marketing campaigns  seem to take the route of promoting  their  Facebook pages. Facebook Apps, Facebook Widgets  have replaced the focus from micro sites,and email marketing.

Facebook and Twitter have today become primary online distribution channels, for  Brand Marketers. While its no doubt that  Facebook today has indeed become the melting pot of all kind of consumers  both in  terms of volume and in terms of demographics. .. which perhaps traditional media do not provide and banners have been long become Blind..

According to Econsultancy and ExactTarget  Survery,digital marketing will account for 24% of overall marketing spend this year, and 28% of firms are shifting at least some of their overall marketing budgets from traditional to digital channels.he research was based on a survey of more than 1,000 companies around the world, though the majority were based in the US (45%) or UK (33%)

• 64% plan to increase budgets for search engine optimization, and 51% plan to increase budgets for paid search marketing.
• 70% are planning to increase their budgets for off-site social media such as Facebook and Twitter, despite admitting to being “poor” at measuring social media ROI.

The study (“The Value of a Facebook Fan: An Empirical Review”) estimates that someone who has Liked a brand will spend an average of $71.84 more each year on that brand’s products or services than will someone who has not Liked it on Facebook, for a total average annualized value of $136.38.

According to Syncapse 68% of Facebook Fans indicate they are very likely to recommend a product.

• Facebook fans reported spending $71.84 more per year than non fans.
• The most valuable fan in the survey was that of McDonald’s who presented an annual value to the organization of $508.16.

On the downside, All Brands using Facebook as their Gateway Page , are in fact promoting Facebook more than their own branded site. Critics of  those who believe that your own micro site/branded content ” needs to be the first point with your consumers  are of the opinion that  Online Branding is more about  engaging with your ” own digital Properties” rather than taking your visitors  to circumvent one more additional click  to get to your branded content  through a facebook connect. 

In terms of Lead Generation aren’t  traditional PPC or online affiliate promgrams get more ROI ?  Does a Facebook Apps make more sense when your want  your users  to engage with you after they have  heard about you from  your website via search ?  Do you think that a Facebook Widget or a  Twitter App   ideally should be your second line of Branding ?  Does  B2b Online Strategy uses social media differently.   

While many of us are familiar with the Like Button for Facebook and might have clicked  at the like button of some facebook pages  you loved. Do you think that they should also have a dislike button for something which you dont like ?

Well thats precisely many users and companies are asking.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told ABC’s Diane Sawyer this week that Facebook would “definitely think about” adding a Dislike button to the site, allowing users to express distaste for updates or pages on Facebook.

A Facebook group for the concept has nearly 3.2 million fans, while there are at least two unofficial “dislike button” extensions for the Firefox browser.

According to Mashable Founder “Pete Cashmore “But Zuckerberg is just humoring us: Facebook will never add a Dislike button, regardless of users’ demands.

Those clamoring for a “thumbs down” option seem to fall into two camps. For some, “Liking” tragic news seems inappropriate — and yet Facebook does offer a “Share” option on its own site, while third party sites can opt to use a “Recommend” button instead. Others simply want to express distaste for a page or news update — this is a move Facebook will never make, however, because it doesn’t align with the company’s interests. 

What is also not very  clear that how would advertisings react if a competitor decides to dislike something with the intention of using facebook button to belittle  their rivals. There is no doubt that at times” The like button” is simply inappropriate for a particular story or a news .. For example a story like ” 20  killed in a train accident in india”  has a like button ..  ideally instead of a” like “. button for stories like this .. Facebook maybe should start using ” Share Button”

Facebook  is probably interested only with a positive brand association with advertisers , and using a  dislike button because it would damage the company’s relationships with brands, businesses and web publishers — these groups are essential for building both web traffic and ad revenue

Click Here To Read what Facebook Founder ” Mark Zuckerberg on the dislike Button