engage your online community
DESCRIPTION
Information about engaging your audience online and creating powerful 2.0 based marketing programs. This was a presentation I gave to marketing professionals from events, fairs, amusement parks and expos.TRANSCRIPT
ENGAGING your customersonline ‘dialogue’ marketing
About Me
Creative Director at Empirical
Successfully started a sold interactive marketing company
Been in the online game for 12 years
Produced 100+ websites, and hundreds of marketing programs
Blog @ www.whiteboarddiaries.com
Online Communities I engage in:Facebook, linkedIN, Twitter, MyBlogLog, Flickr, CreativeHotList, Technoratti, SlideShare, del.icio.us, digg
Online Marketing 101
Make sure you have a website
What I’m not going to talk about today
Make sure you have a GOOD website• Up to date - should be able to be updated at an hours notice• Make sure any user can CLEARLY and QUICKLY find the info they need• Well designed and professional - impression counts
Have a customer database that you can act on• At the very least, you should be able to send email newsletters to registered users
Your URL (web address) is on every single piece of communication you produce
• ads, posters, tickets, emails, business cards, banners, videos, buttons, coasters, maps, programs, schedules
Agenda
Ideas about Engaging your customers
What I Am Going To Share Today
A sample integrated marketing program driven through online activities
Give you the floor to ask questions - even if they’re about the stuff on the previous slide
1. the internet is the CENTER of the Universe
Source: Stan RappFour Fundamentals of in the age of engagement
TV/Radio
Offlineadsbillboardsposters
Events
Word of Mouth
Internet
2. the EXPERIENCE is the brand differentiator
Source: Stan RappFour Fundamentals of in the age of engagement
3. the DATABASE is the primary marketplace
Source: Stan RappFour Fundamentals of in the age of engagement
4. the TECHNOLOGY is the explosive ingredient
Source: Stan RappFour Fundamentals of in the age of engagement
are you communicating with your customers like the individuals they are?you
are you communicating with your customers like the individuals they are?you
In the new free market, individual customers expect to be listened to.
They not only expect it, they demand it.
are you communicating with your customers like the individuals they are?you
Each and every customer expects to be treated as they are the most important.
are you communicating with your customers like the individuals they are?you
Each and every customer expects to be treated as they are the most important.
Expectation Shift
Customer
The new empowered customer believes that they lead the relationship
Customer
You
The new empowered customer believes that they lead the relationship
You better know who they are andwhat they want.
Customer
You
The new empowered customer believes that they lead the relationship
You better know who they are andwhat they want.
Another Thing
You’re not always invited to the conversation
Customers
Customers
You’re not always invited to the conversation
Customers
Customers
Customers You must find a way to authentically join the conversation.
You
You’re not always invited to the conversation
You
Customers
Customers
Customers Better yet, you need to be at
the center of the conversation
A huge amount of consumers don’t believe that companies tell the truth in advertising and marketing -- Yankelowich
76%
There is still one trusted medium left in the world
Their Friends
Their Friends
Me and My Friends
When forming an opinion of a company/product or service how credible would the information be from...
People Trust People
Edelman Trust Barometer - 2006
%
Academic 62
Doctor or similar 62
Person like yourself or a peer 61
Financial Analyst 58
NGO Rep 58
Accountant 53
Lawyer 36
Regular employee 33
CEO 29
Union 19
Entertainer 17
PR person 16
Blogger 15
People like yourself
Web 2.0It’s a free channel if you can find an authentic way to harness it.
What Really Distinguishes Web 2.0Systems that harness network effects to get better as more people use them
Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick Google AdSense
Ofoto Flickr
Akamai BitTorrent
mp3.com Napster
Britannica Online Wikipedia
personal websites MySpace/Blogging/Facebook/LinkedIN
evite upcoming.org
page views cost per click
screen scraping web services
publishing content participation
content management systems
wikis
directories (taxonomy) tagging (“folksonomy”)
stickiness syndication
Image courtesy of David Armano
The Lines Have BlurredWe’re all marketers
Image courtesy of David Armano
Some mind boggling stats
200,000,000 blogs
> 100,000,000 Videos(65,000/day)
1,500,000 Residents
33,347,000 profiles
Almost 4,000,000 articles(10 languages)
14,463,346 auctionswww.ebay.com - Nov 21, 2006
Can users ENGAGE in your site?Dialogue
Company to Consumer: Shut up & listenConsumer to Company: Is anyone there?
This is the true value of the webUser Participation
200 million + blogs
120,000 new blogs created today
1.4 new blogs every second
1.5 million blog posts today
Adult blog usage grew 163% in 2006
Blog or Be Blogged
If people are already talking about you online (and they are) you need a way to participate/respond to that conversation.
If you don’t add blogging to your marketing mix - you’re not even in the game.
What does this mean for you?The Blogospere is on Fire
Remember: People trust People
blogs are about user participation
Is there a way to motivate your audience to participate in your site - even if it is not a blog?
(joining the conversation - read the new book by Joseph Jaffe)
Blogs Are The Next Generation WebsitesDialogue
1 out of 5 adults will comment online
80% of all consumers read online comments/recommendations
75% do online research before making a purchase decision
1 out of every 30 comments is an employee discussing the company they work for
Jupiter Research
If Google says it is.....it must beWhy This is Important
82% of Google’s top result pages have blog/discussion posts
63% of Yahoo’s top result pages have blog discussion posts
You can’t control word of mouth (community), you can only guide it
Do you have the stomach to play in this game?
Who is participating?
A Crazy Statistic
Users with high-speed internet spend 48% of their spare time online
Why would they spend it with you?
Give them a reason (join their conversations)
Are You Worth Talking About - Online?
“Be Remark-able”
Seth Godin
Creating Remarkable Marketing Programs
Pick the Campaign, not the medium
Where does your market congregate?
What kind of message will resonate best?
What are my touch-points?
The medium is the facilitator not the differentiator.Remember: The Internet is the center of the universe
Facebook grew by 1300% this yearcan you make your content authentic and relevant in this (and many other) environments
Zazzle.com
WikipediaBlogs
FlickrMySpace
You Tube
Joost
MSN
diggSharkle
Shutterfly
Yahoo!
Technorati
del.icio.us
Friendster
Meetup
Windows Live Spaces
hi5.com
vimeo
Lavalife
grouper.com LinkedIN
Orkut
Stumbleupon.com
ning.com
Revver
dailymotion
gofish
Personal Blogs
AOL
dabble
clipshack
Outlook
MySpace
{ as of April 24th, 2007 }
a strategy is necessary
{ as of Feb 19, 2007 }
Do you have video on your site?Use the power of SYNDICATION and EMBEDDING
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BLdU8z1zMgw&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BLdU8z1zMgw&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
This little piece of code is your best friend
It’s attached to every video on YouTube and its free
TIPBe proactive in enabling sharing and syndication
...optimize for user experience
TIP
Before you even think about optimizing for search engines...
Don’t be guilty of the ‘cart before the horse’ or ‘chicken and egg’ syndrome
I can take a blind man to see a mime, but chances are he’s not going to care
Final Thoughts
Remember its not about you - its about them
Enable the voiceless to have a voice because they’ll take care of each other - and you.
Program Idea
Obvservation
a large audience that congregates around a specific event
little or no relationship exists post event
word of mouth activity is not facilitated
no database is generated
no online follow-up
You Are Canadian
how are you going to bridge the gap?...and truly connect digital life and real life
You Are Canadian
Online - Mobile - Offline - Event
Image courtesy of David Armano
Image courtesy of David Armano
What’s the one thing that Amusement Park, Fair and Expo attendees usually have after attending?
Memories
Right now - that responsibility is left completely up to the consumer
What If...
Every entry ticket has a unique ID or a barcode
Camera’s/photographers photo opportunities placed throughout the event
All digital photos were captured and associated with that unique ID and uploaded to web-app at the end of the day
Enable quick and easy sharing and Syndication
Remember This?
Photos will be shared with friends and family who will be looking at them in YOUR branded, engaging environment
A Sponsor/Partner Opportunity?
Jeff BrennanApollo Ideas
Christina WodtkePublic Square
A
Andy HowardOnline Community Dude
Alain ThysMarketing3
Kim SheehanUniversity of Oregon
Laurel PapworthSocial Network Strategist
collaboration
Thomas Purves
Ben KellyCreative Director
David ArmanoLogic + Emotion