Online Marketing: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

 

I love old Clint Eastwood western movies.  They were always on TV when I was growing up and I would instantly get sucked into a ~3 hour movie, along with all those commercials.  Hey, I figure there were worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I've probably watched The Good, The Bad and The Ugly about 10 times by now.  To be honest I can't always tell which one of Clint's movies I'm watching until they reintroduce it after a commercial.  They all include gunfights, signature one liners from Clint, and some timely, precision tobacco spitting.  My kind of movie. :)

Even if you haven't watched the movie, you can probably guess there's a good guy, a bad guy, and an ugly guy.  I'll spare you the details and jump right into how this relates to online marketing.  In my experience, online marketing plays all 3 of those roles: Good, Bad, and Ugly.

 

 

The Good

 

The good is usually what draws businesses to online marketing in the first place: It's affordable.  In some cases, it's downright free.  For example, any business looking for local customers can set up and optimize a Google+ Local page and within about a month get free exposure in Google's local business results.  No upfront fees.  No ongoing fees.  No fancy software to learn.  Just free exposure when local customers are searching for you.  Hard to beat free when it comes to driving new business!

Even advertising is usually more affordable online versus offline.  With Google AdWords you only pay per click so there is no big upfront investment like there is with TV, print or radio ads.

Of course, affordability isn't the only reason online marketing is good, but I think that gets the point across just fine.  Now let's look at the bad...

The Bad

The bad news is that online marketing is always changing!  Just when you think you've mastered search engine optimization (SEO), Google will go and change their algorithm.  Or just when you've built up a hefty Facebook audience, Zuckerberg decides to tweak their EdgeRank algorithm so you have to pay to get your posts in front of your prospects and customers.

Scroll through this list of Google algorithm changes to see just how frequently the search engine landscape changes.  Trust me, it's nearly impossible to keep up, and I do this for a living.  There's just no way a business owner can stay on top of all the trends and best practices without help.

And Google is just the tip of the iceberg... Have you looked at all the options available with online marketing?  Talk about overwhelming.  There's SEO, local SEO, search advertising, display advertising, Facebook advertising, email marketing, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, press release services, website conversion optimization, tracking and website analytics.  I could go on and on but you get the point.

Now, let's turn to the ugly side of online marketing...

The Ugly

First, there's the glut of information available.  There are books, blogs, articles, videos, and podcasts published online daily.  Some of it is sound advice.  Some of it is applicable for certain types of businesses.  And some of it outdated, or simply inaccurate.  Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible for a business owner to know who or what to pay attention to, which leads to poor marketing decisions.

Second, there are many low quality (and even unethical in my opinion) online marketing providers.  For example, I've talked to many business owners who paid and lost thousands to an SEO company that guaranteed #1 rankings.   My spam folder is full of these prospecting emails so I know how tempting it can be for businesses.  However, the reality is that no one can guarantee #1 rankings. As soon as you see or hear that phrase, run away, hang up, or click delete. That's a red flag that you're not dealing with a reputable company.

3 Reasons Why We Invest In Social Media & You Should Too

I'll admit, when social media sprinted on to the digital marketing scene, I was extremely skeptical.  Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and all the other social media sites reminded me of MySpace and my first instinct was to wait until they all followed the same path to destruction.  I was very cautious to avoid investing time and money into a marketing fad.

But I was wrong.  Social media marketing is not going anywhere.  In fact, all signs are pointing to social media being an integral component in the future of digital marketing. That's because every day the lines get more and more blurry between social media and other core digital marketing tactics like SEO, advertising, and email marketing.  The days of focusing on just one isolated tactic are over.  To have long-term success with digital marketing, we need to take a more holistic approach.


In case you're like me and you're skeptical about the value of investing in social media marketing, I'm going to walk through 3 reasons that may change your mindset. 

Reason 1: Boost Your Other Channels

Chances are good you're already investing in other channels like SEO and digital advertising.  But as I mentioned above, the lines are getting blurry between those tactics and social media marketing.  That's because social media now impacts those channels either positively or negatively.

Let's take SEO as an example.  A successful SEO campaign relies on content marketing (for example. publishing high-quality articles and then sharing them online).  What do you think is one of the best ways to share content online?  That's right, social media!  Sites like Facebook and Twitter are perfect for maximizing the exposure of your content and, in turn, increasing the number of links from other websites.

On the advertising side, the social media giant, Facebook, should not be ignored.  As the Facebook ad platform continues to mature, it's now possible for businesses to laser-target their ideal customers to drive more leads and sales.  Plus, social media (such as the number of Likes you have) can be great social proof on your advertising landing pages to increase your conversion rates.

Reason 2: Control Your Reputation

What is likely the first thing a prospective customer will do when she first learns about your business? I'll do this before or sometimes after I've already contacted the business and it always impacts my decision to purchase.

The answer is that prospective customers will "Google" your business name as a way to run a quick background check.  It takes just a few minutes to search and see what pops up about the company.  In some cases there won't be much info, which can be concerning because it indicates the business may not be legit.  In other cases, there will be lots of info that is either positive or negative.

Here's a quick tip to help you with your search engine reputation management: If you set up social media profiles for your business name, then those pages are highly likely to rank at the top of Google for brand searches.  In other words, you can use your social media profiles as a way to control what prospective customers will see when they search for your business.

And don't forget about how this could impact your hiring process.  Potential employees will certainly "Google" your business name to do their homework as well.

Finally, in addition to setting up social profiles, it's important to stay engaged in order to establish and protect your reputation. Specifically, I'm talking about cultivating positive reviews and responding to any comments or complaints you may receive.

Reason 3: Keep Your Audience Engaged

The final reason to invest in social media is to keep your audience engaged.  This may not sound like much, but I would argue that engaging your audience is one of the most important jobs of your digital marketing.  Think about that for a minute.  In order to make a sale you must first have an engaged prospect.  Then, in order to generated repeat purchases and encourage more referrals you must keep your customers engaged.  If you lose mindshare and attention, then you lose sales.

The key to engagement is to actually reach your audience. Businesses that rely solely on direct mail, phone and/or email marketing are missing out on a segment of their market that could be reached via social media.  I'm not suggesting one tactic is better than the other.  I'm simply highlighting the fact that social media allows businesses to get in front of more of their audience to engage and maximize sales, repeat purchases, and referrals.  

How To Be The #1 Trending Hashtag On Twitter: Lessons From Nat Geo’s #KillingKennedy Campaign

The National Geographic Channel regularly uses both organic and paid campaigns to engage audiences on Twitter. For its film, Killing Kennedy, timed to premier the week before the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK, Nat Geo wanted to make a big impact on Twitter to build excitement and drive viewership.

Armed with Twitter-savvy celebrities and a wealth of visual assets, the team employed Twitter TV ad targeting for the first time to reach beyond its follower base of just over 520 thousand followers.
Nat Geo and its agency Mediahub/Mullen encouraged the cast — including stars Rob Lowe and Ginnifer Goodwin, both of whom were already active on Twitter — to tweet about the film during production. Nat Geo also used engaging graphics pulled from their website kennedyandoswald.com to tease the film.

The campaign was highly successful. During the November 10 premier, the hashtag #KillingKennedy was the number one trending topic on Twitter in the U.S. Nat Geo’s website experienced record traffic, and the film set a new ratings record for the network with 3.4 million viewers. These were no small feats for a small network up against big name shows during its timeslot, as noted in a tweet from Rob Lowe.

According to Twitter’s campaign wrap-up, Nat Geo saw average engagement rates of 10 percent on Promoted Tweets, which was 110 percent higher than the network’s historical average. TV ad targeting also proved to be highly efficient; costs fell 82 percent.

I spoke with Katy Anadale, Director, Digital Marketing for the National Geographic Channel by phone about the planning and execution of their first campaign using Twitter TV ad targeting.

Asked if the team set any specific goals for the campaign, Anandale says they didn’t peg goals for metrics such as number of tweets, retweets and comments, so much as they wanted to surpass what they’d done before. Historical performance was the benchmark.

Planning Ahead
Anadale says the team began planning early for #KillingKennedy. “This was a big priority for us so we started planning for this far in advanced. Putting things on paper was at least six months in advanced. For social we started talking earlier than we normally would in part because we had assets and information already available to us.”

With a typical series premier, Nat Geo starts promotion about three weeks out on air and turns to social within the two-week time frame before the first episode airs. Anandale says for Killing Kennedy, “We tried to be out in front, so we weren’t competing with all the other news about the 50^th anniversary.”  Nat Geo began to tease the premier on social media in June, shortly after Rob Lowe and Ginnifer Goodwin signed on to play JFK and Jaquelyn Kennedy, respectively.

The cast members also tweeted during filming to get fans excited. Nat Geo white listed Rob Lowe and Ginnifer Goodwin’s Twitter accounts to be able to promote their tweets about the film. Some of those celebrity tweets reached engagement rates of 20 percent.


The Power Of Visual Assets

Nat Geo and Mediahub/Mullen began to incorporate visual assets much more heavily with TV ad targeting  n the week leading up to the premier.  Anadale said, “Some of the assets were created specifically for us to use for social, but none were created specifically for the Twitter TV ads campaign.  The only thing we did differently was write specific tweets to try to resonate with viewers of certain shows. But what we learned, is that photos and infographics still did the best.”

For example, during a mob-related TV show, the Nat Geo team used Promoted Tweets about Kenendy’s rumored ties to mob. They found those types of tweets didn’t perform nearly as well as the photos and infographics.

Anadale says, “If you stay true to what works well in Twitter and social, it’s going to work. The Twitter TV ads reinforce what they see on television. If you have that visual reinforcement, the connection is just more immediate. We saw more tweets, retweets when we used visuals. TV viewers saw the emotion we have in our promos and were able to share that on Twitter.”

Media Buying And Social Teams Need To Work Together
Mediahub/Mullen handled the media buying and monitored performance at an aggregate level to provide insights, while the Nat Geo team monitored their feed throughout the day and executed the tweets.

The client and agency both echoed the need to have close collaboration between the social and buying teams to make the most of TV ad targeting on Twitter.

Sarah Stroller, Digital Media Advisor for Mediahub/Mullen, said via email, “From Mediahub’s point of view it was incredibly helpful to work so closely with the client to optimize our campaign and leverage the celebrity tweets. We were on call most of the weekend leading up to the premiere to promote celebrity tweets the minute they were posted to capture the full social potential of the cast. Our efforts paid off as these celebrity tweets resulted in extremely high engagement, adding to the success of the Twitter campaign as a whole.”
“We have a very good relationship with the buying team. You need to stay close and share your plans with them so they understand the whole process and larger picture. It does take some last minute planning,” said Anadale.

Nat Geo has more Twitter TV ad campaigns planned. Anadale says in the future they’ll try to tailor assets to specific shows or network audiences.