Erik Qualman's Blog, page 663

VoIP and Venture Capitalism – Venturous or Venomous

Venture capitalists are always in search of places where they can propagate their money with healthier returns. However, poor economic planning and deep recession in the US market has made them weary of the few and far between investment opportunities coming their way. There are several vistas where new breed of venture capitalists are exploring new avenues of growing money. VoIP is one of the hot topics among many budding entrepreneurs. Ever since Google and Microsoft jumped into internet phone industry, things have changed for good. Many smaller investors are considering VoIP as one of the investment worthy ventures.

VoIP investments – A historic perspective

Initially when VoIP came to the market, it just got onto the nerves of alternate telecom service providers. Companies like Vonage reaped the benefits of first-mover-advantage though. At that time, profits were really thick since this market hadn’t been saturated to the extent it has just reached. Low level of competition was the number one reason why many new investors jumped onto the bandwagon. However, with the passage of few more mergers and acquisitions, things started becoming gloomy. Profit margins got tumbling down. During the last five years, many internet phone services arose and sunk. Only smart and intelligent entrepreneurs who understood the changing dynamics of the market were able to remain afloat. We have several examples of successful internet phone services that thrived despite of all the hardships and economic downturns. Vonage is one such fine example that has often been quoted as a “Success Story” in VoIP industry. However, we can always look back at how Vonage’s IPO (initial public offering) resulted in its devaluation from $2.6 billion to $2 billion. Despite of seeing many downfalls, Vonage is still going strong with the total Venture Capitalist investments of over $400 million received to date. Similarly, Ooma has also received around $83.3 million in funds despite of its less than satisfactory performance and a different kind of business model. One other affluent example that fits this high-profile success is Phone Power. Phone Power has received big investments since it started its operations. Among many success stories about Phone Power, it did end up acquiring Broadvox in 2009 and later VoIP.com. Despite all these difficulties several smaller providers like Viatalk, VoIPo, Axvoice etc. are still going strong and staying on top of their game.

Current situation of the VoIP industry

The overall situation in the internet phone industry hasn’t been too much encouraging. Despite of the increasing demand, total number of VoIP subscribers has slowed down during the last two years. Although, the figures for fixed landline phone service clearly suggest a decline. However, fixed landline phone subscribers do not have VoIP as the only option. Many of them are instead opting for cell phones. Cell phones cost a lot more than internet phone service. But even then, the convenience is somewhat similar to using internet phone service. Some factors have greatly contributed to the growth of internet phone. The first reason why more and more people are opting for internet phones is cost. Phone users are able to save a lot of money on their monthly phone bills. Secondly, most internet phone services can be used on a PC, VoIP ATA, and even smart phone. Lastly, yet importantly, VoIP providers offer a lot more features than offered by landline phone services or cellular networks. Mobile VoIP technology has proved to be more of a fad than anything else. The revenues in mobile VoIP industry are very low. Some of the dedicated mobile VoIP companies are still struggling to generate significantly countable profit margins.

What should Venture Capitalists do?

Well, the picture may seem a bit too pessimist but where there’s a will, there’s a way. There are some important considerations to go through while making an investment decision into VoIP industry. Competitions are very high in this industry. There are so many more internet based phone services out there with a lot less demand. Although there is growth in the total number of VoIP users every year, but the growth is slow. Total market share of the VoIP industry is poised to grow. When it comes to surviving as a newbie, a company needs to have deep pockets. New venture capitalists are advised not to think of entering mobile VoIP industry. Instead, they are advised to retain their focus on offering dedicated VoIP service. Cable VoIP industry still possesses the potential to grow. However, large investments are needed to build the infrastructure required. Payback periods for VoIP service providers will be slow. They need to remain patient and concentrate on surviving for the first few years. There is no doubt about the fact that VoIP is a futuristic option for venture capitalists. However, an entrepreneur needs to minimize the risks involved and remain focused on keeping the operating costs to their lowest possible levels.

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Outstanding Social Media Brands of the Week April 3: Pringles, Monster Energy, McDonald’s, Nike and Reebok

We are kicking off a fun project this week: Social Media Winners of the Week. Using the technology powering the Awareness Social Marketing Hub, we created a new Social Scorecard that encourages a little friendly competition among leading brands using social media by revealing which companies were the big winners based on fan growth each week. This April 3-10 prize goes to Pringles, Monster Energy, McDonald’s, Nike and Reebok. Pepsi gets our social media thumbs down for that week – Pepsi’s Twitter account was the only social property that decreased in followers.

 

Since April 1, 2012 the team at Awareness has been monitoring the most socially engaged companies in the most socially active industries to answer one simple question: Who won the weekly social media battle? You can find the answers in our new Social Scorecard, which tracks the social media performance of brands and companies in nine industries — Airlines, Footwear and Athletic Apparel, Comics, Fast Food, Beverages, Celebrities, Favorite Foods, Hospitality Loyalty Programs, and Gaming.  It reports weekly gains and losses to Twitter followers and Facebook fans, identifying the week’s winners in each of the industries monitored and analyzing fan growth by channel and industry. It uses this data to identify notable weekly performances and attempts to correlate performance to campaigns and/or events.

The first Social Scorecard reports social fan growth for from April 3-10, 2012. It shows all industries, except Airlines, are seeing significantly more Twitter growth than Facebook growth. It also identifies the most competitive industry/ network category for the week as Footwear and Athletic Apparel on Twitter, with each brand experiencing a growth rate over 1%, leading to a total category growth of 3.6%.

 

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The brands selected for inclusion demonstrate a consistently high level of sophistication in their social media programs:

-       Top 5 Celebrities: leading all categories with a combined fan base of over 317 million fans across Eminem, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Rihanna, and Shakira.

-       Beverages: follows as the second largest category with over 105 million in combined fans represented by Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Monster Energy, Pepsi, and Red Bull

-       Favorite Foods: comes in third with over 86.5 million combined fans across Oreo, Pringles, Reese’s, Skittles, and Starburst.

-       Footwear/Athletic Apparel: have a combined social reach of over 56 million followers and include Adidas, Converse, DC Shoes, Nike, and Reebok.

-       Fast Food: with over 46.7 million combined fans, includes Burger King, McDonald’s, Subway, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s.

-       Gaming: with over 45.6 million combined fans across Nintendo, Playstation, and X-Box.

-       Airlines: with over 7.1 million across American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, United Airlines, and US Airways.

-       Comics: represents a total combined social reach over 4.6 million followers and includes DC Comics and Marvel Comics

-       Hospitality (Loyalty Programs): with over 320,000 combined fans across Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest.

 

The Social Scorecard will be updated each Friday at http://www.awarenessnetworks.com/learning/social-media-score-card-main. Drop by each week to see who’s winning (or losing ground) in the social space. As always, chime in by cheering for your favorite brands, or sharing your observations and insights.

Mike Lewis

@BostonMike

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12 Steps to Social Media Success…and a Gilly Flower Cordial to You!

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit.

There’s no point in being a damn fool about it.

~W.C. Fields

I HAVE BEEN LIVING AND BREATHING AND CONSUMING AND QUAFFING social media for over five years now. Our agency has invested tens of thousands of hours with dozens of clients, from small businesses like George Howell Coffee to multinational corporations like HP, trying and testing every conceivable digital marketing strategy and tactic to forge a proven success formula. In other words: what steps — applied to any business — results in social media success?

First, a healthy dose of perspective: Social media has just emerged from the Dark Ages. We’re now in the Age of Enlightenment, and while reason is beginning to prevail, the light bulb has yet to be invented. We’re still feeling our way around in ill-lit conditions, swilling Gilly Flower Cordials (17th century libation) and making out and passing out — and acting as if we know what in the heck is going on.

Truth be told: we don’t. Nobody knows what works definitively yet in social. If Malcolm Gladwell is right (and, I believe he is), there are no social media experts. That distinction requires 10,000 hours of dedicated work. Nobody has had sufficient time to log those hours (save perhaps Vaynerchuk). As hard as we work, and as good as we are, my agency has enjoyed soaring successes (picture a glimmering Clio) — and fantastic failures (picture a Borat bikini).

But, it’s all good. That which has not killed us has made us stronger. We have whittled down the social success formula to 12 steps. This is merely our best crack at it. As you’ll see, many of the steps are not directly related to social media. That’s because: a) there is more to life than money, and b) social media works best within a strategic, integrated marketing mix that is continually honed, refined, lathered, rinsed — and repeated.

Here are the 12 steps:

1. Define What Success Means to You. Most people rush into the frenzied bacchanalia of social media with nary a notion as to what in the heck they want! “Look at all of these well-exfoliated, tech-savvy, Gilly Flower Cordial quaffing fashionistas on Twitter! I have to get on there and Tweet my ab routine!” I ask you: “Why? Why are you engaging in social media?” To you, success may not be measured in dollars. There is more to life than money. You might define success as the amount of good you do, measured in total number of positive @replies from people who you’ve helped or dollars raised for good causes. (Yes, those are invaluable “metrics.”) Now, if you are running a business, then revenue and related metrics will matter. In that case, you need to define success as narrowly as possible and be specific (e.g. “100 new, engaged Twitter followers a week,” “80%+ positive online sentiment,” “$5,000/month in new online sales,” etc.).

2. Emotionalize Your Brand. We are in a word-of-mouth economy, and people only share “awesome.” By that I mean you need to supercharge and emotionalize your brand message. Immediately. You need to take a long, invigorating walk in the woods and marinate over why your business exists. Why should people care? Take a moment to watch this video (first three minutes, particularly) about the importance of “why.” Then, write down a few why-driven sentences about you/your business that will resonate with people. Remember, features and benefits win minds. Why wins hearts. And, when you win the hearts of these newly-empowered consumers, they will roll up like a juggernaut and power your business to great heights. For free.

3. Know Your Audience. Be as specific as possible relative to psychographics and demographics. Spend some time listening to what people are saying about you online. The simplest way to do this is to Google your company or use the native platforms or use more advanced tools such as Hootsuite or Radian6. You can no longer tell people what they want (Madison Avenue); you have to find out what they want. And, that begins with listening. I know it’s uncharted waters for most big brands, but they need to learn the art of listening–or they may be left behind with blinding speed.

4. Optimize Your Website. Your website/blog/online store/etc. is your primary destination for consumer call to action. It should be simply and elegantly designed around the one thing you want your visitors to do: one clear call to action. One. Otherwise, visitors will suffer paralysis by analysis, do nothing–and leave. Make sure you’ve installed Google Analytics on your site, and study visitor behavior. Then, start making improvements around what you’re seeing in the data.

5. Scale Your Social. Once you know what you want, establish the social platforms that make sense. If you are a B2B company, then Linkedin will make more sense than Pinterest. Once you’ve established your social outposts, be sure they have the same well-branded appearance as your website and other marketing materials. Then, create stellar, “share-worthy content,” start engaging with influential people in your space — and scale those social platforms! Having 100 engaged followers is great. Having 100,000 means you can really move the needle. From your mobile device. While you’re in Fiji. In minutes.

6. Embrace Email. Email still rules as the primary mode of communication online, and email marketing ranks high in terms of conversion. Constant Contact, MailChimp and VerticalResponse are three excellent services that can get you up and running in no time. Be sure to deliver great content and integrate your messaging across your social media platforms. Also, use email to draw more people into your social communities, e.g.: “Engage with us on Twitter for real-time customer service!” “Get exclusive deals on our Facebook page.”

7. Go Mainstream (Media). If you play your cards right, the mainstream media will cover your story. Create something buzz-worthy about your business. Do something creative and unique. Then reach out to local newspapers, television and radio and tell them why their viewers would love to learn about your business. (Not why you deserve to be on TV, but why their viewers would benefit from your information. Big difference.)

8. Know Your SEO. You want to optimize your website and blog content for your desired keywords, so that when people search for: “finest alpaca backpacks,” your amazing alpaca backpack site shows up. Spend some time learning more about Search Engine Optimization. Now, I don’t think you’re a dummy (heck, you are this far into this diatribe; you’re brilliant…and stubborn!), but a nice, easy-to-read resource for SEO is: Search Engine Optimization All-in One For Dummies (For Dummies, 2012).

9. Free to Be PPC. I quite enjoy intelligently-designed, brilliantly-deployed pay-per-click advertising. The impressions are free, and if you engage a well-thought-out long-tail strategy, you are driving interested people to your (optimized, see above!) website. Remember, with PPC, you don’t need to create the demand in people’s minds (as is the case with a print ad or TV commercial). People who go online and make specific, intentional searches are already there. They already want your alpaca backpacks. Craft compelling ad copy that is congruent with the user’s searches, and then make sure your landing pages are seamless with that ad copy — and you’re off to the races.

10. Swing for the Fences. To put your brand on the map, you can toil away day-in and day-out for years, but one knockout appearance on The Today Show can tip it in one fell swoop. Most people shy away from thinking big, because they think they’re not good enough (or ready) for mainstream coverage. Guess what? You are. Want proof? Look at some of the people who appear on talk shows. If they can do it, you can do it! Emotionalize your brand, craft a clever pitch, and use Twitter to engage mainstream media. A recent study found that journalists prefer pitches via Twitter over Facebook, email and the dreaded press release. If you believe in yourself and your product/service/alpaca thing, then your tipping point is out there. Go knock it over.

11. Learn. Refine. (Repeat.) The beauty of social media and digital marketing are the real-time results and insights they provide. The best results come from letting the data drive your strategy. For example, if a certain platform is generating results, channel time and resources to there and keep pushing. Always draw actionable insights out of your social data.

12. Enjoy the Process. This should be fun. Life should be fun. Enjoy the process of striving for success in social media. Build a better business, live a better life, create a better world! You have never had more power at your fingertips than you do right now. Use it well, use it wisely — and keep at it. Because these channels move so outrageously far, fast and wide, your “brand” can tip at any moment and when you least expect it

Just stick in there — and enjoy a Gilly Flower Cordial while you’re at it. You deserve it.

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Instagram Infographic: Facebook Acquires Instagram

Facebook acquires Instagram for $1 Billion Dollars. A quick Instagram Infographic on the timeline:

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The above Instagram Infographic is supplied by David Kohreidze at visua.ly

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The Shopper Economy: 5 Questions with Liz Crawford

[image error]There is a new economic model – one that rewards the consumer for behaving a certain way that has far-reaching repercussions for your brand online. Companies that understand this new method of currency, value, and reward can reap the benefits of higher recall and increased consumer loyalty. Liz Crawford provides an analysis of this new model in The Shopper Economy: The New Way to Achieve Marketplace Success by Turning Behavior into Currency. With 20 years of experience as a brand manager and consultant focused on strategic innovation, Liz is uniquely qualified to identify this new shopper behavior-driven economic phenomenon. In anticipation of our Shopper Economy webinar next week, we sat down with Liz for some Q and A.

Your book, The Shopper Economy, describes an emerging economy where behavior is currency. What led you to investigate this topic?

I thought it was fascinating that digital technology, especially mobile technology, was enabling new kinds of transactions between buyers and sellers.  In addition to shoppers purchasing brands, brands were purchasing shopper behavior.  I believe this is a relatively new phenomenon.

In the book, I try to make clear that I am not referring to a conventional buy-more-get-more promotion.  And I don't mean a deferred discount, like a cents-off-next-purchase.

Instead, I am pointing out a new dynamic where a shopper can actually earn value in exchange for one of four behaviors: paying attention, participating, advocating, or committing.  None of these behaviors directly involve purchase. The shopper can earn value by simply behaving.

This earned value can come in various forms – Shopkick Kicks, Facebook Credits, miles, points, etc. You will notice that this value is digital scrip (not straightforward fiat currency in most cases). The digital scrip is currency in that it is – 1. recorded,  2. stored and banked, and 3. redeemable at the discretion of the shopper, across channels. Shoppers can aggregate all manner of scrip in a clearinghouse website like www.points.com. This website allows shoppers to exchange hundreds of forms of scrip for fiat currency (dollars and cents), which may be deposited into a Paypal account.

Which industries are leading the way in understanding this new activity-based marketplace?

At this point, I believe that retailers are leading the way, along with financial services.

Retailers who are rewarding behavior are reaping the benefits.  There are various platforms which effectively use shopper participation to drive traffic and conversion.  These platforms include: http://www.scvngr.com/ , www.checkpoints.com/ , http://shopkick.com/ among others. These are platforms, which shoppers download onto their smartphones as apps.

 

American Express, of course, is a leader in the area. Their points system is both the granddaddy of digital scrip, as well as the continued frontrunner. One of the big reasons for their massive success is their extensive network of partners.  Shoppers who acquire points can redeem them in virtually any way they please, including simply using points to supplement/replace payments at a digital point of sale (www.americanexpress.com). I believe that with Google Wallet or ISIS type technologies, we will see frictionless, fungible exchanges of scrip with fiat currency, for everything. This really opens the door to the Shopper Economy.

 

 

How can small businesses take advantage of the concepts in The Shopper Economy?

Many smaller or independent retailers can begin to experiment with incenting behaviors by signing up with one of the platforms already mentioned (Checkpoints, Shopkick, SCVNGR, etc).  These mechanisms are used by hundreds of local merchants to drive traffic. In some cases the rewards are simply deferred discounts, like Foursquare rewards ("free coffee next visit" for example).  In other cases, the earned value is scrip which is redeemable at the discretion of the shopper.

For small business, advocacy is an important behavior to reward. Groupon and Living Social both reward shopper-to-shopper advocacy, and of course are used extensively by local merchants, like salons and restaurants.

In this new economy where shopper behaviors create units of value, how can marketers quantify a specific value to a shopper behavior?

This is a detailed subject.  The book devotes a chapter on valuation for each of the four shopper behaviors.  Some behaviors like Attention and Participation should be evaluated in comparison to more traditional communication and promotional expenditures, respectively.  So, if a shopper is watching an ad in exchange for scrip, does that shopper score higher on recall and persuasion scores?  It is the effectiveness of these efforts that need to be assessed. It is a trade-off of investment dollars.

The same evaluation process can be used to assess Participation programs.  For example, how effective is a SCVNGR game at driving store traffic, in comparison to other efforts?  This will help a business owner optimize marketing investments.  Participation also usually has a conversion component. That will help with understanding the financial return of the program.

The book also cites specific formulae to quantify some behaviors such as Advocacy.

What does the future look like in the shopper economy?

Shoppers will become increasingly sophisticated in understanding the worth of their labor.  This means that they will evaluate transactions with brands and retailers with a sharper eye to their own advantage.

 

For more insights from Liz Crawford, be sure to attend next week's free Awareness webinar: The Shopper Economy. You can also download chapter 1 of The Shopper Economy: The New Way to Achieve Marketplace Success by Turning Behavior into Currency.

 

Mike Lewis

@bostonmike

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Top 15 Influencers to Follow in Web & Social Analytics

It's time marketers stop collecting data for data's sake and start it for culling insights. That's where social analytics comes in. Social analytics is the evolving business discipline that studies social media metrics to help marketers use the findings to drive business intelligence. If you're new to this, have no fear. Look to the 15 influencers listed below for guidance on the topic. They can help you get started or finesse your approach. Here are the Top Social and Web Analytics Experts to follow (in alphabetical order):

 

[image error]Gary Angel, president of Semphonic.  Recipient of the Digital Analytics Association's Award for Excellence as the Most Influential Industry Contributor.

Don't miss: 3 Paths to Digital Optimization: Zen and the Art of Enterprise Analytics

Key Takeaway: To get the greatest value from analytics, you need an integrated approach.

 

[image error]Connie Bensen, Senior digital strategist at Dell

Don't miss: Best Practices for Social Media Monitoring ROI

Key Takeaway: Great tips on how to avoid spam and noise: add exclusion criteria to your searches.

 

[image error]Keith Burtis, co-founder of MeasureMob

Don't miss: Getting Started in Analytics From Tape Measure to #Measure

Key Takeaway: Three resources to get you started with analytics.

 

[image error]Alistair Croll, principal analyst for Bitcurrent, contributing author to Web Operations, Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth.

Don't miss: Writings: December 2011/January 2012

Key Takeaway: A sampling of Alistair's thinking, including 2012 trends and how companies should think about big data.

 

[image error]Susan Etlinger, industry analyst at Altimeter Group

Don't miss: Research Report: A Framework for Social Analytics

Key Takeaway: Measure your company's performance against the Social Media Measurement Compass.

 

[image error]Nathan Gilliatt, principal at Social Target, co-founder at AnalyticsCamp, founder at SocialMediaAnalysis.com

Don't miss: Applying Intelligence and Analytics to Online Statements

Key Takeaway: Insightful matrix of Intelligence/Analytics plotted against Fact/ Opinion

 

[image error]Taulbee Jackson, CEO and president of Raidious

Don't miss: Social Media Analytics – AMA Michiana

Key Takeaway: At the end of the day, you are trying to determine 'how good is the content?'

 

[image error]Avinash Kaushik, digital marketing evangelist at Google and author of Web Analytics 2.0 and Web Analytics: An Hour A Day

Don't miss: Beginner's Guide to Web Data Analysis: Ten Steps to Love & Success

Key Takeaway: An excellent getting started guide to web analytics.

 

[image error]John Lovett, senior partner at Web Analytics Demystified Inc, author of Social Media Metrics Secrets

Don't miss: You're Using the Wrong Social Media Metrics

Key Takeaway: Understand corporate goals, align business objectives, tie metrics to measures of success and then define operational tactics.

 

[image error]Jonas Klit Nielsen, CEO and founder of Mindjumpers

Don't miss: Executive Series: Listening on Social Media is about Insight Management and Analyzing Data

Key Takeaway: Listen first to relevant conversations, then break down the data to relevant insights.

 

[image error]Katie D. Paine, CEO & founder of KD Paine & Partners; author of Measure What Matters

Don't miss: KDPaine's How-To-Get-Good-Data Checklist

Key Takeaways: Both humans and computers make mistakes, so check your data regularly.

 

[image error]Eric Peterson, CEO and founder of Web Analytics Demystified Inc., author of Web Analytics Demystified, Web Site Measurement Hacks and The Big Book of Key Performance Indicators

Don't miss: Finally! Standards Come to Web Analytics

Key Takeaway: Google Analytics has become the de facto standard for web analytics.

 

[image error]Sean Power, data scientist at Cheezburger; contributing author to Web Operations, and Complete Web Monitoring

Don't miss: Complete Web Monitoring, (O'Reilly, 2009)

Key Takeaway: Learn everything from why, what and how to implement measurement in your organization.

 

[image error]Jim Sterne, founder of eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit and the Digital Analytics Association and author of Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment

Don't miss: eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summits

Takeaway: Learn from Jim in person at a summit near you.

 

[image error]Marshall Sponder, senior analyst and founder of WebmetricsGuru.com and author of Social Media Analytics: Effective Tools for Building, Interpreting, and Using Metrics

Don't miss: Lack of Processes (or the Wrong Processes) biggest problem in Social Media Reporting and ROI

Key Takeaway: You need a standard process for measurement.

 

To learn more about what social analytics and how you can approach it, consult with our new position paper Social Analytics for Marketing and Sales Effectiveness.

 

Let's hear it from you, marketers: Did we list all your top analytics gurus? Did we miss anyone who deserves to be included? Sound off on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and on Pinterest.

 

Mike Lewis

@bostonmike

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Online Community Building- An Interview With Dr. Kareem

Today at Socialnomics, I am pleased to share some incredible wisdom from a friend and true "Digital Leader", Dr. Kareem Samhouri. Dr. Kareem is one of the nation's premier fitness and nutrition experts, and has built a phenomenally successful internet community around his vision. Whether you want to lose stubborn fat, or build a dynamic online community, Dr. Kareem's words are applicable for us all.
1. Looking back, what thing do you think has led to your success more than anything else?Perseverance, professionalism, and personality.  Establishing yourself as someone who is both:

a) Permanent in your industry

b) Unique in someone's mind

Now, think hard about what you want to represent before you jump into a decision for either "a" or "b".

Here's what I decided for each:

Permanency in my industry:  I showed up to all industry events possible for 18 months straight.  This makes me the "common denominator" in people's minds.  Low and behold, other successful entrepreneurs were doing the same thing.  As it turns out, this means you get to have a lot of fun meeting great people, learn amazing things, and remain cutting-edge in your industry.  It's a win.

Also noteworthy, my education proves that I'm permanent.  By studying to be a licensed professional, I've shown that I'm committed to this field, as a career.  There are other ways, but this is my way.

Uniqueness:  In my case, I decided that I would be the "highest credentialed" fitness expert online.  By combining doctoral-level knowledge in Physical Therapy with all of my education and training in Kinesiology, I was able to represent something 'new' for our field.  By taking an interest in what I had to say, you were opening your mind to a new possibility in health.

Alone, this can't be enough, which is why it's all about face-time and personality, as well.  By strategically developing a key network, and then furthering that by filtering out people you don't get along with, you're establishing friendships in a place that's simultaneously beneficial to your career.  As things evolve, it's natural to form really strong friendships with the "right" people, so long as you're only ever looking for a friend in your industry.  This is not about using people – it's about making friends and helping others.

2. What advice do you have for Socialnomics' Readers on how to build an effective online business?Take the highest moral ground, in all scenarios.  The internet is the Wild Wild West, in that it's still being pioneered and expanded upon in so many ways.  Dot.com to web 2.0 to today's model are radically different.  Things change all the time, and the world is starting to find both the most and least legitimate businesses online.  People feel they can hide behind a computer and cheat/deceive, and this creates a bad name for everyone online.  People feel jaded, and they are scared to buy online.Stand up against this.  Hold your ground.Do things that help people, and use the internet as a tool for your business to grow and expand with less overhead and lower costs to your end-users.  Instead of changing your message or the kindness you'd show with personal contact, enhance this and make it even more prominent.  Just imagine your reach – what will you do with your voice?People spread what they like to hear – be genuine, and be the moral authority for your industry.

3.  Any mistakes you made early on? What should our biggest take away be from your experience?
Find purpose and then find a distribution mechanism.I made the mistake early on in my career of creating tons of fitness information products without first establishing my distribution mechanism.  Everyone advised me to "know your market" before you create your first product.  So, I did my research, and I found out that baby boomers with joint pain (who were actually motivated to lose weight, not get rid of pain) were my market.  So I created about 15 programs for this audience and no one showed up to my websites.Traffic + Conversions = Digital LeaderKnowing your market will help with conversions, but it won't help at all with traffic. Strongly consider this:   How will you get people to your site?  How will they hear of your idea?

Lock down your distribution mechanism, and then create a business.

As for purpose, that's the viral component to anything.  People live vicariously through your vision, so it's a really good deal; you get to do something amazing, and people will naturally flock to you and follow.

The higher, but still reachable, your goal, the more people will buy into you and your concepts.  The idea is to do something that is bothlucrative and fulfilling.  One without the other will never work long-term, at least if you consider happiness to be your number #1 motivator.

For more information on Dr. Kareem's programs, please visit http://drkareem.com/

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Video – Tiger Woods Kicks Club – Masters Meltdown

The 2012 Masters was not kind to Tiger Woods. The below video shows Tiger kicking club and having a meltdown. This will be part of Tiger Woods' digital legacy.

Do you believe he will recover in the coming months and make his legacy better? Or will he continue on a downward spiral?

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Tiger Woods Kicks Club in Disgust at 2012 Masters. Tiger's meltdown will be part of his digital legacy forever.

 

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Four Ideas For Engaging Facebook Apps.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Timeline for Brands has launched. With this new launch, apps are the new tabs. Interestingly enough, most brands are still treating apps like tabs. The issue with this however, is that apps are far more noticeable and can make or break the clean, put together look of a Facebook Timeline. If your brand is still lagging in the app department, here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Testimonials. I know when you hear the word testimonial you think of an infomercial, but like it or not testimonials are an integral part of your brands story. The recent changes to Facebook have given brands no choice but to tell their stories to their fans. Why not dedicate an app on your page that allows your customers to tell the world how they fit into your brands story? Coca-Cola has a dedicated app called "your stories" that allows customers to do just that. Obviously you can't steal Coca-Cola's app, but you can think about how your customer's testimonials and stories fit into your brands presence and create an app that reflects this.

Contest Hubs. Facebook apps, much like tabs, create the perfect opportunity for you to create a hub for your latest contest or promotion. Having all the details and contest entries in one place is a great way to keep things organized for your fans and build hype for the promotion.

Think Interactive And Unique. Each brand has it's own unique style and voice. At least one app on your page should speak fully to your brands fans by being engaging and interactive. Modern Family does a great job of this with their new "Video Card" app. This app allows you to send your mom an e-card for mother's day that features scenes from the show. This app works not just because it's creative but also because it's a great representation of the brand. All brands could benefit from a unique and brand specific app like this.

Feedback. Social Media creates the ultimate platform for your customers to tell you what they are thinking – good or bad. However, if you dedicate an app specifically to asking for feedback from your fans and customers, you send them the message that you want to know what they are thinking. Why not give your customers some reassurance that you are always ready to listen?

Oh and while your brainstorming ideas remembers that apps are visual. Make sure the photos on all of your app icons fit your timeline's look. Good visuals are the best way to attract fans to your content.

Do you have any ideas for great timeline apps? Feel free to share.

 

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Social Analytics: Deriving Insights for Increased Marketing and Sales Effectiveness

With the recent explosion of user-generated content – the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook has 845 million users with more than 425 million daily visitors as of December 2011 and Mediabistro verified that published posts on Twitter surpassed 250 million daily – marketers need a new way to analyze social data to increase sales effectiveness. Marketers need to understand what they should measure and how they should approach the analytics process so they can learn actionable insights to better engage customers, establish loyalty and drive sales in this rapidly changing environment. Enter actionable Social Analytics.

 

Actionable Social Analytics is an evolving business discipline that studies social media metrics to help marketers use the findings to drive business intelligence. Going beyond measuring buzz, reach, retweets, likes and follower growth, social analytics aggregates and analyzes online conversations (industry, competitive, prospect, consumer, customer) and social activity generated by brands across social channels and empowers organizations to act on the derived intelligence to drive business results. When used strategically, this intelligence has the ability to improve brand awareness and reputation, marketing and sales effectiveness and customer satisfaction.

 

With this new definition in mind, the team at Awareness Inc. created our latest complimentary whitepaper, Social Analytics for Marketing and Sales Effectiveness, which introduces a new framework to help guide the analytics efforts within socially-savvy businesses. This framework identifies the most important metrics that map directly to key performance indicators (KPIs) for marketing, sales and customer service and provides a step-by-step methodology for approaching social analysis from external and internal social data.

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Let's say you are in charge of the Voice of Customer initiative for an airline – let's say American Airlines. The Voice of Customer is defined by Bruce Temkin, a principal analyst at Forrester, as "a systematic approach for incorporating the needs of customers into the design of customer experience." How should you approach analyzing customer comments and preferences shared in social platforms to positively impact customer satisfaction and reduce customer churn? You can follow this framework:

 

If you are starting out, you will need to enable your customer service reps with the ability to see customer comments from social channels so they can provide better service if and when the customer contacts the call center. So the next time the band The Sheepdogs, with over 12,000 Twitter followers, calls your airline, you can find a way to address their lost luggage issue:

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Ideally, your airline is past this point and has begun focusing on more advanced analytics – where social comments from your customers help inform your Voice of Customer initiatives. You can analyze social comment data historically, combining it with past email and call center data to develop new customer service campaigns and workflows. For instance, through historic sentiment and pattern analysis, you can identify peak times for customer complaints (such as holidays and other high-stress travel events) to train your customer service reps or add staff during busy times.

 

With historic analysis of customer experiences collected from all available channels (email, phone, and social), you can identify patterns and areas for service improvement. You may uncover pain points that are not being adequately addressed, which in turn impact customer loyalty. Or you can equip support reps to proactively reach out to dissatisfied and vocal customers to fix problems or complaints as they happen, via customers' preferred channel(s) of communication. A good example of such an approach comes from JetBlue, which proactively works with customers over social channels, like during the 2010 "Snowpocalypse" when JetBlue rescheduled many of their 10,000+ canceled flights through Twitter.

 

Social Analytics equips businesses with the keys to understanding prospects and customers to enable more effective connections. To learn how to apply social analytics to your sales and marketing efforts, download Social Analytics for Marketing and Sales Effectiveness.

 

Now we want to hear from our fellow marketers. How experienced are you with social analytics? On which metrics do you focus? How do you tie your social marketing efforts to business drivers such as increased leads and sales? Chime into the conversation on Twitter: Facebook at Awareness, Inc., Social Media Marketing Best Practices and Social Media Marketing Mavens pages, our LinkedIn Social Media Marketing Mavens Group and on Pinterest.

 

Mike Lewis

@bostonmike

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