Digital Sherpa.com

Why you want a social media presence

mokeefe — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:24:55 +0000

Our roughly 1,000 Digital Sherpa clients buy one of our Sherpa programs for a variety of reasons. Of course everyone likes to attract online traffic, find new customers and generate leads. And while those are outcomes of a good social media and content marketing program, that’s not always what brings our customers to our virtual door step.

Some buy it for the content creation; it takes a lot of time and discipline to write 2 quality blog posts per week. But there are a great many who buy our program because they want to build a social media presence.

The adoption of businesses in the social media space has been exploding in the past year. And Sherpa clients are a part of that surge of businesses on that leading edge of social media adoption. But often when we ask new clients why they want to build a social media presence, the answers range from “because I don’t want to be left behind” to “my son/daughter/grandson/friend said I should” to “I really don’t know, but I feel like I probably should”.

The answer to why you want to be in social media can be found in a recently published report from Comscore. Comscore is an internet marketing research firm that tracks and reports on online behavior. Their recent report “Women on the Web: How Women are Shaping the Internet” gives some great insight into the very question of why you want to be in social media. The report speaks for itself, but I’ll highlight a few things I found particularly relevant:

Women are more enagaged than men on the internet
Social networking is central to women’s internet experience
Women drive a disproportionate amount of online spending
9 out of 10 women in North America visited a social networking site in April 2010

Social networking sites are prime areas for attracting new customers whether you want to lure them to online sales or to visit your showroom. The audience is there, what are you doing to make sure they find you?

Design Sherpa brings 100 design enthusiasts closer to a dream trip to Paris

mokeefe — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:30:01 +0000

Design Sherpa, our Digital Sherpa product for the home design and remodeling industry, is hosting the What Inspires You? contest. In this contest Design enthusiasts are competing to win $10,000 and a 10-day trip to Maison & Objet in Paris.

Phase 1 has ended, the judges have spoken and narrowed down the field to 100 winners which are announced daily on the Design Sherpa blog.

Each winner submitted a photo and up to 100 words telling us what inspires them. Below are a few of the images submitted. You can view these, the 100 word design inspiration messages and the rest of the 98 winners on the Design Sherpa blog.

Phase 1 winners will now move to the second phase of the contest. In this phase each contestant will enter a 350 word blog post about an interior or architectural design topic that communicates both his or her unique passion for design and writing style.

Social Media Marketing: In-House or Outsource?

billpryor — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:38:31 +0000

Challenges to consider with social media marketing: In-house, or outsource?

There is little question that a well-executed social media program will generate new business by engaging your customers, increasing your “Google rank” and turbo charging word of mouth. As an example, in a recent study of over 1500 businesses by Hubspot, a social media research company, they discovered that
business to consumer companies have a high degree of success finding new customers.

A critical question for many businesses is simply should we do this ourselves? Or should we outsource it? There are pluses and minuses to each approach but no matter how you proceed — here are the critical success factors that you need to consider. It is not as simple as throwing up a facebook fan page and hoping for interaction.

1. Setting up a well-designed blog and linking it to your other social identities (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is an important first step. This is not exceedingly difficult, but does require a focussed effort and for someone to learn basics and best practices around blogging and your specific blog. There is absolutely a learning curve

2. Staying current with technical changes in social media platforms. New features are constantly added to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the various blog platforms. Someone needs to stay current, and have it be part of their job.

3. Creating ongoing content is the single most important key to success in social media marketing. Someone needs to be focussed on the creation of fresh and relevant content (blog posts, Facebook posts, Tweets). Without it, there will be no engagement, no “Google juice” and no benefit. There are countless examples of companies starting with the best intentions, getting setup, and then failing over time to continue to create posts and content.

4. Tagging tagging and search engine optimization (SEO) tasks need to be managed, as this is one of the key benefits of social media marketing. Whomever is creating content needs to be saavy to making that content as findable as possible by Google and the various search engines.

5. Measuring results. Traffic, visits, comments, engagement can and should be measured. Part of any social media program should be measurement and analysis to gauge program effectiveness and make adjustments.

More and more businesses are finding social media highly valuable for generating new customers, and retaining existing ones. Your next marketing plan should absolutely contain some basic social media marketing efforts — bearing in mind the key success factors outlined above.

If you have a person on staff that has the time and expertise to handle your companies social marketing needs, that’s great. If that is not working for you or if you seek a more professional perspective, outsourcing might be the answer.

For additional information, contact Bill Pryor at Digital Sherpa, bpryor@nci.com 781-254-3677

White Papers and eBooks

mokeefe — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:39:18 +0000

Two Thousand and Ten Digital Digital Marketing Outlook

Move the Google Needle

Corporate Blogging

Marketing 2010

Social Media Marketing for Apartments

Engagement 2009

Yes, Facebook users interact with companies!

billpryor — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:36:57 +0000

Given the explosive growth of facebook —- over 500 million worldwide users, it is very interesting to note that over a third of those users interact with brands. What drives this? The offer of coupons, specials and discounts. That is an amazing number considering Facebook was considered almost exclusively a personal networking tool not that long ago. Companies are becoming more and more innovative when it comes how to communicate through social media, but the real “aha” is that consumers are also evolving in the way they think about communicating, sharing and interacting online. The online behaviors learned initially for personal use, have broadened to other (practical and commercial) areas of people’s lives. For more reading on this topic check out a post called “brands and social media”.

Outsourcing blogging and social media programs / 5 reasons

adam — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:58:13 +0000

There is little question that a well-executed social media program will generate new business by engaging your customers, increasing your “Google rank” and turbo charging word of mouth. The real question is the classic make or buy decision. Should we do this ourselves? Or should we outsource it? I believe there are 5 reasons to outsource the “heavy lifting” of your social media marketing.

TIME….Time hog number one is setting up your blog and linking it to your other social identities (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). This is not exceedingly difficult, but does require a focussed effort and for someone to learn basics and best practices around blogging and other platforms. There is absolutely a learning curve. If you outsource you are letting someone execute these basics who has done it many many times.
TIME….Time hog number two is staying current with technical changes in social media platforms. New features are constantly added to Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress. YouTube and the other key social media platforms…..someone needs to stay current, and that takes time.
"Time Hog"
TIME….Time hog number three is creating content. The single most important key to success in social media marketing is the ongoing creation of fresh and relevant content. Without it, there will be no engagement, no “Google juice” and no benefit. There are countless examples of companies starting with the best intentions, getting setup, and then failing over time to continue to create posts and content. It takes time.
TIME….Time hog number four is making sure that tagging and search engine optimization (SEO) tasks are being managed effectively. Whomever is creating content should be consciously working to make that content as findable as possible by Google and the various search engines.
TIME….Time hog number five is metrics. Traffic, visits, comments, engagement can and should be measured. Part of an outsourcing program should be measurement and analysis to gauge program effectiveness and make adjustments.

Social media is a powerful new form of marketing for small and mid-sized businesses, but most run very lean from a staffing standpoint and the basics of a good social media program can absolutely be outsourced. This does not mean that you should wash your hands of active content development and participation—-it simply means that many of the tasks can be efficiently outsourced. In fact, your input on content should be a critical component of any outsourcing program. For an example of custom (outsourced) blogs that have been created for small businesses…take a look at the sample sherpa blogs .

Health and Fitness just went digital with HealthFitSherpa

scasola — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:25:16 +0000

The time to get pumped up has officially arrived. Digital Sherpa is growing, and building a new brand around, well, body building. The NCI company dives into the health and fitness market with the release of HealthFitSherpa, a fixed-cost monthly subscription service aimed at industries focused on health, fitness, beauty, wellness, cosmetic, spa, nutrition and diet.

Following the lead of other successful Digital Sherpa ventures – such as DesignSherpa for the design industry and CommunitySherpa in the apartment community market – HealthFitSherpa offers health industry businesses a chance to expand their digital footprint with an original blog, Facebook page, Twitter presence and more.

The custom-branded approach means to improve search results, increase referrals and leverage social media tools to deliver fresh content and will ultimately impact a company’s bottom line. It’s a proven approach that offers measurable results.

“Social media marketing requires expertise, management and focus,” said Bill Pryor, business development director for HealthfitSherpa. “NCI has successfully created over 1,000 social media programs for local businesses in a variety of industries. HealthfitSherpa will now serve the health and fitness industry, which has natural communities ideal for this type of client and community engagement.”

Learn more about HealthFitSherpa here.

The Customer Experience Gap and How to Bridge It

ebrown — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:37:56 +0000

Our friend and customer service advocate, Becky Carroll penned an interesting post over on her blog, Customers Rock. The jest of the post is the significant disconnect with what companies think they are delivering relative to Customer Experience, and what their customers purport.

Understanding the principles of customer experience and actually delivering them do not necessarily go hand in hand. In 2008 Bain & Company found that while 80 percent of companies believe they deliver a superior experience to their customers, only 8 percent of those companies’ customers report having such an experience. Similarly, a CMO Council study found that fifty-six percent of technology vendors perceive themselves as being extremely customer-centric, compared with only 12% of their customers.

There is a clear disconnect between the experience companies think they deliver and what customers experience, perceive and – more importantly – desire. It’s not about what you think… it’s about what your customers think.

In order to determine whether you are disappointing, meeting or exceeding your customers’ expectations, you need to continuously listen. And it’s not as easy as it sounds. It goes far beyond monitoring the chatter on Twitter and other social media platforms or performing your annual customer satisfaction survey. It requires soliciting customer feedback on a regular, ongoing basis at multiple touch points, and closing the loop to address issues and understand root cause.

How to Bridge the Gap

I think part of the issue stems from confusing Customer Service with Customer Experience. It is much easier to Enhance the Customers Experience than to deliver stealer Customer Service. We confuse great customer service as being Ritz Carlton or Nordstrom, it isn’t, as customer service varies based on the product type, brand and product price point.

Folks can argue that if they want, but you simply do not expect the same level of customer service at McDonalds, a fast food chain as you do at Mortons, a high-end steakhouse. The problem with focusing on increased Customer Service is, irrespective of your product price point, folks always expect a little more “service” than your product offering is designed to deliver. Trying to out service your competitors is a race to eroding profits. I am not suggesting that a company only deliver minimal customer service, but am pointing out there are differences.

However, companies that shift their thinking toward Enhancing the Customers Experience should have a much easier time, and really speaks to shifts in your behavior to align with your brand. This was an epiphany moment for us at Urbane, as once we started behaving, consistent with our Brand, things became much easier and more clear, all of which centered around Enhancing the Residents Experience at each of the touch points throughout the resident life cycle.

What are your thoughts about this? Is there a difference between Customer Service and customer Experience?

Social Influencers Help You Sell More Stuff

ebrown — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 14:26:32 +0000

Social Influence Marketing, as described in Social Media Marketing for Dummies, is a technique that employs Social Media (content created by everyday people using highly accessible and scalable technologies such as blogs, message boards, podcasts, microblogs, bookmarks, social networks, communities, wiki’s and vlogs) and Social Influencers, (everyday people who have an outsized influence on their peers by virtue of how much content they share on line) to achieve an organization’s marketing and business needs.

Social Media, which was likely one of the most hyped buzzwords in 2008, refers to content created and consumed by regular people for each other.

Social Media and its making now allows everyone in the world to be a content publisher and arbitrator.

Social Influencers are the everyday people who influence the consumer as he/she makes a purchasing decision. Simply, the people who influence a brand affinity and purchasing decisions are Social Influencers. Engagement is a Lost Art, are you targeting Social Influencers as part of your overall marketing objectives?

Social influence is the change in behavior that one person causes in another, intentionally or unintentionally, as a result of the way the changed person perceives themselves in relationship to the influencer, other people and society in general.

Christine Thompson describes Social Influencers in her post titled Social Influence Marketing;

Key influencers – people who have almost celebrity status in the social media world – in some cases can exercise considerable influence on purchase decisions throughout the consumer’s buying process. Rarely does the consumer actually know these key influencers in real life.

Social influencers are people whom the consumer follows on Twitter or FaceBook, or whose blogs and product reviews appeal to the consumer. Their influence is greatest during the earlier phase of the buying cycle: awareness and consideration, but wanes during the action phase. Although the social influencers are likely to be within the consumer’s social graph, they may not actually know each other.

The greatest impact occurs through known peer influencers: colleagues, friends and family. How much impact these “known peers” exercise varies by product category and how much the consumer respects the person’s insight and expertise in that category. For example, a husband can influence the brand and model decisions when it comes to auto purchases or leases; however, he has no impact on purchase decisions for yoga classes, mats and accessories, or other yoga-related items. This is because I don’t believe he has an informed opinion in this arena.

Are you connecting with Social Influencers to drive your marketing needs and business needs?
Does your Digital Footprint have the required reach and inclusion of Social Influencers relevant to your brand?

Digital Marketing Starts with SEO

ebrown — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 19:14:12 +0000

I attended my first Social Media Seminar a few years ago in Columbus OH. The conference was put on by Jennifer Laycock, editor of Search Engine Guide. After having attended all sorts of apartment related seminars and events, that basically said the same thing year in and year out surrounding Apartment Marketing, it was real treat to further dig into Social Media Marketing with folks who were doing it.

I was pretty flattered when Jennifer reached out a few weeks later and asked me to write for her at Search Engine Guide, from a small business perspective, and relating to the various things we were doing in our own boutique apartment management business at Urbane Apartments. Although my writing there has been off and on over the last couple of years , mostly because of time constraints of operating a small business, I have learned a lot from both Jennifer and several other contributors. You can peruse those articles here if you like. Search Engine Guide is in the top ten highest ranking blogs in it’s class, with a significant following. I have also joined Jennifer on a series of small business panels at places such as SES Chicago.

One of the top contributors and one worth following his work is Stony deGeyter, President of Pole Position Marketing, a leading search engine optimization and marketing firm helping businesses grow since 1998. Stoney is a frequent speaker at website marketing conferences and has published hundreds of helpful SEO, SEM and small business articles.

Stoney pioneered the concept of Destination Search Engine Marketing which is the driving philosophy of how Pole Position Marketing helps clients expand their online presence and grow their businesses. Stoney is Associate Editor at Search Engine Guide and has written several SEO and SEM e-books including E-Marketing Performance; The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period!; Keyword Research and Selection, Destination Search Engine Marketing, and more.

Putting it all together

SEO isn’t especially difficult to do, but it does take time and enough knowledge to help you get started down the path to learn as you go. Many small businesses will try to save money by doing SEO on their own and they can be successful to a point, so long as they have the time needed to not only gain the knowledge but to implement it as well.

Here is Stoney’s series on the basics of SEO. Read up on these and you will be well on your way!