As a marketing professional, people ask me questions like, "How many unique visitors do you think you get me in a month," or "How many sales will you be able to generate?" Being the truthful person that I am, these types of requests put me at a loss for words because reliable figures take time to generate.
My last post was about the challenging issue of predicting ROI and conversions. Again, these types of metrics can be viewed as a way to assess the performance of what has already been done. This is obviously different from wanting to know what will happen during the course of your campaign.
Reporting and analysis during the beginning stages should be focused on collecting solid baseline data. Baselines are used in science research. They can be thought of as snapshots which tell you about the average level of performance for a specific part of your campaign. For example, you would have a baseline for Twitter and a different one for Facebook.
Wordnetweb.princeton.edu describes the concept of baseline as, "an imaginary line or standard by which things are measured or compared."
Getting reliable "snapshot" data requires that you collect information on numerous instances. More is better. For example, if you are trying to determine the average number of Facebook fans acquired per month, it's better if you had data for 18 months as opposed to 2.
So if your campaign did exceptionally well during the first two weeks, it's silly to use these numbers to gauge your success for the next two months. I'm sure this sounds really obvious. But a lot of people do this. Looking at large spans of time will only serve to help you in the long run.
Once you establish solid baseline figures, you can measure the performance of any new advancements or additional components to your campaign.
Because my original background is in science, it's natural for me to see how basic practices in research design would have a fitting role in marketing. I was thrilled when I found this article which outlines a very practical method for measuring your ROI.
http://www.stayonsearch.com/how-to-measure-social-media-roi
This is definitely a post to not only bookmark, but to use as well.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
The Reliability of ROI's and the Scientific Process
http://sociallogic.blogspot.com/2010/04/conversions-roi-creating-baseline.htmlMost of us are aware that the issue of predicting conversions figures like ROI, for example, is a tricky one in social media marketing. Clients obviously want to make wise investment choices. And in this economy, no one wants to throw money out the door. Marketing professionals obviously want to win projects and are pressured by the need to provide assurance on the value of their time and efforts spent.
Making quantitative assessments requires the obligation of providing valid and reliable predictions. Understanding why it is tricky to promise conversions and ROI during the initial planning stages of a campaign can be explained by understanding the scientific process.
We depend on scientists to tell us valid information. A knowledge of basic research concepts will help us make better decisions in social media marketing.
Multiple, Interacting Variables
Before I elaborate further, let's think about how conclusions are derived in the scientific world.
1. You have an independent variable. This is whatever is conjectured to cause a specific effect.
2. You also have a dependent variable. In simple terms, think of this as the label for the results that you are testing.
In other words, the independent variable is supposed to cause the dependent variable to occur.
In a controlled experiment, you can only test one variable at a time. If you have several variables occurring, you would not be able to conclude that the results were caused by a specific factor.
Campaigns occur in the real world, not in controlled settings. There are too many variables interacting with each other.
The success of Twitter campaigns, for example, depend on factors like
During the course of a campaign, other variables and dynamics often occur. Although a marketing specialist can have extensive experience with a particular vertical, they also have to take into account their client's individual characteristics as a brand. There is no point for a brand to be exactly like everyone else. They have to differentiate themselves in order to survive. These points of differentiation introduce other variables into the picture.
Repeatable Testing
Large numbers of people are necessary to form valid reliable conclusions. Are you going to make global strategic conclusions based on a group of 20 people? Or would it make sense to utilize knowledge based on hundreds or thousands of members in your target audience
Scientific conclusions are founded on numerous tests on large numbers of subjects to ensure reliability. Sometimes a result occurs due to chance. Repeating experiments is necessary to rule out chance occurrences.
Campaigns can be tested and measured to some degree (e.g. display ads). However the market, for the most part is dynamic and in constant motion, as opposed to static and predictable.
Establishing quantifiable parameters around a given marketing campaign is not an impossible feat. A lot of thoughtful consideration needs to be done to form any type of conclusion that is reliable.
* Now that you are aware of the challenges of predicting ROI and conversion figures, here is a solution.
Making quantitative assessments requires the obligation of providing valid and reliable predictions. Understanding why it is tricky to promise conversions and ROI during the initial planning stages of a campaign can be explained by understanding the scientific process.
We depend on scientists to tell us valid information. A knowledge of basic research concepts will help us make better decisions in social media marketing.
Multiple, Interacting Variables
Before I elaborate further, let's think about how conclusions are derived in the scientific world.
1. You have an independent variable. This is whatever is conjectured to cause a specific effect.
2. You also have a dependent variable. In simple terms, think of this as the label for the results that you are testing.
In other words, the independent variable is supposed to cause the dependent variable to occur.
In a controlled experiment, you can only test one variable at a time. If you have several variables occurring, you would not be able to conclude that the results were caused by a specific factor.
Campaigns occur in the real world, not in controlled settings. There are too many variables interacting with each other.
The success of Twitter campaigns, for example, depend on factors like
- The quality of a brand's offerings
- The popularity of a brand's offline presence
- Whether or not a brand is natural social part of our culture. (i.e. do people talk about toothpaste and paper towels?)
- How well the Tweets are written
During the course of a campaign, other variables and dynamics often occur. Although a marketing specialist can have extensive experience with a particular vertical, they also have to take into account their client's individual characteristics as a brand. There is no point for a brand to be exactly like everyone else. They have to differentiate themselves in order to survive. These points of differentiation introduce other variables into the picture.
Repeatable Testing
Large numbers of people are necessary to form valid reliable conclusions. Are you going to make global strategic conclusions based on a group of 20 people? Or would it make sense to utilize knowledge based on hundreds or thousands of members in your target audience
Scientific conclusions are founded on numerous tests on large numbers of subjects to ensure reliability. Sometimes a result occurs due to chance. Repeating experiments is necessary to rule out chance occurrences.
Campaigns can be tested and measured to some degree (e.g. display ads). However the market, for the most part is dynamic and in constant motion, as opposed to static and predictable.
Establishing quantifiable parameters around a given marketing campaign is not an impossible feat. A lot of thoughtful consideration needs to be done to form any type of conclusion that is reliable.
* Now that you are aware of the challenges of predicting ROI and conversion figures, here is a solution.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
"How To" Advice: When There is Too Much Of It.
Headlines that offer to advice on how to do something to make your life better are very catchy.
Don't get me wrong. I like advice. I like to give advice and consider the helpful information of other people. I'm all in favor of people making efforts to improve and do better.
Advice is an attention getter. It implies a promise to help make our lives better. And this is what causes us to immediately respond.
It makes us feel good when we've read through the information. But do we ever really follow through and implement a new plan of action based on this new knowledge?
If the advice was something that we actually searched for, then I would say yes. But if the advice was something that we stumbled upon, it's easy to just leave it on the back burner, even though it offered helpful insight. It becomes easier to collect information than it is to implement it.
I've been through this many times before. I feel guilty when I don't take action to change something or move to the next level.
This is a perpetual cycle for a lot of people. The best way to address it is to really make a commitment to continuously evolve ourselves and our work. We can make the choice to be one of those people who reads a lot and overly indulges in the intellectual aspect of it. Or we can make the choice to make real changes happen.
Just as metatags help in web development, metacognition is something we can use to manage the information we come across on a day to day basis. Metacognition involves having thoughts about thoughts.
- 10 Ways To Monetize Your Social Network
- How to Use Customer Insight to Improve Your ROI
- Smart Tips on Reducing Clutter in Your Home or Office
- 4 Mistakes You Should Never Make In Your Marketing Campaign.
Don't get me wrong. I like advice. I like to give advice and consider the helpful information of other people. I'm all in favor of people making efforts to improve and do better.
Advice is an attention getter. It implies a promise to help make our lives better. And this is what causes us to immediately respond.
It makes us feel good when we've read through the information. But do we ever really follow through and implement a new plan of action based on this new knowledge?
If the advice was something that we actually searched for, then I would say yes. But if the advice was something that we stumbled upon, it's easy to just leave it on the back burner, even though it offered helpful insight. It becomes easier to collect information than it is to implement it.
I've been through this many times before. I feel guilty when I don't take action to change something or move to the next level.
This is a perpetual cycle for a lot of people. The best way to address it is to really make a commitment to continuously evolve ourselves and our work. We can make the choice to be one of those people who reads a lot and overly indulges in the intellectual aspect of it. Or we can make the choice to make real changes happen.
Just as metatags help in web development, metacognition is something we can use to manage the information we come across on a day to day basis. Metacognition involves having thoughts about thoughts.
- So the first thing to do when we find information that we plan to use is organize it. Create folders in your bookmarks list and organize all the links that you plan to revisit. If its a loose piece of paper, punch holes in it and save it in a binder. If you are reading a book, underline what is most relevant to you. And even take steps to type up an actual workable list for yourself that you will revisit as many times as needed.
- Then instead of trying to tackle the entire list, ask yourself which piece of information is most directly relevant to an issue that you are trying to solve in your life. It's usually best to go with your first instincts as opposed to your rationalized thoughts.
- Most importantly, commit this information to paper and stick it on a corkboard or tape it somewhere so that you won't forget about it. Try to mentally see how this piece of information applies to you or your project. And again, commit this to paper so that you will remember to actually implement this new piece of information.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Threadless- A Social Media Campaign to Learn From
When people first start to consider social media as part of their marketing efforts, the first thing they think of is "money." This is natural tendency of course. But thinking of dollars every minute throughout the duration of your campaign will only stifle it instead of moving you towards increasing returns.
A healthier perspective is to ask yourself, "how can I interact with my market and build a stronger relationship with my customers?" A name and a logo don't give people a strong enough reason to choose one company over another. A personalized engagement is. Aren't you more likely to choose a company whom you've had a positive personal interaction with. Or would go with one because you liked their name, logo and tagline?
"People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel." I used this quote in another post by Maya Angelou. But since it is an important lesson to keep in mind, I thought to include it again.
Threadless is an example of a company who executes social media successfully by prioritizing quality interactions above everything else. In case you are not familiar with the name, they are a youth culture T-shirt company that lets their target market participate in designing and voting for shirts. Here is a video with Bob Nanna of Threadless.
As you can tell, their social campaign is quite thoughtfully done. It's a great example that illustrates how returns will follow with consistent quality engagement.
A healthier perspective is to ask yourself, "how can I interact with my market and build a stronger relationship with my customers?" A name and a logo don't give people a strong enough reason to choose one company over another. A personalized engagement is. Aren't you more likely to choose a company whom you've had a positive personal interaction with. Or would go with one because you liked their name, logo and tagline?
"People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel." I used this quote in another post by Maya Angelou. But since it is an important lesson to keep in mind, I thought to include it again.
Threadless is an example of a company who executes social media successfully by prioritizing quality interactions above everything else. In case you are not familiar with the name, they are a youth culture T-shirt company that lets their target market participate in designing and voting for shirts. Here is a video with Bob Nanna of Threadless.
As you can tell, their social campaign is quite thoughtfully done. It's a great example that illustrates how returns will follow with consistent quality engagement.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
What Marshmallow Can Teach You
Success is largely determined by one's ability to delay gratification. This applies to just about any endeavor. Being the kind of person who likes to observe things, I noticed that social media and online marketing are no exceptions.
The Marshmallow Test & Delayed Gratification
Walter Mischel, a Standford psychologist, conducted a delayed gratification study in the 1960's on a group of kids. He gave each of them a marshmallow. They were told they could earn another one for being patient, if they refrained from eating it (for 20 minutes) until the instructor came back.
Some of the kids ate their marshmallow right away. Others resisted their impulse and waited. Mischel followed up with both groups 14 years later.
The kids who immediately ate their marshmallow were described in these later years, by parents and teachers as "stubborn, prone to envy and easily frustrated." (fitzvillafuerte.com)
The kids who waited were "more self-motivated, educationally successful and emotionally intelligent." (fitzvillafuerte.com) They even scored higher on their SAT's. You can read more details about their career success as adults in newyorker.com.
Here is a reproduction of the marshmallow test
Gratification Delay and Online Marketing
There are 2 ways to acquire new business/ traffic. Please note, I am not saying that one is better than the other. I am just saying that there are 2 routes for marketing. Ideally, both should be done for optimal results.
1. short term tactics
2. long term tactics.
Patience for number 2 is obviously needed.
The Short Term Path
Examples of short term tactics include:
Short term tactics give you fast results. But guess what? They are done by practically everyone. Eventually, these do hit a point of diminishing returns. When you rely too heavily on them, you lose opportunities to develop and differentiate your brand. In the eyes of your target market, you are just a name in a sea of comparative companies.
The Long Term Path
What I call long term tactics are those things that strike most companies as frivolous, fluffy, nice to haves. Upon first impression, they seem like a waste of time. But they are all ways to present unique philosophies & perspectives. And they allow you to entertain, engage and develop quality relationships that motivate brand loyalty, greater visibility and recognition.
These are things like:
When done correctly with the needs of customers fully in mind, these kind of strategies build valuable sentiment. I can just imagine some readers vehemently resisting this concept. What does touchy-feely, sentiment have to do with business?
Well I've already broken one of the rules of blogging, which is to keep posts short. So I will just present a quote by Maya Angelou which sum up the answer really well.
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
In the eyes of prospective customers, users, members etc, do you want to be remembered or forgotten?
Again, I am not saying you should ditch all short term marketing strategies. They just need to be balanced out with the foundation building that long term strategies require. When you reach the point of diminishing returns, there will be no need to worry if you've laid the groundwork for increasing returns to come your way.
On this final note, here are more words of wisdom by Maya Angelou.
"All great achievements take time"
The Marshmallow Test & Delayed Gratification
Walter Mischel, a Standford psychologist, conducted a delayed gratification study in the 1960's on a group of kids. He gave each of them a marshmallow. They were told they could earn another one for being patient, if they refrained from eating it (for 20 minutes) until the instructor came back.
Some of the kids ate their marshmallow right away. Others resisted their impulse and waited. Mischel followed up with both groups 14 years later.
The kids who immediately ate their marshmallow were described in these later years, by parents and teachers as "stubborn, prone to envy and easily frustrated." (fitzvillafuerte.com)
The kids who waited were "more self-motivated, educationally successful and emotionally intelligent." (fitzvillafuerte.com) They even scored higher on their SAT's. You can read more details about their career success as adults in newyorker.com.
Here is a reproduction of the marshmallow test
Gratification Delay and Online Marketing
There are 2 ways to acquire new business/ traffic. Please note, I am not saying that one is better than the other. I am just saying that there are 2 routes for marketing. Ideally, both should be done for optimal results.
1. short term tactics
2. long term tactics.
Patience for number 2 is obviously needed.
The Short Term Path
Examples of short term tactics include:
- email marketing
- pay per click
- SEO
Short term tactics give you fast results. But guess what? They are done by practically everyone. Eventually, these do hit a point of diminishing returns. When you rely too heavily on them, you lose opportunities to develop and differentiate your brand. In the eyes of your target market, you are just a name in a sea of comparative companies.
The Long Term Path
What I call long term tactics are those things that strike most companies as frivolous, fluffy, nice to haves. Upon first impression, they seem like a waste of time. But they are all ways to present unique philosophies & perspectives. And they allow you to entertain, engage and develop quality relationships that motivate brand loyalty, greater visibility and recognition.
These are things like:
- regular blogging
- team brainstorming
- white papers
- quality, personable networking
- professional photography
- thoughtfully produced video content
- feedback gathering to evolve your offerings
- podcasts
- social network tools, community building etc.
When done correctly with the needs of customers fully in mind, these kind of strategies build valuable sentiment. I can just imagine some readers vehemently resisting this concept. What does touchy-feely, sentiment have to do with business?
Well I've already broken one of the rules of blogging, which is to keep posts short. So I will just present a quote by Maya Angelou which sum up the answer really well.
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
In the eyes of prospective customers, users, members etc, do you want to be remembered or forgotten?
Again, I am not saying you should ditch all short term marketing strategies. They just need to be balanced out with the foundation building that long term strategies require. When you reach the point of diminishing returns, there will be no need to worry if you've laid the groundwork for increasing returns to come your way.
On this final note, here are more words of wisdom by Maya Angelou.
"All great achievements take time"
Friday, January 15, 2010
Peppermint Bark and the Social Experience
During the first week of January 2010, I had my very first taste of peppermint bark. I'm not a big fan of candy canes, so the idea of peppermint+ bark was not particularly appealing to me.
But it seemed like I was seeing it everywhere. Martha Stewart has a recipe for making this yourself. And as with all her projects, she showed a really pretty picture of the final product on her website. Every time I went to Trader Joe's I saw the boxes of peppermint bark on the shelves.
So over this past week, I decided to take the plunge and try the one by Trader Joe's. I've never been so wrong about a candy in my life! I am absolutely in love with peppermint bark right now.
(image courtesy of houseoffowler.com)
In fact, I was so enamored with Trader Joe's peppermint bark that I decided to Google it. Lo and behold, a lot of other people were also inspired to talk about peppermint bark online (particularly Trader Joe's versus the William's Sonoma version)
Here is a partial list, in no particular order
1. Waterowl.blogspot.com
2. Chowhound.chow.com
3. Typetive.com
4. Gothamist.com
5. Epinions.com
6. TraderJoesfan.com
7. Gigi-Reviews.blogspot.com
Heck. Even Amazon sells Trader Joe's peppermint bark. ($14.95 looks pricey. But you are getting a lot of peppermint bark)
Lesson of the day
If anyone is still asking about how they can get people to talk about their product online, the answer is to make it good and worth talking about.
When I was on LinkedIn, a title caught my eye, "Are You Creating Evangelists?" What a question! Most people...and this even includes major corporations will reluctantly admit that the answer is no. It's so easy to get caught up in short term seemingly urgent details. And we brush aside the things we need to do to create brand advocates. Rochelle Moulton, the author of this post, gives some great advice on how to do this.
I doubt that the people behind Trader Joe's sat around and asked how they could create evangelists. More likely than not, they were just concerned with providing quality food products & trusted that people would be happy to spread the word. Without direct effort, they got like me to be their evangelist! The other day I did some tweets about their baklava.And today I am publishing this blog about their peppermint bark.
This is just one example. It may not apply in this exact form to every business. It might be best for you to make deliberate efforts to create brand advocates as Rochelle Moulton suggests.
Regardless of what industry you are in, you need to make deliberate efforts to make your customers happy.
If you are not sure what to do, reach out and get direct insight from them.
But it seemed like I was seeing it everywhere. Martha Stewart has a recipe for making this yourself. And as with all her projects, she showed a really pretty picture of the final product on her website. Every time I went to Trader Joe's I saw the boxes of peppermint bark on the shelves.
So over this past week, I decided to take the plunge and try the one by Trader Joe's. I've never been so wrong about a candy in my life! I am absolutely in love with peppermint bark right now.
(image courtesy of houseoffowler.com)In fact, I was so enamored with Trader Joe's peppermint bark that I decided to Google it. Lo and behold, a lot of other people were also inspired to talk about peppermint bark online (particularly Trader Joe's versus the William's Sonoma version)
Here is a partial list, in no particular order
1. Waterowl.blogspot.com
2. Chowhound.chow.com
3. Typetive.com
4. Gothamist.com
5. Epinions.com
6. TraderJoesfan.com
7. Gigi-Reviews.blogspot.com
Heck. Even Amazon sells Trader Joe's peppermint bark. ($14.95 looks pricey. But you are getting a lot of peppermint bark)
Lesson of the day
If anyone is still asking about how they can get people to talk about their product online, the answer is to make it good and worth talking about.
When I was on LinkedIn, a title caught my eye, "Are You Creating Evangelists?" What a question! Most people...and this even includes major corporations will reluctantly admit that the answer is no. It's so easy to get caught up in short term seemingly urgent details. And we brush aside the things we need to do to create brand advocates. Rochelle Moulton, the author of this post, gives some great advice on how to do this.
I doubt that the people behind Trader Joe's sat around and asked how they could create evangelists. More likely than not, they were just concerned with providing quality food products & trusted that people would be happy to spread the word. Without direct effort, they got like me to be their evangelist! The other day I did some tweets about their baklava.And today I am publishing this blog about their peppermint bark.
This is just one example. It may not apply in this exact form to every business. It might be best for you to make deliberate efforts to create brand advocates as Rochelle Moulton suggests.
Regardless of what industry you are in, you need to make deliberate efforts to make your customers happy.
If you are not sure what to do, reach out and get direct insight from them.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
The Spirit of Engagement
Social Media & Common Sense
Some things in life happen through the right attitude or spirit. Remember when Jack Skelington used equations to analyze and figure out the Christmas spirit in Nightmare Before Christmas? Pretty silly isn't it? Check out 9:30 in the video clip below.Likewise, analysis can only get you so far when it comes to social media. Many people really miss the point when it comes to engaging online audiences. It has become needlessly complicated.
Getting people to talk about your brand does not result from sheer technical prowess. And nor should it happen automatically just because you've built an awesome site.
Believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there who seem to believe this. Maybe this is what happens when money and projects are at stake.
The Business of Online Marketing
Professionals in social media have a strong need for measurable parameters to forecast outcomes. This is understandable though.
Business is a serious game. But it doesn't need to be that serious, especially if it makes brands less appealing to audiences. And formalities shouldn't result in rigid overly conventional practices. If they prevent "outside the box" thinking, it's time to restructure outmoded & ridiculously linear ways of doing things.
Providing Experiences
Engaging your audience is about capturing their interest. And just as you can't come up with a formula for capturing Christmas spirit, you can't come up with a formula for online engagement.
Yes you can look at behavioral data to see what types of content get the highest numbers. But anyone can do this. But if you don't care about the quality of your selection, then no one else will either.
Behavioral data can be used as a general gage to see what your audience is interested in. Take this information and add your own personal touch. Then honestly ask yourself if this is interesting to you. And ask others for help as much as you can for their feedback.
If this sounds fluffy, think again. Social media is about sharing and being social.
With methodology aside, the spirit behind online engagement is about providing fresh and exciting experiences to audiences. All of us are inspired to share and talk about web content that is striking to us in some fashion.
So why not provide the same quality to your own content? Why not become focused on providing great experiences for people who come to your site? Either find a way to do it yourself, or get someone to do this for you.
Sound Advice
In my last post, I created a list of Jack Trout quotes. I think a few of them are relevant here.
- Common sense is your guide
- Research can obscure the obvious. A flood of data should never be allowed to wash away your common sense and your own feeling for the market
- When presented with a simple obvious strategy, many clients are not impressed. They are often looking for some clever, not so obvious idea.
You'd be a complete fool to ignore them.
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