Social Media Content Marketing

Otto the Texas Dog seen rescuing his kibble after Hurricane Harvey.  No shame here. If you've lived in South Florida for any given time, you've endured flooded streets, downed palms, broken roof tiles, and power outages for hours. But this week was gravely different. For many, Hurricanes Irma and Harvey lived up to their devastating hype. Towns were decimated and lives tragically lost. And now, oppressive Florida heat continue to claim victims . Facebook provides a helpful "mark yourself safe" feature for those in affected disaster areas to let loved ones know they're OK with just one click. But what about  businesses? Many of the South Florida and Houston-area companies who endured the recent hurricanes and came out virtually unscathed, have been oddly silent. And not because they're without power. Many corporations are trained to highlight only positive news, and bury the negative in fear of losing business. Human life is irreplaceable; so no compa...

Let's all give Senator Ted Cruz a collective "thank you" for what happened on his Twitter account today . Reportedly, someone was signed into the senator’s official Twitter account and clicked the heart symbol below an adult video creating a "@tedcruz liked this." It was taken down less than an hour later. “It was a staffing issue and it was inadvertent,” the senator said. “It was a mistake.” But Cruz's mistake hopefully got your attention and perhaps may just save your company from experiencing a similar public relations nightmare. Apparently, multiple staff members have access to the account and post on his behalf. Redundancy is not a bad thing when it comes to social media access. But who has access and where they access from is . And that lesson is an invaluable one. When you're in technology marketing, you tend to be on the forefront of new media. Being an early adopter goes with the territory, and social media was no diffe...

It's not always easy to trust someone; trust, like respect, is often earned. In business that trust often comes with great responsibility and at a price. When you assign a task to a subordinate, you expect it to get done. If it doesn't, there will likely be consequences. But what about when it's a co-worker or your superior? Be honest: are you just as confident it will get done? Some companies like to tout their benefits package as reason to join them, but its often the intangibles that attract the best people. A healthy working environment, one that fosters communication, encourages input from all employees, is much more inviting than discount park tickets and casual Fridays. I've found that the best companies tend to trust their employees. Not blindly of course, but give them the benefit of the doubt that they can and will do their job to the best of their abilities. I'm not talking about those first jobs you had as a teenager busing tables, stoc...

Web Retailers would love to somehow tell buyers from shoppers. With predictive analytics, they can. Depending upon the site and the products and services offered, some website visitors will purchase a product, fill out a form for more info, or schedule a demo.   Most however, will take no action.  Conventional website analytics can tell you where those visitors are coming from, what browser they’re using and other well, useless information for a digital marketer. Other software will tell you which Calls To Actions (CTAs) performed best, while some others (like heat maps) will tell you where their eyes focus when they peruse your site. All valuable information but still no way of telling buyers from the window shoppers. Leave your tarot cards and crystal ball at home, predictive analytics uses data mining, statistics, modeling, machine learning, and/or artificial intelligence to analyze historical data to make calculated predictions about the...

Winning an Olympic medal is an amazing achievement by athletes who have dedicated years to win the highest honor in their chosen sport. For businesses, the Top spot on a Google search in their product or service is now viewed as their digital Gold Medal. With talent, proper training, great coaching, and perseverance over time, finishing in the gold for an Olympic athlete is possible . Getting to the top of a common Google search may not be tougher, but it certainly isn't as straightforward. Longevity weighs heavy in Google algorithms for search engine results page (SERP) placement. If you have been established selling your product on the web longer than anyone, that bodes well for you. The main factor is of course relevance.  In addition to your website's age is it's relative content.  Then add in the basics of the desired keyword in your domain name, several other meta data factors, and the relevant companies and organizations that link, but that's just t...

In Alfred Hitchcock's classic horror film The Birds , a town is paralyzed when birds viciously attack unsuspecting citizens. A remake of sorts is being done online and it's called The Tweets. Designed to give the common man a voice to be heard, Twitter has now become a loaded gun for politicians and celebrities with which to shoot their feet. Everyday, bad tweets seem be pecking their way into the media creating more havoc and ill-will than promotion. Certainly some are bigger offenders than others, but it's not just the orange-crested loons making bad tweets. It's companies too. So what's a bad tweet and how do you rebound from them? Think of Twitter as a ticker tape to the world. It's a great way to quickly communicate with customers, vendors, fans, etc. Recently a well known marketing automation company released a tweet with "four-letter" words. It was trying to stand out with a catchy play on words, maybe appeal to a younger crowd I suppos...

Watch a millennial's face when their cell phone rings.  First, it takes them a second to realize what that sound is. Then you may witness a range of emotions, anywhere from confusion to annoyance to complete panic. One thing's for sure though. They won't answer. Actually fewer and fewer people do use their mobile phones to talk.  That's why phone carriers give you unlimited minutes now. ( And you thought it was because you were a loyal customer .)  Oh sure, that annoying business guy with the double non-fat, two Splenda upside down latte, who likes to broadcast his "win/win, no-brainer" deal to you and everyone else in earshot at the coffee shop still yaks on the phone but it's just part of the image he's brandishing.  But "live audio messaging" as it is better described now is passe. "So who are you listening to these days?," they ask as I walk on by with my earbuds on. "Uhm...another pe...

I did a search, clicked a link, and that website I just visited wants to know who I am. And when it asked, I ran. Or least, close the tab and moved on. Though their intent is most likely not for nefarious purposes, many websites want to know as much about their visitors as possible. They want to target content to me and marketing pitches. But there's a right and wrong way to go about this. Or better, effective and non effective methods. A common way now is to place a pop up ad to cover the content requesting your name and email before you can read their content. Think that will work? Only if you're trying to chase away visitors. Imagine going into your local market that offers free samples. "Sorry. Before you can have a taste of that ice cream, I'll need to see some ID?"  The hidden content method simply won't work because there are just too many alternatives out there for information. Do a search for topic, product or service and you'll get thou...

It's that time of year again when your Facebook feed and Twitter roll gets inundated with post after post condemning candidates in one political party or praising those in another. I've posted the occasional political cartoon and meme: Hillary tweeting dark thoughts in her dark glasses; The Donald being The Donald. Many would argue it was with the intent to influence or persuade. I maintain it's because it made me chuckle, but political commentary on social media has become no laughing matter. Outrageous comments expressing our views to anyone who listen.are what social media is for, right? Our candidates do it so why shouldn't we? It sure is tempting to share that observation you heard on the drive into work, that statistic you read online, that funny meme that lambastes that candidate you've never trusted, so why hold back? It's your page to rule. Delete those posts and opinions that you find outrageous and promote the ones that champion your caus...

Ready for one last social media prognostication for 2016? (Yes I know it's mid-January 2016, but that's just how I roll. *sunglasses drop in slowly over eyes*) Good, because there are social media trends that are starting and 2016 will see many changes in the landscape. And the sooner you see them, the sooner you'll be ahead of everyone else.  And topicality is what social media is all about, right? Social Media is now just media .  This should not be a big revelation because to be honest, it has always been just another form of communications  it's just that the terms public relations, marketing, and advertising were already taken. When you launch a new product, or in this case, a new medium, you need to simply explain what it is, how it differs with similar products, and list its benefits. At risk of sounding like a famous premature declaration let me just say: Mission Accomplished. The change has been gradual but more and more media outlets are avoiding the te...

I attended a Holiday Party this week. I mean, I think it was a party...   This is not an article on the  validity of the War on Christmas or the value of replacing the word Christmas with Holiday . No this is business. And about a business Holiday party where not only was "Christmas" removed from the party, the partying was removed from the party.  And the fun. Dickens knew how to throw a party - at least on paper he did. When I think of Christmas parties, I think of  A C hristmas Carol 's Fezziwig: young Ebenezer Scrooge's jovial boss. OK, I guess I think of Mr. Magoo's version first but I grew up with that Christmas Carol classic and still put "razzleberry dressing" on my morning toast. The point is that those were real Christmas parties back then. Plenty of food and spirits, music and dance, mistletoe and egg nog, and no liabilities. There was no drunk driving because everyone walked there - or perhaps rode a carriage pulled by a s...

It's one of the most debated questions in the social media realm. When tragedy strikes on such a worldwide level as it did this past week, we are all compelled to share what's in our hearts and minds. Sorrow, grief, anger, outrage, depression, fear, vigilance - the emotions overwhelm and often so does our need to be heard. Social media has made that easy, enabling anyone with access to a computer or mobile phone to do just that and broadcast what we want to the world. But should we? Take for example the facebook trend you now see that places a translucent French flag over your profile photo. From French nationals living abroad it was a heartfelt tribute of sorrow and solidarity. But with proliferation, the obligation to do the same increases. It becomes less a symbol of solidarity and more a membership card. Many of those profile owners have never stepped foot in France, but that said, does it preclude them showing their support? Does it mean you don't empa...

Photo: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228029 Social media best practices is often the topic of my column which is syndicated by several news services and tweeted to millions of readers. I've written two eBooks on social media best practices, and companies large and small hire me to create complex social media strategies and execute their plans. My newest client - the 19-year-old founder of Campus Thrift, ( www.campusthrift.com ) a new, online thrift store where only college students can buy and sell used goods - isn't much impressed with any of this experience.  Then again, she also happens to be my daughter... Like it or not, there is a generational gap that exists in the social media world, and it only seems to be widening. You're always going to to roll your eyes at the generation before you who did not grow up with that new technology - bet it the horseless carriage or SnapChat.  According to a social media demographic study last year in Business Insider ...

Social media lessons we can all learn from the most outspoken, opinionated, yet fascinating Presidential candidate. If you were slapped by a stranger, would you turn and run, restrain them, or hit back?  For many of us raised in and around New York City, a slap is returned with a closed fist to the jaw. Not fighting fair? The attitude is, if you make an unprovoked or unfair hit we will hit you much harder. This transcends socioeconomic class. Perhaps it's why one time New York City Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt would speak softly and carry that big stick. The same applies to verbal slapping which has moved for the most part from the streets to the Web. Twitter seems to be the arena of choice where tweets fly quickly with stinging jabs.  A football player disses a rival team; a rapper calls out another for not having street creds. The retorts that are often crude, inflammatory, libelous even - but good fodder for our reality-obsessed public that relishes these...

The best way to keep momentum in your company's social media efforts is to become a social media nutritionist and change the way you're consuming content. "Eat many small meals throughout the day" is the mantra of many a nutritionist when teaching clients on how to keep their metabolism going.  Your body is like a locomotive gaining momentum and energy from the frequent small feedings. Social media I will tell you works the same way. I've written about the importance of regular blogging, press releases, tweets but creating relevant content on a regular schedule isn't easy. It's not that we're lazy, it's that -- OK - we are lazy, or busy, or just fresh out of ideas. But that's unacceptable. The reason these lapses occur is because most  people write only when things need to be written and postpone it as long as possible ( remember college term papers?) But for those of us who make a living through writing know that writer...