Social networking is a prolific tool.  Ya think? It continues to connect us to friends, products, services and information faster than anyone could have ever imagined. While social networking is now a fact of life, it has been been hailed as the holy grail of marketing, or at least one of them.  An interesting byproduct of social networking is the natural emergence of social search.  Yup, social search is just peeking its head, and the implications for businesses, products, and brands could not be more profound.

Your friends tweet, write and update their statuses on various topics. They also read tweets, status updates, blogs and retweets, or share links and other information with their network. And while Google is busy snapping up social search start-ups who include your friends’ content in their search from the broader web, for example if you search for “New York Restaurant” on Google, and your friend has a blog about “New York Restaurants” then your friend’s blog will show up in your search.  Not sure the relevancy or value of this type of search, but like a lion waiting in the bush, I have learned to carefully size up new technologies and their uses, so I am taking a wait and see approach before I go after the game.

Here is another way to look at social search.  Everyone is already doing it, although businesses may or may not be listening. “What’s a hot spot in Barcelona?” one of my facebook friends asked?  Another, “Who know a good Ridgewood area wedding dress tailor?” Yet another, “Can anyone recommend a good pediatric dentist?” And so on…so intra-personal network search is indeed taking something that is alive and well, and with the emergence of sites like FourSquare and facebook Places, social search happens as people eat, shop, and do, yes, as people do.  So how do businesses best leverage this fast moving consumer behavior?  Here are three sure fire ways to get your enterprise going:

1. Understand it’s about integration of your marketing – All of your marketing communications assets must work together, especially the web. Ensure that your web assets speak appropriately to the depth and breadth of your market as well as your products and services.  Note that today, you will need more than a website to compete, in fact if you have a website in the traditional sense, then you have a typewriter.  Your Mar/Com campaigns must engage the tools of the web, including apps, social networking, and location based web services.

2. Your Web Reputation is Your Reputation – So true, so dangerous, so full of opportunity. Understanding what people say about you online, and where they say it is crucial. This is a great opportunity to listen to your market, adjust, and engage.

3. Cultivate Web Brand Ambassadors – There are people who love your brand and who will gladly serve as brand evangelists.  Engage these folks, on and offline to help you grow your business’ influence.

My next post will be on social commerce…stay tuned.

This past Monday I interviewed veteran Journalist, author, and cultural commentator TaRessa Stoval, managing editor of The Defenders Online. We talked about the changing face of the media and the medium and what that means to how we consumer, use, and interact with media.

You can listen to show by clicking here.

Many thanks to TaRessa for being on the show!

Writing a new post on “The New Normal.” Coming at you soon…

As technology continues to grow and the internet becomes a more common platform for business (believe it or not, many businesses still haven’t harnessed the internet), the amount of money spent on online ads has become, as you can imagine, fairly substantial. Although online advertising can be a more efficient way to target certain demographics than traditional media outlets, this does not always lead to greater results. According to a new study from MIT Sloan School of Management, the same search, and other technology, that has enabled advertisers to target particular audiences, such as men between 25 and 35 who work on Mac computers, is also creating greater online competition for the same audience, thus reducing profitability of advertising on any targeted web site.

If you think about it, this all makes all the sense in the world. And it isn’t enough that many online advertisers have only themselves to blame for fragmenting their own markets by hopping from one sexy technology or site to another, but now there is evidence that there is a finite amount of scree-estate available to compete for the attention of the viewer.

MarketingVox data suggest that the study’s findings take on greater relevance as vertical and hyper vertical ad networks continue to grow. Adify’s Vertical Gauge for Q3, brand advertising CPMs for various verticals continue to rebound from early 2009. Also, food CPMs are up 91% from last quarter and Real Estate CPMs are up 17%. As far as vertical brand advertising, both automotive and healthy living and lifestyle verticals contracted substantially.

Clearly this article suggests to advertisers and consumers alike that targeted ad dollars don’t necessarily create more efficacy or revenue, in fact, evidence, in this case, shows more targeted ad dollars are less profitable. It is critical that advertisers note the importance of integrated marketing strategies in their marketing communications campaigns…more to come.

I find myself broaching this important subject again. Where ever I speak, during client presentations, in the coffee shop, online forums, list-serves, etc., the hype about social networking continues.  Sure, in many important ways, social networking lives up to the hype, given the sheer numbers (people participating and their activity of course). Sadly, living the hype is not like hyping the hype, living the hype is less glamorous, I can assure you.

Here’s Why. It makes all the sense in the world to play in this space, but what good is it if you are not growing your network. Yes, there is value in being in touch with your customers, and social networking, gives you the opportunity to be exposed to your clients’ network. But isn’t the idea to grow your potential network so the influence of your brand, ideas, products, and organization grows?

My next post will be on the idea of dependence on social networking and the implications / complications that may arise…I’m also working on 10 ways to grow your network.

More to come…

So it’s been about fouryears since facebook redefined networking (MySpace fans, I do recognize that your site came first, but I’m on a roll here) and since, the world has come to see things just a bit differently. So here are some thoughts on what we have and have not learned about the new world.

1. Rush to fools gold – believe it or not, people still believe that you can get rich through social networking. This is Fools Gold 2.0. Yup, this is reminiscent of what happened with “the internet” about 15 years ago. The fact is, social networking takes time and work…one other thing, it’s not free. The medium may be free, but the work is not.
2. Who you tweeting to? – “I can get someone right out of college to do this stuff,” one of my current clients said to me when I was pitching his firm. “Certainly, you can.” I replied, “But will this person have the strategic background to build your network because if your network is not relevant, then there’s no reason to do this. Oh, and how are you going to keep your network interested in your firm.” Guess what? We got the account and the client is happy
3. Protect Your Brand – We now know that we need to protect our brands, products, and services on social networking sites. So it’s important that we secure these accounts even if we don’t intend to use them.
4. Your Network is Key – Building your relevant network takes time, but once it’s build it will serve you well, but only if you keep your network engaged. Are you measuring network growth? Are you measuring engagement? What are you doing for your network?
5. Social networking is the tip of the iceberg – It’s about integrating all the tools that the web offers and doing it well. Social networking is not a silo, it’s not an activity, and it must be a key part of your overall marketing communications strategy. And if it’s not, you’re probably dropping marketing bombs.

More to come.

I started my career working for legendary stock picker and investor Mario Gabelli. In my brief stint at Gabelli’s Rye, N.Y.-based firm, I learned much that has stuck with me to this day, including the basics of value investing. Value investing is about kicking the tires, doing your research from the ground up, and carefully evaluating a company and its stock based on its intrinsic value… before you pony up one dime for shares.

Value investing also looks at businesses in their totality and, just as importantly, over the long term. No flipping stocks, no short-term trades; value investors are overwhelmingly in it for the long run.

The era of managing quarter to quarter is over. If you’re in business, surely you’re in it for the long term, right? So your business, including your marketing approach, ought to reflect that reality. No one doubts Gabelli’s success, just as we all love to hear from Warren Buffet, the renowned value investor, pontificate about his latest corporate conquest. Both Buffet and Gabelli run their businesses the same way they invest: with an eye on value and for long-term success.What can we learn from these legendary investors about marketing and promotion? Here are four suggestions to include in your marketing plans that will deliver real value for your business:

Kick the Tires: Do your homework on marketing, including media. Not all media are created equal relative to your products, services, customers, and geographic service area. Take time to review all options before investing a medium. And because media companies are recognizing that we are in the age of engagement, many are providing advertisers with more venues to reach customers. They may include websites, networking opportunities, and direct mail, in addition to its core business offers. So do your homework on media and negotiate a good deal.

Avoid Marketing Bombs: Without a marketing plan, you’re dropping marketing bombs and wasting your hard-earned money. Recently, a CEO of a $500-million firm that sells telecommunications equipment said of his marketing: “Yeah, we got that idea, we tried it, and it didn’t work.” When I asked him about the context of that particular tactic within an overall campaign and why it did not work, he replied, “What campaign?” A tactical approach to marketing is far less effective than a strategic one, so invest in and employ market-driven strategy. Then measure your strategy in its entirety; don’t simply examine one tactic, no matter how important.

Know that People Buy From People: Bring your business out of the office. Target trade shows that have a close affinity to your firm. Investing in trade shows goes far beyond having a nice booth. It’s a great chance to network with other businesses, each a potential client. Trade shows allow you to measure yourself against the competition.

In addition, invest in opportunities to make personal connections, such as the simple act of taking potential clients to dinner. It may sound clichéd, but it’s the blocking and tackling that allows you to move down the field with consistency, and not the 60-yard “Hail Mary.” Very often, personal connections win more business than 9-to-5 sales tactics.

Do Good, Do Well: In the 1980s, American Express developed a unique campaign for their customers to help restore the Statue of Liberty. A penny for each use of the American Express card and $1 for each new card were donated to the Statue of Liberty Restoration campaign. In four months, $2 million was raised and, more importantly to American Express, its transaction activity increased by 28 percent. So integrating social causes into your marketing strategy will surely allow you to “do good”—while doing well.

PLAN FOR THE LONG RUN: The above are value-based tactics that should be included in your overall marketing plans. Don’t rely on one approach. Delivering value through marketing is ensuring that you integrate your tactics with business-driven strategy. So, if you agree with me that we’re in a new era of customer engagement, you’ll give your marketing plan a second look. If you don’t have a plan, build one around adding value to your business. And remember, that plan must deliver value to your market not just for now, but for the long run.

Here’s a brief interview with FIOS1 about social networking.

I was on fakeation (that’s a working vacation for the uninitiated), when my eyes turned to the television to catch Ford’s new advertising campaign.  The new ads feature Ford’s new tagline, “Drive the Ford Difference.”  But that’s not all, “Different is good,” they say.  Now with all the hurdles that Ford has to overcome, Ford is selling us “Driving the Ford Difference.”  I don’t know what that means, but I’m a good sport, I’ll play.  OK Ford, what is driving Ford difference?  If you can explain it beyond a tagline, I might be interested.  How does the Ford difference engage the customer? Was anyone at Ford’s advertising/MarCom department asking this question?

Once again we’re subjected to mass communications lip service, the same came from General Motors‘ recent “inspiring” video.  In this video, accompanied by iconic images of American flags, city scapes, Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlisberger’s Superbowl pass, GM seeks to “to be completely honest…start over in order to get stronger.” And another thing, GM wants us to know that they are “not going out of business,” but instead “is getting down to business…”

Once again, Madison Avenue and those buying Madison Avenue to continue to fail both the Auto Industry and the American Public.  Here’s how it probably went down (with the GM video):

Madison Avenue:  (this guy is wearing a pink open collar shirt with hair a little messed up, cause he’s creative…speaks real fast) Look, we need to appeal to the American public, so we’ll need a video of the Superbowl, Detroit skyline, and a bunch of robots building cars, sparks everywhere.  Strong, deep voice, authoritative.  We’ll use technology like Youtube, and it’ll be viral…and it’ll show the government and our investors we’re serious about this. What do you think?

GM Marketing Guy:  We’ve gotta do something fast, yeah, sounds good…

GM Marketing Guy’s Staff: (this is probably what they were thinking, but they didn’t say anything, because if they did they wouldn’t be team players)  Dude, what about the actual product, our finances, and actually selling cars? How do we do that, Madison Avenue?

I would be wary with businesses who lead with communications instead of good products.  Rebuilding brands, if that indeed is your direction, starts with rebuilding your products and business, not a one hit wonder PR video release. In Amazon’s most recent shareholder meeting, CEO Jeff Bezos said: “Advertising is the price you pay for having an unremarkable product or service.” Now, some may consider this media fodder, and Madison Avenue may have been offended by the statement, but as it applies to the American Automotive industry…if the shoe fits.  And now, the American Auto industry seems to be taking it’s own advertising to an unremarkable, new low.

Here some suggestions to ponder:

1. With all the technologies and brainpower resources available to both the automotive industry and their advertising firms, Ford and GM ought to invest business driven MarCom initiatives that engage people and drive people to their hard working dealerships.

2. Redefine the objectives of these campaigns to create more connections with the consumer.

3.  Develop a serious strategy to convert non-customers (meaning non-GM or Ford customers).  This would an on and offline strategy, and may or may not be advertising driven.

4. Continue to reach newly minted drivers. Get them young, satisfy them, and perhaps they become your brand champs.

5. Capitalize on the dealer’s strong local relationships by spending local dollars more effectively – perhaps helping local dealers upgrade dealer TV commercials produced by cable companies, that undermine both the national brand and the dealer’s brand. Or assisting the dealer by vetting marketing plans & not advertising plans to help drive business.

One last thing…I’d like to suggest that the American Auto Industry needs a chief marketing officer who is more connected to the products and consumer than Madison Avenue.  This person, let’s use the vernacular of the day to call him or her, the Auto Marketing Czar, would be responsible for the deployment of business driven MarCom initiatves to communicate the real value of American cars to the public, and perhaps that will make all “the difference.”

The American Auto Industry has the responsibility to its dealers, customers, and investors to step up their marketing strategy to truely reflect its business aspirations, and it has the resources to do it.

Come on Detroit, step up…take the challenge…we want you to succeed.

I am pleased to bring you an interview with Laura Occhipinti, entrepreneur and CEO of New Jersey Young Professionals. With over 800 members and growing, New Jersey Young Professionals takes social networking to a different level, allowing members to meet and connect both on and offline…

AK: So Laura, tell me about New Jersey Young Professionals?

LO: I tell people that NJYP is a social networking group but in real words it is for helping people to make friends.  I basically bring people together, stir them up, and in the end friendships are formed.  It would be impossible to tell you how many friendships were made over the last 5 years but I am sure the number is in the thousands.

AK: How did you get the idea for the business?
LO: I was 27 and living in Bergen County, where I grew up.  Then I got a new job and moved to Somerset County where I knew no one.  I wanted to have friends right there, where I was living so I search online for something to join and nothing came up so I started a group on Yahoo to make friends, and it worked.

AK:  From what I gather, you’re in the social networking sense in the true of the term. Tell a bit about how you build a network like yours.
LO: No one has ever asked me this.  Basically I go to many events and can easily meet 100 people a week.  People then connect to me/and vice versa via email, facebook, twitter, linkedin, and even via the NJYP.org website.  I have a great memory so I bring people together who should know each other.  Being self-employed you also attract others who are self-employed and those who want to “pick your brain.”

AK: Aside from your website, what online properties or websites have your used to grow or promote your business?

LO:  I do not think I’d be where I am today with out craigslist.  It is where I first listed my group and where I continue to post events.  I used Facebook a lot as well as LinkedIn and I just started to use Twitter.  Other than that I post events anywhere I can for free.  It’s easy to get stuff out there for free.

AK: What the main keys to the success and growth of your network?
LO: Word of mouth!  If you provide a good, quality service people will natrually tell others.  Young Professionals hang, almost exclusively, with other young professionals.  They’ll email each other about NJYP, share an event via a link, share via Facebook. It’s great!

AK:  What are the lessons that you have learned about online social media?
LO:  It’s a lot of work to keep up with everything!  The key is to be current and that means daily maintenance, sometimes hourly updating!  One day I’d love to hire a 20 year old intern to take care of all the online social media that drives traffic to NJYP.org.  They’d be so much better than me at it and they’d probably have fun too.

AK: What is your personal definition of social networking?
LO: Groups of strangers coming together at a set time/place for no other reason than to meet “strangers” and in most cases food and alcohol should be present:)

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article about social networking in a leading New Jersey business magazine. The story quoted several New Jersey based marketing firm execs who weighed in on social networking. The article found a consensus among these folks who opined correctly that social networking is still in its infancy, but wondered about the direct relationship between social networking and the bottom line. The article went on to say the following [editor's note - I have removed the names to protect the innocent]:

• “I think most people are probably savvy enough to know you can’t draw a line directly from a Facebook page to the impact on the bottom line,” but     building relationships with constituents through social sites will ultimately contribute to a company’s success, he said, in ways that may not be quantifiable.

• [Name Removed] compares the push to participate in social media to the early days of companies seeking higher ranking on Web search engines. With social media still in its early stages, [Name Removed] said there are no proven methods of how best to reach customers.  [Name Removed] said while many companies want to engage in social media-based marketing, she warns that few know what to expect. Taking time to understand how the new playground functions can save businesses from a few headaches. “Corporate America isn’t quite ready for this interactive marketing highway that we are going on,” she said. “With this two-way street, they can’t control [the interaction] anymore.”

While the article suggested, correctly, that social marketing efforts ought to be tied into integrated marketing efforts, it completely ignored certain business driven realities of the medium and went on to substantiate the experience of those quoted in the article.  I called the reporter to let him know that, indeed, you can quantify the contributions of social networking to the bottom line. I provided the reporter with several cases from our firm showing him the direct correlation between successful social networking efforts and the bottom line. Other firms who work within, and understand the nature of the medium have done the same for their clients.  The reporter rationalized that the purpose of the column was simply to point out that social networking is no panacea, that there are still miles to go before we perfect the medium for business.  Agreed and if you read my previous posts on this blog, you’ll see how much I agree. But as much as I agree, I cannot accept the fact that the other side was not told.

The truth is that social networking takes work. It takes time, it takes strategy, and moves in real time.  This is not easy, and not easily explainable. And yet, we have the other extreme where the corporate business media make it sound like you can sign up for Twitter and make a million dollars.  The blinding speed in which people adopt, and are attracted to social networking, certainly does not help.  Which means, that as marketing/advertising/PR/communications professionals, we have to stay not only on top of what is happening, but provide meaningful interpretation for our clients in order to best leverage the medium to advance their business goals.

But there are certain realities that marketing and PR folks will not speak about in public. Frankly many traditional marketing firms are very, very afraid of social networking, because social networking, if done right, is a game changer, an eminent threat to their bottom line.  Much like the Internet decimated newspapers because of their their head in the sand rigidity about protecting their revenue stream, newspapers were like the proverbial frog who hangs out in a slowly boiling pot until it’s too late. Traditional marketing and PR firms will soon suffer the same fate, unless they begin to change their business model, and delve deeper into social networking to uncover real value and meaning for their clients.

Take a look at the last quote above from the article. With all due respect to the depth and breadth of the experience of the marketing executives who were quoted, but, have these people been on the Internet? Have they looked around to see how “corporate America” is utilizing social networking and the web? Have they seen major international / national brands direct people from TV commercials straight to their Facebook, rather than their own websites?  Do they realize that “marketing and advertising” or a very good portion of it, is so 20th century, and engagement is about today and tomorrow. Have they heard of the iPhone and it’s billion dollar earning apps?  I am sure that these folks have heard the calls of major brands like Procter and Gamble, American Express, Verizon, who understand that their businesses indeed do not have control of their brands, but they’ve adapted by developing strategies to engage their customers to proselytize for them and advance their business.  Have they attended the many leading conferences, where the Global marketers have called on Madison Avenue to stop wasting their money and their time?

Head in the sand strategy seemed to have worked fine for our banking system, right? I make the same analogy here, marketing and advertising firms have a responsibility to their clients rethink and reshape the way they do business. Because like newspapers, if they keep the old model close to their vest because they don’t understand the realities of the day…well, need I say more…

I’ll post about the imperfection of social networking in my next blog…more to come.