HotHouse makes brands work for people online

HotHouse has been named as a Leader in Australian Interactive Marketing Agencies in a July 2009 report by Forrester Research, Inc.: The Forrester Wave™: Australian Interactive Marketing Agencies, Q3 2009.

Forrester’s first-ever evaluation of Australian interactive marketing agencies looked at 36 criteria and revealed a market that is split between its roots in technology and its emerging focus on marketing strategy. Agencies were placed into one of four “waves”: Leaders, Strong Performers, Contenders or Risky Bets. read more

The recent release of the Forrester Wave on Australian Interactive Marketing Agencies has stirred up howls of protest.

Whether the methodology was sound is not my call and I have not written this article to discuss the merits or otherwise of the report, apart from saying I’m really pleased and proud of how Hothouse fared in the report. read more

There is an enormous amount of debate about how ‘value’ is defined and measured on web projects, particularly ROI on content. This thorny issue is still not resolved, so I’m going to point you toward some places where robust debate is going on, and you can make up your own mind.

Online Metrics Insider: This is a subsite of the MediaPost portal that deals with all angles of the web measurement and analytics debate, including content. Recent article titles include “It takes a village to measure social applications,” “Does content matter?” and “Does online metrics need a stimulus package?”

Web Analytics Demystified blog: Eric Petersen has written one of the seminal works on using web analytics in business. His associated blog contains interviews, comments and news of interest in this area.

Real Time Content blog:  This blog is dedicated to personalisation within online video advertising. This link is a compilation of all their articles about measurement of online video content.

American Marketing Association: Summary of a presentation by Jim Sterne, chairman of the Web Analytics Association and author of Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success, on how defining the right metrics leads to online success.

If you have any other sites you want to nominate, please add them below in the comments.

Joe Pulizzi, mentioned in Simon’s previous post on online content, has an excellent blog on online content marketing. Here are some of his examples of corporates who are getting it right when it comes to online content:

MasterCard Small Business: Billed as “Solutions for companies with revenue less than$10 million”, this site is very heavily branded and oriented toward doing business with MasterCard, although it also contains a number of useful articles about running a small business. M/C reports that 50% of new small business signups come directly from those informational articles.

Lego Brickmaster Club: Joe Pulizzi has produced a very detailed analysis of this customer loyalty program on his blog, speaking with first-hand experience as the father of a six-year-old Lego fan! Regarding Lego’s online content marketing, Joe says that a site for ‘power builders’, plenty of user-generated content, user case studies and user discussion forums integrate well with offline collateral such as Brickmaster magazine to keep customers excited about Lego.

Proctor & Gamble’s Beinggirl.com: Produced by P&G’s Tampax tampon brand, this site mixes product information with, well, girl stuff. Joe Pulizzi writes: “P&G is very transparent on the site. Any person can tell that the site sponsor is Tampax. They also have a few product sections, one of which is free samples. But the majority of the site focuses on content for girls - music, discussion, video…it’s all here. And frankly, some of the discussion makes me thankful that I have two boys and no girls.” Research conducted by Forrester for P&G found that Beinggirl.com is four times as effective as a similarly-priced program using traditional media. That makes it worth closer study.

Earlier today Twitter launched a guide called “101 for business”. As the name suggests, it’s designed to explain to businesses how to use the popular Twitter service and  how to get the most out of it including  case studies.

“Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter.”

Some of the case studies are facinating:

Dell - uses Twitter (@delloutlet) to raise awareness about the brand, increase sales by selling product through special Twitter-only deals, and connect with customers via any one of their 80+ Dell branded Twitter accounts. Read the case study here.

JetBlue the US arline was one of the first major brands to join Twitter (@jetBlue) in 2007. They set out to help customers with travel problems, and also to provide customer service. Today they have more than one million followers and are often pointed to as an example of “smart corpoate twittering”. Read the case study here.

Teusner Wines is a boutique vinyard in the Barossa Valley “producing kick arse wines from some of the oldest vines in Australia”. For Teusner, Twitter (@Teusnerwine) is about building trust and loyalty with followers - and not selling to them. Teusner reach out and connect with people talking about the vinyard. They find out what they like and don’t like.  They provide third paty reviews of the wines. Read the case study here.

Pepsi is using Twitter as a faster and more personal way to connect with soda drinkers (the brand twitters as @Pepsi; the corporation twitters as @PepsiCo). They use Twitter to listen and talk to customers in an attempt to humanise the brand “and make it more accessible to consumers”. Read the case study here.

Read more case studies on Twitter 101 for business guide.

Audrey Myrden  is a friend of our colleagues at Marketing Angels and she needs our help.

Audrey is 42, 3 kids (7,5,2) + hubby but no family here and has already battled and beaten breast cancer.

Now she’s been diagnosed with a virulent form of brain cancer (think Chris O’brien, Stan Zemanak & Andrew Ollie).

Because of her breast cancer she’s been uninsurable and is rightly worried about the family she’ll leave behind.

Her friends and local community have organised a number of events starting in July to help raise funds.

We’re doing our bit and have put a team together for a tournament at Manly Golf Course on Thursday July 30.

To find out how you can help, visit the website Audrey’s Wish here. Every little helps.

Online brand communities take a lot of work and time to nurture and grow. How do you know they’re providing value for your company? Some recent work in this area includes:

Social Media Metrics Superlist – From the Interactive Insights Group, this is a constantly updated mega-list of measurement, ROI and key statistics resources. Bookmark this one and keep coming back to it.

The Five Ps of Social Media – Where do you Start? This is an excerpt from Lon Safko’s Social Media Bible, published on Fast Company. Check out the fifth P, Progress, for a brief discussion on measuring the value of your social media marketing.

LinkedIn – the Network Effect Revisited – From the IT World website. Quotable quote: “According to experts, Metcalfe’s Law of the network effect should not necessarily be employed by users in determining how many users to connect with on a service like LinkedIn.”

LinkedIn Superguide – Also from the Interactive Insights Group, this is a comprehensive list of links to help you understand and fully use all aspects of LinkedIn. Another one to bookmark.

As mentioned in our most recent podcast, LinkedIn can be used for personal and corporate branding. But does that translate into business? Here are a few case studies showing LinkedIn in action:

The Weather Channel – A video and article about how having a personal/business profile on LinkedIn can lead to an acquisition opportunity.

Comparing the marketing effectiveness of LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Stumbleupon – An e-business consultancy reports on the quality of traffic coming to its site and downloading whitepapers, etc. – LinkedIn stands out as the most productive feeder of traffic.

Networking with LinkedIn – If you’re into some offline reading, this page contains reviews of a few books that offer scores of case studies on how LinkedIn has been used successfully by businesses to “research prospective partners, find industry experts, locate and get background information on potential employees, perform research on competitors, contact media, and close sales.”

LinkedIn Blog – Yes, you’ll only hear positive stories here, but it’s a good place to read about the different ways LinkedIn is being used by its 41 million members.

It’s a grey line between your corporate presence and your personal brand when it comes to social media.

As the name implies, social media is about people – not just your customers, but also you and your colleagues. As such, it’s as much a personal branding tool as a corporate branding one.

When you set up a Twitter account to build relationships and (gently) talk about your company /product/service/event, you’re also building your own profile. If you’re writing for your corporate blog (like I am right now!), you and your company are in a symbiotic relationship that benefits both of you; if you broadcast your company connections on your Facebook account or are the admin for a Facebook fan page, you’re blending your corporate and personal image on several levels (which is why a lot of people choose not to do it).

The most obvious social media tool where this blending occurs is LinkedIn. LinkedIn has variously been dubbed an online resume, an online contact list and Facebook for business people. The idea of forming networks to advance business aims online is a powerful one, and more than 41 million people in 170 industries in more than 200 countries have bought into the concept.

Unlike most businesses, LinkedIn has experienced enormous growth during the global financial crisis as redundant or worried individuals join to extend their reach in the search for possible employment opportunities.

It’s also being used by more and more businesses as they encourage their senior employees to sign up (following the lead of junior employees who’ve already registered) and connect with potential customers (as well as potential future employers – such is the double-edged sword of social media).

Linking tips

The top social media experts use LinkedIn as a key component of building their personal/corporate brand online.

Chris Brogan who has built a vicarious interest into a career as a strategist and commentator on social media and whose blog is ranked in the top 10 of the AdvertisingAge Power 150, says that the most important thing to remember when putting together your LinkedIn profile is to think about who’s going to be reading your profile.

“The first horror show I see when reading other people’s LinkedIn profiles is that they’re written completely dry, as if robots are the only thing that will read them. Though one should write with (search) robots in mind, this is still a human network, so write as if you want someone to actually read your profile.”

He goes on to say that, “Make sure that when people read your job description, they are thinking about how to put you to work on their issues. I state my company’s primary functions in the first sentence of my current role, so that people can see what I’m bringing to the table alongside my own personal skills. Thus, my job description states what I’m doing, but also what I can do.” read more

HotHouse content director Ray Welling talks to communications director, professional networker and author Chuck Hester about using social media tools like LinkedIn to build both your corporate and your personal brand.

He says an attitude of helping others is the key to social media success. “The social media highway is littered with the bodies of companies who have tried to sell through social media and have failed miserably in the process.”

Listen to the podcast below.

 

 Chuck Hester Podcast [19:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download