I’m a big Flip video fan from way back in the day – OK, only a couple of years ago, just before the company released its second major product version (which I waited for and purchased at Best Buy). I always admired Pure Digital Technologies, the Flip manufacturer, for its singular focus: making it easy and simple to upload your home videos to YouTube (through the use of a built-in USB plug). That’s all anyone in this social era wanted — at least for non-technical folks like me.

I digress, but not too far, because the other day I got an email advertisement from Flip (now owned by Cisco Systems following a $570M acquisition) promoting its holiday lineup. Something at the bottom of the email caught my eye: an offer to get an immediate $15 discount if I joined Flip’s Facebook page. So that’s how much a Facebook friend is worth, I thought.

It may not be as simple as that, but Flip is clearing investing in its Facebook and social media presence. The company, thanks in part to its promotion, is now up to 102K fans on Facebook – that’s a pretty large opt-in list of folks interested in engaging with the Flip brand.

I particularly love the company’s new “Do You Flip?” campaign, where they invite Flip users to upload their videos to their Facebook page. Then they display selected videos in their news feed. It’s a great strategy and a no-brainer — too few companies realize the value (and relative ease) of using social media to cultivate a community of brand advocates. It works in part because Flip is properly promoting its Facebook page across different marketing channels, such as its e-mail newsletter, and using incentives to get them there. Read the rest of this entry »

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How do you find people to follow on Twitter?

For me, I’ve found that one of the best ways is to search Twitter using keywords I’m interested in — words and phrases such as “PR measurement,” “social media measurement,” “digital PR,” “content marketing,” etc. I’m interested in these terms and want to connect with folks who share that interest. I’ll pick through the search results and look at different profiles and related Tweets and add people I think can add to the conversation. I’ve found it to be pretty effective, connecting with some great people.

This tactic works in reverse. If I’m searching for like-minded Tweeps using these terms, wouldn’t it behoove me to pepper in some of these terms in my own Tweets so people can easily find me as well? Yes and no. It makes no sense to throw certain certain terms in your Tweets in the name of optimization – you may show up in search results, but if it’s not meaty, people won’t care (or add you). However, it makes a lot of sense to think about your keywords if you’re delivering a substantive Tweet or engaged in a real conversation.

For example, a Tweet about measuring PR would be best served to use the phrase “PR measurement” than “PR metrics” or “measuring PR effectiveness” because that’s the term people are using by a wide margin. Likewise, the phrase “digital PR” seems to turn up better results on Twitter search than “online PR“.  More than once I’ve seen Twitter users promote a link to a story on “social media,” when the post is actually about social media monitoring or social media measurement. The point is, be specific.

Gaining followers is about engaging in conversation and having something new and interesting to say. It’s also about optimizing your exposure, including getting re-Tweeted, and increasingly, using the right keywords or phrase. Some of this may seem obvious to those with online marketing experience, but to others, maybe not.

By the way, I think I’ve just found a new keyword phrase to search for: “twitter keywords.”

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Our friends over at Tealium, a web analytics technology and consulting firm, wrote an excellent blog post the other day on the myths and facts surrounding social media measurement. Quite familiar with their technology, I offer this companion piece focused on measuring PR from a marketing perspective.

Myth: Current PR measurement methods are satisfactory

Fact: Current PR measurement is all over the place, and completely unsatisfactory. In fact, PR measurement has been nothing short of a black box. PR professionals, through no fault of their own, have been flummoxed by measurement details, and have traditionally offered up weak statistics — advertising values anyone? — to marketers demanding some type of ROI data. Measurements like tone of coverage definitely have their place, but they don’t speak to true business results.

Driving better results through PR and social media measurement.

Myth: You can’t measure PR in terms of traffic and conversions

Fact: You absolutely can, thanks to new web analytics technology from companies like Tealium. PR (and social media) can now be measured like any other online marketing campaign: in terms of traffic, conversions, leads and sales. You can see exactly which media outlets — blogs, trade press, mainstream press, and social media — deliver the most traffic and results. You can even measure the impact of online stories or blog posts that mention your company’s name, but don’t contain a direct link to your site. That last detail is huge – it’s the missing component for true PR and social media measurement. For the first time, PR and social media can be measured for ROI.

Myth: PR isn’t about measurement and ROI

Fact: It hasn’t been, because no one’s been able to measure it thus far. PR, though not corporate communications,  is a marketing channel, and therefore should be scrutinized like any other marketing channel. Why not? Yes, PR is about starting a dialogue, changing opinions, influencing the influencers, etc. But at the end of the day, especially during this economy, when you ask marketing executives what matters most, they’ll tell you: revenue and ROI.

Myth: I can’t compare PR measurement to my other online channels

Fact: Because Tealium technology integrates into your analytics tool, you can get real-time ROI metrics right alongside your other online acquisition channels: search engine marketing, banner ads, newsletter sponsorships, etc.

Myth: You can’t make actionable decisions from PR and social media metrics

Fact: Yes, you can. That’s what makes it so exciting. You can make big decisions, both strategic and tactical. For example:

•    Which social media programs should I invest in?
•    Should I invest in PR?
•    Which media outlets — blogs, trade press, business press, etc. – drive the best awareness and results?
•    Which specific sites or blogs generate the best response? Should I consider advertising possibilities on those sites?
•    Was it worth it spending $30K to develop that ‘viral’ Facebook application?
•    Did our online video initiative produce anything beyond a lot of video views?

The list goes on. With the advent of real technology, best practices around PR and social media measurement will become a growth area (it’s something Engage already specializes in). The best part about PR measurement is that it finally gives PR folks a long-awaited seat at the marketing table. Why? Because for the first time, they can sit down and provide bottom line results for their work.

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