Dave Sloan, President of CATA finds the powerful impact of social media energizing.  Dave laughs at the recollection of some “experts” who said social media would kill major events and conferences because of the online availability of the content.  But the opposite turned out to be true.  Social Media has helped dramatically increase interest and attendance at the Auto Show.

This year will be the best Chicago Auto Show ever and we’re excited to see all the new interest and participation that will come from the most comprehensive social media PR plan.   I hope to see you at the Show!

Almost every non-spontaneous purchase includes the use of the internet as part of the purchase cycle.  Marketing and PR success requires knowledge of the top keywords buyers use to research their upcoming purchase and then integrating them in all promotional materials aimed at your audience.  Linking PR materials and syndicating them with marketing materials leads to better audience penetration, awareness and sales.

Sprint’s media mix, with the dominant focus on digital, is indicative of what will happen with all promotion, whether it’s B2B or B2C.  Don’t wait.  Evaluate your digital and traditional PR and marketing with an eye on your audience media habits.  If you do this objectively, you’ll find opportunities to improve your campaigns and reach more customers with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

I was sitting next to a woman and her phone rang and before the chime could make it to the second ring, the woman behind us scolded her and told her to turn off her phone.  When another woman spoke quietly to her friend in another seat, the Hominid behind me leaped again and asked her forcefully to be quiet.  I’ve seen this behavior a few times.

I’m all for quiet in quiet cars but we need some forgiveness for people who aren’t purposely violating the rules.  Minor infractions are almost always accidents but some hominids cherish their opportunity to exhibit control.  What does this have to do with marketing?   I believe this same species has been criticizing others in social networks for years.   There’s also the TMI gang (too much information) we have to suffer with.  Bawdy displays of too-much-information on Facebook has spoiled more than one candidate’s chance for an interview.

Let’s be civil and civilized.  Life’s more fun that way.

Google has watched with envy as Facebook institutionalized the ‘like’.  Danny Sullivan, who is Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Land, a top Search Technology consultancy, said in this article that +1 is just like Facebook’s “like” button so it will influence website SERPs.  In fact, Danny goes on to joke that Google should have named the feature “PageRank” in order to strip the pretense that it is anything other than a clue to help Google’s algorithm determine rank authority.

Google’s position is straightforward:  “We’ll look at it as a potential signal to improve search quality”, said Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s WebSpam Team and a member of their Social Search launch team.

The bottom line?  If you’re offered an opportunity to buy a package of +1 influence, turn it down.  Instead, build your Google Plus social network and invite your customers to +1 your site.  You should also build your Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (or other) social networks in order to cast as broad a net as possible.  In that way you’ll catch more fish in the social sea.

ICANN is using dramatic language to introduce this change, perhaps to go along with the dramatic $185,000 price tag for each new domain.  Rod Beckstrom, President and Chief Executive Officer of ICANN said “ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination.  We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind.”  Thank goodness for mankind they are releasing these new domains!  While new domains will provide a higher level of branding, the elephant in the room was not mentioned in the ICANN press release.  The elephant question is “what will the search engines do with these new domains compared to the existing .com, .org and other suffixes that are already well established online”?

So far Google is silent on the matter.  Well, sort of.

Here are a couple of scenarios that might happen, and how your business may be affected:

A)  The most likely scenario is that search engines will not reward these new domains with higher visibility in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) for relevant keyword “organic search” and the well established sites will remain on top.  Of course if someone searches for the new domains directly they will find them, but otherwise it could be buried beyond visibility.  Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Webspam team recently indicated that Google will “dial down” the influence of keyword enriched domains (watch this video).  This suggests that a keyword-trained domain may not be rewarded with authority in Google’s future.

In scenario B)  the search engines might deliver these new domains at the top of organic search results for the keyword or category they mirror.  As an example, if a company buys homes.chicagorealestate, and someone searches for “chicago real estate”, the search engines may reward the exact-match domain as long as it’s a credible site with good content and traffic.  Another example might be rustoleum.paint, where the search engines reward the “paint” suffix above the brand’s domain, which is rustoleum.com.

Only time will tell what the exact impact will be, but I wouldn’t rush to buy your category or brand domain unless there is a solid, strategic, financial or competitive business reason to buy it.  This will not change the way sites appear organically in the near future and you don’t have to rush to make a decision.  But you should strategically evaluate the opportunity – assuming you’re large enough to pay the $185,000 fee – to make sure you don’t miss an opportunity that may only fully reveal itself in the years to come.

Ask your marketing or PR partner for their input and opinion.  We don’t believe this is a “mankind-changing” issue, but it is worthy of review and thoughtful consideration.  Good luck!

The economies of scale need to be rationalized for any event given the time challenges we all face, but a robust social media pre-and-post plan will increase your return on investment and contribute to attracting a larger audience and more money.

Don’t lose control of your event, like someone lost control of this golf cart during the event I attended last week.  Can you see the corner of the roof sticking out of the lake?  How could that happen?  The driver was probably texting.

I admit to rolling my eyes (almost) every time I see a Facebook or Twitter address displayed at the end of a TV commercial or print ad with no apparent invitation, offer or other reason to be there.  When the voiceover in the radio commercial says “Friend us on Facebook” I have to ask “why”?  Only 44% of the general population agrees with me while 52% of affluent consumers believe their love for the brand is sufficient incentive.  I’m obviously in the wrong tax bracket.

Perhaps the most important implication from this study is the need for marketers to better promote their social media channels with their traditional marketing programs (ads, collateral, etc).  The segment of the population with the most disposable income wants to further their favorite brand relationships in social media and we cannot ignore this opportunity.  Now that my eyes are open, I’ll stop rolling them.

With all the changes made to search algorithms recently, the beliefs of the past cannot be relied upon for success.  Facebook and Twitter are excellent channels to connect with new and existing customers, where companies can develop a deeper, more profitable relationship.  A peek at GE Appliance’s Facebook page reveals a contest where you can use a creative tool to design pictures of the socks you’ve lost in your dryer.  The winner gets a new GE washer and dryer.  Google is using it’s Facebook page to introduce a new tool called Map Maker for the United States.  Many companies are using Facebook intelligently, like GE and Google, distributing contests, new products and other content that will grow their customer base and increase involvement with their brands. However, Facebook doesn’t show up in the top SERPs for either GE or Google when I search their brand names.

I recommend companies use marketing resources to promote their Facebook and Twitter search results, especially if they’re using them intelligently.  The cost to improve the search visibility of your corporate Facebook or Twitter page, in most cases, is much smaller than the investment required for most other marketing disciplines.  Truthfully, social media budgets aren’t getting anywhere near the same budgets as advertising, PR, direct marketing or events.  Why not?  It has the potential to deliver better ROI, economies of scale and customer acquisition.  Re-balance your media mix and invest in the value of your digital community.

Do you agree?

1.  Social media became relevant to senior executives

April Fools. Looks like we have to go back to work Monday.

In today’s highly viral, internet-dependent world, there are 5 risks that every Corporate Communications leader must anticipate:

1. Understand the details of your Search Engine Optimization program and make sure there are no violations occurring that could hurt your reputation and penalize your visibility in search results. It is still the wild west in the SEO space and too many people are trying to game the search engines. Google is getting better at identifying and defeating violators but the rules are not well understood or implemented.

2. Clearly communicate the importance of integrity as an integral component of your aggressive growth strategies (on and off the job). Employees can become easily confused by a focus on “growth at all costs”. They need to understand that your company values integrity despite the focus on growth. In the absence of clear communications on this matter, employees will make up their own rules and that is not something any company can afford.

3. Clarify your vendor relationships and contracts to make sure they’re protocols are consistent with your expectations and policies. Your company reputation can get hijacked by a vendor that makes headlines for violating rules so make sure there are contract protections and close oversight of their performance.

4. Build equity in the public goodwill bank to better insulate your company from possible negative press. This helped Groupon after their Super Bowl misstep. Most companies have great volunteer and public service programs that fortify and confirm their commitment to the community and people in need. Make sure your PR program leverages the quality of your corporate character by building awareness of your involvement.

5. Identify and aggressively pursue trademark squatters. These are people or companies that use your brand name to make money. You may believe there is nothing you can do to take control of domains that use your brand name, but that’s not true. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a not for profit that is dedicated to internet security and integrity, and they have a domain name dispute resolution policy that can help you regain control of your trademark.

If you adopt these strategies, you’ll reduce your corporate risk and have a better opportunity to improve your image and authority online.