Is Social Media a fad?

It is hard to predict the future but here is where we are as of Jan. 2010:

- 96% of millennials have joined a social network

- Social media has overtaken porn as the number one activity on the web

- 1 out of 8 couples married in US met via social media

- The fastest growing segment on Facebook is females 55 to 65 years old

- It took radio 38 years, TV 13 years, the Internet 4 years, and the iPod 3 years to reach 50 million users–while Facebook reportedly added 200 million users in under a year (400 M Global FB accounts 2010)

- 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user generated content and 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands

What’s the future of these tools?

- New tool development is largely based on user needs and use patterns. New development in these social media tools will be based on what kind technology is available and what the users want. If there is a better, easier and faster way to connect to others, then that will be the tool that users will demand.

What are the costs and resources needed to do this?

- There are no barriers to entry and the tools are free to use. The cost come in the form of time spent largely updating, answering and adding new content. There are production costs associated with the type of content added i.e. professional video creation or professional copywriting or photography

Does every employee need to participate?

- Not necessarily. Social media management can be handled internally if the resources are available. This model would be optimal due to the availability of internal informational and communications.

- Social media management can be delegated to an agency or consultancy as long as the vendor understands corporate positions and guidelines and is held closely in the brand communications loop.

What are the legal ramifications?

- SEC now has regulations in place to include blogs as a means of disclosure.

- Properly trained and knowledgeable Public Relations and Investor Relations groups in social media communications can create a wide social media presence without running afoul of rules.

- In the end, every company should have in place a policy that dictates what employees, agencies or anyone with privileged information can and cannot say on social media platforms.

What happens if we do nothing?

- Nothing will happen immediately. Over time the brand and the company will be affected by a lack of presence in the space and that will translate into lost brand equity and potential loss of market share due to competitors gaining more ground in the space and stronger relationship with you customers.

What are the risks if we engage?

- Libel and brand/product/service bashing are possible

- Inappropriate behavior and content, either deliberate or inadvertent by company employees.

- Release of confidential or proprietary information

- And these are just a few suggestions…

How do we measure success?

- Traffic: site and product page visits

- Interaction: feedback, comments, likes, etc…

- Sales: Facebook/Twitter only coupon codes redeemed

- Leads: test drives, appointments, subscriptions, downloaded material, etc…

- Search marketing: content repositioned in Digg or appearing on Google’s page 1 of search results

- Brand metrics: brand favourability, brand awareness, brand recall, propensity to buy

- PR- content picked up by traditional mass media channels, free PR

- Customer engagement- listening to customers and maximizing conversation, word-of-mouth and new product service ideas

- Retention- repeat purchase and top-of-mind status for the brand

- Profits-it is more profitable to sell to existing customers that to find new ones

Does this hurt or help customers?

- Helps. You are now more accessible than ever before and have the power of a community of people that can help the brand and each other.

How does this increase revenue or reduce costs?

- Both. It reduces costs related to customer service. For example; a complaint or service change can be addressed quickly and effectively by simply updating in Facebook or posting on Twitter. This can minimize expenses associated with customer service call centers.

- It will help increase revenue by engaging and maintaining a customer centric approach to marketing and product sales. The potential for increased awareness through social networks is truly awesome- 1 by the power of thousands.

- Dell in Twitter: In June 2009 Dell reveled it had made $1M in sales directly attributed to Twitter

Does this help fuel or hamper innovation?

Social media platforms are an excellent tool for receiving and testing new ideas. For example: Dell’s IdeaStrom community has:

1. 60,000 participants in the IdeaStorm community
2. They have contributed 12,743 ideas
3. Posted 87,159 comments
4. Ideas posted have been promoted 693,670 times in total
5. And of those ideas 385 have been implemented

How do we manage bad reviews/criticism/negative comments?

- If the comment is a genuine concern or fault it should be approached as a learning opportunity. It should be a chance to reflect and hopefully improve.

- The customer should be provided with an answer and a solution if available or a reward/comp/gift if deemed necessary.

- If the comment is empty slander it should be ignored, disengaged and/or deleted. Often is the case where the community self-corrects or the community jumps to your defense and tells the Negative Nelly where she/he can stick it.

o Facebook: All comments can be deleted. If the person is a fan, he/she can be blocked or unfanned. Libel can be reported to Facebook and personal can be suspended.

o Twitter: Remove the comment and address the person directly via Direct Tweet (DT) message. You can block a Twitter follower and he/she will not be able to comment on your posts.

o You Tube: You can delete comments if they’re on your own videos. Comments outside your videos can be reported as abuse or spam.

Dear Marcos Menendez,

On July 1, 2010, VeriSign®, the registry for .COM and .NET, will increase prices – .COM will go up 7%, and .NET by 10%.

The increase will be passed to registrars like Go Daddy and then, unfortunately, to consumers like you.

As of July 1, we will be forced to raise registration and renewal* prices for these two popular top-level domains.

If you wish to avoid this price increase, you can renew your domain names by June 30 and add another year to your current expiration dates. You have the option to register or renew for multiple years and lock in long-term savings. Of course, should you have any questions, please give us a call at 1-480-505-8821.

Thanks as always for being a Go Daddy customer.

Bob Parsons
CEO and Founder
GoDaddy.com

Lesson: Every cloud has a silver lining.  You may be “forced” to raise prices or transfer over costs but there is no reason why you can not turn it in to limited time/act now and save email marketing offer. Smart GoDaddy.com… I don’t like it, but smart.

MDC launched “Educators Lead the Way” a monthly eNewsletter dedicated to helping educators help their students make the decision to go to college by providing advise, answers and tips on how to get high school students to decide on college.

The inaugural issue was met with the kind of response that brings a tear to our marketing eye. “This newsletter is perfect for MDC. I have been waiting for this —–for a long time. I got it and immediately sent it out to all my seniors and parents. Many other CAP Advisors in MDCPS are also getting all their students on e-mail. You can definitely reach more students this way!!!!!!!!!-“ College Assistance Program Advisor

You can beat reviews like that.

MDC’s “Educators Lead the Way” Subscribe, Inaugural, April 2010 issue

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Voices For Children has been selected best charity of the year by the Miami New Times’ readers in the publication’s BEST OF 2009 issue. Voices is extremely honored to have received this distinction, which comes in the midst of our Silver Anniversary. A link to the story can be found here .

The Maze of the Web 2.o. Learn how to navigate it!

Join me to discover, decipher and get hands-on training on how the Web 2.o tools can help your business grow.

Class: Web 2.0 Marketing Tools

Date: Dec., 12 and 17

Time: 6:30pm to 9:30pm

Place: Miami Dade College-Kendall Campus

Register: https://sisvsr.mdc.edu/ce/showclass.aspx?ref=542818

Professor: Marcos J. Menendez, President, Loop Consulting Group

PetScoop eNewsletter Finalist

The 2009 South Florida Interactive Excellence Awards, given by the South Florida Interactive Marketing Association (SFIMA) are designed encourage creative innovative and measurable digital marketing programs and reward our digital community for their hard work.

Loop Consulting Group was nominated and recently awarded the finalist status for “Most Effective Email Marketing Campaign” for the work produced for pet products client Pet Supermarket.  Marcos J. Menendez of Loop stated, “It’s an honor and privilege to be a finalist among very strong industry leaders. More importantly, it’s a chance for us to help shine the spotlight on our client, Pet Supermarket and their agency Lipof Advertising.”

The awards will be presented on May, 1st, 2009 at the Gulfstream Park in the Sport of Kings Lounge in Hallandale, Florida.

Loop Consulting Group (www.loopcnsulting.com) is a Miami, FL, based internet marketing firm, dedicated to helping organizations and businesses reach their online sales and communications goals. Loop Consulting Group specializes in Integrated Online Marketing Communications (IOMC), which focuses all online marketing and advertising into a single digital voice.  Loop Consulting Group creates powerful winning strategies for organizations and businesses that transition to the online marketplace across all channels.

Pet Supermarket, Inc. (www.petsupermarket.com) operates a chain of stores that offer pet products. The company also provides vaccination services for canines, felines, and ferrets, as well as provides laboratory testing, de-wormers, and microchip identification products. It has stores in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio, North Carolina, Nevada, Kentucky, Georgia, and California. The company, formerly known as Pet Circus, was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Sunrise, Florida.

LIPOF Advertising, Inc. (www.lipof.com) is a full-service advertising agency in Plantation, Florida, right outside of Fort Lauderdale. We offer complete print, radio, television and web marketing solutions for a variety of different companies, in a variety of different industries. The agency has excelled over the past 13 years by going beyond what is expected and providing incredible results for our clients.

Social Network Dissemination (SND™) is Loop’s program for selecting the right social media solutions needed for our clients to promote their causes and campaigns. Loop’s SND™ places the strategy, tactics, tools and training required to succeed in social network marketing. SND™ creates powerful communication tactics that will establish links, attention and traffic to the organizations website.

SND™ shows our clients that it is ultimately about building community around targeted a

udiences and spreading ideas that will drive results.

DEIVIN

Challenge: DEIVIN Consulting Group, LLC was using a website designed when they started their business. Their business has expanded and changed over the years and now they are a global private equity firm that provides internal and external companies with the key to defining, improving and deploying business enhancement solutions using P2I: Performance and Process Improvement. Loop was given the task to reposition them into the marketplace as a leader in simple and advance process improvement/process re-engineering methodologies (Lean & Six Sigma).

Analysis: The marketplace for firms providing simple and advance process improvement/process re-engineering methodologies (Lean & Six Sigma) is crowded.

Loop proposed that success would be enhanced by positioning the firm as experts in one primary business category. DEIVIN’s strength is in Healthcare, so Loop structured the marketing and redesign of the website to feature this Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Other business areas DEIVIN excels in are financial and the construction building industries.

Loop needed to include these markets as well as DEIVIN’s consulting services and training programs as a publisher of Simple Lean Six Sigma and Simple Process Improvement manuals and text books.

DEIVIN needed additional solutions that included online product sales, backend functionality for client communications, project management, secure file transfer and online meeting services.

Solutions: Loop was retained to reposition DEIVIN as a leading consultant for performance and process improvement solutions. Loop’s advice was for DEIVIN to concentrate its marketing efforts on the Internet and to use the medium to integrate all their marketing efforts.

Loop conducted extensive secondary research from which we were able to determine the positioning for DEIVIN and the emphasis on their primary business category of Healthcare. Loop designed a new website for DEIVIN, www.deivin.com, based on the results from its secondary research into competition and current market solutions for six sigma firms.

The website technology includes a state-of-the-art Content Management System (CMS) that is administrated directly by DEIVIN. This gives DEIVIN the ability to constantly update their site without the need for programming or technical support. We wrapped the CMS around a customized frame that presents DEIVIN’s website as current, professional and easy to navigate.

The primary marketing feature for the site is the organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that was produced by Loop to push Deivin.com to the top of the search engine results pages for specific keyword sets. The organic SEO included Loop’s unique quantifiable and proven marketing search solutions. Loop’s design and technology group produced a final website that exemplifies simplicity for a complex subject covering performance and process enhancement. The backend functionality consisted of using established software which Loop integrated into the site for DEIVIN. Project management solutions, file transfer, online meeting and the products section featuring DEIVIN’s training courses were all part of the research conducted to match DEIVIN’s current business needs. The custom BLOG that Loop designed for DEIVIN is an integral part of the marketing solution to keep current clients informed about what is happening at DEIVIN and for helping increase SEO marketing for the firm.

Accountability: Loop has installed traffic and site analytics monitoring software for the DEIVIN site. This will help us to determine which parts of the site are working best for existing and client prospecting as well as letting Loop understand how to better market DEIVIN with future recommendations.

Performance: A key indicator for DEIVIN was the 55% increase in traffic to their site since the launch. The traffic has generated positive feedback from visitors about the site with an increase of calls from prospective clients. These ties directly into the initial branding and repositioning that Loop has done for DEIVIN specifically in the healthcare market.

What I found compelling about this event is that the sellers (the family, not the bank) took it upon themselves not only to hand over the house in the conditions the buyers expected, which most foreclosed owners do not do, but a few days later my friend received a card saying, “We wish you the best in your new home and hope it brings you the same happiness it brought us.” This broke my heart; here is a family that just got kicked of their home because the bank found buyers and they took it upon themselves to wish my friend all the best.

Clients will and do fall off the accounts list from time to time, and this seems especially true for some during these times. I believe that how we handle the relationship at the start is as important as how we handle the end of the relationship.

If the sellers had been you, and the buyers had been the client, don’t you think that when times got better the client would immediately remember you? Most companies lose their clients and say, “To hell with them; who needs them?” This kind of mentality creates a corporate culture which urges you to disregard the clients instead of understanding there are ups and downs in business. Accounts will leave; some come back, some don’t–but fractured relationships never mend.

Nobody likes losing their clients, but it happens. I think part of the measure of how we serve our clients is not just in the acquisition, but also in the loss of one.

A simple handwritten card thanking them for the opportunity of service and wishing them all the best would be a nice and unique gesture, as well as a smart one. I believe this communicates genuine care and exits the business relationship with grace while leaving the proverbial door open.

Miami, Florida, Friday, February 13, 2009:

Founded in 1909, The Association for Women in Communications is the leading organization for advancement of women across all communications disciplines by recognizing excellence, promoting leadership and positioning its members at the forefront of the evolving communications era.  The Association for Women in Communications is responsible for the internationally renowned Clarion Awards.

Recently, The Association for Women in Communications, South Florida Chapter, asked Loop Consulting Group’s president Marcos J. Menendez to do a special presentation of Loop Consulting Group’s “Drive-Thru: Online Marketing Essentials Seminar” for their members, which include South Florida’s top women executives in the fields of journalism, television, film, advertising, marketing and  public relations.

Marcos J. Menendez of Loop stated, “It’s an honor and privilege to present some of our experiences in the online marketing arena to such prestigious organization.”

The presentation will be held in on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at Casa Salvatore, 801 Brickell Bay Drive, Miami, FL 33131 - Register

Loop Consulting Group is a Miami, FL, based internet marketing firm, dedicated to helping organizations and businesses reach their online sales and communications goals. Loop Consulting Group specializes in Integrated Online Marketing Communications (IOMC), which focuses all online marketing and advertising into a single digital voice.  Loop Consulting Group creates powerful winning strategies for organizations and businesses that transition to the online marketplace across all channels.

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