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Wednesday, March 30, 2011
For Now, Twitter Shares Count More Than 1′s in Google Search Ranking [NetworkEffect]
Monday, March 28, 2011
NYT Paywall: “Lots of Windows and a Doggie Door”
All-you-can-click social, 20 clicks at NYTimes.com before direct access is lost, pay plans of $15-$35 every four weeks, the fine details of the New York Times paywall, which goes live today in the...Original Link: http://feeds.mediabuyerplanner.com/~r/mbp/~3/XGH195XFHXo/
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Sunday, March 27, 2011
Tennessee names Cuonzo Martin basketball coach
Cuonzo Martin is jumping from the Missouri Valley to the Tennessee Valley to become the new men's basketball coach at Tennessee.
UT announced Sunday night that it hired the 39-year-old Martin, who has coached at Missouri State the past three years, to replace Bruce Pearl who was fired on Monday.
“Cuonzo is among the most promising young coaches in the game, and we are excited about the coaching ability, toughness and energy that he brings to our program,'' UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said in a statement released by the school Sunday night. “He has a proven track record of success as a head coach at Missouri State and an assistant at Purdue as well as an outstanding career as a college basketball player.''
Martin, who played at Purdue under legendary coach Gene Keady from 1991-95, will be introduced at a press conference at 2:30 p.m. on Monday. Terms of Martin's deal were not announced.
Read the full story on GoVolsXtra.
Digital Strategy Paying Off for Publicis
As digital advertising leads an industry turnaround, the company’s chief, Maurice Lévy, is not shy about saying “I told you so.”
Original Link: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=ca370da9952ed27e7450a00942eb0732
Original Link: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=ca370da9952ed27e7450a00942eb0732
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The demise of Bruce Pearl
Gerald Adler Wrote:
Great article...but sad there are no winners.
The big, blue and white bus climbed the Appalachian Mountains on March 19 carrying the Tennessee men's basketball team back from a shameful showing in a game that tipped off 24 hours earlier.
Original Link: http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2011/mar/26/demise-bruce-pearl/?partner=RSS
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Saturday, March 26, 2011
Google Starts Testing Google Music Internally
Krystalo writes "Google employees have begun testing Google Music internally. Talks with at least some of the top publishers and the four largest record labels are still ongoing. The delays are largely due to the fact that Google is negotiating for cloud music rights and not just the authorization to distribute the songs themselves. The search giant wants to be able to store users' existing music libraries on the company's servers. Labels are in similar discussions with Apple."Read more of this story at Slashdot.Krystalo writes "Google employees have begun testing Google Music internally. Talks with at least some of the top publishers and the four largest record labels are still ongoing. The delays are largely due to the fact that Google is negotiating for cloud music rights and not just the authorization to distribute the songs themselves. The search giant wants to be able to store users' existing music libraries on the company's servers. Labels are in similar discussions with Apple."Read more of this storyOriginal Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/I1fRDXPkANU/Google-Starts-Testing-Google-Music-Internally
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Measurement Specialists Nielsen and comScore Trade Lawsuits
Nielsen and comScore are exchanging patent lawsuits, each accusing the other of treading on its intellectual property rights. Last week, Nielsen filed against comScore in the latter’s home state of...Original Link: http://feeds.mediabuyerplanner.com/~r/mbp/~3/vE24caAn2hc/
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Sunday, March 20, 2011
What to Watch for in New York Times' Pay-Meter Experiment
The Times' effort to charge frequent visitors will undoubtedly find many takers when it goes into effect on March 28. Whether the model ultimately works, however, depends on the action at three key fronts. Here's what's worth watching.Original Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adage/homepage/~3/dApg7iaCaIQ/article.php
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How The NYTimes' Paywall Compares To Those Of Other Big Papers
* How Much Revenue Can The New York Times Paywall Generate?
* How NYT Subscribers Can Get Print Plus Digital For Less Than Digital Alone
* New York Times Digital Subscriptions: The Unofficial FAQ
* New York Times Paywall Launches Today In Canada; Globally March 28
* NYTimes.com Paywall Picture About To Get Much ClearerWhen the New York Times puts up its paywall later this month, it will be the fifth newspaper among the top 50 by circulation in the U.S. to charge for online access; a sixth, its sibling Boston Globe, is expected to do so later this year. All six papers are taking varying approaches—including charging different prices and making a different set of content available online for free. Here’s a capsule look at some of the key differences. Click on the thumbnail below to see the full list.Related* NYTimes.com Pay Scheme Has A Great Big Hole
* How Much Revenue Can The New York Times Paywall Generate?
* How NYT Subscribers Can Get Print Plus Digital For Less Than Digital Alone
* New York Times Digital Subscriptions: The Unofficial FAQ
* New York Times Paywall Launches Today In Canada; Globally March 28
* NYTimes.com Paywall Picture About To Get Much ClearerOriginal Link: http://feeds.paidcontent.org/~r/pcorg/~3/beM_n6aMWBk/
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Thursday, March 17, 2011
New York Times Paywall Starts March 28 at $15 per Month
The New York Times rolled out a plan on Thursday to begin charging the most frequent users of its Web site $15 a month in a bet that readers will pay for news they have grown accustomed to getting...Original Link: http://feeds.mediabuyerplanner.com/~r/mbp/~3/LJdmdiXD_Fk/
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Gannett Names ShortTail's Payne As Chief Digital Officer
* Gannett Hopes To Give Its Brand 'A Reset'
* Pointroll's Tafler Steps Down As CEO; Sales Head Gatto Will Succeed H
* Gannett Tries Out Paywalls At Three Papers
* Gannett Launches Digital Marketing Unit Aimed At Small Business
* Gannett Folds Ripple6 Into Pointroll
* Who Will Replace Gannett's Saridakis?Nearly a year after Chris Saridakis departed as Gannett’s chief digital officer, the company has hired ShortTail Media co-cofounder and ex-CNN.com exec David Payne to replace him. The move comes as Gannett (NYSE: GCI) has been in the process of rebranding itself as a more digital-centric company and not just a traditional newspaper publisher and broadcaster. The announcement also comes two days after Gannett tapped former NBC Universal (NSDQ: CMCSA) executive Maryam Banikarim as its first CMO. Apart from the two new hires this week, Pointroll CEO Jason Tafler also just finished his last day at the Gannett rich media subsidiary before taking on the chief digital officer role at Canada’s Rogers Media. Tafler, who succeeded Saridakis as the head of Pointroll three years ago, was replaced by SVP of sales Robert Gatto.The recent additions—from the new logo on to the new hires—reflects both the improvement in Gannett’s financial situation and the aggressive approach CEO Craig Dubow has taken toward shifting the company’s focus to digital, especially in the mobile and local areas. Like most major media companies, the print side of the business continues to struggle against industrywide declines, while digital has been a particular growth driver, even during the downturn.Over the past year, Gannett has pursued a number of digital efforts, including experimenting of paywalls at three of its community newspapers, debated whether to charge for its popular USA Today iPad app (early plans were put on indefinite hold as ad inventory on the device continued to sell out, surpassing initial expectations), and it has worked on setting up local integrated marketing units across the country that leverage its expansive footprint, while carving out a separate business from the traditional newspaper/broadcast ad sales.Sources had previously told paidContent that Gannett had been looking both internally and externally to find a successor for Saridakis, who left the company to become GSI Commerce’s (Nasdaq: GSIC) Marketing Services unit last April.Given the growing centrality of online video advertising, Payne appears to be a sensible hire. He helped start video ad tech firm ShortTail Media in 2008 and has served as the company’s president and CEO. Before that, he was SVP/GM of CNN.com, which produced and distributed all of CNN’s digital services, including CNN.com, CNN Mobile, CNN.com Live, and CNN Video on Demand.Related* Gannett Names NBCU's Banikarim As Its First CMO
* Gannett Hopes To Give Its Brand 'A Reset'
* Pointroll's Tafler Steps Down As CEO; Sales Head Gatto Will Succeed H
* Gannett Tries Out Paywalls At Three Papers
* Gannett Launches Digital Marketing Unit Aimed At Small Business
* Gannett Folds Ripple6 Into Pointroll
* Who Will Replace Gannett's Saridakis?Original Link: http://feeds.paidcontent.org/~r/pcorg/~3/AVN98x1Z9Zw/
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Sunday, March 13, 2011
RT @davewiner: Blogger Fined $60,000 For Telling The Truth. http://r2.ly/7xgy
RT @davewiner: Blogger Fined $60,000 For Telling The Truth. http://r2.ly/7xgyRT @davewiner: Blogger Fined $60,000 For Telling The Truth. http://r2.ly/7xgy
Original Link: http://www.twitter.com/Gartenberg/statuses/47048514835980288
A Minneapolis blogger was ordered on Friday to pay $60,000 in damages to an ex-community leader who lost his...
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The Grapes of Cash: Tennessee liquor stores feel squeezed by grocers' push to sell wine (KnoxNews)
MEMPHIS — If a grocery store owner sells a bottle of wine in Tennessee today, he or she could sit behind bars for 11 months and 29 days, get a $2,500 fine, or receive both penalties.
It's now a Class A misdemeanor. It has been against the law since Prohibition.
That would change if grocers get their way. For the last three years, they have pushed bills in Nashville that would allow them to sell wine -- not liquor -- in their stores.
The package of legislation they've introduced this year gives local communities the right to vote on the sales first, though. The bills would also allow liquor stores to sell ice, corkscrews, soft drinks, cocktail mixers and glassware, but not regular-alcohol beer.
Read the full story at KnoxNews: The Grapes of Cash
It's now a Class A misdemeanor. It has been against the law since Prohibition.
That would change if grocers get their way. For the last three years, they have pushed bills in Nashville that would allow them to sell wine -- not liquor -- in their stores.
The package of legislation they've introduced this year gives local communities the right to vote on the sales first, though. The bills would also allow liquor stores to sell ice, corkscrews, soft drinks, cocktail mixers and glassware, but not regular-alcohol beer.
Read the full story at KnoxNews: The Grapes of Cash
Days After Its Release, The IPad 2 Gets The Teardown Treatment [NewEnterprise]
Part of the tradition of an Apple product release is the teardown. Usually within hours of the first sales, pictures begin to emerge from the odd people who delight in taking the new gadgets apart to see what’s going on inside. The days following Friday’s release of the iPad 2 have been no different. I’ve seen two different teardowns already.
But the teardown that Wall Street and the investment community is waiting on is the one from the market research firm IHS iSuppli, whose team spent all day Saturday in a furious effort to dissemble a 32-gigabyte iPad 2 and estimate the cost that Apple paid for every component. They gave me an exclusive early look at their findings. The point is to form a partial picture of the gross profit margin on every unit, a figure that Apple generally keeps to itself. This information is useful to investors and analysts who then factor the findings in with other assumptions they use to predict how much of a profit Apple is going to report over the next few quarters. The headline of iSuppli’s teardown researcher is always the estimated bill-of-materials cost, which is the sum cost that it thinks Apple has paid for all the hardware inside the iPad 2. It doesn’t take into account the cost to develop software, or other things like packaging, shipping and distribution, or manufacturing.In this case the estimates are for the 3G version of the iPad, and there are two estimates, one for the AT&T version — $326.60, and one for the Verizon Wireless version — $323.35. Some of the wireless chips used in the AT&T version are a little more expensive or require an extra part. For example, on the Verizon version, GPS is integrated with the Qualcomm-made wireless baseband chip. On the AT&T version, an extra GPS chip had to be added along with the Broadcom-made Bluteooth and Wi-Fi chips, adding an extra cost of $1.50 per unit.The baseband wireless chips were naturally different because AT&T and Verizon use different wireless technologies. Intel, the new owner of the former wireless chip division of Infineon, supplied the main wireless chip in the AT&T version, with supporting chips coming from TriQuint Semiconductor and Skyworks for a combined cost of $18.70.Qualcomm supplied the main wireless chip Verizon version, with supporting chips coming from Skyworks, Avago Technologies, and Murata for a combined cost of $16.35. While there had been some speculation that Apple had used a Qualcomm chip in both versions, but it turned out not to be the case.Aside from the wireless chips, the components are otherwise identical across both versions. Both sport Apple’s A5 chip, and iSuppli says that looks like Samsung is still manufacturing it for Apple at a cost of $14. While there had been some talk in recent weeks that Apple was moving its chip manufacturing contract to Tawain Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., there’s no evidence that it has made such a move, at least not yet.The most expensive component by far is the touch-sensitive display, coming at $127. ISuppli says that the LCD portion the unit they tore apart was built by LG Display, but Apple is known to use other sources for displays, including Samsung, and possibly ChiMei Innolux. The glass assembly covering the display is thought to come from TPK or WinTek. ISuppli says costs on the display are going up because manufacturing yields on LCDs have been lower. Apple is also thought to be using a more expensive glue to improve the efficiency to the process of bonding a new thinner type of Gorilla glass to the display.Samsung supplied Apple with the NAND flash memory used in the iSuppli sample, holding on to a relationship that goes back several years to the days of the first iPod nano, though Toshiba is also known to supply Apple with flash. It is the world biggest consumer of flash memory after all. Elpida supplied the DRAM memory. ISuppli estimates the combined cost of memory, both flash and DRAM plus a Micron-made MCP memory chip at $65.70.Then there’s a set of components seen in the iPad 1 remained the same in the iPad 2. STMicroelectronics supplied the gyroscope and the accelerometer, and AKM Semiconductor supplied the electronic compass. Broadcom supplied touch interface chips, while Texas Instruments supplied a touch screen driver chip. Analog Devices supplied a capacitive touch controller.Finally there’s the two cameras. ISuppli hasn’t yet named the suppliers there, though the usual candidate is Aptina, the former camera unit of Micron, though it’s possible that Apple sources them from more than one place.ISuppli’s estimates are a lot higher than the findings of another teardown shop, UBM Techinsights. The Wall Street Journal reported that UBM’s cost estimate is about $270, but that estimate was made before it conducted its actual teardown, and didn’t change once it had.Part of the tradition of an Apple product release is the teardown. Usually within hours of the first sales, pictures begin to emerge from the odd people who delight in taking the new gadgets apart to see what’s going on inside. The days following Friday’s release of the iPad 2 have been no different. I’ve seen two different teardowns already.But the teardown that Wall Street and the investment community is waiting on is the one from the market research firm IHS iSuppli, whose team spent all day Saturday in a furious effort to dissemble a 32-gigabyte iPad 2 and estimate the cost that Apple paid for every component. They gave me an exclusive early look at their findings. The point is to form a partial picture of the gross profit margin on every unit, a figure that Apple generally keeps to itself. This information is useful to investors and analysts who then factor the findings in with other assumptions they use to predict how much of a profit Apple is going to report over the next few quarters. The headline of iSuppli’s teardown researcher is always the estimated bill-of-materials cost, which is the sum cost that it thinks Apple has paid for all the hardware inside the iPad 2. It doesn’t take into account the cost to develop software, or other things like packaging, shipping and distribution, or manufacturing.In this case the estimates are for the 3G version of the iPad, and there are two estimates, one for the AT&T version — $326.60, and one for the Verizon Wireless version — $323.35. Some of the wireless chips used in the AT&T version are a little more expensive or require an extra part. For example, on the Verizon version, GPS is integrated with the Qualcomm-made wireless baseband chip. On the AT&T version, an extra GPS chip had to be added along with the Broadcom-made Bluteooth and Wi-Fi chips, adding an extra cost of $1.50 per unit.The baseband wireless chips were naturally different because AT&T and Verizon use different wireless technologies. Intel, the new owner of the former wireless chip division of Infineon, supplied the main wireless chip in the AT&T version, with supporting chips coming from TriQuint Semiconductor and Skyworks for a combined cost of $18.70.Qualcomm supplied the main wireless chip Verizon version, with supporting chips coming from Skyworks, Avago Technologies, and Murata for a combined cost of $16.35. While there had been some speculation that Apple had used a Qualcomm chip in both versions, but it turned out not to be the case.Aside from the wireless chips, the components are otherwise identical across both versions. Both sport Apple’s A5 chip, and iSuppli says that looks like Samsung is still manufacturing it for Apple at a cost of $14. While there had been some talk in recent weeks that Apple was moving its chip manufacturing contract to Tawain Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., there’s no evidence that it has made such a move, at least not yet.The most expensive component by far is the touch-sensitive display, coming at $127. ISuppli says that the LCD portion the unit they tore apart was built by LG Display, but Apple is known to use other sources for displays, including Samsung, and possibly ChiMei Innolux. The glass assembly covering the display is thought to come from TPK or WinTek. ISuppli says costs on the display are going up because manufacturing yields on LCDs have been lower. Apple is also thought to be using a more expensive glue to improve the efficiency to the process of bonding a new thinner type of Gorilla glass to the display.Samsung supplied Apple with the NAND flash memory used in the iSuppli sample, holding on to a relationship that goes back several years to the days of the first iPod nano, though Toshiba is also known to supply Apple with flash. It is the world biggest consumer of flash memory after all. Elpida supplied the DRAM memory. ISuppli estimates the combined cost of memory, both flash and DRAM plus a Micron-made MCP memory chip at $65.70.Then there’s a set of components seen in the iPad 1 remained the same in the iPad 2. STMicroelectronics supplied the gyroscope and the accelerometer, and AKM Semiconductor supplied the electronic compass. Broadcom supplied touch interface chips, while Texas Instruments supplied a touch screen driver chip. Analog Devices supplied a capacitive touch controller.Finally there’s the two cameras. ISuppli hasn’t yet named the suppliers there, though the usual candidate is Aptina, the former camera unit of Micron, though it’s possible that Apple sources them from more than one place.ISuppli’s estimates are a lot higher than the findings of another teardown shop, UBM Techinsights. The Wall Street Journal reported that UBM’s cost estimate is about $270Original Link: http://newenterprise.allthingsd.com/20110313/days-after-its-release-the-ipad-2-gets-the-teardown-treatment/?mod=ATD_rssvia my6sense
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Mobile Giving: A List Of Shortcodes To Donate To Japan
—Text “JAPAN” or “TSUNAMI” to 20222 to donate $10 (Save the Children Federation, Inc.)—Text “4JAPAN” or “4TSUNAMI” to 20222 to donate $10 (World Vision, Inc.)—Text “MERCY” to 25283 to donate $10 (Mercy Corps)—Text “SUPPORT” to 85944 to donate $10 (ADRA Relief for Japan tsunami victims)—Text “MED” to 80888 to donate $10 (Assist International Medical Corps)—Text “JAPAN” to 80888 to donate $10 (Salvation Army)—Text “REDCROSS” to 90999 to donate $10 (American Red Cross)
In Canada:
—Text “ASIA” or “ASIE“ to 30333 to donate $5 (The Canadian Red Cross Society)
—Text “QUAKE” to 45678 to donate $10 (The Salvation Army in Canada)
—Text “GIVE” to 45678 to donate $5 (UNICEF)Related* Massive Japan Quake/Tsunami Hobbles Mobile Voice, But Data Holds FastWant use your phone to donate to the relief effort, in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan? Below is a list of shortcodes you can use.Please send in any suggestions to add to this list, or add to the comments below. Most major operators will not charge for texts sent to mobile giving campaigns.In the U.S.:
—Text “JAPAN” or “TSUNAMI” to 20222 to donate $10 (Save the Children Federation, Inc.)—Text “4JAPAN” or “4TSUNAMI” to 20222 to donate $10 (World Vision, Inc.)—Text “MERCY” to 25283 to donate $10 (Mercy Corps)—Text “SUPPORT” to 85944 to donate $10 (ADRA Relief for Japan tsunami victims)—Text “MED” to 80888 to donate $10 (Assist International Medical Corps)—Text “JAPAN” to 80888 to donate $10 (Salvation Army)—Text “REDCROSS” to 90999 to donate $10 (American Red Cross)
In Canada:
—Text “ASIA” or “ASIE“ to 30333 to donate $5 (The Canadian Red Cross Society)
—Text “QUAKE” to 45678 to donate $10 (The Salvation Army in Canada)
—Text “GIVE” to 45678 to donate $5 (UNICEF)Related* Massive Japan Quake/Tsunami Hobbles Mobile Voice, But Data Holds FastOriginal Link: http://feeds.paidcontent.org/~r/pcorg/~3/nMiQLuFghy0/
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Good read! @GoVolsXtra: Arrest, injury didn't stop running back Marlin Lane from joining Tennessee http://t.co/d4ZVJnN"
Good read! @GoVolsXtra: Arrest, injury didn't stop running back Marlin Lane from joining Tennessee http://t.co/d4ZVJnN"Good read! @GoVolsXtra: Arrest, injury didn't stop running back Marlin Lane from joining Tennessee Original Link: http://www.twitter.com/MikeGriffith32/statuses/46789582506819584
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - For Marlin Lane, there wasn't any time to rest and reflect after he was arrested for possessing less than 20 grams of marijuana.
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How Foursquare & AmEx Are Putting a Fresh Twist on Loyalty Marketing http://bit.ly/eMswHC Social-Media.alltop
Gerald Adler Wrote:
This is the beginning of something very big.
How Foursquare & AmEx Are Putting a Fresh Twist on Loyalty Marketing http://bit.ly/eMswHC Social-Media.alltopHow Foursquare & AmEx Are Putting a Fresh Twist on Loyalty Marketing http://bit.ly/eMswHCOriginal Link: http://www.twitter.com/Alltop_Social/statuses/46733104735461376
In the summer of 2010, Foursquare’s Head of Business Development Tristan Walker and American Express’s Vice President of Global Marketing Capabilities David Wolf started talking about ways to work together to redefine loyalty for local merchants. The fruit of their conversations is now on display in the city Austin, Texas where 60 merchants — including Whole Foods, Starwood Hotels and Stubb’s BBQ — are offering Foursquare users “spend $5, save $5″ rewards when they load the special and swipe their AmEx cards. The pilot program started Friday and will run through Tuesday, March 15. Participating merchants have posted “Austin Unlocked” window clings to highlight their participation, and Foursquare users need only register their American Express cards to unlock this new type of special — the Loyalty Special. ------------------------- Loyalty and Location in Real-Time ------------------------- On Friday, Walker and I journeyed to Le Cafe Crepe so he could demonstrate the special in action. Upon arrival, Walker launched Foursquare, checked in to the cafe, tapped to redeem the offer and then hit the green “Load to Card” button to initiate the special — see a 44-second walk-through in the video above. ...
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Friday, March 4, 2011
Foursquare and AMEX partner for SXSW
Foursquare is definitely rolling out the big guns for this year’s SXSW. On top of this afternoon’s announcement of their parties, badges and soon-to-be-released version 3.0, comes word about a partnership with one of America’s biggest brands — American Express. According to the Wall Street Journal, American Express has partnered with foursqu ..read more.. Thursday, March 3, 2011
Understanding the Social Media ROI Cycle
Jamie Turner is the chief content officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine for BKV Digital and Direct Response. He is also the co-author of How to Make Money with Social Media. He’ll be speaking about his Social Media ROI Cycle at the SXSW Conference in Austin on March 15. Not long ago, I wrote about how to calculate the ROI of your social media campaign, which generated a lot of interest from the social media community. The article outlined how businesses can use Customer Lifetime Value to calculate the return on their social media investment. After writing the article, I started analyzing how businesses go about setting up, launching and running their social media campaigns. My conclusion is that there are three distinct stages to this process, which I’m calling the Social Media ROI Cycle. My rough estimate is that about 50% of the business community is still in the Launch stage, about 40% is in the Management stage and about 10% is in the Optimization stage. Each one of the three stages has its own nuances, so let’s take a look at what happens during each. The percentages referenced in each stage are estimates based on my own experience. Stage 1: Launch During the Launch stage, 100% of a company’s focus is on setting up the big four: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Some companies focus on the big four plus more such as Flickr, e-newsletters, blogs, SlideShare and other social media platforms. But most companies kick things off by quickly getting into the big four networks simply as a way to have a social media presence. The approach during this Launch stage is very executional with very little long-term planning. The primary objective is simply to get started. After all, those in charge want to ensure the brand is utilizing cutting-edge techniques, so the marketing department typically responds by jumping in without much plan for the long haul. Unfortunately, the results of the Stage 1 process are negligible. Sure, you’ll be able to claim that you’ve “got a social media campaign,” but you won’t really see much traction unless you move on to Stage 2. Stage 2: Management During this stage, roughly 60% of a company’s efforts are focused on the big four (or the big four plus more). About 10% of the focus is on creative and offer development, 20% on tracking quantitative metrics such as traffic, inbound links, Facebook “Likes,” etc., and about 10% on qualitative metrics such as brand sentiment, survey results and customer polls. The approach during the Management stage is still very tactical, but the focus is on mid-term instead of short-term results, which is an improvement over Stage 1. The corporate objective at this stage is to engage prospects and customers in some way that gets them to connect with the brand. Ideally, this would mean buying something, but it can also mean downloading a white paper, liking a Facebook Page, responding to a survey, or any other measurable evidence that they’re connecting with your brand. Stage 2 is where many of the more sophisticated companies find themselves right now. They’re managing their social presence, testing creative ideas, tracking quantitative metrics and analyzing qualitative data. Most companies today are still at either Stage 1 or Stage 2. But many of the companies I work with have started to reach the Stage 3. Stage 3: Optimization About 25% of the focus at this stage is on the “big four plus more,” and about 30% is evenly split among creative and offer development, quantitative metrics and qualitative metrics. Another 25% of a company’s focus is on improving conversion and optimization of campaigns. What do I mean by that? It’s all about tracking inbound leads and traffic across social media platforms, using tools such as Atlas and DART, and watching those leads turn into customers, either on e-commerce landing pages or through B2B lead generation programs. It also means testing your way to success with social media campaigns. This can be as simple as trying two different landing pages to see which one drives more clicks. Or, it can be as complex as multivariate testing that analyzes more than one component at a time. The final 20% of a company’s efforts in Stage 3 include measuring the success of the campaign on an ROI basis. And yes, you can measure a social media campaign on an ROI basis, despite what some social media “experts” will tell you. The process involves understanding your Customer Lifetime Value (the total revenue the average customer generates for your business during the lifetime of their engagement with you) and comparing it to the results generated by your social media campaign. For example, if you know the typical customer spends $10 per month with your company and stays loyal to your brand for an average of three years, your Customer Lifetime Value is $360. Many companies are comfortable spending 10% of their CLV to acquire a new customer. So, in other words, they’ll spend $36 to acquire a new customer who will spend $360 during his or her engagement with the brand. If your social media campaign costs, say, $36,000 a year to run, and it generates 1,000 new customers each year, you’ve got a winner on your hands. (For a more detailed explanation of this process, please see my previous post, HOW TO: Calculate the ROI of Your Social Media Campaign.) The Bottom Line In the end, all roads should lead to social media ROI. After all, businesses don’t do social media to be social, they do social media to grow sales and revenues. If you carefully navigate your way through Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3, you’ll eventually be able to go up to your CFO and say, “Hey, Chief Financial Dude, remember when you told me we wouldn’t be able to measure the ROI of our social media campaigns? Well, we’re already doing it, and we’re making a profit, you knucklehead. So there!” Of course, you don’t have to use those exact words, but you get my point. More Business Resources from Mashable: - HOW TO: Calculate the ROI of Your Social Media Campaign - Creative Constraint: Why Tighter Boundaries Propel Greater Results - 10 Ways to Turn Your Local Business Into a Global Success - 6 Top Tips For Managing a Coworking Space - 3 Podcast Success Stories from Creative Small Businesses Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ewg3D
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