Final Post: Marketing in Politics

          Over the summer, I received a piece of mail that provided an especially interesting example of effective marketing.  When I opened the letter, inside was a card that said it was from a New York State Senator named Michael H. Ranzenhofer.  Its contents proved to be a congratulatory message addressed to me for making the dean’s list at Canisius College.  The senator signed the note in pen, and wrote a personal message as well.

             Marketing within the sphere of politics is often overlooked, as traditional marketing typically deals with specific companies, products, brands and services.  Politicians are faced with the daunting task of marketing themselves to their constituents in order to maintain popularity and remain in the public’s good faith. It is my belief for several reasons that this is an exceptionally brilliant and effective marketing strategy for the purposes of this politician getting reelected and looked upon favorably in the public eye. 

            The first reason that I view this strategy in such a positive manner is because of the marketing principle of reciprocity, which according to author Robert Cialdini, is one of the six main elements of effective persuasion and marketing.  The basic premise of reciprocity is that when something is given to an individual, he or she feels an obligation to return such a favor in one way or another.  Companies often take advantage of this principle for financial gains with promotions such “free samples”.  In free samples, grocery stores and restaurants offer their customers a small amount of food, free of charge.  The reciprocity principle suggests that because the customers accepted a gift from the store, they then feel an obligation to make a purchase.  It is clear that many businesses across the country agree, as according to KnowWPC, an estimated $1 billion per year is spent by companies on sampling programs.

            Whether he knew it or not, Michael H. Ranzenhofer was utilizing the reciprocation principle when he sent me his message.  Because this letter was unrequested, surprising and most importantly free, I know feel as if I owe a debt to this State Senator.  Since it is not likely that I will ever meet this man in person, and a “thank you” letter may seem quite redundant, the most logical means of repaying this debt is to vote for him when it comes time for his reelection.  This debt may have in fact been strengthened because it was clear that Ranzenhofer signed the card himself.  In a study conducted by Randy Garner, surveys were sent out to people (a) with a handwritten sticky note requesting the completion of the survey and (b) with only the survey and a typed cover letter.  The response rate for the survey with the handwritten note received a 75% completion rate, as opposed to the other group, which only yielded a 36% completion rate.  This study shows just how much people value handwritten messages.  It is conceivable that the Senator will gain many votes in the next election because of reciprocation.

            Another reason that this card may prove to be an extremely effective marketing tool is because of a function it is likely to serve.  According to the Canisius College newspaper, The Griffin, around half of the college is comprised of commuter students, who do not live on campus.  It is reasonable to believe that other local colleges have similar statistics, and that a good portion of these students live with their parents.  Many parents are constantly looking for ways to brag about their kids, and what better way to brag than to hang a letter from a State Senator on the refrigerator, congratulating them on making the dean’s list?  Should this letter be hung up in the house, it would constantly be in view, and Mr. Ranzenhofer’s name would be in the minds of the family almost every day.  The principle of conditioning suggests that the positive feelings associating with making the dean’s list will be transferred to the Senator because the two things are so often seen together.  In this case, not only does this message affect the students to whom they are addressed to, but the entire family, thus gaining more potential votes.  Also, the target market of college students on the dean’s list are most likely more intelligent individuals, more likely to be aware of and involved in politics.  In a study conducted by Ian Deary of Scotland, it was concluded that smarter people vote more often.  Politicians should then yield a more effective result by targeting only them, as opposed to all college students.

Sources: http://knowwpcarey.com/article.cfm?aid=611

http://canisiusgriffin.com/?p=1663

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=6108897

Influence and Yes! By Robert Cialdini

Inbound Marketing Model: Content, SEO and Social Media

Luke Summerfiled offered some fantastic advice on his blog on clickz.com.  He suggested that the first thing that should be concentrated on when it comes to content in inbound marketing is the company persona, or the "complete fictional character profile that is based on your ideal customers who share common problems, needs, and wants."  This is especially important because it enables content to be more relevant to consumers, making it more powerful. Next, he recommends that the marketing funnel (seen below), be viewed. 

Search engine optimization should be in the forefront of one's mind when creating content.  Keywords and relevance should be prevalent so that your site can be found with ease on sites such as Google.  Content should continuously be monitored and altered.

Several great tips are offered here to improve a company's search engine optimization.  It is extremely important to have a great quality score on tools such as Google Adwords.  This is a device that measures sites on several different metrics such as authority and relevance that determine how high sites appear on a given search.

Social media is a vital aspect of any inbound marketing plan.  Over 1 billion users are members of Facebook alone, not to mention many other significant sites.  The existence of social media has perpetuated marketing as a whole into a whole new age, marketing 2.0.  It is because of this evolution that marketers are now able to enter a conversation with consumers, thus completely reshaping marketing as a whole

Social Metrics/ Monitoring Tools

One of the most invaluable assets of social media marketing is knowing just how well your campaign is performing.  The great thing about the Internet is that most information is trackable, meaning that effectiveness has become a measurable statistic.  There are several distinct metrics that marketers can measure to determine the effectiveness of their campaigns.  According to Social Bakers, the most important metrics include reach, post interactions, engagement rates, click through/conversion rates, key influencers/brand ambassadors, fan growth and momentum of your page, and customer service efficiency.  I believe this is a complete and comprehensive list, with growth specifically standing out in my opinion.  Growth is a metic that is often overlooked, but perhaps carries more weight than all the rest.  When a campaign loses momentum, it becomes time to drastically alter, or perhaps even remove the campaign altogether.

Probably the best tool out their in regards to social media monitoring is Alterian/SDL.  Just a few of its exciting features include share of voice (where one learns what has the greatest impact on online discussion), map overlay (where conversations can be geographically isolated) and sentiment reports (where brand perception can be gauged).  It is clear that SDL goes the extra mile to deliver hard to find functionality.  A more complete description of the program can be viewed above.

Twitter for Business

Although often considered strictly a social tool, Twitter can be extremely effective for businesses if used properly.  Several key steps, however, are necessary if businesses are to succeed by using this microblog.

First, a company should not dive right into tweeting before they clearly define their purpose for using Twitter.  Several different strategies have been adopted by businesses in the past, including generating leads, building brand awareness, or communicating with an audience.  Tweets should be built around a specific goal so that choosing the information that should be shared, as well as whom to follow will become easier.

Another important idea that businesses should be aware of is the importance of reciprocation in the Twitter world.  In order to achieve maximum success with this tool, businesses should increase activity in regards to other Twitter pages.  This will cause a feeling of obligation to return the favor, thus promoting activity and benefitting both parties.  Examples include "favoriting" and "retweeting" specific tweets and following other profiles.

Within a business, it is vital that the right person is charged with the important task of sending out tweets.  This person should have several qualities such as being knowledgable, trustworthy and a good listener.  Listening is especially important on Twitter, as it is essentially a communication tool, and responses are usually expected.  Every young, tech savvy intern may not possess all these qualities, so a careful decision is paramount in determining the proper person to assign this role.

These are merely a few basic tips for using Twitter for business, so I highly suggest you check out some of these useful sites for more information before you start.  31 Twitter Tips for Businesses and How to Use Twitter for Business both have some great advice.  Thanks for reading, and good luck!

Social Bookmarking

A simple concept, social bookmarking is essentially tagging a website and saving it for later.  In its purest form, a user will stumble upon an interesting article or site, copy and paste its information into the social bookmarking site (or in some cases simple click a button on the Internet browser) and this site will be saved onto your social bookmarking page.

This concept becomes even more interesting when one examines its social aspect.  Once a website is saved, it can then be shared and sent to your friends, clueing them in on what you have found.  In turn, you can also discover new and exciting sites that your friends have came upon.  Also, bookmarking sites often allow the user to browse through content based on specific qualifications such as popularity, newness and category.

Social bookmarking can also be applied to group projects, both in school and the workforce.  At least one social bookmarking site, diigo, allows specific groups to be formed.  In these groups, various articles that are relevant to a common goal can be shared amongst members, increasing cooperation and streamlining productivity.

Which RSS Reader is Best?

One of the best and most efficient ways of getting your news and information can be through the utilization of an RSS reader.  RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) readers are, according to wikipedia, "client software or web applications which aggregate syndicated web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and video blogs in one location for easy viewing." In other words, these readers allow you to get all of your news in one place.  The problem, however, comes into play in deciding which among the multitude of RSS options to use.  In my experience, I have experimented with several different such applications and have come to the conclusion that one in particular has separated itself from the rest.

The best RSS reader that I have come across, and the one that I would recommend to all my readers is without doubt, Digg.  The reader that this site offers is extremely user friendly and easy to navigate through.  It took virtually no time at all for me to get used to this application.  It is also chalk full of great features such as the "Digg" button.  Clicking on this button is similar to a "like" on Facebook, and allows you to even further organize your influx of information.  Also, clicking on the "popular" tab will allow to gather some of the most viewed recent articles.  Although I struggled to find any negatives associated with the Digg reader, I do concede that I did have some trouble logging into the system a few times.  This, however, may have been due to poor internet connection, and not a reflection of a bug on Digg.

  
Another RSS reader that I have used is Feedly. This application has several positive features as well, including a customizable layout that the user can set to his or her liking.  Layouts with the themes of magazines, mosaic, titles, cards and full articles are all readily available.  Another positive attribute of this application is its intelligent use of keyboard shortcuts.  The main thing that turned me off to Feedly, however, was the general clutter of the interface.  Although this can be partially reduced through changing the layout, I could not make it as simple and user-friendly as Digg.  I also did not like the extremely visible presence of ads.

  

The final reader that I have experienced is Bloglovin'.  I appreciated this websites streamlined look and also appreciated the categorization aspect of it, as you can sort articles into folders.  Aside from that, however, I found myself to be somewhat limited on what I could achieve with Bloglovin'.  I felt as though it lacked some of the features that other sites offered.

This is simply my opinion, and I am curious to know yours!  Which RSS Reader do you use and why?

Managerial/ Leadership Strategies: Social vs. Traditional

As the principles and philosophies of traditional and social marketing strategies greatly differ, so too do the managerial and leadership strategies that go along with them.  In order to highlight these differences, we must revisit the goals and content of each strategy.  The fundamental difference between social marketing and traditional marketing is that social marketing involves a conversation both among consumers and between consumers and companies, whereas traditional marketing involves a one-way street of broadcasting messages to mass amounts of people.  This undoubtedly entails vast differences in managerial strategies, which will be the content of this post.

The first, and most obvious evolution in managerial strategy for social marketing involves a conscious focus on maintaining a positive online reputation.  Managers must constantly be aware of what is being said about their companies, and there are many ways to monitor this.  A popular strategy involves enlisting the help of websites such as trackur.com that skim the Internet for relevant information regarding your company, specifically social media sites.  Specifically, Trackur enables the user to check the health of a brand, coordinate with RSS readers, influence and sentiment analysis among other features for the reasonable price of $27 per month.  With over 1 billion users on Facebook alone and many more on various other social media sites, the conversations regarding companies and products that take place in these platforms are overwhelming.  Monitoring and improving the online reputation of a company or brand should be a primary focus of any marketing manager under social marketing, whereas this was not an issue with traditional marketing.

Another strategy that many marketing managers are adapting involves the hiring of a "social media marketing manager".  This is a very loose title, and the specific tasks associated with the position can vary greatly across different fields.  One specific account of such a position can be viewed here.  Generally speaking, a social media marketing manager's sole purpose is to manage the company's presence on social media sites.  Because of the sheer mass of information that is transferred throughout these sites, this position has become something of a necessity.

Those involved in social marketing must also learn to be able to change easily.  One of the benefits of the social marketing age is the increased level of instant feedback from consumers.  This feedback, however, becomes useless if it is not being properly looked at.  Changes can be made from suggestions on social media that could undoubtedly greatly benefit the company in the long run.

It is clear that social marketing managers have much more responsibility than traditional marketing managers.  Where the latter is merely concerned with the process of one message reaching large amounts of people, social marketers must concern themselves with the conversations that occur amongst a large amount of people.

Traditional vs. Social Marketing Strategies

Perhaps the most fundamental philosophical difference between traditional marketing as opposed to social marketing is the concept of one-way broadcasts vs. two way conversations.  Traditionally speaking, marketing campaigns consisted of print advertising, email blasts, TV spots and other similar strategies.  Although effective in their own ways, they all followed the "one-to-many" idea in which a message is carried out in a single direction from a sole source, meant to reach a large amount of people. For instance, when an audience views a commercial on TV, they are meant to take the ad for what it is worth, and that is the end of it; no feedback ensues.

Through social marketing, and Web 2.0, a whole new dimension of marketing has emerged.  Conversations between companies and consumers to a degree that which was never before possible.  An ad placed on Facebook, for instance, is immediately subjected to comments, "likes" and shares by the viewing public.  This provides instant feedback for the company, as well as an opportunity for them to engage, and learn from the opinions of the consumers.

The differences in the philosophies and principles of traditional and social marketing strategies are vast, and cannot be summed up in one post.  Social media has changed the marketing game, and it is never looking back.  For more information on these contrasting strategies, check out this blog.

ECommerce, Facebook and the Future of Marketing

          ECommerce is an emerging trend on the Internet, which allows users to exchange goods without the barriers of time and distance.  Recently, Facebook has put a plan into action to utilize this feature by testing out a new mobile payment feature on its website.  Although this announcement does not mean that this social media site will be fully immersed in Ecommerce, it is definitely a significant step in that direction.  According to Facebook spokesperson Tera Randall, the goal of new test is to simply, “test how we can help our app partners provide a simpler commerce experience.”  These “app partners” of which she speaks are an essential aspect of social media in general; providing the opportunity for money to be made by companies utilizing Facebook’s (and other sites) massive following.  During the test itself, personal information that has been provided by Facebook users will automatically be filled in when making purchases from mobile applications. Facebook's new development is explained in this article.

            The most important takeaway of this article is not in the test itself, but instead the future implications that which it could hold.  Should Facebook actually launch the payment feature, it would enable the site to track the numbers of purchases from specific partner sites.  This would provide valuable data, and evidence of just how great of a marketing impact that Facebook can provide.  This site aims to be a location that which ecommerce transactions occur frequently, and in doing so becomes a pioneer for social media in general to become involved in ecommerce.  This shift may not occur without friction, however, as many are wary of how willing people will be to provide secure financial information to a social media website.

             Should a shift occur that brings significant ecommerce to the sphere of social media, it would mean that businesses would need to dramatically alter their marketing strategies and business models.  Limited transactions already do take place on social media, and the effects have already been massive (i.e. Farmville).  Due to the extensive amount of people involved with social media (over 1 billion on Facebook) and the ease of which they can communicate with eachother, social media would become a primary, if not the primary, target for marketing in general.  If a person could simple log onto Facebook and get their shopping done through various apps and experience a smooth transactional experience, there would be little reason to shop in other locations.  Marketers and managers should pay close attention to this story, as its outcome will have very significant implications.

mHealth App Marketing: A Profitable Future

          According to a recent study, over one fourth of all app users are currently using a health related app quite regularly.  The relatively new field of mHealth is classified as practicing medicine and public health with the support of mobile devices.  There is great variety within this category, however, with the top selling apps serving a diverse array of needs and functions. For example, the app “Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker” quite obviously aids in weight-loss and healthy eating and “Stress Check” measures the user’s stress levels and gives corresponding advice by the placement of a finger on the camera lens.  Even more examples of popular mHealth apps include those that help locate medical professionals in your area, and track your weekly workouts.

            In total, the world’s mHealth market is worth approximately $6.6 billion.  This upward trend is increasing exponentially as well, drawing predictions of a total market upwards of $20 billion by 2018.  It was estimated that in 2013, the US Healthcare and social assistance industry would spend $265 million on mobile marketing, increasing to $539 million in 2015; two very significant sums.  Perhaps the most important statistic, however, is the trust that users are placing in these apps.  According to a recent study, over two thirds of mobile health app users believed that they had a significant impact on their health.  This new development is accurately explained in this blog post.

              In his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini discusses the power that authority has on a person’s responses.  He writes, “Information from a recognized authority can provide us a valuable shortcut for deciding how to act in a situation”. (For more information on Cialdini, check out his website here) The healthcare industry has an undeniable advantage in this area, as perhaps no other industry requires consumers to trust professionals that this one.  When it comes to a person’s health, they patients are placing trust in doctors regarding their entire livelihood, and it is clear from the statistic mentioned earlier that users trust their apps as well.  If companies are able to maintain their authoritative images by using recognizable brands, doctor recommendations, as well as endorsements from certifiable professionals, consumers will be much more likely to not only purchase the app, but consistently use it and follow its directions carefully.  A classic example of this situation is characterized in an experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram.  In this experiment, average citizens were instructed to give potentially lethal shocks to other citizens by a man in a lab coat.  Most of the subjects complied, merely because they recognized the man in the coat as a figure of authority.  Marketers must maintain their company’s status as a figure of authority, but for a much less sinister reason.  This authority is what will enable them to have the continued attention of the users for a long period of time, providing a great marketing opportunity.

            The emergence of mHealth can also potentially restructure the healthcare industry altogether.  Businesses must pay close attention to this trend, as more focus will be needed to be placed on online presence, as many people are using apps to locate healthcare professionals.  They must utilize search engine optimization in order to do this.  Also, those in the personal training and fitness industry must take care to not lose business to mobile apps that give work out routines.  These professionals must emphasize the importance of face-to-face contact in their industry.  Finally, the healthcare industry now has the possibility of running much more smoothly, with the mass exchange of information through mHealth capabilities.

Initial Thoughts, Current Events: Google Glass

          In my indrotuctory post for this blog, I wanted to address a current event in the world of digital marketing.  It is my believe that Google's new product, Google Glass (if properly applied) can change the landscape of the marketing world.  This new product could potentially have effects so profound, that marketers will have to restructure their strategies entirely in order to achieve maximum effectiveness.

            When word of Google’s “Project Glass” began to spread in 2012, initial reactions were simple amazement regarding the technological brilliance and futuristic essence of the invention.  Google Glass is, in essence, a personal computer that is worn on the user’s face, and has capabilities such as picture, video, sharing and information.  After the initial shock wore off, however, more practical analyses surfaced, including how the innovation could potentially impact marketing and advertising.    A few months ago, Google was granted a patent, which applied for back in 2011, for eye tracking advertising technology, often referred to as “gaze” tracking technique.  In this technique, the eyes would be tracked any time they looked at an advertisement.  This information would then be sent back to a server, and payments would be made on any of a number of diverse dimensions.  For instance, payments could be determined by whether or not the person looked directly at an ad, the length of time they looked, or even the emotional state elicited by the ad, which could me measured by the person’s pupil response.  Additional information about Google Glass can be viewed here.

            However, the utilization of eye tracking systems by marketers is not a new concept.  It has been frequently used by marketers in closed experiments and studies, but has been generally considered to be too expensive and intrusive to become a full-fledged, mainstream technique.  For instance, one company used eye-tracking techniques to measure the interest level of various children throughout an episode of “Sesame Street” (Blink- Malcolm Gladwell).  The possibility of the existence of Google Glass, however, tackles these obstacles and makes eye tracking advertising an appealing prospective. To prevent feelings of users being unwilling victims of an experiment, Google is ensuring that all users will be completely anonymous.  This new and exciting innovation can be viewed properly on the Google website here, and an interesting video can also be viewed for your educational curiosity.

           Should products such as Google Glass take off, eye tracking advertising technology will yield several important managerial and marketing implications.  Since these glasses would be able to track eye movements responding to ads on a screen and in real life, perhaps a shift would occur that would refocus advertising into the actual, not virtual, world.  Ads such as billboards and posters could be monitored for effectiveness as never before, and would undoubtedly lead to more inventive techniques beyond what we have currently seen.  Perhaps our cities and suburbs would become overloaded with advertisements competing for our attention, similar to how the Internet has already followed this trend.

          User input will be a reoccurring theme of this blog, and all opinions are encouraged.  What sort of impact, both general and marketing specific do you believe that the Google Glass will have? Do you think this invention will catch on at all?