Online Community Map

So it's been several days since the end of the Online Marketing Bootcamp and I'm on "vacation"! Um...well...kinda.

As I was thinking about all of the work we accomplished and how it's all evolving and how I'm going to put it all into courses for the fall semester I remembered a recent email I received from my man Mike. He ran across this GREAT site: xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language. You should check it out!

What makes this relevant is that in one comic there is this GREAT representation of the Online Community...in MAP form. Must get this for my office!

To see the full version click here!

Champlain College Online Marketing Bootcamp: Final Post

Digg

Delicious

Twitter

VOX

Blogger

Second Life

MySpace

Squidoo

Facebook

YouTube

Technorati

Feedburner

FlickR

RSS

CoComment

Twitterific

LinkedIn

BeBo

iTunes

-------------------------------------------------------
Um...get all that? And yes, I know, they should be linked, but then that would ruin the pretty colors and I am certainly NOT going to break into the code to figure it out!

So that was my day today. A total immersion into the world of Social Networking and Online Visibility.

I LOVED IT!

Of course, I teach it ... so this was a unique experience for me to be the student. Think I might have over-stepped a few times (bad me) in the class room (sorry Dave and Dan!) around some of the things...but the best part was the things that I learned today. Great context of Social Networking and Online Visibility and some good connections.

Let's get to it (before I do a faceplant on the keyboard -- gee whiz I'm tired).

As I mentioned earlier, Dave Winslow from EpikOne kicked us off this morning. Besides the whirlwind overview and the hands on with LinkedIn and Blogger, Dave provided a great list of:

Steps for Planning a Social Networking Campaign

1. State your goal, identify your target and know what your success
2. Determine how much money and time you will invest
3. Based on the budget, create a plan – just like any other marketing plan
4. Identify what mediums you will be using – ie video, text, etc.
5. Choose which networks you will allocate your budget too
6. Align your resources internally or find a good outsource
7. Execute the plan and please make sure to track your initiatives

While I like the list and will use it in my Social Networking class there is ONE thing missing and that is making sure to INTEGRATE whatever you do with your current marketing messages and branding. It's a very important step because with this medium, if people really "Digg" it (smile) you need to be ready and it (whatever it is) better match your brand identity.

We moved into this afternoon with a great presentation on Social Networking -- with a focus on Blogging and Facebook (my favorite!) from Daniel Schutzsmith (linkedin) (twitter) who is the editor of GraphicDefine, an eZine for graphic designers and business. Check it out at: http://www.graphicdefine.org.

I won't bore you all with the in-depth details but there are a few things I wanted to address.

So what makes a Social Networking "Expert" anyway? To hear Dan tell it, it's a mix of pure chance, passion and a healthy dash of insanity.

Disclaimer -- remember, I'm a college professor, so when Dan said that he didn't use his PR degree right off, um, I had to wonder because...well...Dan, all of this that you are doing it's um..PR!

Anyway...here's Dan's "Story" (as told by me -- my sense is that I've boiled down the past 15 years of his life into well...a few short lines)

History of Dan

PR major in College
Graduated
Tried different jobs in business and design, businesses tanked…he kept on moving
(note dot.com bomb here somewhere I'm sure)
Started posting in forums and link pages and discussions providing advice and comments which led to a...
call from Chopping Block
so he started working with them in Biz Development where...
they didn't do any advertising they just...
went to forums
submitted links
send info to Ad Week
and Clients evolved from the virtual word of mouth they generated
(um, I think there was good design work too!)

Which got him pretty much involved with business side of design
which evolved into graphicdefine magazine – an eZine
which moved from his solo postings...
to other people/multiple contributors on the site
and then some
teaching at school of visual arts – at NYU
and of course
speaking Gigs on Social Networking and Online Visibility!
(um, Public Relations I'm think'n!)

Both Dan and Dave said these posts were supposed to be short...but...well...it wouldn't be fun if I didn't break the rules!

Big take aways?

Gotta have passion to do this. What else? Well here are some tips that make a lot of sense to me:

First, build a personality. One that goes with you and is consistent through all your social networking gigs whether it is MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, or whatever.

What do people want to see?

• Remove the Bullshit
• No Sales Speak
• Stay Consistent
• Make it easy to link to

Keeping followers and credibility

• Update Consistently
• Quality Content
• Remain Humble
• Be Truthful
• Own up and admit mistakes
• Correct the mistake
• Don’t Censor
• Listen
• Implement and Compliment Feedback

Handling Criticism

• Evaluate
• Address it
• Correct it
• Follow up

What not to do

• Hide
• Attack
• Counter-criticize
• Sue
• Slander

And finally...Dan's Tips for overall success:

1. Stick with it.
2. It takes hard work
3. Focus on the message
4. Encourage participation
5. Be serious about not being too serious
6. Have fun

So what did I think overall? It was a great session. The full day worked very well together and even though I walked in with my own blog and an UBER Facebook presence and a well developed LinkedIn Profile, I still came away with a continuing appreciation for what is happening in the OnlineVis space and that there are others out there like me who find this not only interesting but revolutionary.

Dan calls himself an "Evangelist". Easy to do that in the business world -- especially in NYC and especially when you are a "creative". Much more difficult to do in Higher Education with curriculum -- but I'm working on it! (insert evangelical exclamations here!)

Read on over the rest of the summer as I take what I've learned and what I continue to learn in the blogging world and use it to update and improve the classes I teach in Internet Marketing, Online Visibility and Social Networking.

Now...I have GOT to get to bed.

Champlain College Online Marketing Bootcamp Day 4: Social Networking

First I should note that last nights reception at the Firehouse Art space was GREAT. Now, it wasn't the Magic Hat (really!) that made it the best...although that was quite nice (and they were a sponsor), but the opportunity to continue to network with individuals I already know, but also those who I haven't had a chance to get to know. These Web Analytics Wednesdays are GREAT!

On to today....

Today's post will be broken up a bit, as our focus is Social Networking and in todays second half of the morning session we'll be all getting LinkedIn profiles and setting up blogs...well I already have both, so I'll be concentrating on the optimization of them.

In the mean time today's morning overview has been very good. A great intro to Social Networking by Dave Winslow from EpikOne. In the spirit of all of this...here is Dave's Linked In profile.

Some highlights included the history of Social Networking (yep there's a history!) and the current day context. The interesting part has to do with where we've been, where we are and where we are going:

Early stages
1. IM
2. Message Boards
3. Webinars

Current Platforms
1. Blogs
2. Wikis
3. Online Communities

Next evolution
1. 3-d Virtual Worlds
2. Peer-to-peer
3. Virtual Tradeshow

Um...Dave's Back...time to get hands on with LinkedIn! Be back later!

Champlain College Online Marketing Bootcamp Day 3: Web Analytics Wednesday

It's day three and we are deep into Analytics!

The day began again bright and early in the Mac Lab at Champlain College as we DOVE in the DEEP END of the "Technical Side" of Google Analytics. Our tour guide was Justin Cutroni the VP for Web Analytics at EpikOne. Justin has a blog "Analytics Talk" which is referenced on page 86 of Web Analytics an Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik, where he writes, "Justin Cutroni is one of hte smartest web analytics practitioners and consultants around. His focus is on GA but he has lots of non-GA stuff as well."

Today we learned about how to set up Google Analytics on our websites and how to customize the data and the reports. I'd go into detail...but OMG! I'm still processing. The big things I'm taking away are:

• Filtering is important


• Link Tagging can make ALL the difference -- especially with non-HTML files like PDF and FLASH and ads outside of the AdWords network.


• Goals are CRUCIAL -- it's all about conversion, so make sure those goals are clearly defined.


• Goals don't have to be just e-commerce related -- if you want people to sign up for an email newsletter, that's a goal; if you want people to download a file, that's a goal.


• Campaign tracking is very important and encompasses all of this
  

This afternoon has focused on the reporting from Analytics -- we walked through all the reports and really got an in-depth look at GA from Rachel Meyers an Analytics Specialist with Google.
While many of the reports are self-explanatory, the context provided by Meyers was very helpful and there are many nuances that we went over that I had never considered before. The new interface has really made a difference and allows for ease and depth at the same time!

Next step is the Web Analytics Association's networking event Web Analytics Wednesday! at the Firehouse Gallery in Burlington, VT.

Champlain College Online Marketing Bootcamp Day 2: Google Website Optimizer

Another whirlwind day has wrapped up here at the Online Marketing Bootcamp. Today's focus was on the new Google tool: Alex Broussard with EpikOne, who is the VP for Technology and Co-Founder of this local company, this session was beyond thorough. While it ranged into the far too technical around some of the CSS work, the walk through of the Optimizer appliance using a testing ground for one of Epik's clients was incredibly valuable. It's fairly simple to implement as long as you know a little html and have some design skills -- or if you have a good team of people to work with.

Basically you need to have a plan -- take a look at your site funnel analysis and see where your problem area is -- the area where you want to enhance conversions -- then select a few items you might want to change. If they are images, come up with the variations, if it is text do the same thing. Then walk through the optimizer, put the right code on your testing and conversion pages, insert the variations into the tool and then launch. Wait. Wait. Wait.

The length of time you wait will depend on the amount of traffic to your site. But no worries, the Optimizer tool will tell you when it's done. Then, select the winning combination of changes that increase your conversions.

Implement the changes.

Wa La!

Check out this case study for a client of EpikOne.

Now the big challenge -- how does this fit in the classroom? Does it fit in the Internet-marketing class...or is it for the Web Developers? Or BOTH? Lot's to consider.

Tomorrow is Web Analytics Wednesday. We'll see how that one goes!

Champlain College Online Marketing Boot Camp: Day 1

Morning Session: Intro and Google Adwords Overview

Introduction
____________________________________________

Today's session has started with a bang! Bob Verrico with Giant Step Strategies set the context with a discussion of the state of the industry and why we should care about all of this info.

The focus of his presentation was about the key drivers that moving the industry forward. Such things as the predictability of the internet (more on that in a second), the fact that advertising intelligence and quality have gone up, more people are spending more time online, there continues to be growing access to broadband and wireless, there are more advertisers online, current advertisers are going to be spending more (according to Verrico, small amounts of ad budgets are directed online) and there is an increased monetization or ROI with the advent of analytics (especially FREE analytics).

Verrico's point that the internet is predictable was an interesting one -- and one I hadn't thought about really. In my mind, given my background and what I'm teaching, everything around the internet has brought with it great change...and yet, as you think about it, the internet itself has been stable -- it's the tools that have changed the most!

Verrico continued with a discussion of what this all means and bottom line, "Companies must evolve to leverage the technology around them. Analytics, SEO, Databases and different content models must all be embraced and explored.

One of the most important concepts Verrico stressed was LIFETIME CUSTOMER VALUE or LTV -- something that came up again in the later session. Essentially, what value does your customer have over time? Are you taking full advantage of the opportunity and of tracking the value that brings?

Finally, he closed with some take aways:

• Landscape is ever changing: You need to keep up!
• Intimate understanding of value, ability to compete, thrive and scale: in order to be successful!
• Appropriate infrastructure: Gotta have it!
• A/B testing (101 in the industry): Use data to drive decisions -- even creative ones!
• Analytics: Use data to show ROI
• Staffing: Get the right people around you

Session 1: Google Adwords
___________________________________________

Whew! Talk about a whirlwind session! Everything you needed to know to not only get started with Adwords but expand what you are already doing and all in a brief FOUR HOURS!

This session was run by EpikOne pros Dani Giandomenico and Paul Skarvanko (a Champlain Alum!). And it was a speed run through Adwords and all that comes with it. They covered:

• An overview of the network
• The basis for Google's Algorithm: click through rate, historical keyword performance, relevance of ad text and landing page quality/relevance.
• The quality score and how to improve it
• How Adwords technology targets: IP Address, Google domains, query parsing and language settings
• Ad types
• Account Hierarchy
• Matching Options
• Site Targeting
• Radius targeting
• AdWords and Analytics
• Structuring your Ad Campaign with Ad Groups
• Bidding Strategies
• Landing Page Optimization
• Image advertising

And then we got to play! They offered up a playground and asked us to all create unique ads targeted to specific locations, only in the search area for a $.20 CPC.

Did I mention a WHIRLWIND?? This was a great, if slightly disjointed session, a big mix of backgrounds in the room and people who were familiar with AdWords and people who were not. It was hard to keep it together and stay focused. But overall, great value of information to keep us up to date on how AdWords is evolving.

Session 2: Online Marketing Overview
__________________________________________

In this afternoon session we got the global perspective from EpikOne founder, Dave Winslow (also a Champlain Alum) and Kristoffer Ewald from The Milk in Denmark.

The stated goals for this workshop were:

• How much of your budget should be invested online
• Understanding the websites role in marketing today
• Using Web Analytics to Measure Online Marketing Initiatives
• Essential Skill Sets Needed for Building an online marketing team
• How to stay current in the online marketing industry

Let me tell you that they covered all of this in another FOUR HOUR time frame. Both Dave and Kris were great. They really provided a global perspective with amazing examples that really illustrated their main points.

Some interesting points which resonated for me as I figure out how to update our Internet-based Marketing course for the fall included...

Stages of Internet Marketing

Early stage (pre 2000)

• Banner ads
• Basic Websites
• No Accountability

Current Situation (2000 to today)

• Multiple marketing mediums
• Websites integrating business rules
• Accountability through analytics

Next evolution (tomorrow)

• Online marketing outpaces traditional
• Websites become core business platform
• Everything online is measured

Throughout both Kris' and Dave's presentation you could see this theme of moving from our current situation to the evolution that more data driven decision making will bring.

Some insights:

• Paid search is moving towards PERFORMANCE-BASED. In other words, if the ad doesn't convert, you don't have to pay for it.
• Keep the basics in mind: Know your TARGET MARKET. Know who your audience is and where they are so you can leverage the right ad and site mixes.
• Tracking of behavior should be used to create transparency. We can now follow the person through the overall process to see if they create value. Follow the footsteps of what is happening. What performed best? (optimization)
• Define the actions you want people to take and add a value to that action

Kris' Five Golden Rules

• Accept that you don’t have all the answers, but you can ask all the questions you want
• Focus, if can only get one thing out of your marketing program what do you want it to be
• Test and accept your failures
• Evolve faster than the competition
• Analyze

Allocate some of your resources to EXPERIMENTAL tactics such as social networking, blogging and virtual worlds. While the intial ROI may be negative, the potential is huge! EpikOne was able to leverage more business for clients and themselves through both Social Networking exploration and Blogging to the point where they are now using it more and more.

Some great examples of what not to do...searching on SPRINT MOTO which generates a number one placement for SPRINT in the Google results. A click reveals...



Note that no where can you see the MOTO phone in this page! Try it yourself!

Well that's about it...in a nutshell. There's more of course, but I've already taken up too much of everyone's time.

If you get the chance, take a look at the EpikOne Blog.

So...tomorrow it'll be website optimizer all day long! I'll post the synopsis of that at the end of the day.

Social Media as a Marketing Tool: An example from Facebook

Ok, so here I am blogging TWICE in a day. Considering the derth of postings in May (read end of semester, no time) it's amazing that I'm in here at all! But...here's one I just couldn't pass up.

A GREAT example of social media marketing coupled with cause-related marketing all from Microsoft. They are touting their "LIVE" application (former MSN Messenger) and are reaching out to facebookers (aka: high school and college students) utilizing the one of the new applications that Facebook has just launched. So their initiative is the I'M Making a Difference. Every time someone uses Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft will give part of the proceeds of their generated ad revenue to a cause.

So here's a social media application (Instant Messenging), being target marketed through a social media application (Facebook) using philanthropy and causes as the hook. A great example for BOTH my Social Networking course AND Non-Profit and Social Marketing!

Online Marketing Bootcamp

Keeping up with it...that's one of the biggest challenges a full-time professor who teaches internet marketing has. The changes that keep on coming since I originally developed and taught my first section of Internet-based Marketing here at Champlain are astounding!

I began teaching the course in the Spring of 2001. Since that time, the course has evolved and the tools have changed dramatically and we'll be changing the course again this summer in order to accomodate the right blend of tools AND theory.

All this is a world where social media (check out the consortium!) is now the big buzzword (it didn't exist last year!) and "experts" in the field are figuring it out on the fly as it develops! It's fascinating to read other blogs (such as Influential Interactive Marketing and BizNology and Occams Razor to name a few) about the field of interactive marketing and how the professionals are spinning what is happening and how to take advantage of these new opportunities.

What is interesting to me is that many of these professionals are not talking about the challenge of EDUCATION. How do I, as someone who is responsible for educating future marketing and e-business professionals ensure that I am truly preparing these students for what is to come? They are the ones who are living the social media as "fun" and who I find are often surprised that they could be hired because they know how to "friend" people in MySpace, and send event invitations in Facebook! They are also the same students who were STUNNED by SecondLife and even had negative reactions to the whole thing. So where does that leave us?

Here at Champlain we've got not only an Internet-based Marketing course that students are required to take, but we also have instituted a series of one credit courses in Internet Tactics that the students take in their senior year -- it's the only way to ensure they have the cutting edge tools that they will need in the workplace. The Internet Marketing class is for sophomores and juniors -- by the time they graduate there is already a host of new tools and tactics that weren't there before! Frankly, we aren't teaching Shakespeare and history here -- it's changing so fast that there aren't textbooks that really get at this (for more on that, see my other blog!).

So this summer Google and Champlain and Epik One are teaming together to offer an online marketing bootcamp. Yours truly will be in the classroom learning so she can pass on what she has learned in the fall to her students. And of course I read every blog I can and follow as much as I can.

However, the key is not just to know the tactic, but more importantly, is this something to focus on? Does it have staying power? And...will it help you to better reach your audience? That's the tough part, and where I need to be better than any of the experts -- because I have to take what they are doing and bring that into my classroom and help my students to know not just the tactic but how to apply it -- and when not too!

More from Online Marketing Bootcamp and classroom application next week....

The American Academy of Advertising

I had the opportunity to take part in my first ever ACADEMIC conference this past weekend. Yep..really! There hasn't been a big focus on the whole "scholarship" part of the academic world here at Champlain College in the past, but with a new president and an increased emphasis on professional development it is time for me to head out into a brave new world.

Of course, it helps when the conference is happening in your own back yard!

Yep, this year the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Advertising was held at Burlington's Sheraton Hotel. This certainly did make the travel plans pretty straight forward. What a GREAT conference! Even though we are in the midst of a SNOWSTORM right now, the conference seemed to come off fairly well attended.

I learned some very interesting things this weekend from both an academic and practioner point of view -- I do enjoy when the two actually connect AND work together!

There was a session on product placement and its effectiveness in different media. From this presentation I learned that RAP music has the highest product placement, with Country second, Pop third, Rock forth and Alternative fifth. Within the RAP genre, product placement is about showing luxury items. According to the researcher, this signifies that the the Rapper has "arrived" and is a way to show status. Interestingly enough, the Country focus is more on utility and things that are needed to get the job (whatever it may be) done.

I also had a chance to learn that Cause-related Marketing has the potential to be more effective in India than in the United States, because in the US we are more skeptical.

Then there was the session on practicum learning -- the highlight of which was an example of the AdLab that is part of the Advertising program at Boston University. It was very interesting to hear how this University is providing students with real-world experience.

There was opportunities to network and meet others in the academic world and to share experiences as well.

Next year, they hold their meeting in San Mateo, CA. I'm thinking of going!

Using Blogging to Create Online Visibility

Well, believe it or not, one class is done (Social Networking...see the post below) and another is in full swing. I'm now teaching a class in Online Visibility through our e-Buisness Management program here at Champlain College. This is the second time I've taught it and one of the things I'm learning about teaching this topic is the challenge in writing a blog that is intended to provide information at the same time it is intended to help you get found online.

There's more to it than Marketing text that tells people about your company. The real focus should be about providing information that allows individuals to find out more about what a company does well through the advice they provide. Information that is useful is what will be linked to and will provide opportunity for others to seek out your organization.

Utilizing the right keywords in combination with providing useful information is how a blog will assist your online visibility. Avoid the superlatives and the reprint of the "about us" from your website -- put your energy into something that provides value and it will come back to you through links and the search engines.