Beyond the Dashboard and Under the Hood | #SMBC5

From discussing the importance of having a social hub to setting up a dashboard and diving deep under the analytics hood, I covered some important tools, metrics and trends that can help you improve the effectiveness of your social media and web marketing strategy.

Having a social hub in place allows you to not only own your content (imagine if your Facebook page suddenly disappeared), but also track analytics and trends that can be used to make informed decisions about strategy. One of the best (and free) tools available is Google Analytics. A number of widgets are available that can provide valuable information about traffic, content performance, and more.

In addition, setting up dashboards to stay on top of your social and web marketing efforts can reduce time and stress. I shared several of the key items that I like to keep track of with my dashboards.

Lastly, insight on trends for 2013 shows that we are becoming more and more mobile, as well as less focused (decreased attention span), so we need to deliver content with repetition, novelty, and in a concise format–all of which that needs to be designed for folks on their tablet, smartphone or other mobile device.

View the PowerPoint slideshow (.ppsx) from my presentation at “Social Media Bootcamp 5.0″ on May 16, hosted by the Greater Spokane Chapter of PRSA.

Leveraging Your INBA Membership: Marketing, Mobile, & Marketplace + 16 Marketing Tips

Today I’m presenting at INBA’s monthly networking luncheon. The presentation shares insights about INBA’s ability to support their members’ marketing efforts, as well as ideas and suggestions as to how business owners and professionals can leverage these resources. In addition, I’ve included a “bonus” presentation filled with 16 marketing tips that any small business owner should be aware of.

Main Presentation: The 3M’s of Leveraging Your INBA Membership
Bonus Presentation: 16 Marketing Tips

INBA is the Inland Northwest Business Alliance–the only LGBT and ally chamber in the Spokane region. I’ve served on their board over the past year and am currently the board Secretary.

Deepening Relationships & Delighting Members via Social Media #gosocialinw presentation

I had the pleasure of presenting at the 2012 “Go Social” conference on social media marketing in Spokane, Washington (located at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park). Over the past two years, I’ve built a social media program at STCU (Spokane Teachers Credit Union) and have taught classes at Whitworth University as an adjunct. This presentation is a fairly cohesive summary of the strategies, tactics, tips and resources that I’ve utilized to be successful.

Download the presentation, “Deepening Relationships & Delighting Members via Social Media”:

• MS PowerPoint
• Adobe PDF

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment or contact me via email or Twitter (@someprtips).

Digital Marketing & PR – Does your business need a strategy?

As part of the summer course (scroll to BU-396-AED3 Digital Marketing & PR (3), about 2/5 of the way down) I’m teaching in the Continuing Studies program at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, my students are tasked with creating a digital marketing and public relations plan for a local business or organization. If you don’t already have a plan, or would like a “revised” one, contact me so I may let my students know. I’ll share a list of interested businesses and organizations with the students and let them decide who they would like to work with. Please provide your contact information as well. In the interest of the students, I will only share opportunities that are within the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene area, in case they need to meet with you in-person.

Want to see what the assignment looks like? Here’s a PDF.

Whitworth #JMC335 Mid-Term Feedback

We’re now halfway through the term at Whitworth University, and it’s my first time teaching the Interactive Journalism (JMC 335) course. The students have been learning about the important role that social media and technology plays in today’s journalism, PR and marketing fields. In addition to classroom lectures, presentations, workshops and readings, they have been required to blog and tweet (and encouraged to tweet beyond the scope of classroom assignments).

While it seems that they have, for the most part, been learning a lot about social media, what I am uncertain of is how well my teaching style is working and whether the readings were relevant (and even being read by the students). So, I followed the advice of the interim department chair, and surveyed the students with a few simple questions, in order to gather feedback and make adjustments if necessary.

Here are the questions:

1. What has most helped your learning so far in this course?
2. What has least helped your learning so far in this course?
3. Please complete this sentence: “I would get more out of this course if I would…”
4. And this one: “I would get more out of this course if the instructor would…”
5. The textbook is…

And here’s some of the (generalized) feedback I received:

• The workshops (Twitter, blogging, FlipCam, etc.) have been beneficial. My intent is to find more opportunities to have more of these.
• The class period can, admittedly, jump around from time to time. While I do come into class with a lecture plan, it is quite easy to veer off the subject of interject something that seems random. I need to work on a better in-class “game plan.”
• Some of the students admitted that they haven’t been doing the reading assignments. So, I’ll be investigating some options to hold them more accountable, as the readings are short, easy and relevant.
• While some haven’t been reading the textbooks, others have noted that they either like the books or don’t. Unfortunately, there isn’t really an ideal textbook out there, that I’ve found, that would cover this course. But, I think the two required textbooks supplement the class well, and The New Rules of Marketing & PR book will be particularly useful for them in the future. After the course, I’ll have to survey the landscape again to see if there are new resources I should be requiring them to read.
• Yes, for some reason, I refer to kittens a lot in class. Don’t ask me why. I don’t have an obsession for them. However, it seems like kittens are always popular on social media. Perhaps I should diversify the references.
• They have mentioned the need for a handout. There is one posted on Blackboard for the course, but I’m guessing not everyone has seen it. Be sure to reference (and update as necessary) the handout and provide summaries, too.
• More examples of social media case studies have been requested as well. I found two in a book that were quite relevant to the journalism aspect of the course. Researching more case studies and sharing them with the class would be helpful.
• The three-hour class period can be long and monotonous. I should find opportunities to break it up with more breaks, group work, etc.
• A few more items: sharing latest trends, examples (or instructions) on how to write good blogs, etc.

I also received some great feedback from the interim department chair as well, and I’m already looking at opportunities to incorporate these into the class:

• Different questioning methods, such as: clusters, individuals by name, and group discussions/answers.
• Having the students write down one thing they want to share and one thing they didn’t quite understand (or have questions about) regarding the reading, at the beginning of class, to help hold them accountable.
• Require them to write about the readings for some of their blog posts.
• Find the intersection between “redundancy” and “novelty” (used in “Information Theory”) in class time.

I think that with all of this feedback, I can help the second part of the course be even more interactive and engaging for the students.

 

3 Things that Motivate Employees more than Money

Strangely, I’ve been receiving Inc. magazine for free in the mail the past few months. I’m not quite certain why it’s being sent to me, or who may have given me the subscription. But at any rate, I finally had a chance to read though it, and it’s fairly interesting. The first tidbit that I thought I’d share with everyone: “Three Things That Motivate Employees More Than Money.”

1. Create role models. Highlight your top performers’ strengths, and let them know that you want them to be an example for others. You’ll set the bar high, and they’ll be motivated to live up to their reputations.

2. Give recognition and small rewards. Give a shout-out to someone in a company meeting. Run contests or internal games, and keep track of the results on a whiteboard that everyone can see. Tangible awards that don’t break the bank can work, too. Try things like dinner, trophies, spa services, and plaques.

3. Make your ideas theirs. People hate being told what to do. Instead, ask them in a way that will make them feel as if they came up with the idea. “I’d like you to do it this way” turns into “Do you think it’s a good idea if we do it this way?”

I must admit that number two isn’t all that original or unique, but it does work…we’ve used that method at my current workplace and it motivates our employees. I’ve seen the other methods deployed by different leaders (though not as often as #2), and they can work really well when done correctly.

Social Media for Insurance & Financial Services (NAIFA #PDX)

Earlier today a delivered this presentation to the Portland chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. I shared some ideas, strategies and tips on how they could use social media for their industries.