COMMENTS
hi Mike,
OK, for someone wading into the social networking sphere of the Web ... how do they get started finding people who they trust, want to follow, or more importantly people who will be interested in what they are writing. For instance, consider someone who has a blog, but has low readership.... how do they Get Social and monitor their growth? Are there ways to plant seeds in social networks to generate interest in a bloggers great content? How much time should they devote to this? thx.
Looking forward to the webinar.
I am fascinated by the growth of the intangibles. I had scoffed many a time at the vedic attempts in bringing in the intangibles into play- being completely tutored by the western education system - where intangibles had no role to play.
I am seeing a new framework to enable /influence transactions happening.
Social media will produce myriad dimensions to transactional process and will forever change the customer relationship management principles
Mike-
There are very few of us that not only get how social networking/2.0 work, but understand there is more than just a "checklist". This checklist that I am afraid most marketing directors are approaching (because that is what they did before-print, check- radio, check - tv, check- billboard, check).
I am hoping that people that are just beginning to learn about social media/2.0 can also understand and take in some concrete, successful examples so they see that social media/2.0 is not a checklist/tactic, it is an everyday way of business.
-jen
What are you encouraging customers to publish and where are you encouraging them to publish? In Social Media realms? What if they aren't in it?
For a B2C company, how casual can you be in your content on myspace/facebook, blog without being too unprofessional.
I'm one of the 40+ who is just getting started in social media marketing. Been doing the website and blog thing for awhile and have published on a few social sites. What is the first best step? Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. There is so much out there it is hard to know how to prioritize.
What is your opinion on putting links for digg or del.icio.us on a corporage Web site? I see Sun and IBM are now doing this.
How can you control the time you spend on social media marketing versus actually doing billable work?
Great webinar. I'll pass it on up the line so management can get a better idea of how social media works.
I noticed there were a couple gaps in the reports you showed. Was that a technology glitch or did HubSpot make a major change?
Mike,
Interesting webinar, thank you for putting this event on.
Marty Fahncke
Conference Call University
Mike,
This was one of the best A to Z presentations about social marketing I have ever seen -- and I'm an internet marketer, too. This is an absolute must see for all those wanting more information about how and WHY social media cannot be ignored if you're going to take yourself seriously online. Thanks again for a great presentation!
Regarding Email Marketing - do you consider this outbound marketing / inbound marketing or both?
Does HubSpot's service provide assistance/tools for email marketing?
Great webinar. I'm going to pass the recorded version up the chain so that my management can get a better feel for the value of social media marketing.
Thanks for the great webinar, Mike! You answered all the questions I had - especially, what to do once you join a social media website (how to generate interest). Thanks a bunch!
It seems like marketing via social media could take an infinite amount of time--what is a good recommendation for how much time per week I really need to actively market to get a decent return?
Can someone explain how they are using twitter?
I was hoping to learn more about the dangers of being labeled a Spammer on social network sites. Do you have a blog post or other tips on what to be consoius about to avoid that?
One of the metrics that I use is looking at the number of people that hit my site around relevant events (triggers). I want my sites to handle that traffic quickly and flawlessly. When you said the website out loud to this blog it took 46 seconds for the page to load for me. I am on a T1 line so that seems very slow...
Great presentation, Mike! A wee bit too much self-promotion, but it was appropriate in the sense that you used it to make points that were relevant and valuable.
Darin Phillips
Thanks for the Webinar. I run a baseball card blog called Wax Heaven and it's gotten over 100,000+ unique page views and wanted to know how do I make the leap to the next level. I have used Digg and many Digg clones as well as Technorati, etc.
Thanks!
http://waxheaven.com
We have many clients who can benefit from what I heard today. I look forward to exploring this further.
you guys came right on time! with marketing shift into creating **measurable** infrastructure combined with the explosion of social media and all sorts of on-line marketing tool -- this is certainly a great consolidator/analytics tool for the marketers! Keep up the great work!
Do you plan to integrate with 3rd Party CMS solutions? We have 550 customers who would not want to be limited by your CMS but who would find value in your service. Last we spoke 6 months ago there was no plans for this.
Great seminar. Now I feel really old. My question pertains to my audience which are typically business owners and CEOs. They're very busy and have a hard time reading their email let alone go to a variety of social networks. Is it realistic that I can expand my reach with this level of difficulty?
Nice Webinar
These are the 2 keynotes that stuck out to me...
- Publish everything you have anywhere you can.
- Produce content others will want to promote themselves
Looking forward to hearing more from y'all. Really appreciate.
How can I get more demographic data about social sharing sites like digg and stumbleupon?
http://ryanagraves.com
This webinar was exactly what i have been looking for - i just attended intl assoc of fundraising professionals conference in san diego and they had a workshop billed as this webinar described, but the presenters - one who designs pages to be placed on various sites, and the other who processes cash donations from those sites- spoke more to what they do, then explained what these sites are and a step by step description of the possibilities. I am very impressed, and after doing a little exploration on my own using your examples, i plan to be back in touch. Thank you so much!
I really didn't understand the marketing nuance difference the social bookmarketing sites. Can you clarify this again?
How should a company go about wikipedia? Is it ok to create your own page as long as it is only the facts?
The Webinar was very helpful, I appreciate you taking the time to give such an informative presentation.
Enjoyed the webinar. Lots of great information. I wanted to try the google blog search you demonstrated so that your site doesn't come up and most have messed up the code. Can you provide? Thank you.
The seminar was great! As far as tracking traffic, leads, and conversions that started at a social networking site, can't that be tracked by using any analytics tool such as Google Analytics, Omniture, and NetInsight?
I'm one of those 48 yr olds you mentioned in your webinar. Which social media site will I feel most comfortable using? I tried myspace before and felt way too old.
@ Jean Wnuk "For a B2C company, how casual can you be in your content on myspace/facebook, blog without being too unprofessional. "
Without trying to sound too zen-like or even pompous - if you are satisfied with the authenticity of your message, you don't need to worry. That's my philosophy, anyway. FWIW
Hi Nina, From what I've seen and heard it seems facebook is a litter bit more "mature" than myspace. For one it started off as a social network only college students could join and connect with other students. LinkedIn may also be a better option than myspace when looking for a more mature social network.
Hi,
How do you get to relevant "influencers" in the SM networks - facebook/myspace etc for your specific industry or business ?
My business has a presence on these sites - but has limited to no activity on them. What are we doing wrong ?!
Thanks
@ nina Your best bet is probably linkedin first. It has more of a business feel and you don't have to worry about heavy customization factors. It walks you through step by step.
If anyone out there is using twitter, to track what others are saying about their company, can you share how you accomplished that?
I'm with Nina. I'm 45 and was feeling really hip because I have a website and blog and have even heard of social media. I've submitted some articles to digg. Only got 1 digg besides my own. Where is the best place to start? LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter?
Thank you Mike, that was a generous gift. I can't wait to get social! My new business is retail,a curated home and life style collection. Your webinar was recommended by the marketing folks who set up my web sight Artistsmarketing. Biz. Thanks so much.
You mentioned finding groups on facebook that are focused on your industry. I had no idea facebook had any business information or sections dedicated to business / industry. How do I find this information on facebook?
Hi Chrsti, after looking at your site and services I would definitely recommend LinkedIn. It is basically a social networking site for professionals. I recently joined and already saw tons of potential new networking opportunities relevant to my profession and business.
@Nina - I'm also one of those 48 yr olds (well 44) but since I work primarily in splendid isolation, I have spent a lot of time socialising on the web over the years.
I think you were being too kind to myspace by saying you felt way too old. I suspect you don't like myspace because you are not a unicellular organism.
I've been on LinkedIn for years, but have only just started enjoying its use as a way to communicate socially. Facebook might be interesting for you too, perhaps?
It's ok to dip in and out of these networks, I find. No one will no you've disappeared for a bit, and you don't aren't really held accountable. Just have fun with it!
Thank you Mike, that was a generous gift. I can't wait to get social! My new business is retail,a curated home and life style collection. Your webinar was recommended by the marketing folks who set up my web sight Artistsmarketing. Biz. Thanks so much.
What do you do about negitive buzz and how do you remedy this?
I very much agree with an earlier comment posted by Jen. As a marketing consultant who works with small businesses, when advising my clients I try to educate them that for the cost of a traditional newspaper advert they can achieve more targeted results and reach a wider audience for less cost by harnessing the myriad of marketing possibilities the internet offers; including social networking. However, my dilemma, is how best to promote myself using social networking, would it be to create a unique 'brand' as other marketeers have done? Otherwise I fear I may got lost in the vast space of social networking. PS. It may seem odd as a marketing professional to ask that question, but surely the familiar scenario of a builder who never finishes constructing his home can be applied here?!
Awesome presentation. Clear and succinct, with lots to think about.
Very well done!
How much involvement is too much when it comes to using social media as a marketing tool? For example, I would assume a best practice is to start the conversation and let it ride, see what happens. But of course as marketers we would feel the need to get involved if negative comments are made. When do we jump in?
I have a client ask us to help them build a MySpace page. They are a local credit union who currently does zero social marketing. My initial reaction was that this would be a waste of time because people do not use MySpace to find their Credit Union. It may be appropriate for a Night Club or Hair Salon, but does not seem the place for a Credit Union. In addition, we can build the page, but it will again be useless unless someone administers it.
So my questions are...
1. Do highly credible, professional businesses belong on MySpace?
2. Do most companies manage their social marketing in-house with people that live and breathe the business or can this be outsourced to a marketing firm?
Good webinar. This stuff is really just the old idea of "consultative selling" but through modern media. The consultative selling idea says that in order to sell successfully you must demonstrate to the prospect that you are a credible expert. Once you do that, it is much easier for the prospect to trust you and by implication trust the product or service you are selling.
Social networking sites are simply high-leverage ways to develop your identity as an credible expert. To be credible, though, your content must be factual, not commercial. I completely agree with Mike's answer during the webinar that blog content should be as non-commercial as possible.
Ken Lisotte, a consultant who helps people develop their Thought Leader personas (
www.thoughtleading.com) has a good book out on the topic, but I don't think he gives social networking enough attention. He emphasizes things like speaking and print publishing.
I'm a marketing consultant, and I often meet resistance when I advise clients to spend marketing dollars and attention on developing a thought-leadership persona. Clients don't count it as "real" marketing. But in this day and age, it may be the most effective (and cost-effective) form or marketing out there.
Great webinar! I especially like the utilization of posting questions and comments of this particular webinar session to the blog.
Wicksell, related to your post about negative comments, I recommend that you jump in immediately if the comment is inaccurate or gossip. I had a vacation resort client that I was helping improve visiblity on the web and someone on TripAdvisor blasted their resort. Guess what - it was the resort NEXT to theirs. The manager wrote a nice comment point that out. It was still left on Trip Advisor but then someone can judge for themselves.
Great webinar! It was very informative and relevant. Thank you! I have a couple questions: If the target market for a site is primarily local (i.e. TV station site), what would be your advice for specifically targeting the local social network while simultaneously developing a growing global network? Also, how does one establish a social presence online if the product being sold is b2b? Is there a specific line of social marketing attack for b2b products sales? Most social marketing techniques seem to be geared for the b2c realm. Thanks :)
@Marv - "I was hoping to learn more about the dangers of being labeled a Spammer on social network sites." I think first and foremost you need to recognize that you are building a relationship that involves give and take. With that in mind, you wouldn't just promote your own content. You would ask questions, answer other people's questions, and promote content other than your own. You try to be the most helpful to your connections. When you first get involved with social media, don't start off with asking for something or trying to promote your own content. For example, a good rule of thumb before getting involved with digg or StumbleUpon is to first digg and stumble other articles, make friends and promote their content. Only after you have done this for a while should you then submit your own content.
@ aclubb Mike posted an article not too long ago about using Twitter for marketing:
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4034/How-to-Use-Twitter-for-Marketing-PR.aspx it covers a lot of the basics for getting started and leveraging it for marketing.
@ Ryan - "How can I find other demographic data about these social networking sites like digg or StumbleUpon?" - some of the data we collected from our own experience/research, but some of the social media sites will have this info public for media purposes. For example, Facebook has info on their demographics to draw more businesses to advertise with them. Try checking out the About / Business / Advertiser sections of these sites.
@ Derek "How should a company go about wikipedia? Is it ok to create your own page as long as it is only the facts?" - Wikipedia has a policy about writing info about your own company. Generally the position is that it is strongly discouraged. You can read more at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Business%27_FAQ#Am_I_allowed_to_edit_articles_about_myself_or_my_company.3F@ Debbie "I wanted to try the google blog search you demonstrated so that your site doesn't come up and most have messed up the code. Can you provide?" - in Google, type "companyname -site:companyname.com"
Thanks for your recommendations guys. I'm going to try linkedin and facebook and see what happens.
I already used StumbledUpon, del.icio.us, squidoo and other sites like that. I love squidoo; so easy to build great content.
re: many folks' concerns about being labeled a spammer...
That's the entire point of making your posts non-commercial. If you are a bank and your post says "My mortgages are great - check them out!" then you ARE a spammer.
But if your post says "Here is an objective, honest Dummy's Guide to Mortgages," you are not a spammer and people will read your post.
If you are the type of bank that is looking for well-informed customers (because your products can stand up to scrutiny), you are now ahead of your competition.
That's good marketing.
An Excellent webinar. I have used the website grader, I received many ideas to promote my eBay training classes in the Tampa Florida area.
Hi Mike -
Great webinar. Very informative for those of us who are not using social networking sites to their maximum potential. Thanks!
You mentioned an article you wrote about how to set up a biz page on Facebook - can you provide me with the link to the article? I'll set up a page and invite you over :)
Thanks again,
Robin Ogden
http://www.firedupcareers.comhttp://www.careeradvicetalk.com
I'm having a hard time seeing that twitter is something that you could strike gold with. I liked the story about Comcast responding one-on-one due to someone's disgruntlement, but how are they going to deal with 10k others taking the same approach?
The signal to noise ratio with twitter has to be astronomical. I followed Merlin Mann for a while - he's gaining 1-2k followers a week, yet he's following less than 150 people. I realised that following him was not helping me GTD™ (getting things done).
Mike-
I concur with the others who think the webinar was wonderful. My specialty is B2B in the financial industry, and my company is very non-techie to the point of absurdity. What can someone like me do in terms of Social Media when that is the case?
Twitter is just one of many. I like it because I can very easily send in Twitter updates from my common cell phone in the form of a TXT message. It is not only fun, but there is plenty of value to it. During the webinar, Mike was getting alerts telling him that people were talking about HubSpot on Twitter. Now, he can better monitor his brand and see what people are saying about HubSpot. Very valuable - this type of data usually take lots of time and money to research. Also, before the webinar Mike was able to announce it by posting a Twitter update, possibly reaching a large audience directly on their mobile device! To me, this is simply amazing. My suggestion is to take it slow; sign up for an account (as you have already done Richard, great start!) and do what Mike suggested: mingle like youre at a cocktail party. You may also want to read this great article here:
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4034/How-to-Use-Twitter-for-Marketing-PR.aspx and best of luck!
I'm personally a big fan of Twitter and have found it to be very valuable. I find it easier to have a back-and-forth conversation and to build relationships with individuals. There's also a lot of content sharing that goes on on twitter - a good portion of the interesting blog posts and websites that I find are suggestions from the people I'm following on twitter. I'm pretty new to the world of twitter, but I'm loving it.
I think it's certainly interesting. I would love to see how much business I can generate via social networking. I recently created a Facebook Page for my business (
http://tinyurl.com/64c6zz) and I am interested to see how viral a small business can be vs. a big corporate product that already has the type of viral audience built in. I am just bewildered by Facebook lately.
Other sites such as LinkedIn I can see be more tangible in terms of results because most people perceive it to be a real business networking site, whereas Facebook because it was started for college kids or MySpace that has a very unprofessional look people have more issues with. LinkedIn is valuable for me because I use it as a tool to get recommendations and expanding my network. Although I am finding more and more business contacts via Facebook and FB has become a better tool for me to network.
Great Webinar today!
Cheers,
Cindy
@todd lucier - i think social media is a great strategy for small and new businesses, and I think spending about 30-60 minutes per day 3-5 days per week is a good idea.
@Jen Harris - Agreed! Social Media is a lifestyle, or better... a marketing state of mind. You cannot check it off. But, it is way more powerful that tradeshows or print ads if done correctly. That's the power of Inbound Marketing.
@Stephanie Olson - I think marketers shuld join the conversation and publish as much as you can wherever you can. I think if you are not a member off someof these communities, you should join!
@Jean Wnuk - I think it depends on your brand more than your market. For you, I think you can be pretty down to earth and casual. For other consumer brands (Tiffany, Gucci) I think you clearly need to be different.
@ Christi Wharton - If I were just getting started, I would do Facebook first, then maybe LinkedIn.
@Rachele DiTullio - I think it is a great idea to use Digg or Delicious on a corporate website, even for a large company.
@Ryan - Cool! I would love it for Mozy to become a HubSpot customer. Let me know if you want help. I am a Mozy fan - I use it on my home PC.
@Whitney - For much of 2007, we were in beta. The data that we gather for many HubSpot reports is difficult to get and is from public web sources, not systems we own and control, so sometimes the data is not perfect. You should notice that for the past 4+ months the data has been really consistent. Plus, we have been making major upgrades and additions to our capabilities.
@Gabe - Email to people you don't know (rented lists) I think is more Outbound. Email to people you know (who have requested info from your website) is more inbound, but that trend is shifting more toward RSS and blogs I think. HubSpot does not have true email marketing fucntionality, but we do allow you to email out blog articles, which is a great way to keep in touch with customers and prospects.
@Marv Dorner - We don't have a blog post about what not to do to avoid being a spammer, but maybe that would be a good future post...subscribe to the blog and keep an eye out
@Rob - As always, you are not required to use the HubSpot CMS to use all of the HubSpot tools. However we don't really have any kind of a partner program, we have found that going direct is the most effective channel for our business.
@Darrell Crawford - If you are trying to reach CEOs, I would focus on LinkedIn, and also a blog. CEOs are on LinkedIn and they also love great insightful content about the business issues they worry about.
@Wicksell Metellus - All analytics packages can tell you visitors, many can tell you leads, but few can tell you customers. Most of them are hard to implement and very expensive and require a lot of IT support. HubSpot requireno IT staff and is a great value and easy to use.
@Cris Canning - The difference in many of these sites is the audience and how you use them. You should try to figure out who the audience is for each service and focus on the ones relevant to you.
@Derek Schoen - Wikipedia... is a tough one. You should not write your own entry. Watch our blog and hopefilly we will cover this in the nextcouple months. But basically you should write a very neutral article about your comapny and see if someone will publish it. here is a start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tutorial@Chris Higgins - Search on Facebook for terms related to your industry and then look at the results that are "groups"
@Debbie Hemley - To track your company in the blogosphere, search on google.com/blogsearch using the text "HubSpot -site:hubspot.com" (replace HubSpot with your company).
@Nicole - MySpace is a mistake for this client of yours. They should think about a blog and maybe Facebook. And you should become a HubSpot customer on thier behalf to help them track all of this and become experts at it. :)
really enjoyed the webinar
your message about interruption marketing being over is so so cool!
Mike thanks so much for a brilliant webinar. The matrix of the demographic of each social media site was wonderful. Does something like that exist for all the sites listed on doshdosh? I am looking for companies who leaders are ready to be on the front edge of innovation...as one market. Wasn't sure which demo would be a good community for out of the box thinking. Thanks for sharing the slides too. i have a blog..but have not figured out how to drive traffic to it so will try out DIGG and implement a few other of your spot-on suggestions. You have the most together service i have ever seen.
Great Webinar, Mike! I've subscribed to HubSpot's blog. I appreciated hearing you highlight the concept of *publishing* everywhere possible.
Last we spoke you were unable to gather metrics from Quote Requests unless you were on your CMS. Is there now a way to track this data from 3rd party websites?
@Rob - Yes, we can track lead conversions on non-hosted websites. We also do NOT have a partner program. Email me if you have more questions.
Mike, Thank you for the time you put into this presentation. It was helpful to see implementation and ways to measure success.
where can we download the presentation?
@Andrea Kremer - Everyone who registered for the webinar got an email with the link. I just resent it to you. Everyone else who's interested can download all of our archived webinars using this link and registering:
www.hubspot.com/marketing-webinars
The webinar was so helpful! I'm curious about your thoughts on how nonprofits could take advantage of social networks. We'd use the tool to reach out to more constituents and to try and increase the number of donations. We're not selling a product - we aren't a membership organization. I'm not sure how to present ourselves via social networks. Any suggestions?
Elissa...while not a social network, many non-profits use eBay's "Giving Works" as a platform to sell donations world wide. Many eBay sellers would list donations for non-profits. Socal networks could reach eBay sellers who would help non-profits. Jim/Tampa
@Elissa - I think it is hard todirectly stimulate donations, but I do think you can get people to sign up for your email list and also sign up to be a volunteer using social media. You should have a profile in the relevant social network(s) and have your existing supporters become fans, then publish photos and other content relevant to your organization on the social network, and encourage people to volunteer. If they volunteer, they are more likely to donate.
@Elissa - If your non-profit benefits a particular cause (relieving poverty, for example), then you could create a "Cause" on Facebook - it's like a Business Page in the sense that you create a "profile" for your cause and then people can join to express their support. Facebook's "Cause" application also allows you to accept donations via Facebook. When someone joins to support your cause or donates to your cause, it will show up on their profile and in their friends' news feeds, hopefully spurring others to join and donate, and you will be able to take advantage of Facebook's viral nature. Here's some more info on the Cause application:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?api_key=fe96b5ff025dcecc7064d148cf4373bb - you'll need to add the application before you create a new cause.
Great webinar! Thanks for pointing out the importance of social marketing.
Hi Mike-
This webinar you hosted was fantasic. The information presented was extremely useful. One follow-up question I have is related to the Google syntax and other commands that you presented that are ways to measure stats related to blogs and SM linking. I recall that you switched windows out of the PPT and showed those commands live. Do you have a list of these commands that you can send to me – they don’t seem to be included in the recording.
Thanks.
Mary