Andy Beal Brings His Reputation Management Workshop to Auckland & Sydney in May!
I absolutely love doing my online reputation management workshops. An entire day of me sharing just about everything I know about reputation management. Not only do I enjoy them, but the feedback has been amazing–just about everyone that attends walks away a reputation management expert!
So, I’m going international and bringing my workshop to Australia and New Zealand in May!
Thanks to a collaboration with Bullet PR, I’ll host my Auckland workshop on May 18th, then jump on a plane and host it again in Sydney on May 20th!
This one-day master class is the only way to get hands-on reputation management training from me, without paying my normal consulting day-rate. In fact the Auckland workshop is priced as low as $595+gst, while the Sydney one is just $550 for PRIA members!
Here’s what our day together will cover:
- Introduction to Online Reputation Management (ORM)
- The Art of Generating Buzz
- Get Five Stars at Customer Review Sites
- Blogging for Brand Control
- Social Networking Meets Reputation Management
- Own the First Ten Links in Google
- Building a Reputation Monitoring Safety Net
- A Blueprint for Fighting a Reputation Attack
- Your Seven-Step Action Plan
This will probably be the only time I host my online reputation management workshop "down under"–simply because it takes soooo long to fly there! So hurry and reserve your seat today!
Bing Hopes 3-Month UK Ad Campaign Can Wipe Away 10 Years of Sucking Wind
I don’t remember what Microsoft’s search engine share was, when I left the UK in the summer of 2000, but I’m pretty sure it was a lot better than the current anemic 3%.
According to the Guardian, Microsoft would love for Bing to recapture those glory days and is willing to spend the rest of its natural life next 3 months trying to claw it back.
The three-month campaign, which includes three TV ads created by the agency JWT, starts on Wednesday and uses the strapline "Bing and decide". The ads aim to show that Bing simplifies the "information overload" that accompanies the results of many searches.
The TV campaign will run solidly for a month and then in two-week bursts until mid-June. It will be backed by a digital campaign across Microsoft’s network and on media including social networking websites.
Three whole months, huh? Way to lay it all on the line Microsoft. You lose market share over a 10-15 year period and expect to win it all back by reaching consumers while they’re watching Coronation Street?
Of course, I know that Bing’s ad campaign won’t run for just 3 months–just this particular push–but consider this: Google achieved 90% share in the UK via word-of-mouth. Bing has been available to UK users–albeit in beta–since June. If they felt that Bing was truly revolutionizing search, they would have pushed the needle already. Right?
Despite Being Sick of the Term, 72% of Marketers to Invest in “Social Media”
Apparently marketers have forgotten their own mantra.
Just when you become sick of an ad campaign, is exactly when the message is just starting to stick with your target audience.
You see, 51.4% of those polled by the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) say they are tired of hearing the buzz words social media, Twitter, and social networking.
Yet, despite that nauseous feeling, 72% of them plan to invest in social media in 2010:
And, what are they hoping to achieve out of their social media–and other marketing–efforts?
Customer satisfaction? Like it or lump it!
Customer retention? Take a hike!
seo? Optimize this!
Nope, at the top of marketers 2010 wish list is…drum roll please…marketing ROI!
Ah yes, marketing ROI, she’s an elusive mistress. Just like gravity–you can’t see it, but you know it’s there–ROI from marketing is something that has been the holy grail of marketers for many years!
69% of Companies Focus on Twitter; 61% Have No Clue of Its ROI
The Value of Social Media Report has been released by Econsultancy and the Online Marketing Summit. I was offered a sneak peek at the study and provided my analysis for the report. It’s definitely worth the investment, and as a taster, here’s my analysis:
What struck me the most is that 61% of companies feel their measurement of the return on investment (ROI) from social media is either poor, or very poor. It could well be that these companies are looking for ROI in the wrong places.
Sixty nine percent of those surveyed said that Twitter is their most used social media channel–beating out other social media options such as a company blog, social networking, and video. It’s a staggering number, when you consider that Twitter is still in its infancy and arguably lacks any robust tools that businesses can use to their advantage. This high percentage of use suggests that companies are looking for the "easy" option, when it comes to social media. After all, it takes less than a minute to set up a Twitter account, whereas a corporate blog could take days–or weeks!
The other clue that Twitter has become the "bandwagon" of corporate social media, is the type of ROI that companies are trying to measure. The greatest percentage (63%) are measuring the direct traffic to their corporate site from Twitter. While some companies–such as Dell–have had great success with generating traffic and sales from their efforts on Twitter, an even bigger benefit can be realized from the increase in brand awareness and reputation. Yet, only 15% of companies are measuring the impact of Twitter and Facebook on their brand perception, 18% measure customer satisfaction, and 25% understand the benefits to their brand awareness.
You could argue that more companies would find satisfaction in their ability to measure the ROI of social media, if they turned their expectations from direct traffic and instead focused on the improvements they are making towards the sentiment of their brand.
Google Buzz Caving to So Many Demands, May Soon Rename to Google Bleh
Google is learning a harsh lesson about social networking, thanks to its new Buzz launch.
Knowing someone and being their friend are often two different things.
After the initial “buzz” Google Buzz has pretty much been a buzzkill. The service has outraged many that believe it revealed too much about their private interactions, while others have simply greeted the service with an apathetic meh.
Still, Google’s determined to push forward with Buzz–even if it means taking its licks over privacy. To its credit, Google’s reacting quickly to privacy concerns, rolling out further changes over the weekend.
First, no more auto-following everyone in your Gmail contacts. Now, Google Buzz will auto-suggest those you should follow:
All new users will see the screen above. Those already buzzing will soon get an option to start-over with those that they follow.
Second, Buzz will no longer connect your public Google items–Picasa or Google Reader, for example–automatically.
Lastly, you’ll soon see a new “Buzz” tab in your Gmail Settings, allowing you to turn the thing off completely!
And it’s that last item that suggests Google may be ready to wave the white flag and signal a retreat–even if a temporary one.
Google just has no idea how to run a social network. For example, had Facebook or Twitter received the same negative feedback, would they have been so quick to cave to demands? I suspect not. They’re social networks from the ground-up. They know what they’re trying to achieve and they know the lay of the land. Twitter and Facebook can tell the difference between the vocal minority–that will complain about anything–and the masses. How many times have we seen them back down over new features–it happens, but rarely.
Certainly, Twitter, Facebook et al are a lot slower to react to the instant, superficial complaints of those that would complain their candy tasted too good, given the chance. Google, on the other hand, has no experience in running a successful social network. It therefore has no point of reference to compare users’ complaints against. Without that, it’ll keep acquiescing to any complaints sent its way.
Then what will happen? Google will be left with a social network that doesn’t offend anyone–because it’s so boring, no one uses it!
Ad Spend on Social Networks Gains a Whopping Half Point in Share
Apparently, ads on social networks aren’t working out too well.
While this is not anything we didn’t already know, it must be disheartening for Facebook, MySpace et al, to learn that pinning their revenue growth on display ads may be a tough row to hoe.
It’s not a completely ugly picture, according to eMarketer, ads on social media networks will gain a 5.5% share of all online ad spending, but…
That’s up from 5 percent in 2008, the stats released Thursday say. The good news is that, unlike some other sectors of the ad world, it’s not shrinking–but it’s also not growing exponentially by any means. After plunging from a 61 percent rate of growth in 2008 to 12 percent in 2009, the rate of growth is projected to crawl back up to 14 percent this year and stay about the same at 13 percent next year.
MySpace is to blame for most of the stagnation–its own ad revenues have fallen–and it doesn’t help that Facebook is cutting back on its ad serving as well.
Of course, the news isn’t quite so depressing for social networking advertisers. Social networks still make up around 22% of all online display impressions, it’s just that they are dirt cheap–hence not being a bigger slice of the ad spend pie. 
Google Buzz: The Good, Bad, & Ugly Reactions
Google’s stated goal for Buzz is to help users cut through the noise of social networking. Ironically, yesterday’s announcement created as much noise (maybe more?) as an Apple announcement. Yep, everybody’s got an opinion about Google Buzz and if you’re one of the many who found it impossible to follow the reactions, we’ve done some [...]
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Google Buzz Launches 150+ Million User Social Network
How would you like to launch a social network and instantly amass more than 150 million monthly users?
Well, Google just launched Google Buzz and it’s going to be tied into its existing Gmail user base–all 150+ million of them!
How smart is that?
Google has failed to gain traction with any of its previous social networking efforts. How many of you are active Orkut or Google Wave users? So, instead of trying to build a new social network from scratch–and likely failing–it’s tying Google Buzz directly into its email offering.
Genius!
It’s built right into Gmail, so you don’t have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there’s always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. We focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don’t have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing Gmail inbox, so you’re sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time.
I added the bolding for two reasons. One to show you the features Buzz brings to Gmail, but the other is to point out the Jedi mind-trick that Google is pulling on you. You see, you thought your inbox was all about sending emails. Nah ah, apparently you’ve been sitting on a vast social network and–whether you like it or not–Google’s about to tap into that network.
Even more clever on Google’s part, is that it’s not reinventing the wheel. In fact, it wants you to bring all of your existing wheels to Google Buzz.
We’ve relied on other services’ openness in order to build Buzz (you can connect Flickr and Twitter from Buzz in Gmail), and Buzz itself is not designed to be a closed system. Our goal is to make Buzz a fully open and distributed platform for conversations. We’re building on a suite of open protocols to create a complete read/write developer API, and we invite developers to join us on Google Code to see what is available today and to learn more about how to participate.
Does this sound like any popular service you know that was recently acquired? *cough* Friendfeed! *cough*
Of course, like any new Google product, you’re going to have to wait for Buzz to rollout to your Gmail account. Fortunately, unlike the Google Wave invite fiasco, you should see Buzz automatically appear in your Gmail account over the next few days.
Speaking of Google Wave, is that now dead in the water? I mean, did anyone really ever figure out how to use the thing anyway?
It seems to me that Google Buzz is exactly what Google Wave should have been in the first place!
Check out the video below, then share your thoughts in the comments!
Google Buzz: Google Takes On Twitter, Facebook & Even Foursquare
Google has announced a new product called Google Buzz, which represents the company’s latest attempt to hitch its wagon to the popularity of social networking and, more specifically, the growth of social sharing and status updates.
Many will call this a Twitter killer or a threat to Facebook. Certainly the company is targeting the audiences that [...]
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The 3 Biggest Risks You Take With Social Networking Profiles
Online reputation management isn’t always about big corporate brands. In fact, half of my book Radically Transparent is dedicated to building and managing personal reputations.
Just in case you’re not convinced that you need to worry about your personal reputation online, you might want to check out the interview I did with WCCO Radio:
In it I discuss three important themes:
- How your social networking profiles can hurt your career and job hunting.
- How debt collectors are tracking people down via social networks.
- How scammers and thieves are praying on the naive.
If you’re not an audio person, the same advice was recently published on Yahoo Finance via an interview I did with Bankrate.com.
Drop a comment with any case studies or other risks you can think of. Thanks!
