By: Joseph Kiefer
I joined the ranks of the marketing world a little over 10 years ago. I cut my teeth on developing mail plans for continuing education seminars. At that time we were just starting to rent response files.
Looking back, it is amazing we were able to get the response we did from those files. We learned and changed quickly over the next 10 years, but nothing was more important than our increased efforts towards targeting. Databasing, modeling, data mining, analytics, appending... were all parts of an effort to narrow our list and send our marketing efforts to only those most likely to respond.
When we started e-mail marketing our processes and systems were not as advanced as those for our direct mail offerings. At the time we were not sure the best way to benefit from this new medium. Initially, like many companies, we were sending out offers to our whole file at once, and as we saw returns, we increased the frequency. We quickly realized that this was not the best way to utilize e-mail and from there we started down a very similar path to the one we went on with direct mail.
The problem inherent in e-mail is that the cost is so low that you may not feel like you have to narrow your list or do the same type of targeting that you would do with your direct mail campaigns. In reality, you should be using many, if not all, of the same methods you have already developed on the direct mail side. Are you modeling, databasing, using analytics, appending...? Are you tracking your unsubscribes, bounces, clicks, opens...? Each e-mail you send has a cost. The cost could be an unsubscribe or it could be alienating your customer to the point of not purchasing through a different channel. Even if they don't unsubscribe, a customer that receives untargeted messages will soon learn to tune out all of your marketing messages.
I don't think we are as far along as we would like to be yet, but we are moving in the right direction. The e-mail industry as a whole still has some work to do as well. Don't wait for the industry to get you started in the right direction.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Budget for a Postal Increase?
By: Joseph E. Schick, Director, Postal Affairs
Quad/Graphics
Earlier this month we celebrated Christopher Columbus discovering America and the USPS discovering that all it takes to make mailers happy is to announce that there will be no postal price increase for Market Dominant Products in 2010. (Note: Competitive Services Products are not covered by this announcement and could increase in 2010.) Considering the current financial situation of the Postal Service and its risk-averse culture, this is a bold statement and should confirm that the Postmaster General and the Board of Governors are committed to making the hard decisions needed to stop the volume loss and begin the recovery. It should give all mailers a little more confidence in the USPS. It gave me confidence, and it also gave me another reason to raise a glass to Arthur Guinness!
We know this alone isn’t the silver bullet for getting us out of the nation’s economic slump, but it does eliminate one of the major concerns, and therefore barriers, to using the mail for advertising and marketing products and services. And for that, the USPS should be commended and mailers need to support that action by reinvesting in print and mail. I know it’s not that easy, but let’s hope the consumer starts to do their part and then it does become easier.
I’ve been asked if this guarantees no price increases in 2010, and therefore, no need to budget any money for postal increases. The answer to that is “not so fast my friend.” There is actually other ways for postal prices or costs to rise without a CPI or exigent filing at the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The USPS could tinker with current prices and/or workshare discounts within a class of mail. As long as there is no increase at the class level, it is allowed. Regulations can and will change that have the net effect of pushing mail into a different, and usually higher, pricing category. At the very least, regulation changes will increase the cost of creating and/or producing the piece. That is known as a cost shift to mailers or their mailing service providers/printers.
So while we celebrate the news, let’s also be attentive to other impactful postal activity throughout the next 12 months. Do I really think the USPS would back-door price increases in this manner? Hopefully no. But with this announcement, I’m reminded of the immortal words of President George H.W. Bush who famously promised, “Read My Lips…..No New Taxes!” I’m not comparing taxes to postal prices. Well, maybe I am, and we all know what happened to the President’s political career after going against his promise.
Quad/Graphics
Earlier this month we celebrated Christopher Columbus discovering America and the USPS discovering that all it takes to make mailers happy is to announce that there will be no postal price increase for Market Dominant Products in 2010. (Note: Competitive Services Products are not covered by this announcement and could increase in 2010.) Considering the current financial situation of the Postal Service and its risk-averse culture, this is a bold statement and should confirm that the Postmaster General and the Board of Governors are committed to making the hard decisions needed to stop the volume loss and begin the recovery. It should give all mailers a little more confidence in the USPS. It gave me confidence, and it also gave me another reason to raise a glass to Arthur Guinness!
We know this alone isn’t the silver bullet for getting us out of the nation’s economic slump, but it does eliminate one of the major concerns, and therefore barriers, to using the mail for advertising and marketing products and services. And for that, the USPS should be commended and mailers need to support that action by reinvesting in print and mail. I know it’s not that easy, but let’s hope the consumer starts to do their part and then it does become easier.
I’ve been asked if this guarantees no price increases in 2010, and therefore, no need to budget any money for postal increases. The answer to that is “not so fast my friend.” There is actually other ways for postal prices or costs to rise without a CPI or exigent filing at the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The USPS could tinker with current prices and/or workshare discounts within a class of mail. As long as there is no increase at the class level, it is allowed. Regulations can and will change that have the net effect of pushing mail into a different, and usually higher, pricing category. At the very least, regulation changes will increase the cost of creating and/or producing the piece. That is known as a cost shift to mailers or their mailing service providers/printers.
So while we celebrate the news, let’s also be attentive to other impactful postal activity throughout the next 12 months. Do I really think the USPS would back-door price increases in this manner? Hopefully no. But with this announcement, I’m reminded of the immortal words of President George H.W. Bush who famously promised, “Read My Lips…..No New Taxes!” I’m not comparing taxes to postal prices. Well, maybe I am, and we all know what happened to the President’s political career after going against his promise.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Is Direct Mail Dead?
By: Joseph Kiefer
I subscribe to a number of marketing magazines and newsletters (e-mail and hard copy). I can't help but notice a trend towards articles detailing the demise of direct mail and the rise of social media and other electronic marketing. So I might as well throw my two cents in.
Let's start with a little background. I am under the belief, disillusioned or otherwise, that the USPS was going to run into some major problems due to on-line bill paying, e-mail, on-line shopping, inefficient/outdated operations and a handful of other potential problems. In 2007, I would have thought that it would have been 5 to 10 years before they would realize the extent of their problems and start to make major changes. The recession brought their problems to the forefront much quicker then I think anyone could have imagined and they now find themselves in a mess.
A large chunk of that mess can be attributed to the volume of direct mail that marketers are sending out. The severity of this recession forced many mailers to cut deep into their mailing plans and many mailers to cut out direct mail all together.
That brief background brings us back to the debate over the remaining life of direct mail. I think there are many factors that could push this one way or the other, but two of the most important revolve around the steps that the USPS takes to retain its' customer base and the willingness of marketers to return to the market. In many ways the decisions of the USPS could dramatically affect the marketers return to the market, so they are very interdependent.
I met with two representatives from the USPS this week and we discussed both of these issues. For those of you in the direct mail world, or for those of you who read this blog, you already know that the USPS will not be raising their rates next year. I think this was a great first step towards showing their customers that they understand the situation the marketers are in and they are trying to help out. For many industries not raising rates may not sound like a lot, but for direct mailers this could be the difference between deciding to start mailing again or not. We already had a USPS price increase built into our 2010 budget, so this is like finding a $20 bill in your jacket pocket from last winter. I do think this should only be a first step if they truly plan on winning back lost customers and helping the remaining customers grow through direct mail. I would recommend getting out and really trying to understand their customers better. They have people on the ground that interact with many of them everyday, solicit their feedback as well as sending people out to gather information and nail down pain points. Only then can they truly start serving the direct mailers better.
For the second factor, I am going to assume that the USPS continues to take steps to keep their customers happy and that they don't price themselves out of the marketers' budget. There is still the problem of marketers fleeing at an incredible pace to the cheaper, faster and more easily tracked marketing methods available on-line. Cheaper, faster and more easily tracked do not necessarily equate to more responsive or more profitable. I have always found and continue to find that a well crafted mail piece that is sent to a targeted group of recipients is the one of the most effective marketing methods you can use.
Don't get me wrong, I think every marketer should be out there testing e-mail, search, mobile and social media, but that does not mean that you need to abandon direct mail. Focus in your efforts and make sure you measure effectively and I think you will find that direct mail is still able to be a positive contributor to your marketing mix.
In the end, the USPS is facing an uphill battle, but I believe at a minimum they will be able to rebound back to the pace they were on before the recession and I am sincerely hoping they are able to find a profitable and stable model to move forward with.
I subscribe to a number of marketing magazines and newsletters (e-mail and hard copy). I can't help but notice a trend towards articles detailing the demise of direct mail and the rise of social media and other electronic marketing. So I might as well throw my two cents in.
Let's start with a little background. I am under the belief, disillusioned or otherwise, that the USPS was going to run into some major problems due to on-line bill paying, e-mail, on-line shopping, inefficient/outdated operations and a handful of other potential problems. In 2007, I would have thought that it would have been 5 to 10 years before they would realize the extent of their problems and start to make major changes. The recession brought their problems to the forefront much quicker then I think anyone could have imagined and they now find themselves in a mess.
A large chunk of that mess can be attributed to the volume of direct mail that marketers are sending out. The severity of this recession forced many mailers to cut deep into their mailing plans and many mailers to cut out direct mail all together.
That brief background brings us back to the debate over the remaining life of direct mail. I think there are many factors that could push this one way or the other, but two of the most important revolve around the steps that the USPS takes to retain its' customer base and the willingness of marketers to return to the market. In many ways the decisions of the USPS could dramatically affect the marketers return to the market, so they are very interdependent.
I met with two representatives from the USPS this week and we discussed both of these issues. For those of you in the direct mail world, or for those of you who read this blog, you already know that the USPS will not be raising their rates next year. I think this was a great first step towards showing their customers that they understand the situation the marketers are in and they are trying to help out. For many industries not raising rates may not sound like a lot, but for direct mailers this could be the difference between deciding to start mailing again or not. We already had a USPS price increase built into our 2010 budget, so this is like finding a $20 bill in your jacket pocket from last winter. I do think this should only be a first step if they truly plan on winning back lost customers and helping the remaining customers grow through direct mail. I would recommend getting out and really trying to understand their customers better. They have people on the ground that interact with many of them everyday, solicit their feedback as well as sending people out to gather information and nail down pain points. Only then can they truly start serving the direct mailers better.
For the second factor, I am going to assume that the USPS continues to take steps to keep their customers happy and that they don't price themselves out of the marketers' budget. There is still the problem of marketers fleeing at an incredible pace to the cheaper, faster and more easily tracked marketing methods available on-line. Cheaper, faster and more easily tracked do not necessarily equate to more responsive or more profitable. I have always found and continue to find that a well crafted mail piece that is sent to a targeted group of recipients is the one of the most effective marketing methods you can use.
Don't get me wrong, I think every marketer should be out there testing e-mail, search, mobile and social media, but that does not mean that you need to abandon direct mail. Focus in your efforts and make sure you measure effectively and I think you will find that direct mail is still able to be a positive contributor to your marketing mix.
In the end, the USPS is facing an uphill battle, but I believe at a minimum they will be able to rebound back to the pace they were on before the recession and I am sincerely hoping they are able to find a profitable and stable model to move forward with.
Monday, October 19, 2009
No USPS Rate Increase in 2010
By: Joseph Kiefer
As a direct mailer, this has been a challenging year. Mailing has never been more expensive, yet response rates were on the decline due to the economy and variety of other factors. Worse, mailers were looking forward to another price increase in 2010. I know in our case, that rate increase was already put into our budget for 2010.
Last Thursday, however, the USPS surprised the direct mailing industry by announcing that there will not be rate increases in 2010. The USPS could not have timed this better, with the announcement coming as 2010 mailing plans are being put together. We did some major mailing plan cutbacks in 2009 and have continued to shift efforts more towards online options. The fact that there is not going to be a price increase this year probably does not push us to raise our volume, but it will at least keep us from scaling back further.
I see this as a positive step for the USPS. They have been bleeding money for a while and need to find some ways to stop the decrease in mail volume and in their customer base. Until now, it seems like they have been focusing their efforts on cost saving ideas, rather then customer retention. They have had a couple of sales, but based on the requirements I would venture to guess that they did not apply to a whole lot of companies. Keeping the postal rates the same applies to everyone and should help stabilize the volume decrease.
Stabilizing the mail volume would be a major USPS victory at this point, with the economy, e-mail and social media all working against it. Is there anyone left who does not pay their bills on-line? E-mail has obliterated personal mail and has made a major dent in business mail over the last couple of years. The USPS has a long road ahead of it, but for the sake of direct mailers I sincerely hope they continue to look for ways to keep themselves and their customers healthy and mailing.
As a direct mailer, this has been a challenging year. Mailing has never been more expensive, yet response rates were on the decline due to the economy and variety of other factors. Worse, mailers were looking forward to another price increase in 2010. I know in our case, that rate increase was already put into our budget for 2010.
Last Thursday, however, the USPS surprised the direct mailing industry by announcing that there will not be rate increases in 2010. The USPS could not have timed this better, with the announcement coming as 2010 mailing plans are being put together. We did some major mailing plan cutbacks in 2009 and have continued to shift efforts more towards online options. The fact that there is not going to be a price increase this year probably does not push us to raise our volume, but it will at least keep us from scaling back further.
I see this as a positive step for the USPS. They have been bleeding money for a while and need to find some ways to stop the decrease in mail volume and in their customer base. Until now, it seems like they have been focusing their efforts on cost saving ideas, rather then customer retention. They have had a couple of sales, but based on the requirements I would venture to guess that they did not apply to a whole lot of companies. Keeping the postal rates the same applies to everyone and should help stabilize the volume decrease.
Stabilizing the mail volume would be a major USPS victory at this point, with the economy, e-mail and social media all working against it. Is there anyone left who does not pay their bills on-line? E-mail has obliterated personal mail and has made a major dent in business mail over the last couple of years. The USPS has a long road ahead of it, but for the sake of direct mailers I sincerely hope they continue to look for ways to keep themselves and their customers healthy and mailing.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Social Media Tools - Hootsuite
By: Joseph Kiefer
For the past couple of months I have been researching and experimenting with social media. Like many other individuals, I am realizing that the process of getting a presence in the social media universe is harder then one might think. I started out by creating the strategic marketing ideas blog and then signed up for accounts on Twitter (MarketingJuice) and Linked In (Joseph Kiefer). I will update you on progress on these fronts as I proceed.
As I was playing around I realized that there must be some tools in place to help marketers better utilize the more established social media sites. I did some Google searches and did some research on the social media sites themselves. I found a ton of information, but it did take some sifting through the data to find tools that seemed legitimate and helpful. One of the best sites that I found was oneforty.com.
Oneforty has a great directory of different social media tools and they are for a variety of sites including the big three of facebook, twitter and linked in. I read through some descriptions and user reviews, which were helpful as well and decided to test a couple out. Since I am pretty new to the social media community I was not looking for anything overly complicated, but I wanted to accomplish a couple of main goals: 1.) Tracking - is anyone clicking through on links that I post and 2.) easier content management.
Hootsuite.com was one of the tools I signed up for and it has been effective for the goals I was looking to accomplish. Hootsuite is a social media tool used for Twitter accounts and it is user friendly with some good functionality. It has the normal Twitter functionality built into the tool, but it makes the data easier to view. You can view your Home Feeds, Mentions and Direct Messages all in columns on your homepage. Other optional columns would be sent messages, sent tweets, pending tweets and favorite tweets. You can also tweet right from hootsuite and it has a ow.ly URL shortener available. Another feature that makes it a little easier to manage your account is the ability to schedule your tweets. You could schedule tweets out through next week if you wanted. Perhaps the biggest time save is the ability to manage multiple accounts. I only have two twitter accounts right now and it was already becoming a hassle to manage both accounts. Hootsuite allows you to flip back and forth between accounts with the click of a link.
The content management functionality would have made it worth using by itself, but I was also looking for tracking as well. Hootsuite does have tracking and depending on your needs it may be enough. Basically it will track the number of times a link is clicked on in your tweets. This was really all I was looking for at this point, but if I continue to further develop my social media accounts I am going to eventually want more in-depth tracking then that. A note to keep in mind if you try this out: it will only track the clicks if you create the link in hootsuite.
Hootsuite is just one of the many tools I am sure I will be trying out. Hopefully I will have a similar experience with all of them. iPhone apps are next on my list of social media tools to check out.
For the past couple of months I have been researching and experimenting with social media. Like many other individuals, I am realizing that the process of getting a presence in the social media universe is harder then one might think. I started out by creating the strategic marketing ideas blog and then signed up for accounts on Twitter (MarketingJuice) and Linked In (Joseph Kiefer). I will update you on progress on these fronts as I proceed.
As I was playing around I realized that there must be some tools in place to help marketers better utilize the more established social media sites. I did some Google searches and did some research on the social media sites themselves. I found a ton of information, but it did take some sifting through the data to find tools that seemed legitimate and helpful. One of the best sites that I found was oneforty.com.
Oneforty has a great directory of different social media tools and they are for a variety of sites including the big three of facebook, twitter and linked in. I read through some descriptions and user reviews, which were helpful as well and decided to test a couple out. Since I am pretty new to the social media community I was not looking for anything overly complicated, but I wanted to accomplish a couple of main goals: 1.) Tracking - is anyone clicking through on links that I post and 2.) easier content management.
Hootsuite.com was one of the tools I signed up for and it has been effective for the goals I was looking to accomplish. Hootsuite is a social media tool used for Twitter accounts and it is user friendly with some good functionality. It has the normal Twitter functionality built into the tool, but it makes the data easier to view. You can view your Home Feeds, Mentions and Direct Messages all in columns on your homepage. Other optional columns would be sent messages, sent tweets, pending tweets and favorite tweets. You can also tweet right from hootsuite and it has a ow.ly URL shortener available. Another feature that makes it a little easier to manage your account is the ability to schedule your tweets. You could schedule tweets out through next week if you wanted. Perhaps the biggest time save is the ability to manage multiple accounts. I only have two twitter accounts right now and it was already becoming a hassle to manage both accounts. Hootsuite allows you to flip back and forth between accounts with the click of a link.
The content management functionality would have made it worth using by itself, but I was also looking for tracking as well. Hootsuite does have tracking and depending on your needs it may be enough. Basically it will track the number of times a link is clicked on in your tweets. This was really all I was looking for at this point, but if I continue to further develop my social media accounts I am going to eventually want more in-depth tracking then that. A note to keep in mind if you try this out: it will only track the clicks if you create the link in hootsuite.
Hootsuite is just one of the many tools I am sure I will be trying out. Hopefully I will have a similar experience with all of them. iPhone apps are next on my list of social media tools to check out.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Direct Marketing Association Conference - A Marketers Timeline
By: Joseph Kiefer
I have been in the Direct Marketing world for the last 10 years and have made the trip to the annual DMA (Direct Marketing Association) show 8 of those 10. This year will be only the second DMA conference I have missed. I have mixed feelings about missing this years conference and put a lot of thought into it before I made my final decision. This got me thinking about the major reasons for attending the show and the different reasons I have attended over the years.
When I initially started going to DMA shows ten years ago I was attracted to the sessions that were offered. My college experience was great, but direct marketing was not covered in great detail by any stretch of the imagination. The DMA conference accelerated my learning curve and I always left with a notebook full of thoughts, ideas and questions. As the years have passed the sessions have become less of a focal point and there are years when I never make it into a session. I think there are so many teleconferences and online learning options available at this point that I am able to learn about relevant marketing topics in a timely manner, at a low price, without waiting for the next DMA conference. For example, in the last 12 months the hottest topic in the marketing world has been social media. Rather then waiting for the DMA conference I just started finding online white papers, webinars, teleconferences... and I have had a wonderful experience. As far as just the sessions go at the DMA conference, I believe I can get a better and more timely experience through alternative channels.
As I got a better understanding of the direct marketing world I started to work more closely with our vendors. It is always helpful to schedule face to face meetings with your vendors on a consistent basis. Quarterly always seemed like a good number to me, but depending on the vendor this can vary greatly and everyone has their own preferences. The DMA conference quickly became a place for me to get in 3 or 4 vendor meetings in a very short time. It also saved me the time of traveling to each of their different locations. I still liked traveling to each vendors location, but it is not necessary for every meeting. I think this makes all of the sense in the world and will actually save you money in the long run. This year we happen to start working with a couple of vendors that are much closer in proximity to us and some of our vendors are not going to the show this year so the number of meetings I would have been able to schedule was pretty limited.
Most recently, I have found myself drawn to the DMA exhibit hall and I can actually spend a full day or two exploring. I have become much more involved in new business development initiatives, along with new marketing ideas and strategies and the exhibit hall is a great place to learn a lot quickly. Being able to meet and ask questions with such a large group is extremely beneficial. I usually bring home a bag full of business cards, marketing materials and notes with follow up plans. For those of you who have not seriously walked an exhibit hall, I would recommend it to every marketing professional of any experience level. You are bound to learn something and meet some great peers. I have heard the exhibit hall is going to be a decent amount smaller this year, but this will still be the part of the show that I miss most.
I am sure I will be back again next year, but like many others, the cost is hard to justify at this point in time. San Diego is an expensive trip to take so we have focused our education efforts online and so far this has worked very well for us. As for the exhibit hall, we are dedicating one day to looking up every exhibitor and browsing their site to see if we think further research is needed. Any potential vendors will be followed up with in a timely manner. It will be interesting to see the results from this effort compared to past years in the exhibit hall. For those of you going to the DMA San Diego, I would love to hear how it goes.
I have been in the Direct Marketing world for the last 10 years and have made the trip to the annual DMA (Direct Marketing Association) show 8 of those 10. This year will be only the second DMA conference I have missed. I have mixed feelings about missing this years conference and put a lot of thought into it before I made my final decision. This got me thinking about the major reasons for attending the show and the different reasons I have attended over the years.
When I initially started going to DMA shows ten years ago I was attracted to the sessions that were offered. My college experience was great, but direct marketing was not covered in great detail by any stretch of the imagination. The DMA conference accelerated my learning curve and I always left with a notebook full of thoughts, ideas and questions. As the years have passed the sessions have become less of a focal point and there are years when I never make it into a session. I think there are so many teleconferences and online learning options available at this point that I am able to learn about relevant marketing topics in a timely manner, at a low price, without waiting for the next DMA conference. For example, in the last 12 months the hottest topic in the marketing world has been social media. Rather then waiting for the DMA conference I just started finding online white papers, webinars, teleconferences... and I have had a wonderful experience. As far as just the sessions go at the DMA conference, I believe I can get a better and more timely experience through alternative channels.
As I got a better understanding of the direct marketing world I started to work more closely with our vendors. It is always helpful to schedule face to face meetings with your vendors on a consistent basis. Quarterly always seemed like a good number to me, but depending on the vendor this can vary greatly and everyone has their own preferences. The DMA conference quickly became a place for me to get in 3 or 4 vendor meetings in a very short time. It also saved me the time of traveling to each of their different locations. I still liked traveling to each vendors location, but it is not necessary for every meeting. I think this makes all of the sense in the world and will actually save you money in the long run. This year we happen to start working with a couple of vendors that are much closer in proximity to us and some of our vendors are not going to the show this year so the number of meetings I would have been able to schedule was pretty limited.
Most recently, I have found myself drawn to the DMA exhibit hall and I can actually spend a full day or two exploring. I have become much more involved in new business development initiatives, along with new marketing ideas and strategies and the exhibit hall is a great place to learn a lot quickly. Being able to meet and ask questions with such a large group is extremely beneficial. I usually bring home a bag full of business cards, marketing materials and notes with follow up plans. For those of you who have not seriously walked an exhibit hall, I would recommend it to every marketing professional of any experience level. You are bound to learn something and meet some great peers. I have heard the exhibit hall is going to be a decent amount smaller this year, but this will still be the part of the show that I miss most.
I am sure I will be back again next year, but like many others, the cost is hard to justify at this point in time. San Diego is an expensive trip to take so we have focused our education efforts online and so far this has worked very well for us. As for the exhibit hall, we are dedicating one day to looking up every exhibitor and browsing their site to see if we think further research is needed. Any potential vendors will be followed up with in a timely manner. It will be interesting to see the results from this effort compared to past years in the exhibit hall. For those of you going to the DMA San Diego, I would love to hear how it goes.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Is Social Media Free? Part II
I wrote last week about the true cost of social media. I do not believe social media is free, but I continue to read articles stating that this is a free or extremely inexpensive form of advertising.
Interestingly enough, the Wall Street Journal had an article yesterday titled "Firms Get a Hand With Twitter, Facebook: Entrepeneurs Hire Consultants to Promote Business on Social-Media Sites, but the Extra Cost Is Big Question". This is a different spin then I took, choosing to focus on outsourcing the social media option, but many of the points regarding the cost of social media were very similar.
I think this is a good read for anyone just starting to think about social media. There are a couple of key points that the article brought to my mind. First, most value from social media will be derived through relationships that are built and this requires real conversations, relationship building and contributing to the users experience on the social media site. Second, in order for this to happen you must spend the time to know what people are expecting to get out of each site and how you or your business fits into that experience.
The WSJ article offers up some social media consultants to contact, with prices ranging from $450 a month to much, much higher. Is that price worth the benefits? In order to figure that out you will probably need to answer a couple of other questions first.
To what extent would you like to be using social media? If you just want a presence without actively participating then you should be able to handle that without outsourcing. Contrary to some beliefs, social media is very easy to learn once you get over the fear of new medium and just dive in. If you are looking to become engaged in communities and play an active role on each site then you will need to evaluate how much time that may take. Depending on the time you can either take on the task with your current resources, hire a social media marketer or outsource.
Will the consultant represent you in the way that you would like? This may be the biggest issue I see and the hardest to measure. You know exactly what you are looking to communicate and how, but you have gained that knowledge through years of experience. How can you convey this to a consultant and make sure the messages being posted on social media sites fits with the rest of your marketing communication? If you do decide to outsource, you will still need to make sure you are staying on top of what is being communicated and make sure you set up expecations and measurement metrics going in. Don't make the mistake of underestimating the damage a poor consultant can do by putting out the wrong message or appearing to be spammers on the social media site.
Good luck in your ventures into the world of social media. I look forward to hearing plenty of success stories.
Interestingly enough, the Wall Street Journal had an article yesterday titled "Firms Get a Hand With Twitter, Facebook: Entrepeneurs Hire Consultants to Promote Business on Social-Media Sites, but the Extra Cost Is Big Question". This is a different spin then I took, choosing to focus on outsourcing the social media option, but many of the points regarding the cost of social media were very similar.
I think this is a good read for anyone just starting to think about social media. There are a couple of key points that the article brought to my mind. First, most value from social media will be derived through relationships that are built and this requires real conversations, relationship building and contributing to the users experience on the social media site. Second, in order for this to happen you must spend the time to know what people are expecting to get out of each site and how you or your business fits into that experience.
The WSJ article offers up some social media consultants to contact, with prices ranging from $450 a month to much, much higher. Is that price worth the benefits? In order to figure that out you will probably need to answer a couple of other questions first.
To what extent would you like to be using social media? If you just want a presence without actively participating then you should be able to handle that without outsourcing. Contrary to some beliefs, social media is very easy to learn once you get over the fear of new medium and just dive in. If you are looking to become engaged in communities and play an active role on each site then you will need to evaluate how much time that may take. Depending on the time you can either take on the task with your current resources, hire a social media marketer or outsource.
Will the consultant represent you in the way that you would like? This may be the biggest issue I see and the hardest to measure. You know exactly what you are looking to communicate and how, but you have gained that knowledge through years of experience. How can you convey this to a consultant and make sure the messages being posted on social media sites fits with the rest of your marketing communication? If you do decide to outsource, you will still need to make sure you are staying on top of what is being communicated and make sure you set up expecations and measurement metrics going in. Don't make the mistake of underestimating the damage a poor consultant can do by putting out the wrong message or appearing to be spammers on the social media site.
Good luck in your ventures into the world of social media. I look forward to hearing plenty of success stories.
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