Marketing Automation, Web Video and Social Media

According to eMarkter.com:

"Currently, 96.6 million US Internet users read a blog at least once per month, representing 48.5% of the Internet population. By 2013, 128.2 million people, or 58% of all US users, will take part.

The numbers of bloggers is also rising. In 2009, 27.9 million US Internet users have a blog they update at least once per month, representing 14% of the Internet population. By 2013, 37.6 million will update their blogs at least monthly."

This is good news and bad news for bloggers. First, the rising number of blog readers is great news. This makes blogging a high impact activity. For companies and individuals looking to use blogs to extend their brand, more eyeballs are more potential customers. For entertainment bloggers who seek to build an audience and then drive advertising revenue, more potential viewers is great news.

The bad news is, that the number of blogs is growing. As this happens the market will become saturated and you will have to create stellar content to rise above the sea of mediocrity. Of course, this is an opportunity as well. In blogging, quality will win over quantity. Keep creating compelling, strong content that people love and your blog will continue to attract and retain followers. 

DebNG just asked on Twitter: "Tweeps: I asked this question over the weekend: what is better for building your brand and your community: Twitter or FaceBook and why?"

I wanted to write an extended response here. In our work helping companies develop a Communication Activation strategy, we emphasize the research needed in determining how customers would like to interact with the brand. Some may like Facebook, some like podcasts, some like tweets. It really all depends on the market.

I think all marketers need to be everywhere there is a large congregation of their potential and existing customers. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Anywhere you could potentially be talking with customers and potential customers is where you should start. Then begin to use your own Blog and website as the focal point for those consumers. By providing compelling content and support to the community at large you can build trust and engagement with the community.

I would start with where current customers are, setup a basic presence, then begin a 3 step process:

1. Listen
2. Learn
3. Engage

Listen

You must always first listen to what people are saying. Just because we are dealing with Social Media doesn't mean we should throw out the traditional marketing appoaches. Start with some real market research by locating communities and groups online within the social networks where your cusomters could potentially be.

Learn

What are the common things your are hearing? Are users expressing interests in a new product, service or an improvement/complain with an existing product or service? These key learning will be the focus of begining to engage the community.

Engage

Begin to participate within the community. Provide valuable input and content, such as answering questions or issues. You will need to build trust and longevity within a space before you can begin working product marketing into your social stream.

I believe so many retail and service companies have damaged their reputation to the point where customers no longer care. They simply visit a store because it is cheap or convienient. They expect to be treated indifferently by customer service people and cashiers.

People are going to start going somewhere else the second it opens up nearby.

Don't be like Domino's Pizza, hire great people to represent your brand.