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mesh is Canada's digital transformation and innovation event taking place in Calgary and Toronto each year.

meshmarketing Q&A: Sam Fiorella

By meshmarketing

sam fiorellaSam Fiorella and Danny Brown, who co-wrote Influence Marketing will be doing a session at meshmarketing about influencer marketing, a topic that many brands are seriously exploring to drive their digital marketing efforts.

Here’s a mini-Q&A with Sam about his thoughts on the social media landscape:

When it comes to social media, what strikes you as the most interesting or exciting trends or developments?

Funny enough, it’s the anti-social movement. I’ve noticed more people are taking “digital vacations” and culling their friend lists because social media has created a conflicting world. We’re connected to more people, yet don’t have more meaningful relationships. We’re encouraged (and rewarded) to connect with more and more people, yet we don’t have the time to manage the expectations that come along with that. There’s so much noise created in our digital world today that we have to work too hard to find real value in the cacophony of content that is being created. Similarly, businesses are struggling with Big Data – they’re collecting more and more consumer data, brand “Likes,” and earned media but they can’t clearly connect that engagement to customer life time value.

The pendulum is swinging back and it seems that individuals and businesses alike are seeking more meaning from smaller niche communities or by compartmentalizing their audience. This will have a big effect on technology from a GUI perspective as well as a programming and analytics one.

What’s your take on how social media, content marketing and inbound marketing are converging or intersecting?

They’ve always been one, yet we’re just starting to understand how they work together. Social media is not a different from of marketing, it’s just another channel. Content marketing is not another form of marketing, it’s just another technique. In fact, I could argue there’s no such thing as “content marketing;” before social media (social networks, blogs, etc.), content marketing was just marketing.  I’ve heard this claim from early adopters for a while but it seems the mainstream is now becoming aware. My clients are more comfortable with marketing solutions when these tactics are presented as just that: tactics within an integrated marketing plan.

Brands are fascinated with influencers. How do they get started in the right way? (A loaded, softball question!)

This requires an entire book to spell out properly. Oh, wait, there is such a book!  If I had to provide an elevator pitch, I would say brand managers must better interface with sales and customer service teams (and software) to identify how customer make purchase decision, what  factors affect how they make decisions, and who are they speaking with at the point a decision is made.  In short, start with the customer and link their decision making to your business’s product or service. Understand the purchase life cycle of your customers and orient your influence marketing strategies around that. A recommendation or product offer is received and interpreted differently by a prospect who has never heard about your business than it is by someone who is already considering a purchase. Similarly, someone who is in the market for a specific product will react differently to a recommendation than someone who has no need.

I’d warn brands away from quick-start/short-cut solutions like using social influence scoring platforms to identify who is deemed influential. Instead, I’d recommend focusing on the factors that affect how their customers make purchase decisions and build communication paths between those customers, at each stage of the life cycle, to those who can sway those decisions in your favour.

What are the new and favourite digital services in your toolbox?

I have a long list of new products that I want to try out but currently I’m playing with new influence marketing platforms like Little Bird, Traackr, Appinions, and InNetwork that are applying new methodologies to the industry.  Little Bird does not factor social conversations into their determination of who is – and isn’t – influential on specific topics. Appinions uses natural language processing against a database of online and offline content  to understand who creates the opinions that drive action in specific industries. InNetwork is a fantastic tool that uses both software and “elbow grease” of its analysts to understand the makeup of a blogger’s audience.  Each is pushing the industry forward and I’m fascinated by each.

Why Should You Attend meshmarketing?

By meshmarketing

meshmarketingThe landscape is chock-a-block with digital conferences so why should you come to meshmarketing on Nov. 7 at the Toronto Reference Library when there are so many options?

Perhaps the biggest reason is meshmarketing’s focus on giving attendees tangible and actionable insight and information, delivered by speakers working in the digital trenches.

meshmarketing is not a conference about focused trends or patting each other on the back about successful digital campaigns. It’s where marketers can come to raise their digital games to the next level.

We want people to come away from meshmarketing with a ton of ideas about how they can jump-start their digital marketing by implementing new approaches, techniques and best practices. It’s all about helping you drive forward your digital marketing activities.

This is the reason we go after speakers who are not only industry leaders but experts in helping companies thrive in the ultra-competitive digital marketplace. We’re talking about people such as Jay Baer, Peep Laja, April Dunford, Laurie Dillon-Schalk and Karen Schulman Dupuis.

If you’re looking for new insight into digital marketing, meshmarketing is where you’ll find it. Some of the topics we’re covering include content marketing, influencer marketing, customer discovery, digital marketing tools and digital optimization. And we’ve got a great case study involves Oreos.

Another great thing about meshmarketing is tickets are just $199, which is a great deal for a great day of content and speakers.

 

meshmarketing Q&A: Peep Laja

By meshmarketing

peepFor all the talk about inbound marketing, social media and content marketing, a company’s digital success hinges on how well its Website performs. Whether it’s product sales, downloads, Webinar signups or registration, the biggest challenge is converting visitors into customers or users.

Given the importance of Website conversion, we’re excited to have ConversionXL’s Peep Laja, one of the leading digital optimization experts.

Peep, who writes a top-notch blog, will deliver a meshmarketing keynote presentation on Nov. 7 that will give you valuable the insight and information to turn your Website into a conversion engine.

To get a small taste of Peep’s presentation, here’s a mini-Q&A:

1. Content marketing is the belle of the ball while social media is rumbling along. Do you think brands are not spending enough time on driving conversions to leverage their content and social efforts?

That’s absolutely true. When I usually analyze landing pages for different Websites – and look where social media or search traffic lands, those pages are pretty bad at conversion. Poor attempts at email capture, no value proposition, no dedicated landing pages for social media, or asking for the sale too soon. Blog posts can do a lot for email capture. Companies should carefully see where their inbound traffic is landing on, and how well those pages are performing.

2. What are your thoughts on inbound marketing, which seems to be getting more and more traction?

Inbound marketing can be extremely effective if done well (and it depends on the business as well). Barrier of entry is low which is why there’s so much crap content out there and people saying ‘it’s not worth it’, but there are few that do it well. If you take it seriously and put effort in it (do it well and consistently over a long period of time), it is highly effective

3. What are some of the keys to boost Website conversion rates? (A loaded question, no doubt!)

Conversion optimization is a process, not a one-time checklist. What needs to be done is specific to each case, and you have to be data-driven: analyze what’s going on, how users are using the site and so on. Three common things that help most sites are:

1. State a compelling, unique value proposition on all key landing pages, including your home page. If I’m your ideal customer, why should I buy from you?

2. Aim to be clear about what you sell and what they get out of it. Avoid jargon and buzzwords. Clarity beats all other tactics.

3. Offer proof that your stuff works – independent studies, third-party reviews, testimonials etc.

4. Any new or favourite digital services in your toolbox these days?

I’m not sure about new, but three type of services every company should use (I do for each client):

▪ Mouse tracking services like SessionCam and Clicktale

▪ Testing software like Visual Website Optimize, Optimizelt and Convert.com

▪ Remote usability testing service like Usertesting.com and OpenHallway

Tickets for meshmarketing are $199, which is a sweet deal for a great day of content and networking.