eBiz Tomorrow by Chris Salazar

I’ve got and I’ve found it…rather I’ve found the person who have surpassed me by a great deal! Someone who is my age and has already done so much with social media in both his personal and professional life…Dan Schawbel.  His main focus is BRAND…and he recently gave his predictions for Personal Branding in 2008

In the light of the new year coming and my attempt to add value to Dan’s contributions, here are my own predictions for 2008’s world of Social Media:

• Corporations will move past “community” and work to create CUSTOMER UTILITY
  • Yes, corporations should concentrate on providing their customers with a service; whether that be an interactive knowledge base, variety of web 2.0 product interfaces, or a network of online consultants available around the clock
  • Everyone is creating a community, but investing in the customer is important. Common questions to ask: What can they actually use? What’s missing in my industry? Why should customers invest their time with my company?
• Users will challenge corporations to become transparent and real
  • Open-communication is not enough; every leading corporation will have 2 faces (the CEO and the Community guy)
• Job openings in social media will explode - will we see CCOs (Chief Community Officers)?
  • We’ll have two versions of the story, two different types of Press Conferences. One will be on TV and in front of reports, the second will be on a blog “translating” into real terms what’s going on. Nowadays, CEO’s messages are lost in translation…its the CCOs job to keep it real.
• Blogging and Facebook will lose its value and utility
  • I’ve seen it with Facebook already, I’ve been bombarded with way too much SPAM and I’ve lost interest in it. I see other profiles, who I used to frequently visit, and they are filled with so much extra stuff that makes it look like one big blob of junk.
  • Blogging…people are trying to make a living through their personal blog? Too many adwords, too many attempts to make a $1, too many people why to become e-famous. What happened to true, passionate blogging for the love of writing and sharing one’s ideas?

What are your predictions for 2008? Am I on the right track or do you have some objection?

Web Analytics, SEO, and SEM have increasingly become MUST KNOW TOPICS for all web professionals. Yet, quite a few out there still do not understand the importance nor the benefits of analytic tools such as Google Analytics, WebTrends, Omniture, etc. The following is taken from my own knowledge and research of Web Analytics…as I provide a basic overview of Web Analytics and insight on key strategies moving forward.

Web Analytics has evolved and matured within the past 10-15 years and there’s every reason to think the new year will bring several new and important revelations. Starting from the basics, we have two different types of analysis (Logfile Analysis and Page Tagging)

Highlights of Logfile Analysis

• Information is readily available in a raw format
• Records all requests from the web server (both successful and failed requests)
• Logs information from search engine spiders, which is great for SEO purposes
• Log File Analyzer software is available (Post-parsing reporting vs Real-time on demand reporting)
  • Post-parcing analyzers usually require more computer/server strain and are performed on a schedule
  • Real-time can be produced at any time on an “on-demand” basis (Ex. WebTrends)

Highlights of Page Tagging

• Records all successful requests
• Reliable as the JavaScript is run after each page is loaded
• Works with JavaScript enabled browsers to capture data about the user (using cookies)

Companies must decide which type of analysis they want for their site (if not a combination of the two); it depends on the company’s goals, what they offer, what they are trying to accomplish, company’s level of technical expertise, and the number of site they are managing.

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Along with these two types of analysis, its important to note what statistics are deemed industry standard and must be accounted for…Basic Statistics you should be aware of: visits, page hits, avg time on site, unique visitors, bounce rate.

These are all basic, but key, stats you should be aware of in order to see trends, analyze “peak” days, figure out how many returning visitors you have, and how sticky your site is. Using these keys measures, you must figure out how to improve traffic and user retention rates.

These statistics can be measured using analyzers like Google Analytics to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of your site. As changes are made, success can be measured using statistics like unique visitors, bounce rates, etc.

Example of a Google Analytics Dashboard below:

Source

Stay tuned for more in-depth posts that explore more into trends, SEO, traffic, and the “basic statistics.”

Many of us understand and realize that social media is powerful for individuals and businesses. However, there’s a vast majority out there who either disagree or are too old fashioned. Unless you work for a young company, those people are probably your boss.So, I want to start my own community marketing program at my company…how do I do it? Fortunately, I was privileged to follow under the footsteps of Jeremiah, who introduced social media to HDS; we have forums, a wiki, and a few bloggers. Yet, it was far from easy…but I learned from him.

Still its very hard work, so I look up to experts for advice and I came across an interesting article that really sums up how to start one. Only one catch, this article tells how to start one if others in your industry are catching on too…nonetheless, i cant argue with his findings.

I started off this blog with the intention to summarize someone’s thoughts, but instead I’m pushing myself…I’ll give you my advice from what Ive learned.

Here goes…

“In order to sell social media to your boss you must…”

CREATE A NEED

Bosses are busy people…in and out of meetings and/or working on bigger/better things; which is they have no time to waste on worthless projects. So…make social media a NEED, not a want. Make him/her say “We need to have blogs.” Social media is a utility that every company should and needs to somehow get their hands on.

Sounds easy right? But, how do you create this need? Here’s a few ways:

• Show ROI and Success with SEO- One word: proactive. The success of the social media program is in your hands; if you’re not proactive, you will not be able to see ROI. I read about how to show to your bosses that this ‘new media’ program is worth it’s weight, but its missing one important aspect…SEO
  • SEO - Search Engine Optimization is something that every company should be worried about, yet are they? Whether or not its in your scope, SEO can be accomplished by social media (forums, blogs, wikis, etc). Smart and active blogs have the ability to: come up early in search engines, produce incoming/outgoing links, and store a collection of thoughts and information. All of this helps SEO tremendously.
    • Example #1: Everyone knows about the whole DELL SUPPORT finding. When you search “Dell Support” in Google, scroll down, what do you see on the first page? …a link to Jeremy Zawodny’s post: What the F*** is with Dell Technical Support?
    • Enough said, this shows the power of blogging, especially with SEO. (I think before it came up a lot sooner, maybe 3rd or 4th in the search results). How much did it cost? NOTHING, FREE.
  • How much WORK does it take? - Aside from initially setting up the blog, which could take 5-8 hours total for branding, back-end work, etc…it depends on your strategy (which could range from 2-10 hours per week). I recommend blogging 3 times a week to keep your audience interested and subscribed.
    • Each blog takes 2 hours max, blog 3 times a week, that is 6 hours per week
    • 6 hours per week times 4 weeks = 24 hours per month
    • This is all the time you need…if done correctly, your company can use the 24 hours of time to benefit the overall SEO strategy.
    • Example #2: Type in “storage bloggers”…what is the first search result? The storage wiki (referenced above) that Jeremiah started. It might have cost something, but definitely not as much as paid search.

• Illustrate how your company can benefit from “human” contact - one of the most valuable rewards from a community marketing program is the human contact. 10 years ago, this sort of communication was unheard of, but now its part of our life in and out of work. Human contact sparks relationship marketing and relationships build trust. Trust in every business activity is very important and difficult to achieve. Social Media is the hub for open communication and a new way of “marketing”
  • Social Media allows for all types of communication - prospects to prospects, prospects to customers, customers to customers. More importantly, this is all happening in YOUR space…you can listen and participate openly and freely.
  • Can be used as a sales tool - bloggers should be subject experts and because of this, the sales force can use it to their advantage.
    

    “Our product has XXX and it can be integrated with XXX solution, which is why we are the leaders in our industry. For more info, you can see XXX blog post on this…”

This list will continue to grow as I learn more about these new mediums.

Also, I’ve left out some important parts…but now its your turn!