Newspapers have obituaries – usually about people who’ve died. Now the Rocky Mountain News based in Denver has closed after being for sale for just a month. “What happens if no one buys it?” This is what happens: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/a_newspaper_refuses_to_die_quietly.php Watch the video – especially the part about how the newspaper had a tough year. The company has profitability in other areas.

Notice the papers and the desks and the notes. This is me. Or at least it was. It’s strange but when I see it I feel like I’m part of the culture, even though I’m clearly not at all.

Even though I still read a newspaper almost every day it’s been tough to maintain. No matter what I say it gets delivered on the driveway in the Winter. It freezes, gets buried in snow. It goes through the snowblower and my husband complains. We drop down to weekends, but it’s still delivered every day.

Don’t rest in peace. Keep fighting. I’m hoping for a transformation.

PPC ads are a great way to test what keywords, landing pages, and elements work for an online business. They also provide a tested (and free) way to see what is effective. When I’m designing a landing page or wondering what kind of pitch works to sell a product, I look at what’s selling now.

At the top of almost every search query on Google you’ll see the sponsored link box. These are the top 2 or 3 ads from all the ads that are running at that moment. It’s not a position you pay for, rather one you earn.

Google has an algorithm that chooses the best performing ads and promotes them to the top of the list. It’s a combination of factors but essentially you have to have a well-written ad and a quality landing page. Google can tell which ads people are clicking and staying on. Plus, because the company is paying for each click, they’re not going to continue spending money on the ad if it’s not bringing them business. Especially for the most competitive keywords.

I look at ads of complimentary but necessarily competitors – in other words businesses with a similar target market or sales cycle. If you sell consumer products, look at those. A subscription site, look at Match.com, a B to B product, look at Omniture.

Notice the pitch, what information they provide on the landing page, where things are located, the colors, the headline, the button text, the font sizes, etc. Ask yourself questions – are there pictures of people, comparison graphs or charts, or other ways of marketing. Look at their forms – what information they ask for. Try to figure out what the main goal is and how they entice people to take action. In short, analyze them and start to find key elements that you could test in your marketing.

I’m not encouraging flagrant clicks – but careful ones to study what is working and learning from it. If you follow the money, you’ll soon see what works. People can spend a lot on a click for branding but generally it’s not sustainable to pay and not benefit. Sooner or later people’s budget will weed out the ads that aren’t generating income. Since the feedback is quicker than most types of advertising, this happens fairly fast.

I bet most campaigns focus on a few keywords and ads that are consistently top performers, but the entire process is incredibly dynamic. Looking at PPC ads is also a good way to test out a new idea. If no one is running ads for a particular type of product, it’s likely it’s not profitable. There has to be enough margin on the product to pay for the ads and still get a decent ROI.

Tools like SpyFu are also effective to see what words others are bidding on in any industry. Again, if you want to learn from other people without spending anything, use PPC as real data. Study what works and get ideas. Keep track of them and then test them in your own online marketing efforts.

Most of us have stopped watching the news because we don’t want to hear more bad about the economy. We’d like to tune it out. It’s sort of like the environment or global warming – at a certain point it starts getting so overwhelming and big that we want to shut it out. I’m not disputing that as a tactic – not doing anything because we’re so damn depressed – isn’t going to help anything either.

This week I went to a Tweetup and partied like there was no recession. We had so much fun. There was so much food – dishes and dished piled and barely touched. We couldn’t eat it all if we’d wanted to. It’s one of the only times the waiter didn’t ask if we wanted desert. But the feel of excess is one that I can’t be at ease with right now.

I’ve noticed that for every trend, there is reality for you. Everyone is getting a divorce but you have a strong marriage. But you worry about it anyway because you hope your turn won’t come. All the wives complain about their husband’s being sloppy and not doing housework. But my husband has to tell me again why the carpet needs to be vacuumed more than once a week. If it were me it’d be once a quarter. We only have 3 people in our big house. I can’t relate to that.

And then there’s my friend who convinved me I’m going to lose my job and I started to worry he was right. Sometimes you see all the signs they tell you to watch out for and yet your situation doesn’t apply. But where I work, we’re still hiring. We’ve always been lean and I like it that way. I’ve been in companies twice where stupid overspending led to layoffs. Banking on a that one ridiculous game that didn’t sell or letting the developers go to a conference before the product was finished. But I do have a job now when it sounds like no one else in the world does.

Of course the recession is the ultimate excuse for just about any failing. There are benefits to the recession though, and I’m enjoying them, including…

- I think harder about what I buy. I recently bought new clothes. I took time finding just the right look for my personality and buying things that go together. I spent full price on half and got a huge discount on the other half. I am happier with them than when I bought too many clothes that were just ok.

- We spend more time together as a family doing simple things. I wish I could say we eat less but that’s not a current benefit. We do eat out less. We have family movie nights for the cost of a Red Box and some microwave popcorn and the memories are great.

- Waitresses don’t blow us off when I order water or want to share with my husband. I’m trying to be healthy and save money. Before the recession that was a recipe for cold shoulder.

- There’s a sense of pulling together because we’re all in this together. I sense that at work and home. I try to find solutions with my husband as his production goes up and our income drops. It’s a lot easier to cut back on your lifestyle when your neighbors are doing the same. We’re openly clipping coupons!

- We don’t have to spend money to stay busy. I actually miss living in neighborhoods where kids play together for hours. My friend’s son has friends over before school. Some kids are signed up for so much that they can barely fit in time to just hang out. I spent most of my childhood hanging out every single day with my cousins and friends. I never thought it was too much and I should be doing something more productive. Now there’s a good excuse for not signing my son up for every type of lesson, club, or athletics and the cost of time and money that goes along with it.

- I feel good about giving things away I don’t need to a charity. It helps keep clutter down, gives me a tax deduction, and benefits someone else.

- I can get in for appointments faster – like getting a hair cut, a pedicure, or a massage. Business has slowed and that means less wait time. Since I’m a little impulsive this suits me. Not that I don’t want business to be strong, but looking at the bright side…

- We remember that the stock market can drop and isn’t a sure bet. We are saving more because we don’t know what will be there for retirement or in the next few years even. It’s one thing to be told this but another to live it. Mutual funds and insurance are more appealing than ever.

I’ve never experienced anything like this economy and it’s unsettling. However, the doom and gloom doesn’t help. So rather than being scared I do what I can and forget the rest. Excercise, spirituality and meditation helps me sleep better at night. How I’m coping — I remember that what’s happening to many people isn’t necessarily what is happening to me. Then I focus on the benefits.

Facebook dredges up the past and I don’t like it. Someone sends me a meme and at first I’m tempted to tell all, like a slumber party in junior high. But then I hesitate – how much to reveal? Besides that first kiss that you write about will probably friend you by the end of the year. On Facebook the past is never past. It’s always there for you.

Some of the reunions have been sweet, like my first college boyfriend who called me one day last year. He reminded me of the fun we had together. How we locked the door, turned on some music (most likely ska) and danced in the kitchen. Even now I start to write more details as the memories come, then just as fast backspace and they’re gone.

Then there’s the picture from junior high at the most awkward time that my cousin posts and tags me on. Our last names, though different both start with M, so we’re on the same page. That week at work my coworker casually mentions it. The horror of that bad perm and haircut, the awkwardness of that time is revisited for a few seconds. Then I snap back to the professional realm.

And what to do about that friend or relative you never liked when you were young who now wants to declare to the world that you’re friends. Do you say no? Do you live with the guilt? No one likes admitting to someone they don’t like them. So you friend them back. Then you see their face every time they update and it brings them to the present once again.

And there’s something really junior high about the constant popularity contest. You read your friend’s wall, look at other people’s lives – lives you haven’t thought about for decades. You size them up, you compare yourself. I admit it – my curiosity has me look at complete stranger’s lives too.

My Facebook friends in general are people I actually know. Acquaintances mostly. It’s the way I talk to my neighbors because otherwise we’d “talk” a lot less. It’s taken the place of the front porch or back fence that’s disappeared. I find it funny that I know many of the people on my friend list on Facebook but on Twitter I probably only know a small fraction of the people I “talk” to.

So I philosophize in my mind about how I can’t totally leave anyone because they’re always there looking at me from inside Facebook. The old flames, the friendnemies, people you don’t relate to anymore, the relatives you used to see only at family reunions and didn’t look forward to avoiding. They’re all there with their friends.

Is all of this healthy? Is it ok to let the past and it’s people stay where you purposefully left them? I try to live in the present but Facebook is messing with my head.

What do you think?

Social media PR doesn’t need to be limited to the obvious choices. There are many niche social networks that you can join. Remember to think of it as a real life group. Introduce yourself, tell them what you do, be yourself, be friendly, and get to know the local culture. Whatever you do don’t be an MLMer by blatantly marketing yourself or product to anyone who will listen…

Here are some resources to help you find your niche social network

Wikipedia has a list of social networking sites with stats & demographic info.

Mashable published a GIANT list of social networking sites.

You can use Facebook Groups to find communities of people on Facebook.

Social Networks for College Students
thequad.com
coolpeoplecare.org, Volunteering and fundraising resources for college students.
Unigo.com Reviews, photos, videos, and networking with students on their campus and across the country.

Misc. Social Networks
MakeMeSustainable.com – identify and accomplish sustainable goals.
iMantri.com find a mentor and talk about it.
GovLoop is a Social Network for Government to connect over 5,000 Fed, State, Local, Academics, and Good Contractors.

Career/Job Social Networks
FDCareer.com, Research company profiles, ask questions about interviewing tips and more to help you in your future career.
ActiveRain – for real estate pros

Health Social Networks

Disaboom is a site for the disabled to find and interact with others who have disabilities.
Diabetic Connect for people with diabetes, their caregivers and doctors.
IMedix general social network about health issues.
Inspire is a group of small social networks based on different diseases and health conditions.

Feel free to add your favorite social network in the comments section. In a future post I’ll talk about marketing in niche social networks.

As I’m reading the MarketingSherpa research the lasting impression I get is that most people think of the really difficult things. In fact, many of the techniques they talk about are simple. I also notice how the research lumps a lot of things under social media. It’s a bit too high level and vague so far in that regard.

Many techniques discussed aren’t things I call social media. For example, I don’t think of blogging as social media. However, it is shareable.  By add simple pieces to a blog, it becomes more social (or should I say shareable). Notice the Dilbert blog (hugely philosophical). At the end of every post there’s a link to print off the post, email it, or add it to various bookmarking and social networking sites. You can also rate posts.

When I think of social media marketing success I think of HP’s success. I interviewed the agency who ran it and it was not only very high touch, but expensive. Probably my favorite social media technique are contests that are fun and that reward people for telling their friends. These are things most businesses can afford and can implement.

Here are some great articles from Search Engine Land about social media:

• This one breaks down the various types of social media sites
• What to expect from a social media campaign

My favorite social media site is still Twitter. Some businesses won’t see a good result, but others are perfect. Everyone eats and so restaurants are a great fit. I’m impressed with what I’ve seen from restaurants on Twitter, and it’s an idea that’s easy to steal. These are locally owned restaurants that have really increased their visibility by giving away free meals and exclusive discounts to their followers.

I went to an amazing Italian restaurant in Layton Utah with my husband for Valentine’s Day and they’d be ideal for this kind of marketing. They have live bands, they make their food fresh, and there’s a lot to talk about.

Example: Costa Vita
FREE SWEET PORK BURRITO! Tue Feb 17, 2009 only. 1 per Guest. FOLLOW Costa Vida & get more @ twitter.com/costavida. Fwd the joy to Friends.

If you just started following @CostaVida on your Mobile Device, send us a DM and we’ll resend you todays offer.

Example: Guru’s Cafe
Win a FREE meal: in 140 characters tell me what you like (or don’t like) about Guru’s Cafe! Three winners will be picked randomly in 30 min!

Enter to win a FREE meal from @guruscafe, only 5 minutes left!

Congrats @hollylynnsays, @GUNDERBUM, and @JMunk for winning a FREE meal from Guru’s Cafe! Please direct message me for details on your win!!

I love how Guru’s has announced the contest, given a reminder, and then reported back on the winners. The winners get exposure which is key on Twitter. Plus free food is always a draw.

What other simple ways could you market on a social media site like Twitter? What has worked best for you?

I’m pouring over my copy of MarketingSherpa’s study on social media and online PR. The good news: most marketers plan to focus more on social media and consider social media effective for reputation management, brand awareness and SEO. It’s not as good at driving sales.

Social media doesn’t work well as just another way to market your products. It’s not simply a platform for you to evangelize yourself. One reason is people go to social networks for FUN not to be marketed to.

Challenges of Social Media Marketing:

- It takes time and it takes experimentation to benefit from social media/PR and they propose a way to approach and measure your efforts.

- It’s free to participate in most social media but it’s a time commitment.  If you’re paying someone else to do it for you it can get expensive. Remember you won’t see results for a long time, probably months. Most marketers have little experience in social media and most businesses don’t understand it.

- Focus too heavily on ROI or increasing business in online communities and you jeopardize the effectiveness.

- Online press release distribution is rated very effective. This confirms my own experience.

- Blogging works well but people get burned out. The best blogging style is honest and unfiltered. The study talks about the challenges of company blogs. After the first pushes, the first thing to go is people publish less frequently. Then the quality goes – unless you’re lucky enough to have someone who really is passionate about the subject.

- Social media is tough to measure but one of the best meaurements is engagement (measuring how people interact with your brand).

My favorite tip so far is to look for vertical (or niche) social networks. If the market that you want to reach has a social network just for them, that can be the best place to start.

Social media marketing to be successful is content-focused (blog content, video content, etc). The next step is making it easy for people to interact with and spread that information.

Social networks are relationships which means if marketing in communities works it can’t be one-sided.

The bottom line so far: We focus too much on marketing and business goals. We would do better to focus on the content, interaction, and engagement.