I’m very interested in the intersection between PR and social media. PR pros are trying to figure out how to “leverage” social media and measure it in the ways they are used to measuring things. Chris Brogan wrote an insightful post with advice to PR pros. He warns how “messy” it is to embark into social media - most will need a lot of direction as they do.
When it comes to approaching bloggers, it’s a very different approach than pitching stories to a publication. Chris says: “I’m writing to you as a human being who likes people, community, innovation, and business, not to mention art, creativity, play, and many other things.” So are the people you’re trying to reach. He explains it like this:

“Bloggers aren’t all the same. I’m definitely not the same as Michael Arrington at TechCrunch. I’m not the same as Seth Godin. I’m not the same as most bloggers. I’m just doing my own thing, and they’re doing theirs. It pays to understand which of us you’re trying to reach for what, and reading the last 10 things we posted, just to get a sense of whether we’re the right kind of person to write about your thing.”

One thing is no matter how high up you go people are still learning, whether we’re professionals or just starting out. This industry evolves quickly and involves a lot of creativity and unintended or expected outcomes, we all continue to learn. Which is what makes my job fun.
So you will make mistakes - getting involved in social media and various online communities has an element of unpredictability. As Chris wrote: “If you mess up, say sorry fast. Acknowledge that you made a mistake, and then act on what you can do better next time.”
In the comments: “Whats hard for us agency types is the transition between “old school” marketing strategy, where ideas and plans were what was sold to the client; and today, where in social media, participation is the product. Its all new to us, but well get there.”

Participation as product. Is that enough - to simply show that you are participating? Should we tell clients - we’re selling you a Facebook profile. We’re selling you our expertise. Right now I’m trying to figure out how to charge, what to offer, and how to define these types of services. So are PR firms.

I have been looking for a place to read more about B-to-B copywriting. I’m convinced that it is VITAL I learn to do it better. After all, writing can sell. The choice of words, the ordering of words, the size and font and color of words. This is all very important.

Good copy is what online marketing needs. I love to read a site that is well written. Don’t make me search to find out what you do. Don’t even make me think too hard.

Today I found Bob Bly’s (nice alliteration) blog. He’s a high-tech B-to-B copywriter. He has a list of links to other B-to-B copywriters and blogs. I  hit the jackpot. Thanks for blogging Bob. My thank you gift to you: a link, something we all want more of. I’ve got to order his book…The Copywriter’s Handbook

Another resource for copywriting for search engine traffic by MarketingSherpa. How-to Kit: Tweaking Your Site’s Copy to Get More Search Engine Traffic

I’ve been working extensively on our Google Adwords keyword list at work. I use our Omniture stats to look at the list of keywords used to find our site. It gives me ideas on what people want to know. If I search on “How to” then I get ideas for articles to write. I also search on “what” because those are often questions too.

Negative Keywords

Another way I search is for possible negative keywords. Since we’re an enterprise level company we want to eliminate words that suggest a free or consumer product. Or simply words that don’t apply. That way we’re not wasting money.

Day Parting

I also use the day parting feature on Google to turn off our ads during the night and on weekends when we get low quality clicks. The clicks were often for other countries. Not many administrators are searching for a networking solution during the middle of the night!

Long Tail Keywords

I also use web analytics to find the long tail keywords. These are keywords that are low volume but have less competition and are often very specific. You’ll probably notice when you look at your keywords a few branded terms account for a good percentage of the total keywords. In my case, around 30% come from maybe 4 terms. Then there is the long tail. These make up about 60% of the total keywords searched on to find our web site. Most of them only have 1-3 searches.

At my last job my boss told me to ignor those because they didn’t pay enough to warrant attention! Wrong. Those are the gold in your keyword list. Why? Because they often cost next to nothing and they often have little or no competition. True, you may not get the volume of searches, but if they are so specific that they convert well, who cares?

Save Your Cash for Keywords that Get Results

Pay attention to the keywords that people are already using to find your site. It can tell you a lot about your potential customers. You know these people came to your site. Why? It can give you ideas on what to write about. It can give you ideas on what keywords to exclude. Also, don’t ignor the key words or phrases that get low volume but are inexpensive. They may convert to sales quite nicely.

More on MarketingSherpa’s report are different web 2.0 methods. The number were from a smaller sample size (because they aren’t mainstream yet).

Most effective:

Optimizing your press releases for Google News and Yahoo News. On a basic level: putting keywords in your press release title and for your link text. (Judd Bagely from PR Web will tell you how at U|Tech this October. See Phil Windley’s blog post today about the conference. Phil’s blog has a PR7!).

Co-registration to build your email list. There are articles on MarketingSherpa about how to do it.

Next Effective:

Viral marketing online, corporate blogs (also covered at U|Tech), contextual advertising like adsense, and rich media advertising (video or audio).

On Business Blogging:

To be effective in this space, you must not have marketing talk. Also, management must keep their hands off. There is some risk obviously but the benefits usually far outweigh them.

Again, U|Tech is going to cover business blogging with Blake Snow telling you how.

I just listened to a conference call with MarketingSherpa on new research on B-to-B Marketing. As always, very valuable. They talked to 1,900 online B-to-B marketers who have implemented various marketing techniques.

Here’s some of what they found:

• Content written by someone who is passionate about what you do usually a technical person. Avoid marketing speak at all costs. Build content around personas.Personas are fictitious profiles of typical customers to help you target your message specifically to people like them. Come up with maybe 10 typical groups of people who you market to. Break up your marketing to appeal to each type. Use the terminology they would use, advertise where they will see you, design your landing page or web site to appeal to them, etc.

• Word of Mouth Marketing and measured results virual marketing - getting your own customers to tell other people how great your product or company is.
• Use multiple methods to reach people.
  The sales cycle is often long and getting longer. You can’t get a lead and let it go cold. So use the traditional ways: trade shows, public relations, ads in magazines, etc. And use the Web 2.0 or emerging technologies: podcasts, blogging, webinars, white papers, and web-optimized press releases.

Small companies found the most success (these were the most effective methods used) with:

1. Offers in 3rd party newsletters - get your name associated with bigger brands in your space by getting in their newsletters. (70%)
2. Paid Search advertising on search engines (68%)
3. White paper syndication service, online ads in your industry, and emails to 3rd party lists (all around 58%)

Least effective for small business: online ads on general business sites. Expensive and you don’t have the brand pull to get a good return.

———————————–
Do you or your clients market business software, hardware, or related services?

New Metrics Guide helps you budget, forecast, and benchmark your campaign results. Plus, find out exactly which tactics work best for lead generation.

Includes:
-> Response & cost data for DM, search ads, PR, email, trade
shows, magazine ads, online ads, telemarketing, etc.
-> 185 tables & charts from 23 research sources
-> Real-life results from 826 marketers
http://www.sherpastore.com/c/a.pl?9204&p.cfm/2150