Dreams Really Can Come True – Saints Win 2010 Superbowl

Superbowl XLIV is over and the New Orleans Saints have won, much to the surprise of many Indianapolis Colts fans. It was a great game both from the sports perspective and the social media perspective. Mullen and Radian6 put together Brandbowl 2010, which monitored Twitter comments to rank the brands that purchased Superbowl ads.

In my opinion, the 2010 Superbowl ads weren’t that great – the one that impressed me the most was a commercial that I had seen before the Superbowl and some of the new ads just weren’t that funny and/or memorable and some were just offensive. With more than 18,600 mentions, it appears that Doritos has won the Brandbowl – Adweek has posted all of the Superbowl ads here if you missed them – and it just so happens that the ad I thought was most memorable was from Doritos as well.

The “House Rules” Doritos ad (where the little boy says, “Keep your hands off my momma. Keep your hands off my Doritos.”) was my favorite in spite of the slap by the little boy and the fact that it wasn’t an ad that premiered during the Superbowl. I think it could have been just as effective if the little boy had grabbed the potential boyfriend’s chin instead of the slap, but that’s just me…

The win by Doritos is not completely unexpected because they had several entries in the Brandbowl, but the win by the New Orleans Saints has proven to be an amazing comeback story. Less than five years after hurricane Katrina left them without a place to call home, the Saints are bringing home the Lombardi Trophy. What a difference just a few short years can make.

In five years, my children will have graduated from high school and my husband and I will be empty-nesters. In five years, my dreams are to be able to travel more, to be in better shape, and to be working in a job that I love and where I am appreciated and valued. What are your dreams for five years from now? Will you be winning the Superbowl? Please leave a comment below and let me know!

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Top 12 Twitter Chats by Day – What are your Favorites?

Twitter Chats
In addition to being a “webinar connoisseur” I stay on top of best practices and new industry developments by attending Twitter chats. A Twitter chat is a conversation on Twitter that is held on a certain day/time and contains a specific hashtag so that people can follow along. Word of mouth about the chat spreads when followers of the people attending the chats see the hashtag and join the conversation as well. If you see a chat that interests you, set up a Twitter search or use a program like TweetDeck, Seesmic, or WhatTheHashtag to follow along.

Many marketing, public relations, and social media industry leaders spend time each week participating in these chats. You can often find Beth Harte from Marketing Profs, Mack Collier from The Viral Garden, Sarah Evans from PRSarahEvans.com, Valeria Maltoni from Conversation Agent, and many others on Twitter chats. It’s an easy way to learn from your peers, experts in the field, and basically anyone who is interested about a certain topic.

My Top 12 Twitter Chats By Day

Here are the 12 Twitter chats that I try to attend as often as my schedule allows (all times Eastern). Please note that there are several that overlap on Tuesday and Wednesday night – you’ll either have to multi-task and view all of them at once or pick the topic that looks most interesting that evening.

Monday

8P-11P #JournChat (chat with public relations professionals, bloggers, journalists)

Tuesday

12N-1P #SocialMedia (social media for business) This chat is designated by a specific #SM?? hashtag – each week increments by 1 see HashtagSocialMedia for more details.
8P-9P #SMBiz (small business networking)
8P-9P #PR20Chat (the latest in public relations)
9P-10P #EventProfs (social media and events)

Wednesday

11A-12N #BrandChat (personal branding)
1P-2:30P #SMChat (social media and communities)
8P-9P #IMCChat (Integrated Marketing Communications conversations)
8P-9P #SmallBizChat (small business tips & advice, especially new small businesses)

Thursday

4P-5P #MrktChat (travel and tourism marketing – lots of ski resorts represented here)

Friday

12N-1P #KaizenBlog (using Kaizen techniques for continuous improvement in social media)

Saturday

Take a break – it’s the weekend for crying out loud! (If you’re really bored, you can review the chats that you multi-tasked on Wednesday night…)

Sunday

9-10P #BlogChat (how to make your blog better)

Do you attend any of these chats? Which ones do you find the most interesting? Do you know of a great Twitter chat that I have missed? I’m always looking for new conversations to join, so please leave a comment below and let me know!

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The Luckiest Girl In Vegas!

Sharon and T2 visit the Grand Canyon prior to Affiliate Summit West 2010
Sharon and T2 visit the Grand Canyon prior to Affiliate Summit West 2010

As you know from my post on January 11th – Affiliate Summit West 2010 Here I Come – I attended the Affiliate Summit conference in Las Vegas last week. It all started at the end of 2009, when Jason Rubacky from ShareASale sent me a direct message on Twitter: ‘If I can get you a pass, would that help?” Since he was replying to my lament at MEDEX’s new affiliate program not having the budget to go to Affiliate Summit West 2010 (ASW10) this year, my answer was a heart-felt thank you for the kind offer! From that auspicious beginning, I knew ASW10 would be a lucky conference for me!

My husband, T2, and I flew in early so we could enjoy some time together before the conference began. We decided to play in a cash poker tournament on Saturday morning to practice for the Affiliate Summit Charity Poker Tournament to benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation being held Saturday night. I’m not a very experienced poker player, but T2 really enjoys it so I’ll sometimes play in a tournament situation (where I know I’ll only lose a set amount of money) with him. Am I ever glad I did! We ended up coming in first (T2) and second (me) in the tournament! The winnings paid for an amazing helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon on Saturday afternoon (see the picture from our trip above)!

After our helicopter ride, T2 and I were invited to the ABestWeb.com party, where I proceeded to win a goodie bag from Team Loxly Marketing! Then it was off to the Charity Poker Tournament where T2 came in 11th and I came in 6th out of nearly 100 players! By the time the tournament was over, it was nearly 2AM Sunday so it was off to bed so T2 could make his plane the next day and I could head for the Meet Market and the first sessions of ASW10.

I was lucky enough to see Brian Littleton trying on his handmade ShareASale-logoed sweater while picking up my ticket to the amazing ShareASale party on Sunday evening. After Sunday’s sessions it was off to meet my ASW10 mentor, Karen Garcia, from GTO Management. After the Mentor Meet-up was the ShareASale party, where you didn’t have to be lucky to enjoy fun, food, and games ranging from Wii Sports to darts to craps, roulette, blackjack and poker because ShareASale picked up the tab for everything! They even had a moon bounce if you were so inclined…

Although it was midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning, several of us headed from the ShareASale party to the Strike Out Breast Cancer Midnight Bowling Fundraiser sponsored by GTO Management where sometimes being UNlucky is lucky! My team won the “Low Score” award and I won the “Most Gutterballs” award, plus a “Spare When It Counts” award – all from Things from Another World, a GTO client and sponsor of the event along with BowlingShirt.com who provided great retro bowling shirts for all attendees.

I got a few hours sleep before Monday’s keynote and sessions began. After the sessions and a trip around the Exhibit Hall, it was time for the Affiliate Summit Trivia Tweetup. Although my team had a few technical difficulties (ask our team captain Brent Elias about that great football event called the Triple Crown…) we pulled off a come-from-behind win and received Gold Passes to Affiliate Summit East 2010 in August!

And my luck didn’t stop there! After another full day including the Pinnacle Awards presentation, keynote, and sessions on Tuesday, I found out that I won a gift card from the NY Times Store due to my visit of the buy.at booth! Heading to dinner from that unexpected luck, I was fortunate enough to meet up with Jen Goode in the hallway and get an invite to dinner with her and about a dozen of her nearest-and-dearest friends (or at least those lucky enough to catch up with her before they ate) following the Blogger Meet-up. A nice, interactive dinner with a mix of people I knew already and new people that I just met was the luckiest part of the trip!

Were you as lucky as I was at ASW10? Please let me know by posting a comment below!

Posted in Affiliate Marketing, General Updates, Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Affiliate Summit West 2010 – Here I Come!


Visit Affiliate Summit

It has been less than 2 weeks since our New Year’s adventure and I’m already traveling again! This time next week I’ll be at Affiliate Summit West 2010, also known as #ASW10 on Twitter, and I can’t wait! Affiliate Summit announced on January 5th that the show was sold out, so it doesn’t do much good to put up my affiliate link to Meet Me at Affiliate Summit West 2010! but according to the Affiliate Summit blog,

We will be double-checking our attendee list for any duplicate registrations and as we process any cancellations, the Web site will open up and additional registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Keep checking back on the Affiliate Summit site to see if spaces are available because this is one conference you can’t afford to miss!

What the heck is Affiliate Marketing?

I’m glad you asked! The short answer is Affiliate Marketing allows someone with a website (or blog or other online method of driving traffic to your site) to become your advertising partner. A customer visits the affiliate’s site, is directed to the merchant’s (your) website and the affiliate is compensated for either the lead or the sale (depending on how your affiliate program is set up). I’ll be writing a future post on Affiliate Marketing with more details, but that’s the quick explanation.

Why can’t I afford to miss Affiliate Summit West 2010?

Ok, since it’s sold out, and this is a last-minute post, you may end up having to miss Affiliate Summit West 2010, but you should plan on attending this twice-annual conference on affiliate marketing to expand your marketing reach at a fixed cost per visit/lead/sale. Since you only pay your affiliates based on the traffic that they generate to your site, it’s a win-win for everyone involved.

What do I need to know for Affiliate Summit?

Shawn Collins, an Affiliate Summit founder, posted a video First Timer’s Guide to Affiliate Summit 2010 if you need details on the event and a slide show about networking during ASW10. Adam Riemer, another active Affiliate Marketer, posted a guide on getting more from Affiliate Summit here. He suggests that a Poken is a necessity for this event.

What’s a Poken?

Poken is your social business card. Scrap the paper business card! Transfer contact info, including your social networks, instantly! Get your Poken Today! (This is a text affiliate link to Find A Poken, where I got my Poken for ASW10. I’ve also included banner affiliate links to Affiliate Summit, START POKEN, and others in the lower right hand section of my blog.)

I’m taking my Poken and business cards and headed to the show. If you’re going to be there, please look for me and say hello. I’d love to do some business together. Want me to look for you as well? Please leave a comment below and I’ll be sure to connect before, during, or after the event!

Posted in Affiliate Marketing, General Updates, Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

New Year’s Eve Customer Service Done Right

Rustic Cottage at Will O' The Wisp
“Rustic Cottage” at Will O The Wisp

Our 2009 New Year’s Eve destination was local skiing so that my husband, T2, could try out the “new knee” before planning a trip out West later in the season.

We made reservations at Will O’ The Wisp, on Deep Creek Lake in Oakland, MD. We had stayed in their condos before, so we knew that a 3BR/2BA suite would give us plenty of room to relax after a day on the slopes of Wisp Resort. We were to arrive on New Year’s Eve 2009 and depart on Sunday, January 3, 2010, but here’s how our weekend went:

12/30/09 7P – phone call from Will O’ The Wisp to our home telling us that there was a plumbing problem in the unit we rented. T2 spoke with the customer service rep and told them that they had 24 hours, so they needed to fix it before we got there.

12/31/09 11:30A – email from Will O’ The Wisp that there is still a problem and asking us to call. (Unread until 1/1/10.)

12/31/09 12:30P (as we’re driving there) – phone call from Will O’ The Wisp to T2’s cell phone letting us know that the problem was unable to be fixed and they couldn’t rent the unit due to health department regulations. The lodge was sold out, but they could put us up in one of the “rustic cottages” instead. Since we were about an hour from our destination, we agreed to check it out.

12/31/09 3P – After a nice (and inexpensive) lunch at Casselman Inn we arrived at Will O’ The Wisp ready to check in. We were shown the “rustic cottage” which was clean…smaller (only one bathroom), without a working fireplace…and, well, rustic. At the “right” price (free) and since there was nothing else with 3 beds available in a 20+ mile radius, we took it. The manager was even kind enough to give us a complimentary dinner at the Four Seasons Dining Room at Will O’ The Wisp if we stayed the second night (New Year’s Eve was booked solid). Wow, am I ever glad they did!

1/1/10 5P – Even though the accommodations were not as we expected, the dinner was amazing!!! Although we had stayed at Will O’ The Wisp in the past, we hadn’t eaten in the restaurant there and most likely wouldn’t have visited the restaurant on this trip either, but now that we’ve tried the food there, we were amazed! Perfectly cooked steaks and seafood, plus desserts that melt in your mouth!

1/2/10 12N – Partly due to the accommodations, partly due to the weather (7 degrees Farenheit and 40 mph winds), we checked out a day early and came home to get some real rest in our own beds.

Overall, the customer service people at Will O’ The Wisp did everything right – consistent, clear communication; offering the customer an available alternative; and adding something of value to make up for their inconvenience. We still weren’t thrilled with the room substitution, but we appreciated the lengths that the customer service and management at Will O’ The Wisp went to in order to make us happy. We’ll be back — if not for a place to stay, then definitely for another meal in the restaurant.

Have you had a similar customer service experience? Better? Worse? Please leave a comment below and let me know about it. And don’t forget to check out my post Almost Nuts About Southwest Airlines for more customer service suggestions.

Posted in General Updates, Marketing | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Happy Holidays, Season’s Greetings, or Merry Christmas?

Santa Claus
Does your company use Santa Claus as their winter holiday representative?

I work for an international travel medical and security assistance company. The opinions expressed below are my own and may not represent those of the company where I work.

Our company sent generic holiday greetings via email to our subscribers – no mention of Santa Claus, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, or any other holiday – just a general sentiment that no matter where in the world you are this holiday season,  you are wished peace and joy. Seems innocent enough, right? Apparently we weren’t specific enough with our season’s greetings for at least one subscriber. He asked to be removed because if I couldn’t wish him a Merry Christmas, then he didn’t want to be subscribed to our email list.

While I would love to have an email list that is specific enough to let me know what winter holiday each customer celebrates, unfortunately many companies (including the one where I work) do not have lists that targeted, so rather than further upset that reader, we removed him from our holiday greetings email campaigns.

Unless your company has a specific religious orientation like Catholic Charities USA or The Jewish Federations of North America, or represents a specific culture like the African American Cultural Center in Los Angeles, or has ties to any of the other winter festivals, it is my opinion that sending a holiday email with a generic “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” message is better than not sending any message at all.

Are you able to segment your emails to something as specific as holiday preference? If so, how did you gather that information? If not, what do you think – is it better to say Happy Holiday or Season’s Greetings, or is Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or Enjoy the Winter Solstice the way to go? Please post a comment below and let me know what you would recommend!

Thanks to Tutorial9.net for the wonderful Santa graphic!

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Blizzard 2009 – Memories of Snowstorms Past

The "Blizzard of 2009" was quite peaceful here.
The “Blizzard of 2009″ was quite peaceful at home in Maryland.

The Blizzard of 2009 is over for the East Coast of the US and it was a beautiful and peaceful event for us. The day was spent sitting by a cozy fire reading a good book and every few hours making a pass or two with the snowblower.

Baltimore, my hometown, received at least 21 inches of snow in the past two days – shattering the previous two-day December snowfall record of 14.1 inches from 1960 and accumulating more snow in two days than the average annual Baltimore snowfall of 19.8 inches.  The last time Baltimore received this much snow was when the February 2003 “President’s Day” snowstorm dumped nearly 27 inches on the city.

That snowstorm followed one of the scariest “Mostyn Medical Mayhem” moments of my life. On President’s Day Weekend 2003, our family (including my husband, our kids and my in-laws) was enjoying the long weekend at Camelback Mountain Resort in the Poconos mountains in Pennsylvania. I was nervous about the trip because the Poconos have historically been a place for Mostyn Medical Mayhem, but that’s a story for another time. Although my in-laws don’t ski, they came along to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Our kids have been skiing almost before they could walk, so it was no surprise that we skied all day even though the kids were just 7 and 9 years old at the time. After a full day of skiing, the hot tub was calling my name and our daughter, M3, agreed to go with me and leave “the boys” (T2 & T3) to ski after dinner. We stayed at a townhouse next door to the ski slopes and had long-range walkie-talkies (those were the days before cell phones were popular) to communicate while on the mountain.

About an hour after we went back to the townhouse I received a page from T2 saying, “You need to come to the resort RIGHT NOW. T3 has been hit by a snowboarder. Ski Patrol is on their way, but he’s not conscious.” My father-in-law drove me to the resort and returned to be with my mother-in-law who was keeping M3 occupied. I was soaking wet from the hot tub and in my rush couldn’t get my boots on correctly, so my hair was freezing to my head and I was quite disheveled when I burst into the Ski Patrol headquarters. I quickly told them who I was and that my son was being brought down off the mountain and a very wonderful woman calmly explained the current situation.

“The Ski Patrol is with your husband and son on the mountain. We don’t know the extent of the injury at this point, but we have three options depending on his status: 1) he could be fine when he gets down and we send him home with you, 2) he could be injured and require medical treatment, if we determine he needs to be examined by a doctor we have an ambulance right outside that is ready to transport him to the local emergency room, or 3) if the extent of his injury is determined to be serious, we have a helicopter on stand-by to fly him to a hospital in New York. If he goes by helicopter, there is not enough room for anyone to fly with him.”

This is NOT what I wanted to hear. What I wanted to hear that was that my son was fine, that my husband overreacted, and that we would all laugh about my appearance when they came down the hill.

After what seemed to be a very long time, but in fact was probably less than 10 minutes, the Ski Patrol came down the hill with T3 immobilized and strapped to a stretcher trailing behind the snowmobile. They moved him, board and all, into the building where I waited. My husband was ashen, his first words to me were, “He was run over by a snowboarder, I don’t know that the kid even stopped. He was just laying in the snow and wasn’t responding when I called his name.” He held my hand and we waited for the Ski Patrol to do what they do best.

When they brought him in, T3’s eyes were open, but he seemed very disconnected from what was going on around him. The Ski Patrol members took his vitals and checked for feeling in his arms and legs. He was diagnosed as having a concussion, but he would be transported by ambulance since he could feel his arms and legs once they warmed up (another scary moment there when he sad he couldn’t feel his feet, but it seems they were just very cold). We reported the update to my in-laws and T2 drove the car to the hospital while I rode in the ambulance with T3.

During the ambulance ride, the EMT asked T3 what his name was, how old he was, and who I was. He answered correctly. He then asked what day it was and what he had for dinner and the response was, “I don’t know.” Again, NOT what I wanted to hear…but I was encouraged that he was at least responsive with feeling in his extremities. We got to the hospital and they re-checked his vitals and prepped him for x-rays and a CT scan. After several hours, the results came back that he had a concussion but was ok to be released to go “home” as long as he was monitored every hour to make sure he was still coherent. T3 drove us back to the townhouse where we arrived at almost 2AM.

At 3AM, the first time I woke him to ask who I was, his response was, “I don’t know.” I asked him again louder, as if that would help, with the same answer. I turned on the light instead of the nightlight that we had on in the room asked again and he responded, “Daddy?”  NOT what I wanted to hear, part 3… By this point, T2 was awake and as I asked again (loudly) and made him really look at me, I finally got the answer that I wanted, “Mommy, can I go to sleep now?”

After hourly wake-ups with the 20 questions quiz – who am I, what’s your name, etc. by the time I woke him at 7AM his response was, “Moooommmm, can I please go back to sleep?” Now THAT’S what I wanted to hear. <Grins> At that point, I got up and found my in-laws, T2, and M3 watching the TV. This is very unusual for our family to watch TV on vacation, so I thought they might be looking to see if T3 made it to the news…until I saw that they were watching the Weather Channel and it was calling for a blizzard on the East Coast in the next 24 hours. It was an easy decision to cut the vacation short, pack up and head home to Baltimore so that if anything else happened we would be at home where we had medical facilities with which we were familiar. We made it home just in time for 27 inches of snow to arrive in Baltimore.

Which brings us back the the Blizzard of 2009, where the 20 questions of “Can you please being in more firewood?” and “Can you please run the snowblower over the driveway?” are answered with, “Moooommmm, can I please finish this video game first?” Exactly what I expect to hear from a nice, normal, “healthy” teenage boy.

Most of my posts have a marketing moral, but this trip down Blizzard Memory Lane has only a safety warning: if you ski or snowboard, please wear a helmet. Even though he had a concussion, I’m convinced that T3’s injury would have been much worse if he wasn’t wearing a helmet while skiing. Do you have a safety tip for skiing or a memory of blizzards past? Please share them in the comments below.

Posted in General Updates, Medical Mayhem, Motherhood | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Almost Nuts About Southwest Airlines?

Last Christmas I bought my husband tickets to the 2009 NBA All Star Weekend in Phoenix over Valentine’s Day weekend. Since we live nowhere near Phoenix that gift needed to include airfare & hotel. I got a good fare through SouthwestTM so I booked the flight. Unfortunately, our NBA tickets fell through and I ended up canceling the flight. In addition to their consistently low fares, bags fly free policy, multitude of nonstop flights to places I like to go on vacation like Orlando and Tampa, FL, Scottsdale, AZ, and Park City, UT, one of the things that I like about Southwest is their cancellation policy. If you need to cancel your flight then you can use the fare amount (possibly minus a service fee) toward another fare.

The good news is that I’m going to go on a trip before Valentine’s Day weekend this year, the not-so-good news is that Southwest’s policy is that you must use the credit before 1 year from the date of purchase (not the date of the trip). Essentially, not only am I’m losing 2 months for buying my tickets in advance of travel, but my credit expires on 12/24 (nothing like those Christmas Eve gifts!) – which is before mid-January when I want to fly.

So I called Southwest Customer Service to see what they could do. Although I didn’t get the result I wanted, I’m still almost ‘Nuts About Southwest’ (the name of Southwest’s blog).

  • The Customer Service agent was courteous and explained the policy even though it was written on my cancellation receipt and that there was no way they could extend the expiration date because of the way their ticketing system is set up.
  • He then proceeded to let me know what he could do after my credit expired, which was (for a $50 per person fee) extend the credit for another 6 months. I wasn’t excited about losing $100, but it was better than losing the entire fare amount.
  • The Southwest Customer Service agent also reminded me that the credit was transferable to anyone (so if you’re looking to travel between now and Christmas Eve send me an email and we can work something out!).

What marketing lessons have I learned from Southwest?

1)   Hire good customer service people who represent your company in a positive manner.

2)   Communicate your return/exchange policy in writing before, during and after the sale. Then have your Customer Service people reiterate the policy when someone calls with a question about it.

3)   Always have a “Plan B” so you don’t lose the customer completely. They might not be 100% satisfied, but they’ll respect you.

I’ve been following @SouthwestAir on Twitter for some time, but when I saw that several of my Facebook friends became fans of the Southwest Facebook Fan Page (perhaps because of the Fans Fly Free promotion), I became a Facebook Fan, too. One of these days maybe I’ll be completely ‘Nuts About Southwest’ but for now I’m a Fan who’s almost there.

Southwest, Southwest Airlines, and Southwest Airlines Co.® are registered trademarks of the Southwest Airlines Co. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Posted in General Updates, Marketing, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Cyber Monday Mayhem: Bigger Is Not Always Better

Cyber Monday started out for me with a phone call from the school nurse and Mostyn Medical Mayhem. It seems that T3’s (our son’s) lips and tongue were swollen from an allergic reaction, possibly to a medication he’s been taking. Bigger is not always better, especially when it causes breathing through constricted airways. Fortunately, it was not immediately life-threatening, so instead of the ER it was a trip to the doctor’s office. Several hours later, with a different medicine, antihistamines and steroids to take down the immediate swelling and we’re ready to do some Cyber Monday shopping.

Coremetrics Benchmark reports Cyber Monday 2009 total sales up 11% over 2008, and up 12% over Black Friday 2009. Sounds like bigger is better, right? Not necessarily when it comes to customer satisfaction. I spent more than two hours trying to make a purchase on a major internet retailer’s site due to slow page loading times and a shopping cart that would suddenly jump back to the homepage. Just as I thought I was getting to the page where I could pay for my purchase and be done and…”We’re sorry! We no longer have available the notebook PC you’re trying to customize, or some of its components.” This was a big ticket item (over US$500) but I didn’t buy it from that retailer at that time because of the bigger traffic numbers that the site was experiencing.

To end my evening, I was trying to catch up on Twitter posts when I came across an article by Tim Ash from SiteTuners.com on Landing Page Optimization. Tim’s take on landing pages, that I wholeheartedly agree with, is that ‘Less is More’ which plays into my bigger isn’t always better theme. In addition to testing and personalization, some of Tim’s main points for landing pages were:

  • Fewer and smaller graphics
  • Shorter bulleted text
  • Reduced number of choices and links

Have you found bigger isn’t always better or less is more in your marketing and/or life? Let me know how by posting a comment below. I’d love to hear from you!

Posted in Marketing, Medical Mayhem | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Quit Following Me!

Friends for many years...
Karma, Sharon, Kathy, & Debbie

People who are connected on Twitter.com are termed “followers” and “following” each other. Inexperienced marketers often use the number of “followers” as a key performance indicator (KPI), but I disagree that this metric should be a measure of social media success. Social media success should be based on the engagement of your network. The following quote by Albert Camus, French author and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, describes the way I try to develop my relationships on social media:

“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”

Somehow, in less than four months I’ve managed to gather more than 700 Twitter followers. In a bit more time than that I’ve also got more than 200 Facebook friends and almost 300 LinkedIn contacts. I’m grateful, but I’d rather have 7 Tweeps that I can have an actual conversation with than 700 people who never respond to my Tweets. Maybe it’s the term that Twitter uses for connections – “followers” implies to me that they are going to go where I lead, but in the new world of social media we’re all starting out on the same footing so I’m looking for someone to share ideas with not to follow my lead. Karma, Debbie, Kathy, and I have been friends since elementary school. I know I can pick up the phone, send an email or instant message, or see them in person and they will join me in conversation. No one leads, no one follows, everyone contributes. That’s what I want from social media.

Do you want to gather followers in a race to see who can get the highest quantity without worrying about quality?  How do you determine social media success?  I like to use the KPI’s presented in Eric T. Peterson’s Twitalyzer – influence, signal, generosity, velocity, and clout. What tools do you use for social media measurement?  Please leave a comment below to let me know and join the conversation!

Posted in General Updates, Marketing, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments