As my final comment on the South Dakota Tourism Conference -I saw fantastic potential for 2009. The mainstay will be to continue building our tourism network of friends via social networks on the internet. Here are a few testimonials on how the State of South Dakota is using different partner programs to promote opportunity for all tourism-based businesses in South Dakota:
The Department of Tourism even stepped up this year with a blog about the tourism conference updated regularly. They’ve even been experiment on social sites like Facebook too. If you see them on twitter or other places, let me know.
Overall, I enjoyed the conference…it was a great working, learning, and playing experience with new and old friends like Johnny B. with Reptile Gardens, Dave Geisler with Pioneer Auto, and the Husteads from Wall Drug. I hope that BBM studios continues to grow with the industry and continues to help each individual see the potential they have to make an impact to visitors in South Dakota.
…It’s interesting to note that there were more attendees to the Internet Marketing “Advanced” seminar than the “101 intro” seminar. South Dakotan’s must be catching up! Also, while having a side conversation with Mr. Bailey, I asked him “what web trend will reign supreme in 2009?” He said “Video, without a doubt“.
We’re excited about tourism in South Dakota, we’re excited about bringing innovative ideas to our clients, and we’re excited about continuing to build South Dakota into a bigger icon than just four faces on a mountain!
I’m excited – There’s nothing like being around people that are part of a common goal and vision for their industry – It’s great to see tourism friends and hear their perspectives on how their year went, how they are planning for the next year, and especially how their family is doing back home.
Overall, the conference had some excellent speakers for the seminars. My favorites were Garrison Wynn, Beth Terry, and Matt Baily. They were professionals that lead the way by teaching and encouraging an open forum. They also, like any good speaker, had great quotes:
Garrison Wynn-”Foundation of Prejudice – People looking for things that are true, to prove that its true.” Building relationships are complicated, but vital.
Beth Terry – “The rising tide floats all boats (Guy Kawasaki)” South Dakota is refreshing to every visitor. Don’t forget the value we have and learn to share those values across the state.
Matt Bailey – “Find the pain” – People want answers to their needs, make your website be a simple and easy solution
Governor Mike Rounds spoke at the awards night gala and shared his optimism about the year to come and did a great job reminding everyone there, (about 1,000 maybe?) that no matter what the next year brings, our ability in South Dakota to push through hard times and achieve our goals has never wavered and will continue to be our strength in the upcoming year. The SD Deptartment of Tourism’s goal is “to increase visitor spending in South Dakota to 1.2 billion dollars by the year 2010″. This year we reached 967 million – up 2.8% over 2007.
The tourism conference was a breath of fresh air in a time when small businesses within the South Dakota tourism industry may worry about the upcoming season.
Direct from the South Dakota Tourism Conference in Pierre, South Dakota…It’s me!
The tourism industry is the #1 industry in South Dakota…or #2 depending on who you talk too – I admit I’m a little biased because I grew up in this industry. Finding new ways to keep tourism healthy, especially under the current economic conditions, is a primary concern. My take on this? We need to utilize the power of consumer internet searches and get involved with current and potential travelers to South Dakota by participating in online community-driven conversations through social media platforms.
This year the theme of the Governor’s Conference on Tourism is “Making the Connection”. The State of SD takes this opportunity to bring in great speakers for educational seminars. This year one of the highlights is Garrison Wynn from Wynn Solutions who gave a fantastic key note presentation – “Being the Best vs. Being Consistently Chosen”. He shared some excellent insight on the value of relationships for business, which interestingly enough, is the whole objective of a social media campaign.
The first night of the conference always proves to be an interesting opportunity to meet new people and loosen up. This years social was sponsored by the South Dakota Game Fish & Parks Department. It was an exciting night of giant slideshows, buffalo chip throwing, photos with wildlife (stuffed! ; )), and video games for the hunters. It was great time and I’m looking forward to another run of presentations today including tips & tricks for working with the internet (it will be interesting to hear what they say…), and how businesses are going green.
If you are looking to “make the connection” with Tourism in the state of South Dakota, the two main websites are: www.travelsd.com and www.sdvisit.com.
To hear top internet marketing magnates tell it, 2009 will see social media become sentient, unify and morph into a god-like being that will dominate the entire universe!
Alright, no one says that. But there *is* a lot of buzz right now, and a lot of it contains predictions of the impending explosion of social media into the mainstream business world. Are you ready? Probably not. Most people aren’t – in fact, if you’ve actually heard the term “social media,” you’re already ahead of the game.
But what exactly is social media?
The truth is the phrase “social media” just isn’t up to the task of defining this new phenomenon that is changing the world as we speak. And really, when you boil it all down, there’s nothing even new about it. All media is social in the sense that it is created and delivered in a society for the purpose of communicating, which is a social activity. If you think that’s too vague, you’re spot on – and that’s exactly why the broad, all encompassing phrase “social media” doesn’t really work.
So what are we really looking at here?
Suspend your disbelief (and your claustrophobia) for a second and imagine everyone on Earth – all 6.7 billion people – in one room. (Ignore the smell : )). Or just imagine 670 people in one room, if that’s easier, each representing 10 million more. In this room there are no barriers or divisions; it’s just an open space containing people. These people are all talking to each other – in small and large groups, one to one, one to one hundred, in corners or in the middle of the room. Some people are laughing, some crying, some whispering or yelling; some are talking business, some political, and still others are simply listening. (A few are stalking people, but let’s not go there). They share, they play, they collaborate. It’s a myriad of every type of conversation you could imagine.
Conversations
That is what “social media” is, in its basic, elemental form: conversation. It’s two people, three people, three million people, all participating in some form of conversation; all together or in groups or pairs. Now take this and apply it to what you know about social media: Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, blogs, etc. – these are all simply platforms for conversation. Each has a different way of going about it, and each one attracts different sorts of people, but they all accomplish the same thing: bringing people together in conversations about “stuff”.
…this is where it becomes relevant to you and your business. People talk about all kinds of things, including other people, companies, organizations, ideas, products and brands. It’s quite possible that, right now, someone out there is saying something about you, your business or your product. They’re saying all kinds of things, influencing others concerning your product or service, and you can’t really control that. But you can participate; become part of that conversation.
The term ‘video’ once meant that my techy uncle Bernard was coming with his VHS recorder to ‘document’ my birthday…the world of video has exploded since those early days of watching “America’s Funniest Home Videos” on television, to millions of people uploading their videos to video sharing websites like Youtube.com.
This is where the true beauty of modern technology comes in…people begin talking, sharing what they see with other users and the video spreads…like a virus, hence the term ‘viral marketing’.
Here is the most watched video on youtube. Guess how many times it’s been viewed…nope, higher. Come’on…HIGHER…how about 111,124,422. Over one hundred and eleven million views!
Let me give you a quick lowdown on how important online videos is in today’s world. These statistics are from the January 5 press release from comScore.com showing video statistics from the month of November 2008.
- Internet users viewed 12.7 billion videos in Nov. 2008 (up 34% from 1 year ago) – YouTube has 40% of that market share.
- Out of the more than 146 million viewers, each of them watched an average of 87 videos – YouTube had 98 million of those users, about 2 out of 3 users.
Here’s some more useful stats from the report.
77% of the total U.S. Internet audience watched a video online
The average online video viewer watched 273 minutes of video
97 million viewers watched 5.1 billion videos on YouTube.com (52.3 videos per viewer)
52.5 million viewers watched 371 million videos on MySpace.com (7.1 videos per viewer)
The duration of the average online video was 3.1 minutes
The duration of the average online video viewed at Hulu was 11.9 minutes, higher than any other video property in the top ten
Okay, so this is the deal. Like every marketing strategy, you MUST know your customer. Who they are and where they find their information. The internet isn’t the only destination for information, but it is the number one destination. That’s why its the information super highway.
smile!
Today’s marketing strategy is changing and it’s no longer based on what I, the marketer, wants to say about my product. It’s moving towards what the world is saying about my product. The businesses and marketers learning how to distribute original content that encourages social interaction related to their product, and work towards building an emotional relationship between their product and the customer will have the leading edge. It’s old-school friend/enemy making. It’s like having a birthday party and inviting your friends, except today, your friends can twitter, video, and blog about how good or bad it was. Uncle Bernard isn’t the only one with a video camera now.
Video is a gigantic tool that is becoming easier to use, more accessible, and easier to share. Every trend hunter out there is projecting a huge increase in the use of viral video for online marketing and user generator content. If you want to see what BBM Studios is doing, keep and eye on our Youtube Channel.
The curtains are moving off to the side and every passerby now has the ability to take their cell phone camera, record a video, and post it to the world … and then ask opinions. Now that’s viral marketing.
More posts on video to come including ‘how to’s', new technology, and how to harness the power of this innovative tool. Click on our RSS feed at the top of the blog and follow us to stay connected.
In the wake of our shifty-eyed economy, a healthy competitive edge is certainly NOT the LAST thing that businesses need. Many companies are cutting prices, cutting employees and (dare I say it) even cutting marketing budgets to stay ahead.
Wait a second! Which one of these is not like the others?
1. Cutting prices
2. Cutting employees
3. Cutting marketing budgets
Well, if you chose number 3, then we are on the same page. In most cases, if your advertising and marketing ROI does not balance out or surpass your advertising and marketing budget, then something is wrong. To save and make money, the answer is not to cut these dollars, but to reset them.
There is more money wasted in advertising by under-spending than by over-spending. Years ago someone said that under-spending in advertising is like buying a ticket halfway to Europe – you’ve spent your money but you never get there. Morris Hite
In this competitive business market, marketing campaigns and strategies are not as simple as they used to be. With greater diversity, precise socialand product niches and more forms of media than ever before, there is a lot to consider and understand in order to make the most of an advertising budget.
Contemporary marketing plans should contain a healthy blend of both conventional media (TV, radio, print, etc.) and new media (largely web based and interactive). In many cases, it is ideal to use conventional media,SEO and SMM to get your name out there, all the while directing people to your website to sell the product or service, or to your blog to hold a conversation about your product or service (which may very well get your customers selling for you).
To paint a bit of a picture, in this growingly new media age, at least 20% of your marketing budget should be devoted to SEO and online interactive strategy. Is that more or less than you expected to commit?
Maximizing advertising dollars does not mean cutting corners and only going with the cheapest options for products and services. In order to get the most out of your marketing budget, the quality and effort of the campaign, as well as the design and production, need to reflect the quality of your business’ products and services, targeting the proper demographic.
When executed properly, an ad campaign/marketing strategy will pay for itself, then buy you lunch. It may also help to keep you from having to those cut those prices or employees to stay competitive. Thus, making number 3 not like the others.
I’ve always considered myself a fairly Web savvy individual – I stay up on the latest world happenings by logging on to the various news organizations from CNN to the Rapid City Journal. I’ve reconnected with several friends through Facebook. I’m “Linked In” with some current and past colleagues, and I’ve even started “Tweeting.”
But those Internet gods seem to always keep me on my toes. I’m pretty sure many of you have already delved into the world of Google Reader but the application is fairly new to me – hey, it’s a full-time job keeping up with Internet technology.
Anyway, for those of you who may not know about this application here’s the low-down:
If you’re like me, your daily internet browsing ranges from the latest happenings in the Middle East to the newest Boston Red Sox acquisition to a friend’s wild weekend. Instead of checking each of these sites, Google Reader provides and organizes all the information into one convenient location … and it continually updates the latest news throughout the day. It’s like having my very own “one stop info shop”.
Google Reader was officially released by Google in 2005 and made it out of the beta status in 2007. However, Google, as with nearly everything, continually updates the application to make it as user-friendly as possible – I can subscribe to anything from the New York Times site to my best friend’s blog by either using Google Reader’s search function or by entering in the exact URL of the RSS feeds. New posts from the feeds appear on the left-hand side of the screen.
I’ve even subscribed to dictionary.com’s word of the day so I can dazzle my friends and coworkers with my expanded vocabulary!
Keyboard shortcuts – or what I like to refer to as my own “Google Reader code” – helps me quickly explore my reading list without using a mouse (tip: clicking the letter “J” allows me to skip down to the next item on my list).
…And browsing through the limitless news floating through cyberspace would not be as fun if it could not be shared. Those interesting tidbits of news or the newest marketing trends surfacing can easily be spread to the masses by clicking one icon. All my shared items appear on my personal Google Reader page and can also be quickly emailed to my social list of friends and co-workers – networking made easy!
If you’d like to give it a try – click on our RSS on the upper right, subscribe with Google, add the feed to Google Reader, sign-in or create an account, and you’re done! Now you will be updated everytime we post!
More? Here’s a video by CommonCraft illustrating the ease of using Google Reader:
Imagine…as you drive along the main street of an unfamiliar city, your phone alerts you to a restaurant that your friend visited last week. It interfaces with your friends “facebook” page, where they had commented on the delicious culinary delights of the establishment to your left. “The Prime Rib was great” the screen reflects, as you drive on. An on-screen button allows you to make a reservation for two, tomorrow night at 8. The mobile device sends your name and contact details to the restaurant where a table is reserved for you.
The journey continues. You pass a hotel where your sister stayed last year – you know this, as your mobile phone displays an image of the building and it presents an option to make a reservation. Beneath the reservation options, your sister comments that she was happy with the room, but the hotel lacked a gym, and the breakfast didn’t have a vegetarian alternative. As you are guided to your destination, the device offers up information on the town, its history, and the facilities available. Passing by the local movie theater, you receive coupons via your phone for the 7 o’clock show.
This isn’t that far off. Much of this technology already exists – people already have the ability to access restaurants, local bars, movie information, or whatever-it-is-they-want, using an application called “vicinity” on the iPhone. It does not have the usability of the Tom-tom yet, nor pride of place on the dashboard, but the concept is there and it’s only a matter of time before mobile marketing technology is refined and its use is common place.
So where does this leave the advertising community as society sits on the cusp of true mobile marketing? No one can be too sure, as this time may be some way off. At the very least, all service industries that allow customers to book online or make reservations through any interface, whether it is phone or internet, will need to choose a system that puts their brand at the forefront of consumers’ minds. The information that the device will use must be up-to-date, uniform in nature, and allow the booking to be intuitive, swift and convenient.
Our job as marketers, designers and web developers is to empower our clients to make the right decisions, be accessible in the right places and go on generating revenue until the next revolution.
As a business, you have many options for delivering your message to your target market. Be it a billboard, newspaper ad, television spot or some dude in a chicken suit standing on the corner handing out flyers – each has specific techniques for maximizing its effectiveness. When incorporating your website as part of that message delivery system, it’s important to remember the web is its own medium and must be treated as such. All media types are unique and beautiful snowflakes… or something to that effect.
Many of the ideas from traditional media (television, print, outdoor) translate, while others do not. First, all good design guides the viewer’s eye in the path the designer chooses. This is Graphic Design 101. Sometimes this is done gracefully through the use of a focal point, contrast and repetition. Other times it is not so graceful (star bursts anyone?). Think of some great print advertising you’ve seen. I’m willing to bet the first element you saw was either some fantastically unique or emotionally engaging photo, then a bit of text and finally the company logo/call to action. Or think of some effective television advertising – again, I’m willing to wager the ad was visually stunning, funny or emotionally appealing with a call to action towards the end. If this commercial doesn’t appeal emotionally to you, check your pulse. This model works because it grabs your attention then invites you to act on the emotional response you’re currently feeling. People often buy on emotion rather than logic. Why else would someone buy a pair of Crocs? The emotion of feeling comfortable beats the logic of appearing sane.
When GD101 is applied to a website design, you want your users to first understand where they are (your logo and branding). This is especially important if your visitors are landing at your site from an organic search result – meaning they typed in some search terms and your site topped the list naturally, not from a paid placement. Next you want to make sure they find what they’re looking for. If they spend any more than a couple seconds looking for the desired content, they’re likely to leave your site and look somewhere else. Not good. Finally, you want them to find the other stuff in your site. This generally refers to your navigation and/or graphic elements to allow access to other areas of the site.
So, basic design principles still apply. This is a good thing. Otherwise, we’d have an internet populated with a bunch of un-navigatable (yay for made up words!), illegible and irrelevant websites. However, when it comes to the web, the standard method of generating action is no longer applicable. When someone lands on your site, they’re already working through the “acting on” stage. You don’t need to grab their attention with a huge “hey, look at me” graphic – it will just get in the way. They are looking for something and whether it’s a product you sell, an answer you provide or simply your business hours, the worst thing you can do at this point is lose that attention.
The magic word for retaining their attention is, say it with me now, content. If your content is engaging, informative and well structured, you’ll not only provide that nugget of information the user was mining for, you will also entice them to stay a bit longer to see if they can dig up anything else useful to them. If they find your site especially useful, they may link to it, blog about it, bookmark it, or better yet, take the initial step to do business with you. Understanding what content should be on your site and how that content is written specifically for the web is a great start to an effective web strategy, but that strategy must first begin with a fundamental understanding of the medium.
Understanding the web as a related, yet entirely different medium than TV, direct mail, or the guy-in-chicken-outfit and it will simultaneously release you from preconceived notions of what your website should look like while opening other avenues you never thought to look down.
The web is gradually moving away from the “all sizzle-no steak” mentality prevalent earlier in the decade. Today’s users are savvy and impatient. They know where to look and what to look for. If you don’t provide the answers they seek, you might as well get suited up and print out some flyers, it’s going to be a long year.
I’ve been asked by several people in the last couple months, “what is the point of Twitter?” Having read Jillian Anderson’s recent post on social media, you might be asking yourself the same question. After all, Twitter doesn’t seem very useful at first glance. But like many social media services, how you use it is more important than what its “point” might be. Yet in order to explain why Twitter can be useful to you, we need to clear up a few things.
Twitter may seem frivolous, but it's power should not be underestimated
What Twitter Isn’t
First, Twitter is not an advertising platform. Let me say that again: Twitter is NOT an advertising platform. Traditional advertising and marketing strategies do not belong there. They will not work there. Save the traditional thinking for traditional media.
Second, Twitter is not a “fire and forget” sort of medium. You will only get out of it what you put into it, and if what you put into it is a one-way advertising message, you’re efforts are going to fall flat.
So with that all out of the way, let’s try to understand exactly what Twitter is and how you can use it for your business right now.
What Twitter Is
Twitter is a “microblogging” service. It’s a tool for participating in conversations, forming professional (or personal) relationships, or just getting your name out there. It’s a great way to meet and interact with other professionals in your field (or any niche of interest), or other people in similar situations as yourself, or even people in your city or region.
Twitter users come in all dimensions: designers, marketers, salespeople, educators, managers, CEOs, bloggers, reporters, moms, dads, kids, politicians, smart people, fun people, angry people, fake people, dead people, etc…
And brands. LOTS of brands. On Twitter you’ll find start-up software developers, retailers, restaurants, bloggers, big name news media, Fortune 500 Corporations and more, and they’re all using it to connect with their customers.
Ways Twitter is Being Used
• The social media guy at Ford, Scott Monty, recently helped defuse a potentially large backlash over Ford’s legal action against a Ford enthusiast website. He showed concern for the growing uproar, promised to find out what was going on, and came back with a reasonable statement that set the facts straight. Twitter was a key tool in his efforts.
• Comcast uses Twitter to monitor what customers are saying about them. Frank Eliason, their Director of Digital Care, uses the @ComcastCares Twitter account to provide help and support to customers on Twitter.
• A recent advertising campaign by Motrin was pulled because of – in part – heated protest by people using Twitter. @MotrinMoms was set up to be a driving force for the protest, and ended up creating quite a stir.
These are just a few examples of some powerful uses of such technology, yet the specific examples don’t matter so much as the fact that there are significant numbers of people using Twitter to talk to each other – and they’re talking about YOU.
But “brand monitoring” isn’t Twitter’s only use. There are ways to use it for monitoring keywords as well. If you wanted to see what people were saying about “widgets”, you could. It’s also great for informal surveys, though you would have to have a lot of followers for this to be effective. How do you get followers? Participate.
I’ve seen business partnerships form on Twitter. I’ve seen people rally hundreds of others to a cause. People have used it to find jobs. Obama used Twitter and other social media apps throughout his campaign. McCain did not.
What Does It All Mean?
Now this all may seem like no big deal, or perhaps too much trouble to bother with. But think about this: for the first time in the history of the world we can see – in real-time – what thousands of people around the world are talking about, saying to each other, saying about events, people, companies, products, brands and ideas. And we can talk back to them. By the thousands. Some of the heavyhitters on Twitter have upwards of 30-40k followers. That’s a HUGE number of people to be able to interact with instantly.
This isn’t a fad. Twitter as a service may die in a few years, to be succeeded by something better. But the concept; the community of people who are out there talking, bitching, moaning, laughing, debating, teaching, learning, and alerting – in real time – THAT isn’t going to die anytime soon.
The term ‘video’ once meant that my techy uncle Bernard was coming with his VHS recorder to ‘document’ my birthday…the world of video has exploded since those early days of watching “America’s Funniest Home Videos” on television, to millions of people uploading their videos to 
