What do I do now?

In January 2009 I conducted my weekly marathon trip to the LA valley where I typically spent the week performing my product management duties. Upon arrival at the office this time however I was informed that my services were no longer needed due to a downsizing many companies went through. I then did some soul searching about what I wanted to do next.

Shortly after that I came across a book on social media marketing and was absolutely fascinated about what I didn't know about this subject. It was an entirely new philosophy to me as well as to most of my colleagues in the musical instrument and professional audio industries.

Once I learned that there were metrics you can actually apply to the efforts I was hooked. Similar to my experience with product management, there is a technical and methodical side of it that I really like. You see for years I watched agencies take huge compensation from the companies I worked for and deliver services that were basically impossible to measure. Well, those days are behind me for good. I'm hooked - in a big way on the new ways to market in a digital age.

I Love Social Marketing!

Almost three years and many happily educated clients later, I really enjoy what I do! There are several priceless benefits I receive from offering digital and social marketing services. The first is that by helping so many diverse companies your skill set exponentially grows over someone who does marketing for one company.

This is no slam to anyone doing marketing well out there for one company. But your box of crayons definitely grows when you have helped a wide variety of companies who also have sharp marketing people who challenge you every day.

A second benefit is that since all of my clients are in the musical instrument and pro audio industries I have a good idea of what works to engage communities in these markets. For example, traditional consumer markets typically pay a dollar per click for a Facebook ad. Not so in our markets! I've seen a $50 Facebook ad generate 200,000 impressions and deliver a cost per click of 18 cents. In fact I will go out on a limb and say the musician market is probably the most viral market on the planet and perfect for encouraging conversation and community.

Companies Get it Now

Companies in our industry are now understanding that not only is it important to have a good social presence and community, it's important to get some help to dial in your programs. When I started talking to companies at the Winter NAMM Show about social marketing here is how things went. 2009 was the year of "why would I need a social marketing strategy?" 2010 was "Hey I am interested but just too busy right now." 2011 was "Okay I know I need it, how can you help me?" With all the Facebook changes this year and Google Plus business pages rolling out, many companies at this year's January NAMM Show are looking at social marketing as a key component to their success in the future. And that is a very good thing!

Burned by the Large "Agency" Approach

Some of my clients have been burned by the "agency" approach which consists of a large agency/PR firm with lots of overhead that comes in and charges a lot of money to provide services without understanding the industries. Also many of these agencies barely have a clue about social marketing themselves. Some of them contact me for advice!  This makes it a little harder to convince some companies that there are good social consultants out there.

Another thing these agencies offer is content posting for the client without providing education because this is a long term revenue strategy for the agency. Now I do post for several of my clients that just don't have the resources to take this on themselves but my programs are focused on education and the client being the voice of the brand - not me. My long term strategy is about thoroughly educating my clients who in turn refer me to their friends. So far so good!

Social Marketing Alone is not a Complete Marketing Program

My clients and friends call me a social marketing consultant and that is fine with me. But what happens is after learning more about the client's business, I can't help but also provide marketing recommendations for everything from search engine optimization to improving banner ad performance. This has simply been a natural progression of my services because social marketing alone is not the end all to a successful marketing plan.

Always Be Testing

One of the most important things companies can do is remember this phrase: "always be testing". Test your banner ads, swap them out and test again. Use an HTML newsletter service that does automatic A/B testing for click through rates. Try multiple Facebook and Twitter ads, dump the non performers and test again. Check your Facebook Insights and make note of your most viral posts. Create a log of them so you know what works. Swap out your Facebook landing pages and measure which ones get the most Likes. Put special URLs in your press releases and measure which ones drive the most traffic. Experiment and experiment again!

NAMM Show Idea Center Session

I was lucky enough to be selected to do a session in the Idea Center at this January's NAMM Show. The topic is how you can conduct inexpensive web testing to optimize your website for your goals and the session is called:  "Is Your Website Leaving Money on the Table?" The amazing thing is hardly anyone does this type of testing yet it can have an incredible impact on the ability of your site visitors to reach the intended objectives. Feel free to drop by if you can. The session is Thursday at 2:30pm.

Happy Holidays and Work Those Marketing Strategies

Ring in the New Year with your marketing plans and make social marketing a key component of your strategies. If you want to chat at the NAMM Show Let's talk. Happy Holidays to you all!