Guy Kawasaki and ObjectiveMarketer

We are working very hard to build a product that has real value for marketers (or power users) on twitter and other social media channels. And when an expert like Guy Kawasaki validates it, we just get more focused on improving our offering further.

Giving a Demo to Guy Kawasaki and having him actually use it to see the results was a dream come true for us.

Tweet from Guy about OM

Sometimes, pictures say louder than words and they should be left at that!

Guy Kawasaki asks if ObjectiveMarketer has the answer!

Today, I met with Guy Kawasaki.

Not one of my best pictures, but hey, its with Guy Kawasaki!

Guy was at a Stanford event, where he was a panelist discussing how digital media is shaping the art and science of journalism. It was a very interesting discussion. The serious journalism that we have seen in print is fast collapsing and is taking the form of online citizen journalism, with interactivity and entertainment being the keywords. Is what we see on Twitter Journalism of some form? One interesting point to ponder was what is the right skill set for a journalist today? Should they just be good writers and reporters or should they also know how to produce, edit video and be all tech proficient. Probably so, the panel felt.The other panelists to join the session were:Heather Harde, CEO of Techcrunch, Rob Curley, President and Executive Editor of Greenspun Interactive, Las Vegas Sun, Ann Grimes, Acting Director of Graduate Program in Journalism, Stanford University,Norman A. Fogelsong, General Partner, Institutional Venture Partners,Larry Magid, Tech Analyst, CBS News & CNET and Columnist, San Jose Mercury News & Palo Alto Daily News.

I got the opportunity to spend some good time with Guy explaining what we are offering with ObjectiveMarketer and how it is different from any other “twitter tool” out there. He was thrilled to hear that ObjectiveMarketer offers Camapaign Management with advanced and relevant analytics. He is an “All Campaigns” person on twitter – there couldn’t be a better fit than this!!!

Guy gave me a set of questions to answer for him – and guess, what I am all upto it! I will be publishing them as soon as I get started working with him to answer those questions.[Right now, cannot really reveal more than this]

So far, it’s been All-Tops for me

From internet marketing to social media marketing …

Talking about social media marketing is one thing and actually implementing it and benefiting from it is another. So, we interviewed an internet marketing expert who has gained from her decision to enter social media. And we believe her experience will benefit many who have social media in mind, but are not sure how to put it to work.

Urvi Mehta, along with her husband Janak Mehta, owns PREasy that specializes in internet marketing and SEO. They brought in social media marketing into their marketing mix, about a year back. They have helped clients from various industries in Internet Marketing, Real Estate, Mortgage, Wealth Building, Venture Capital, Energy savings, Restaurants etc

So, how did it all start? When they started with social media marketing, they chose their first assignment to promote their own events. They used various social media channels like Facebook Pages, Twitter and Linkedin to give exposure to the events and internet seminars that they organize. The results were astounding. They tracked the source of referral to the events and found that 50% of traffic came from social media.

With this experience, Urvi has been successfully using social media cannels to promote and help her clients with their business. Urvi recommends marketers to chose multiple channels, and time the frequency of messages according to the profile of audience.

The 4 C’s of Success
When we asked Urvi about the strategy to win in social media channels, Urvi gave us her winning formula. She firmly recommends entering social media channels with a mindset of building relationship with the audience. She convinced me to believe that a good balance of 4Cs will give you the biggest ROI from you social media marketing efforts: Connect with people, Converse with them, Contribute to the media and then Convert.

Now, there is a resonance here. All successful brands we have seen on social media channels have actually focused on building a relationship with their audience.
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To read more thoughts on social media and internet marketing, check out Urvi’s blog, where she writes regularly on Social Media Marketing at http://www.urvimehta.com/

[This was originally posted on April 12th 2009]

Expert Features: @comcastcares and their twitter story

Frank Eliason - @Comcastcares

We want to understand what makes twitter work for businesses. This has led us to start our “Interview with experts” series. In today’s post we present interview with Frank Eliason, Director Digital Care from Comcast. There is no doubt @comcastcares is one of the most successful business profile on the twitter land. We think, they have leveraged the “reach and response” attribute of twitter most effectively. In words of Frank, “one of the keys to improving is listening and gathering your feedback” and we say, “Absolutely”! Read the completely interview below.

OM: Why did you choose Twitter?
Frank: We actually participate throughout social media, including forums, blogs, Facebook and many other spaces. Twitter is so successful because of the search and the timeliness of the information. Within moments of a Tweet I can see it and respond.

OM: What were some of your challenges?
Frank: It actually has not really been a challenge. The hardest part I have is staying away to allow my team members to build their reputation in the space. As a twitter addict this is difficult for me, but I have so much fun watching there success.

OM: What were the results? An example you want to share?
Frank:I actually do not measure success or failure. To me it is building 1 relationship at a time and helping to cultivate that relationship. This is about a community and being members within that community. I share a lot of stories but my favorite was something I never expected in the space. Back last July 26 we were celebrating the birthday of my 2 year old. It was also the anniversary of the death of another child, Gia. Well I did not realize that people really knew all about it but they knew I would be busy that day. When I finally popped on Twitter late in the day I saw tweets that said “Lets let @ComcastCares have his day” @ComcastCares is busy, can I help?” This is from people that do not even work for Comcast. That is the power of Twitter. It is also the reason that I post my family website on my ComcastCares background

OM: Any tips you would want to give to your peers?
Frank: This is a personal space and it is important to recognize that. Have a conversation with your Customers and they will appreciate that.

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About Frank:
Frank Eliason, Director Digital Care, in Customer Service. He has an interesting blog about his views and observation about Social Media, and other related topics -http://www.eliasonfamily.info/blog/

If you think Frank @comcastcares have been a great help, leave a comment for him and let him know!

[This was originally posted on April 5th 2009]

Meet the Experts

Meet your Social Media Experts!

Keep an eye on this space.

We will be publishing interviews with experts from industry who have experienced social media phenomenon in their work or otherwise.

The experiences ranging from industries, roles and time they have been in this space will provide new generation marketers with an excellent reference point.
[Originally published on April 2nd 2009.]