SEMpdx (Search Engine Marketing Professionals of Portland), an organization CMD has partnered with, recently hosted a sold-out social media panel discussion. CMD’s own Ken Muraoka, media buyer, served as the paid media expert on the panel, where he discussed the role social media plays in media buys.
Muraoka argued that social media isn’t about conversion, it’s about engagement. He discussed the mismatch in expectation and reality that often accompanies traditional paid metrics when social media is included in a media campaign. Often companies will continue to measure the success of a campaign by looking for increased conversion and click-through rates when social media is added, but the real value lies in the increased conversation social media creates between your target and your brand.
Muraoka also worked hard to dispel the myth that all social media is free, and reminded attendees that, in order to effectively add social media to a campaign, social and paid elements must be complementary. For example, you can make social and paid media work together by placing paid spots on sites and channels that are also conversation hubs for your brand. It’s also important to maintain a unified message, and voice, in both paid and social media efforts.
To see Muraoka’s entire presentation please see the video below, and visit SlideShare to take a closer look at his PowerPoint slides.
Other panelists included Christopher Mike of Rocket XL, Hallie Janssen of Anvil Media, Kevin Tate of StepChange, Kent Schnepp of EngineWorks and Scott Hendison of Search Commander.
Each panelist delivered their top tips for running an optimized social media campaign. The key takeaways of the night were:
• Know your brand and set reasonable social media expectations; if you’re not Coca-Cola, you’re not likely to get 1 million Facebook fans
• Use search-friendly keywords everywhere you enter content (e.g. Facebook profile, Twitter Bio, Usernames, etc.)
• Facebook fans and group members are the new “cold call” list; engage with your fans and group members to create meaningful relationships
• Tools can be your best friend as you manage your reputation online. Check out FriendFeed and COcomment for one-stop social media account management
Sarah
I like the “targeting social and paid media” part. After all, whether you’re placing adds or engaging in conversations, relevance is key. The opportunity for brands is to identify the “relevant communities” for them and target them for their marketing activities. On any given topic nowadays, there’re 100s to 1000s bloggers who have conversations that matters to relevant brands. A big chunk offer sponsorship, advertising opportunity so it’s easy to combine earn and paid media in one integrated “campaign”.
Laurent