AMPUP Your Digital Marketing

Stephanie Newby is the CEO of Crimson Hexagon. Crimson Hexagon is a high-tech company based in Boston's Innovation District, with global reach. Newby joined our host Glenn Gaudet on AMP Up your Social Media to discuss her investment in the data mining aspects of social.

Newby is deeply invested in social analysis. Crimson Hexagon collects, indexes and stores 500 million posts of social media every day. Since starting their data collection in 2008, they have stored more than 400 billion posts. This is a wealth of information for a marketer; they can extract the stuff that’s relevant and it has sufficient content and depth of meaning that makes it actionable.

Newby discusses the opportunities around mining social media data:

"We sometimes call it the world’s largest focus group because what you have in that data is consumer opinions, on a very, very wide range of topics. We target marketers; because the marketers want to know what the consumer is saying about the brand, or their product, or their ad campaign, or the celebrity endorser."

If you are currently the manager of a corporate social media account, here’s Newby’s advice:

Getting any kind of analytics is better than none. Understand how your consumers think and feel about your brand and then use that information to proceed accordingly.

Experiment. Experiment. Experiment. Sometimes you have to be a little bit out there, a little bit edgy to get content to go viral, but always stay consistent with your brand!

Understand your audience. Experiment with your messaging until you find a formula that works for your brand and engages your audience.

Lori Ruff, known as the "The LinkedIn Diva,” is one of the most-connected women on LinkedIn. Forbes has twice included her to their Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers (#9 woman). Ruff joined our host Glenn Gaudet on AMP Up Your Social Media for a closer look into LinkedIn and how both individuals and business can use the platform by establishing a strong and connective network. Ruff claims there are three reasons for her success: Passion. Persistence. Courage. Ruff is passionate about using LinkedIn to help B2B companies empower their sales and marketing efforts, most particularly their networking efforts to make their business goals achievable. If you currently manage a corporate or business LinkedIn account you have the opportunity to represent the voice of that organization. Here are a few tips from Ruff on how to maximize the effectiveness of LinkedIn: Don’t copy and paste content from your website to your LinkedIn page or groups. You want the LinkedIn page to tell a story about how you help your clients’ experiences and attitudes toward your company. Make it conversational. Post status updates that include a picture, but don’t post the same picture with every update! Engage people and provide great content. Some of the best company pages talk about the company, but also talk about what their followers and customers are interested in. Encourage employees to share the posts from the company page. Sharing of posts shows that employees believe what the company stands for and sends an incredibly strong message to new engagers. "The number one thing you can do, because no matter where you are in social, people will always come back to LinkedIn to find out who you are as a person and a professional, is update your LinkedIn profile... Polish it. Make sure its current. But, make sure your summary is first person--conversational! LinkedIn is a networking environment and people are there to meet each other. When people come to meet you they are not looking for a marketing brochure, they are looking for a relationship and there is nothing more powerful than having that in place and ending with a call to action with ‘Here’s how you can reach me…"

Lori Ruff, known as the "The LinkedIn Diva,” is one of the most-connected women on LinkedIn. Forbes has twice included her to their Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers (#9 woman). Ruff joined our host Glenn Gaudet on AMP Up Your Social Media for a closer look into LinkedIn and how both individuals and business can use the platform by establishing a strong and connective network.

Ruff claims there are three reasons for her success: Passion. Persistence. Courage. Ruff is passionate about using LinkedIn to help B2B companies empower their sales and marketing efforts, most particularly their networking efforts to make their business goals achievable.

If you currently manage a corporate or business LinkedIn account you have the opportunity to represent the voice of that organization. Here are a few tips from Ruff on how to maximize the effectiveness of LinkedIn:

Don’t copy and paste content from your website to your LinkedIn page or groups. You want the LinkedIn page to tell a story about how you help your clients’ experiences and attitudes toward your company. Make it conversational.

Post status updates that include a picture, but don’t post the same picture with every update!

Engage people and provide great content. Some of the best company pages talk about the company, but also talk about what their followers and customers are interested in.

Encourage employees to share the posts from the company page. Sharing of posts shows that employees believe what the company stands for and sends an incredibly strong message to new engagers.

"The number one thing you can do, because no matter where you are in social, people will always come back to LinkedIn to find out who you are as a person and a professional, is update your LinkedIn profile... Polish it. Make sure its current. But, make sure your summary is first person--conversational! LinkedIn is a networking environment and people are there to meet each other. When people come to meet you they are not looking for a marketing brochure, they are looking for a relationship and there is nothing more powerful than having that in place and ending with a call to action with ‘Here’s how you can reach me…"

In this episode, Tom Martin, Founder of Converse Digital and Author of The Invisible Sale joins the show to discuss how social media can be a strategic weapon for your sales team. He also discusses how companies can be successful in social selling by changing the habits of the sales force...in a steady and incremental way. "Selling is a skill - marketing is a skill - that is learned over time. It is probably two of the last great apprentice industries in the world. You don't come out of college as a great sales person or a great marketer. You come out knowing just enough to be dangerous." Tom offers these tips to help your sales force increase their social selling: Show don't tell. Start small and teach your sales team the 101s of social media. When they have that figured out, go to 201, 301, etc. Give them plenty of time to master the basics before giving them more information than they can handle. Change your habits. When sales are down, rather than falling back on email or phone calls, sales teams need to learn to habitually default to social media. Cold calls and bulk emails can be time consuming and unproductive. Social selling allows you to interact with people who already have an invested interest in your company. Look for people through search, especially through Twitter or LinkedIn. Go out and find people asking questions and answer them. Don't try to sell your product or service, but become an expert. Cleanly, clearly and helpfully for the next 3 months consistently answer questions.

In this episode, Tom Martin, Founder of Converse Digital and Author of The Invisible Sale joins the show to discuss how social media can be a strategic weapon for your sales team. He also discusses how companies can be successful in social selling by changing the habits of the sales force...in a steady and incremental way.

"Selling is a skill - marketing is a skill - that is learned over time. It is probably two of the last great apprentice industries in the world. You don't come out of college as a great sales person or a great marketer. You come out knowing just enough to be dangerous."

Tom offers these tips to help your sales force increase their social selling:

Show don't tell. Start small and teach your sales team the 101s of social media. When they have that figured out, go to 201, 301, etc. Give them plenty of time to master the basics before giving them more information than they can handle.

Change your habits. When sales are down, rather than falling back on email or phone calls, sales teams need to learn to habitually default to social media. Cold calls and bulk emails can be time consuming and unproductive. Social selling allows you to interact with people who already have an invested interest in your company.

Look for people through search, especially through Twitter or LinkedIn. Go out and find people asking questions and answer them. Don't try to sell your product or service, but become an expert. Cleanly, clearly and helpfully for the next 3 months consistently answer questions.

In this episode, C.C. Chapman, CMO of YSN and Author of Content Rules and Amazing Things Will Happen joins the show to discuss how content drives your social media engagement. He also discusses how to showcase existing content that companies have. "Until you have sat in a room with executives and told a CMO or CEO how this [social media] is this going to make or save money, and have a real answer to one of those two things..shut up. Because you have to have that business sense." C.C. shared a few tips on what to tweet and how to interact on social media: Be a human being. Start talking to you customers on social media. Interact with them and don't make it all about "look at me." If you have content that includes information from another source (a song, an infographic, an article, etc.) tweet about it and include the Twitter handle of that source. More than likely, that source will retweet your content and help amplify your reach. Go out and interact with everyone on your Twitter account. Tweet "@" them and ask them how are they doing? Is there something you can help them with today? Tell them to have a great weekend. Don't tell everyone the same thing, but reach out to them and let them know you are thinking of them. You'll be surprised how many people will start talking with you!

In this episode, C.C. Chapman, CMO of YSN and Author of Content Rules and Amazing Things Will Happen joins the show to discuss how content drives your social media engagement. He also discusses how to showcase existing content that companies have.

"Until you have sat in a room with executives and told a CMO or CEO how this [social media] is this going to make or save money, and have a real answer to one of those two things..shut up. Because you have to have that business sense."

C.C. shared a few tips on what to tweet and how to interact on social media:

Be a human being. Start talking to you customers on social media. Interact with them and don't make it all about "look at me."

If you have content that includes information from another source (a song, an infographic, an article, etc.) tweet about it and include the Twitter handle of that source. More than likely, that source will retweet your content and help amplify your reach.

Go out and interact with everyone on your Twitter account. Tweet "@" them and ask them how are they doing? Is there something you can help them with today? Tell them to have a great weekend. Don't tell everyone the same thing, but reach out to them and let them know you are thinking of them. You'll be surprised how many people will start talking with you!

In this episode, Justin Cofield, Digital Strategist at Vector Marketing joins the show to discuss how direct selling powerhouse CUTCO leverages social media in its marketing efforts. He also discusses the power of great content in its impact on sales and engagement. "Have a full understanding of what your organization's goal is with regard to social." Here are a few tips that Justin offers that you can put into action today: Make sure you have a full understanding of what your company's goals are for social media, as well as the individual goals for each department. Get aggressive with tracking your analytics. Using the analytics tools available in the social networks themselves, as well as google analytics and other tools, track your link sharing, message reach, clicks, traffic sources, etc. Be able to articulate the value that social brings to the company. Analyze your results to see what is working and what is not to see where your ROI on social media stands.

In this episode, Justin Cofield, Digital Strategist at Vector Marketing joins the show to discuss how direct selling powerhouse CUTCO leverages social media in its marketing efforts. He also discusses the power of great content in its impact on sales and engagement.

"Have a full understanding of what your organization's goal is with regard to social."

Here are a few tips that Justin offers that you can put into action today:

Make sure you have a full understanding of what your company's goals are for social media, as well as the individual goals for each department.

Get aggressive with tracking your analytics. Using the analytics tools available in the social networks themselves, as well as google analytics and other tools, track your link sharing, message reach, clicks, traffic sources, etc.

Be able to articulate the value that social brings to the company. Analyze your results to see what is working and what is not to see where your ROI on social media stands.

Neville Hobson is an independent communications consultant. Neville recently joined AMP UP Your Social Media’s host Glenn Gaudet to discuss the role of the “C Suite” in social media marketing and how to communicate social media benefits to them. He also discusses the differences between the US and Europe with respect to social media. "When it comes to content marketing, have a plan. " Neville provides insight into how to get the most from your social media and content marketing: 1.Not just black and white. You have to look about the complex picture of social media. It’s not enough to just participate in social media; it’s not just going through the motions. It is about using social media and content marketing to listen to the clients and consumers. You need to know the difference between engaging and selling. You need to engage, listen and then do something about it. 2.Involve the C Suite. Many people use social media, go through the actions and listen to their audience, but don’t follow through and make changes. This is a leadership issue. While it does depend on the company, you need to understand the connection between engagement and building a community. You need to share this with the C Suite and relay it into terms that reflect the overall goal. Like PR, social media has a soft value that doesn’t break down into a monetary value. 3.Have a plan. The biggest challenge in the areas of content marketing, especially, is a lack of a plan. When social media teams were polled 50% responded that a lack of a strategy was the greatest challenge. If you set up a clear plan, you will be able to establish measurement goals and then address other goals, like budget. What is your overall social media and content marketing strategy?