What type of results are you producing for your clients in social media marketing, social networking, and on-line marketing campaigns?

I am constantly asked- “so what are the numbers companies can expect with on-line marketing campaigns? Is it worth it? What will be my ROI?”

Well, first off, every industry is different. Think of your on-line marketing system like a gas pedal- the harder you press on the marketing machine (the more $ you spend the harder we step on the pedal) the greater your reach, exposure, and potential for more business.

I just refer them to our current case studies (see below) and a blog post i did here http://www.socialnetworkingsandiego.com/blog/
which states WHY companies need to formulate some type of on-line marketing strategy revolving around social networking and social media. Otherwise they will keep trying off-line approaches like direct mail, telemarketing, and radio and TV that are producing diminishing returns.

So i ask my audience- what are some of the returns you are producing for your customers? would you mind sharing below some of the challenges your facing in providing various consulting services to your customers? This way i can formulate more case studies for the industry. Your feedback is greatly appreciated

JustinRFrench CEO
Social Networking San Diego
http://www.twitter.com/justinrfrench

Social Networking San Diego:
Actual Existing Client Case Studies
Company names kept confidential due to confidentiality agreements

Company A
Start Date: 2/01/09
Website Grade prior to campaign: 43/100
Traffic Rank (Alexa) Top 16.91% (or 5,195,184)
Inbound Links 0
Blog (None)

Current Date: 3/31/09
Website Grade: 65/100
Traffic Rank (Alexa) Top 16.24% (or 4,547,459)
Inbound Links 151
Blog (off-site)

26% increase in traffic in 2 months!

Company B
Start Date: 1/28/09
Website Grade prior to campaign: 62/100
Traffic Rank (Alexa) Top) 4.81% (or 1,475,807)
Inbound Links 0
Blog (None)

Current Date: 3/31/09
Website Grade: 71/100
Traffic Rank (Alexa) Top 4.29% (or 1,316,909)
Inbound Links 53
Blog (off-site)

27% increase in traffic in 2 months!

Company C
Start Date: 2/01/09
Website Grade prior to campaign: 53/100
Traffic Rank (Alexa) Top 5.72% (or 2,857,215)
Inbound Links 0
Blog (None)

Current Date: 3/31/09
Website Grade: 91/100
Traffic Rank (Alexa) Top 1.33% (or 373,541)
Inbound Links 466
Blog (on-site)
75% increase in traffic in 2 months!

Contact me here http://www.socialnetworkingsandiego.com/free-webinar/
for a FREE Webinar and start forming your strategy Today-
and see if your firm is ready to discuss some of your on-line marketing challenges and what we can do to address these like we have been for MANY of our clients.

this is a social media road map i found

I keep getting asked by fellow business professionals on linked-in discussions the following questions regarding social media and social networking for business.

1. How are you successfully using Twitter, microblogs, blogging, etc. in your corporate environment?

Justin’s Answer- personal branding, product/ service branding, customer service, industry news, trends, event promotion, competitor analysis, building BUSINESS relationships, etc.

2. How do you convince those that don’t “get it”?

Justin’s Answer- I tell them go get educated and come back to me in a year when your ready to build an on-line marketing strategy around your products or services and have it done right. Once companies wake up and start realizing 1-2% returns on direct mail and telemarketing is NOT working. Why do you keep doing things that don’t work? Stop throwing good money after bad ideas and work with an innovative marketing company. Maybe they should get educated on one of our many webinars about social networking, twitter training, or linked-in training for business. I don’t have the time or patience sometimes to deal with business people that “don’t get it”. Time is money!

3. How do you measure successful ROI?
We measure ROI for our customers with our own proprietary methods and software systems we have developed and it works great! We have paying customers, they see results, and we show them monthly reports. We have to measure the success of our clients online campaigns and report to them monthly or they wouldn’t be spending thousands of dollars per month with us!

4. I’m interested in hearing successes, failures, and strategies.

We have MANY success stores (see my blog http://www.socialnetworkingsandiego.com/blog/ or customer testimonial videos.

Failures; just know you will make some mistakes, get over it- just jump it try it, learn, and learn from your mistakes most importantly of course. You will learn, test, and refine the strategy. Try to have a plan at least. The alternative is to do nothing and fail. Need Strategies- see my blog or book some one on one consulting time with me and lets formulate an online marketing strategy together.

We even have an internet consulting team I can dedicate to your next on-line marketing campaign. Don’t have time to do all this social networking stuff yourself? No problem- we’ll do it for you. Give us a shot and we GUARANTEE we can increase traffic to your website IF you partner with us, sign up, and take our recommendations. It’s worked for these clients (see videos to the right) so maybe your business is ready to jump on board.

Is your business ready? What is your understanding of social media and social networking for business? Take the social networking IQ test here: business evaluation

Cheers
JustinRFrench twitterholic
Tweets by JustinRFrench

(more…)

Executives Must READ-

Research, Education, Attitude, and Drive

These are the only ways to survive in today’s market place.

The Internet is NOT going away so get educated! Education is the #1 failure of internet marketing strategies so don’t let your corporation fall short. Take a competitive edge and gain first mover advantage. There are some very knowledgeable internet consultants out here in San Diego so grab a hold of one of us and start formulating a plan. Remember, business professionals don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan!

I assure you, there is no easy answer and no get rich quick scheme to internet marketing for business purposes. Myspace and Facebook are not just for personal use anymore! There is a BUSINESS use and us on Linked-In are well ahead of the curve. It just takes the right strategy and approach, and then my favorite- execution.

Its not if but when. Its not why but how. Its hard work believe me, and developing relationships just like in the off-line approach is where we as marketing professionals need to help educate the local business community.

But the firms must but be willing to “invest” in their online marketing strategy. its not an expense. I look forward to assisting you any way i can-

I would appreciate any executives or professionals you may know who are ready to turn their company around with a proven internet marketing strategy. We work strictly through close referral (off line and online of course)

Cheers,

Justin

“We consult and educate our executive level clients how to form a strategy on using social media and social networking sites like twitter and linked in to build business relationships and brand awareness in the digital online market place, which in turn increases traffic to company websites and increases sales.”

Please help me spread my message! I do Webinars, Internet Consulting for Business, Twitter training, Linked-In training, Social Networking Packages for businesses, and also Speaking engagements in educational facilities and corporations on this growing trend.

Justin French President
Social Networking San Diego
“We use social networking to grow your business”

Twitter as a Marketing Media

Marketing through twitter! Does that sound odd or is that obvious? Many people are still uncertain about the use of twitter and other social networking podium for marketing products. The truth is that these networking sites work as a great channel for marketing in more ways than one. Marketing is about presenting your product to the mass in a way that gets you the attention of the consumer. Converting this attention into a value to your business is obviously the objective. Twitter is certainly the answer to a marketer’s prayers.

We at InRev are constantly trying to challenge tools and technologies to estimate their worthiness. We have already been testing the social networking tool through our web application InRev Twitin to evaluate the usefulness of Twitter as a business accelerator. Following are some interesting finding from the InRev team.

Below is the world map, categorized with respect to the time zone. Why Time Zone? Because, in marketing, timing is a crucial factor to determine its effectiveness. In today’s global market, we need to reach out to the wide range of the audience and understanding the timing difference is the key.

We have collected data from twitter and prepared a report which will reveal some very important and interesting facts.

Distribution of Population and their Tweets

The first step is to understand the population of the twitter users. The following graph shows the distribution of population with respect to Time Zones. Graph1 shows that the majority of twitter users lie on GMT-5, GMT-6, and GMT-8 Time Zones. These time zones cover: Pacific Time (US & Canada), Tijuana, Arizona, Chihuahua, Mazatlan, Mountain Time (US & Canada), Central America, Central Time (US & Canada), Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey, Saskatchewan, Bogota, Eastern Time (US & Canada), Indiana (East), Lima, and Quito. Furthermore, the distribution of tweets shows that the location with higher population has more tweets, which is obvious.

Graph 1 : Distribution of Population

Graph 2: Distribution of Tweet Count

The result from the above graph can be used to change your marketing strategies to increase your number of followers in twitter and to stay more visible in the online social media. This is very clear that most of the twitter user is from the western region and that their population is very large among the total population. This timing knowledge is very important here because this will give you the right time to tweet your products.

Category of People in the Twitter

Now we know that most of the twitter users are from the GMT – 5 Time Zone. Let us see what kind of people are twitting from that zone. The following tag cloud has been created by taking the description written by the people in their twitter profile.

Tag Cloud 1: Description of People at GMT – 5 (generated using http://www.wordle.net/)

The result clearly shows that most of the people are related to Social, Media, Web, Geek, Blogger and Marketing. Therefore, it’s evident that twitter is more popular among the marketers and media personals. This information is very important, as it shows you the profile of your audience and will certainly help to better market your product. To explore further, let’s see if this is the trend in other time zone.

Tag Cloud 2: Description of People at GMT – 6 (generated using http://www.wordle.net/)

Tag Cloud 3: Description of People at GMT – 8 (generated using http://www.wordle.net/)

Tag Cloud 4: Description of People at GMT + 1 (generated using http://www.wordle.net/)

The above tag clouds 2, 3 and 4 show some similarities with the GMT- 5‘s profile structure. Though, the marketing profile seems high, in terms of percentile distribution, it is only about 1.77%.

The scenario changes as we move towards east. The percentage profile of marketers changes to 0.89%. We already have a less share of population in the east and among them only few percentage of marketers. This could be due to the conservative nature of the eastern culture. We can see that the higher percentage of people in East is from blogging and student background.

Tag Cloud 5: Description of People at GMT + 8 (generated using http://www.wordle.net/)

Summary

All the above data analysis was carried out by taking a random population of 31691 of the current tweeter users. The cloud tag analysis was carried out with the help of tool at http://www.wordle.net/. The analysis does not present any precise statistical analysis or conversions. The goal of the analysis was to show the demographic distribution of the people on twitter and its implication on efficient marketing.

The analysis tells us that niche marketing is possible through twitter, if marketers are willingly to study the population of twitter more closely and understand them better.

Any Media or Marketing Analyst needs to segment the population to have better ROI on time they spend on Twitter; a generic line might not work.

Article by InRev, written by Deep Sherchan

About InRev

InRev Systems Bangalore Pvt. Ltd** *transforms business by making all possible information available at all times. InRev combines domain knowledge, trusted reporting structure and innovative applications to help companies advance their business decisions. It serves across all stages of Business Intelligence and Decision Management right from Data Extraction and Integration to Strategy Consulting using the intelligent insights of the business. More information can be found at http://www.in-rev.com.

Well, isn’t that the truth! It’s a fact that its not what you know but who you know that can get you a job. That old adage works in the real world and very soon going to be applicable on the internet too. Think big with sites like LINKEDIN and FACEBOOK being the new ways that employers become familiar with you and possibly hire you instantly.

But do these social networking sites actually work as self-marketing on the internet?
The internet is the only medium where you do not actually immediately meet and greet a potential employer for your job. No more toting around of large resumes, references, and other documents to impress potential employees. Sites like TWITTER, FRIENDFEED, and ORKUT have made marketing on internet as easy as pie!

Let’s find out how it works…
Take my own personal experience. Without even getting up from my warm leather computer chair, I’ve gotten several clients for my online services. I’ve also got a few good references for future jobs all through my online social networking by using internet marketing my niche services. I’ve made a few good friends and several good contacts all by social networking. The process is very simple. Just log on to the social networking sites like TWITTER to upload your resumes and private contact details. You’ll find one of the best networks on LINKEDIN. That site is best for finding potential employers and personal marketing on internet. You can use the site to promote your own services for free while connecting to several social groups and potential employees. Internet and marketing is also the best way to be eco-conscious and green; just imagine the paper and trees you are saving for the planet to breathe by skipping the use of paper!

Another way to make your impression on the internet is by online marketing on the internet and by building your own website. Once your website is up, you can then link up and use the social media sites to link up, promote your site and drive traffic there. More and more customers also use the LINKEDIN network to find reliable sites that offer professional and reliable services. That was just the reason that my website and profile became so successful.

No matter what industry pundits say; I say that social networking marketing on the internet is here to stay!

By now, if you are a business professional, have a linked-in account, and know what “twitter” is, then I applaud you. I would even be willing to give you a gold star for excellence if you have an actual internet marketing “plan” of some sort. Or maybe you’re marketing budget (though limited right now, just like trying to get a small business loan) which may or may not include some internet or social media sites, you are still ahead of the majority of your competitors.

Most small to mid-sized businesses (even some fortune 500’s) actually don’t even know what “social networking” means let alone have some type of on-line marketing budget. Those baby-boomers however are just starting to see an actual business value in conducting business on the internet, or at least they see how popular social networking sites like myspace, facebook, or twitter have become part of the local evening news topics. You may want to even scroll down and read some of my previous posts on the importance of why your business should start doing some form of internet marketing. Some companies try to provide ad words or you tube videos, but have they proposed an over-all strategy that over-time becomes an “organic viral marketing campaign?” (Don’t know what that means- Google it)

Let me talk directly (no B.S.) to those firms who are still baffled with this new on-line business phenomenon- “strap on your seat belts because if you thought forming an OFF-line marketing strategy was tough, then you aint seen nothin yet!” Wait till you find out what REALLY goes on behind the scenes. And if you think for a SECOND there is an easy way or get rich quick scheme out there to marketing your business online that will work for $199, then just give ME the $199 and I’ll at least draw up a plan for you to execute and I’ll even email it to you!”

Allow me to give you 1 simple tip to add to your internet marketing strategy, or at least pointers on getting started because you will quickly learn just how overwhelming, tedious, complex, and time consuming this whole internet marketing thing really is. And the local “teen” might not be the right person fit to build your on-line brand. I have spent 8 years of training, business schooling, Microsoft & Cisco certifications, countless nights of research, and testing software to form this proven proprietary system. (those close to me can attest for those long nights of me researching) But time is money and If you think I am just going to give you a magic wand to wave over your business that will make your website appear #1 on Google the next day then we may not be a good fit in doing business together.

I would at LEAST suggest you sign up for a $99 1 hr. internet consulting strategy session with me to identify some foundations to get you going at the least. This might well be the BEST under $100 business and internet marketing consulting session you spend all year. But if you really appreciate value & TRUST in someone’s expertise, understand your business is lost and needs help, has a marketing budget, then I suggest we speak.

Business Owners- Remember, “He/ She who fails to plan, plans to fail.
If you don’t have an on-line marketing plan yet, then you are failing.”

Twitterholic- justinrfrench

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a strategist. I like to think about things, come up with a plan, work within my clients’ budgets and create marketing strategies that not only make sense, but which will … um, well … actually work for them. Go figure. Ready, aim, fire. Don’t spend money, time, effort or energy until it makes sense as part of an integrated marketing plan. Totally makes sense, doesn’t it? You’d be amazed at how many people forge ahead without a plan, looking for the least expensive “solution,” without any first-hand knowledge about what they’re attempting to undertake and without any understanding at how much potential damage they could do to their brand and brand image as a result of poor execution.

Well, after sitting in one too many meetings, listening to small business owners talk about social media – trying to get their heads around email marketing, mobile marketing and, heaven forbid, something like Facebook or Twitter, it’s my head that’s beginning to spin. And these same business owners just don’t seem to get it. Their eyes glaze over and they shake their heads and say “I know I need to do an e-newsletter, or write a blog, or investigate Facebook, but I just don’t have time. But I have a website!” Well I say “Woo Hoo for you!” Having a website does not mean that you’re on top of your game when it comes to promoting your business. In fact, having a website without doing anything to advertise, promote or draw traffic to it is about as useless as having a billboard in the middle of a corn field. Social media, email marketing, mobile marketing …. all of those things are tools that marketers use to promote brands, products and actually drive sales. Imagine that – doing something that would actually sell your product.

Well, in tough economic times, the gloves come off and it’s time to talk tough love. Don’t cry hard times because your sales are down. Of course they’re down. And the time to do something about it, to allocate some marketing dollars and some savvy tactics and stop the bleeding is now.

Social marketing is and should be a part of any serious business’s marketing and communications plan – especially today. But, the interesting thing is, that so often people (read that “business owners”) think that it’s just the perfect project to sink little Jenni on – you know, the one who just graduated from Community College last year and who just loooooves surfing the ‘net. Or, maybe Johnnie, who’s in college and has a Facebook page – that’d be something he could do for us and we could pay him $200 and save a bunch of money.

People – you don’t get it!

Social marketing is serious stuff and is well on it’s way to replacing the traditional kinds of media that we’ve known and loved. Display ads are going the way of the dinosaur. Who reads magazines and newspapers when you can get instant news and any kind of content you would ever want online – through more sources than I can possibly articulate.

Traditional media, while still an important part of brand management and strategy, is no longer the only game in town.

People are online. They are talking, sharing, opining, recommending, blasting, learning, blogging, ReTweeting and moving at the speed of sound.

The question isn’t “should I embrace this social media stuff and use it as part of my marketing strategy” … the question should be “how quickly can I find the right people to help me integrate this so that I can start taking advantage of the brand awareness – (and sales) that I can generate as a result.”

And the answer is that they are out there. People like my friends, Justin French at Social Networking San Diego (all things social media) www.socialnetworkingsandiego.com and Jason Werner at Opus Media (all things email marketing) www.opusbywire.com are knee deep in what’s going in their respective worlds. And there are a myriad of others – those guys just happen to be great friends of mine, and people that I would trust with my own brand.

Bottom line – DO get involved in social media. DON’T try to do it yourself (especially if you don’t know what you’re doing – and most people don’t). DO hire someone to help you not only do it correctly so that it produces real results, but make sure that it’s integrated with and compliments the other elements of your marketing efforts. And, most importantly, DO it now! And, if you don’t have the resources or know where to look ask me – I’ll be glad to help and/or refer you.

Shelly DeMotte Kramer is a marketing strategist specializing in planning, branding, product launches, creating buzz and awareness through non-traditional methods and is, clearly, a social media enthusiast. shelly@kramerandcompany.com

…

I know everyone is busy (as am i) but i wanted to answer 1 very important question I’m hearing everyday:

A small business customer quote:
“So Justin, what is social networking, internet marketing, and this whole twitter thing? How can it help my business? Do i need to look into it?”- prospect

My response: YES! if you want to be in business in the next couple of years you should!

Here’s the basic formula for those Math whizzes (im not a numbers guy so bear with me but its really fairly simple)

Internet marketing strategists = helping businesses build relationships on the Internet = building your brand (marketing your products and services online) appropriately – one tweet at a time”

Social Networking = More Search = More Business!

Then i direct them to my blog talk radio appearance which explains the paradigm shift here: Listen To My Radio Appearance

Or if your a client (or you know a client) who might be considering social networking for their business this video explains it fairly simple:

get tweeting today!

Need Twitter Training? Contact us we are here to help support the business community

“What is Social Networking San Diego Justin?”
Social Networking San Diego supports and educates businesses on the value and growing trend in social networking, social media, and internet marketing for business. This trend in social networking and social media for business has been packaged together for local business to use as a proven internet marketing system and online advertising strategy to focus on lead generation and drive more pre-qualified traffic to company websites.

– cheers
JustinRFrench
Support the Movement- Pay It Forward on Twitter

1.    Always keep a Daily notebook log of all activities, call backs, to do items, follow ups, and related news and research items.
2.    Sign up on twitter right now!- just write a profile about who you are, your passions, and your experience and you will attract like-minded and highly influential people- it happened to me.
3.    Write down a list of all your passions.
4.    Choose 1 passion & Start a blog NOW talking about your passions, news about your passion, give your feedback, insights, and opinion.  Don’t worry about what other people think, if they don’t like your opinion, then they shouldn’t read your blog.
5.    Technology is your friend- start getting use to IT! (Information Technology)  Research what topic you’re interested in and learn IT!  We are doing business and living our lives in a constant connected digital age.
6.    Create a linked in account and start networking with other professionals.
7.    Set up a Google reader account for all your news and RSS feeds (this is KEY)
8.    Find a friend or follower to be your CONSTANT feedback mechanism (just ask me if you can’t find one- I’ll try to fit you in.
9.    Delegate what you can’t do to TRUSTED followers.  No one knows everything, so ask for help when you need it.  But be ready to give help when called upon. (it’s a two way street)
10.    Balance Work and Life- you only live once so work hard, do something you love (even if you’re not making millions yet like me) and you still feel good about yourself.

What is Social Networking San Diego Justin?

Social Networking San Diego supports and educates businesses on the value and growing trend in social networking, social media, and internet marketing for business.  This trend in social networking and social media for business has been packaged together for local business to use as a proven internet marketing system and online advertising strategy to focus on lead generation and drive more pre-qualified traffic to company websites.