Wow what an intense two days! And it served as a good reminder to update my blog and commit to it regularly.

The feedback from Marketing Now! Melbourne has been overwhelmingly positive. And that has little to do with the organising and everything to do with the speakers and the depth they delved into with their varied focus and application of social media to business.

To view participants/attendees videos and photos go to the Posterous page that Gavin Heaton kindly set up during day two.

Check the twitter hashtag #mktgnow (twitter ID: @marketing_now)  for comments and feedback, and look out for the slides which will be posted on Slideshare (Marketingnow).

More soon

Yours exhausted and exhilirated

Siobhan

Jim Stewart  who presented at Marketing Now! in Wellington is coming back to NZ in July to run a series of workshops on:

What is SEO? and Search Engine Strategies to Get you Found Online.

85% of website traffic comes from search engines. If you’re not being found on the first page of Google, you are losing a LOT of customers. Jim can get you there.

Come along and find out how.

Locations and Dates:

Monday July 20th Hamilton Sky City function centre

Tuesday July 21 Auckland Kingsgate Parnell

Wednesday July 22nd New Plymouth Quality Hotel

Friday July 24th Christchurch venue tbc

The workshops are half-day commencing at 9am through til 12 noon after which a light networking lunch will be provided from 12 – 1pm. The cost per workshop is $295 + GST with a 10% early bird discount if registered Before June 12.

What you will learn

• How search engine lists web sites for free and through paid placements
• How to get free ‘organic’ traffic by building a site that pleases search engines and your visitors
• When and how to efficiently purchase listings guaranteed to rank your company at the top of search engine results
• How to calculate the ROI of your search marketing efforts by tracking your visitors from the time they hit your site until they buy. And get tips on improving conversion if they don’t!
• How to build links that generate traffic to your web site, and how to avoid the penalties of ’spamming’ the search engines

And what’s coming next in the constantly evolving world of web search and how you can profit from those changes.

You’ll be able to register online by the end of next week. If you’d like to register your interest before then, email me at:

info@marketingnow.co.nz

See you there!

Siobhan

Brian Solis has updated his ebook which you can download here 

The methodologies and tactics required for effective blogger relations will shatter everything you were taught or thought you know about traditional PR. Part “un” common sense, part market expert, part enthusiast, and part customer, together, this guide will help you embody the new techniques and mastery necessary to effectively excel in media, analyst, and blogger relations today and tomorrow – while building long term, meaningful relationships along the way.

It’s occurred to me of late that I’m becoming like one of those dastardly politicians whose standard response is: ‘No comment’. Not in the same context, but equally inexcusable.

What I’m referring to is when we read blogs and either agree or disagree with them -think they’re fab or not -then don’t leave any comments. We’re all busy and I’m not suggesting we leave comments on all blogs all the time. What I’ve found I’ve been doing however is reading a post then sharing it on twitter if I think it’s worth sharing, but not giving any feedback to the author of the blog. Kind of mean. It’s almost parasitic behaviour-the only redeeming factor is I’m spreading the virus!

The number of comments as we know, does not reflect the number of readers. Chris Brogan gets at least 50 comments per post, but his readers would easily exceed 50,000. I’m lucky if I get one or two -because I’ve been a lazy twat lately and not entered a post for a long time – and it’s karma no doubt for me not leaving comments myself.   

So I’m going to make a concerted effort to voice my gratitude and feedback to the writers. How about you? Because without it, they and their readers are not privy to your point of view which may have some real value.

Oh and no pressure to leave a comment

Yours happy in my resolve

Siobhan

Feeling a little flat?

Twenty two inspirational quotes from 2008 put together by Adam Singer. Click   here  and enjoy.

Only two weeks to go until Marketing Now!

That’s the name of Brian Solis’s new book.  Reviews are great and you can order if off Amazon.

There have been a lot of posts lately from the likes of Todd Defren and others lamenting traditional PR agencies lack of understanding, and unwillingless to learn about – social media and online PR.

All the posts and articles share a common recommendation. The first thing to check for when searching for an agency that can help you with your social media objectives – is their social presence.  Are they leveraging off any social networking sites? do any of them blog? do they use online press releases? do they view bloggers as potential key influencers? can they show you evidence of successfully developing and implementing their own social media strategy, and can they show you some they’ve delivered for clients?

Don’t let them try and fool you that their  ‘interactive’ or ‘digital media’ work (while it may be impressive and creative)  is social. 

To be social there needs to be an ‘exchange’ .  

Talk, listen, engage.

I had an interesting experience recently where an agency delivered a presentation on Social Media, and spent the entire hour talking about what they considered to be interactive marketing: Banner ads.

They didn’t touch on social media at all – which is curious. Did they genuinely think that social media is the same as interactive marketing- and did they really think that interactive marketing is an animated banner ad!

I’m not a fan of animated banner ads. For the most part they should be banned. They cost the often ignorant client a significant sum and the result is they’re usually ignored and often resented.

Creative agencies love banner ads because they get to be ‘creative’. But how many of you have been reading something online when an animated banner pops up and blocks a portion of the screen blocking much of what you’re trying to read? It’s more than annoying! and how many of you have been reading something bland when a banner ad pops up and gets your attention with something provocative and you think to yourself  ”this’ll probably be some dumb ad-trap” but click on it anyway, and sure enough you feel cheated, because you’ve been taken to a credit card site or something equally unrelated to the banner ad teaser.

Agencies out there, we love you for your creative genius demonstrated in many ways but take note. To be interactive the user needs to ‘interact’ with the media. An animated banner ad jumping around and doing it’s thing is not interactive – having to click on something does not make it interactive. 

And to be ’social’ there needs to be an ‘exchange’.

Siobhan

Be in

www.marketingnow.co.nz

Time’s running out.  Get rewarded for being ahead of the game. It’s not cheap. But it is an investment. And we know most of you are individuals who don’t have companies who will send you along. So this is your leg-up. Take it.

You are NZ’s social media advocates. You’ll get more out of this than anyone. Why? because while many will be digesting the basics, you’ll be keeping up.  It will all make perfect sense. You will see opportunities in your work/business that can propel you forward.  This isn’t social media 101. This is; Ok let’s get the basics covered and get down to what’s new and how we can make that work for you, now!

I’ve seen these guys. And I’ve never looked back. 

Your turn.

Siobhan

OK tweeples, this is where you get rewarded for being socially media savvy. You get to go to the Marketing Now seminar and workshops for the price of one day only.

What do you do? you register and pay for the seminar only ($750) and get invoiced for the seminar only. You send an email to: info@marketingnow.co.nz and include in the email:

Subject field: Twitter offer

In the email: your name and your twitter ID.  For example: Name: Sarah Jones Twitter ID:Sarahscarer

(we don’t want your password!)

You’ll then receive an electronic receipt for both days: seminar and workshops: value $1,250.00. This includes all the extras: David Meerman-Scott’s book, refreshments, lunches, cocktails and good company!

Conditions: simple really. Just register and pay before midnight Tuesday February 10th (2009!). Ignore the other discounts on the pricing page (which pale in comparison to yours). You have something way better for being one step ahead. Run with it.

We are not promoting this on the event site. It’s word of tweet only. Let’s see how far it flies.

Spread the good word. 

And see you there.

Questions? ask me here or tweet me: Siobhan Bulfin.