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Last week I spoke at PubCon South on the Analytics Strategy panel on the topic of social media. This is something I’m very passionate about and during my preparation for the presentation I uncovered some scary statistics. According to a survey conducted by BazaarVoice in 2009, on average businesses have no idea what their ROI is on any type of social media activity: Here are a few of the lowlights highlights 53% of respondents are unsure about their return on Twitter 50% are unsure about the direct value of LinkedIn 50% are not sure how to measure the impact on business metrics from blogs And yet, companies now-a-days have no problem investing thousands of dollars into social media marketing even if they have no idea if they’ll profit from it. Why have companies gotten so lazy when it comes to marketing spend? Part of the problem is they aren’t properly analyzing their data. Social networks are giving us more and more insight into visitor and performance metrics, but most of us aren’t properly setup to find actionable insights on the campaign’s performance. This series of posts will explain how to properly setup your social media strategy so that you can make better-informed decisions, understand your ROI and adjust your strategy according to the numbers. Let’s get started. Before you do anything else, you need to have a clear understanding of what your goal will be and how you will measure the success of your social media strategy. In other words, we need to define KPIs. There are a couple of guidelines you should follow when definining KPIs: Choose metrics that actually translate into business context (e.g. sales, new leads, customer satisfaction, customer interaction, etc.) Define more than just attention metrics (You want to look at more important metrics than just your fan/follower count) Define KPIs that are actionable (How does knowing what your retweet reach is help you adjust your Twitter strategy?) Create specific KPIs for each social network and specific elements of your website The most important guideline above is to define actionable KPIs. Obviously these types of KPIs are going to be unique to your business, but here are a few examples of what I would consider good actionable KPIs: Number of people in a specific location who follow your company on Twitter Reduction in sales cycles Reduction in support costs Increase in product reviews Product improvement suggestions from [specific social network] If you’d like more KPI ideas, I highly recommend you buy Jim Sterne’s new book, “ Social Media Metrics ” where he has over 100 KPIs listed in the first few pages of the book. Now that we have your KPIs established, we need to configure your analytics. I’ll walk you through that process in part 2 of Creating a Social Media Analytics Action Plan . Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Creating a Social Media Analytics Action Plan – Part 1: Defining

Here’s another twist on Google’s long struggle on the Google  Book Search Settlement issue. The American Society of Media Photograpehrs (ASMP) and other photographic artists groups and concerned individuals have filed a class action copyright infringement lawsuit against Google. Their case? – Google’s alleged copyright infringement on the photos contained on the scanned millions of books under the Google Books Search problem. By scanning the whole volume of books and making it available for public consumptio, Google is infringing on the copyright of the individual photos contained in those books, the group argues. This may seem pretty logical since Google did not obtain permission to reproduce those photographic works from the original creators. Although, it may seem legal as well if Google has obtained permission from the book publisher since the photos are part of the whole book scanned. Interestingly, the lawsuit was filed on April 7 in the U.S. District for the Souther District of New York. This is also where the Google Book Search settlement was filed. According to ASMP, the lawsuit covers Google’s systematic and pervasive infringements of the photographers, illustrators and other visual artists rights. Now, should the Google Book Search settlement which is scheduled to be resolved anytime soon in favor of Google, what will happen to this lawsuit filed by the photographers’ group then?  The lawsuits are  different entities so, ruling for one will not carry over as a ruling for the other. But the ultimate issue of course is whether Google will be given the go signal to continue with the Book Search project. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Google Gets a Lawsuit from

One of the most important aspects of taking care of a site’s search ‘appropriateness’ is knowing what can get you penalized by Google (or any other search engine for that matter).  Knowing how to assess the situation correctly so that you can tell if you have just been served a penalty can help you significantly to get the site back at the top for your search terms. Unfortunately, it’s a sure thing that Google is not going to publish the criteria it uses for deciding who gets penalized. So we have to make an educated guess. In the SEO community, our opinions come from spending a lot of time–in some cases years–observing what does, and doesn’t get good results. As with just about any other aspect of SEO, most of what I’m about to say here will be met with cyber-cries of ‘but I disagree,’ or ‘I can prove otherwise,’ pr even expletives! That’s the nature of what we do–there’s always a lot of room for disagreement. If you have been following SEO best-practices closely for some time, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll fall foul of the search engines to the degree that you get penalized. But sometimes as SEO warriors, we inherit a bad situation that someone else has created, and it’s not always obvious at first glance. Google Sandbox or

Good copy persuades… Great copy sells.  But sometimes, in that urge to be convincing, we throw so much charm and effort into the process that the customer ultimately thinks one of two things: This is too good to be true – there has to be a catch here somewhere OR This is GREAT – but why didn’t they tell me about (insert issue here…) ? The skeptics from point #1 will withhold from ordering until they’ve looked up reviews or gotten recommendations from friends or colleagues on whether or not the company really lives up to its claims.  If you DO get a sale from them, they’ll be watching their bank statement like hawks, watching for a major overcharge or a continuity clause.  They smell a rat, and their BS meter is running on high alert. The customers from point #2 will sulk in silence.  Their expectations have been built up so much by that fanatically over-promising, syrupy sweet copy that, when the flaws in the product or service DO come out, the buyer ends up disheartened and distrustful. Both of these things could have been avoided – if your copy wasn’t so darn sweet! In our zeal to make people like us, we can fall into the trap of pouring it on too thick.  We’re amazingly agreeable, positive and cheerful  – all the time.  And while it’s great to be optimistic, too much can leave a bad taste in your reader’s mouth.  You don’t really become known for anything but being a product or service cheerleader – and that simply won’t draw people in like you’d expect. Push The Right Buttons When your copy becomes more engaging, more direct and open – it builds up trust on a whole new level.  By revealing your opinion, your point of view or even your flaws (or those of what you have to offer), you become so much more REAL to your customer.  You become someone they can identify with.  You push all the right buttons. For example, let’s say you’re an affiliate of some online marketing product.  Don’t just tout its virtues and hope for a sale.  Explain what’s missing or how people can use it even better.  Be real about the flaws and your honesty will pay off.  A good example is the way I advertise my book, Get Niche Quick , on Amazon.com. It isn’t meant for savvy internet marketing geniuses or hardcore bloggers.  It was designed for people who know how to turn on a computer and check their email. They might have heard of ebooks but have never downloaded one.  So yes, some people will find it basic. But for many people, it opens up a whole new step-by-step approach to niche marketing and gives them the tools they need to start an online business without suckering them into buying thousands of dollars worth of vitamins or cosmetics. You WILL Lose Some of Your Audience When you focus your copywriting to be more realistic and direct about what you’re selling – you WILL turn some people off. They’ll never come back and they’ll never buy from you.  That’s okay – because if they had, they’d likely be burning up about 80% of your energy with countless questions and problems while only contributing to 20% of your profits. By being open about your offer, and not slathering on that sticky sweetness – you clear out the time-wasters and open up your business to people that are the perfect match for what you’re offering – and who can’t wait to take you up on it! Now let me ask you, have you had the experience of buying something that seemed too good to be true?  Was it everything you had expected?  What was it about the offer that was so enticing?  Share your experience in the comments! Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Is Your Copy Too Sugary