Stamats Integrated Marketing Conference: Marketing in the Age of Engagement

The Stamats Integrated Marketing conference, Chicago, day two: Monday morning's keynote by Tim Williams, founder of Ignition had some good nuggets.


Marketing in the Age of Engagement without spending a fortune on advertising
Tim Williams, Ignition

Marketing in the "Age of Engagement" is not about shouting at strangers. It’s about building connections with friends.


By 2011 the internet will become the #1 advertising medium in the world.

• Last week more people watched YouTube than watched the top 10 network television shows.
• All media except magazines are in decline. Internet is up – fastest growing medium. Search is fastest growing segment of the internet

The new reality

• Mass vs. One- to -one communications
• Mass media channels vs. Everything as channels
• What vs. where and when
• Brand as perception vs. Brand as experience
• Exposure vs. Engagement
• Controlled communications vs. Open conversations
• Long-term campaigns vs. short-term measurement (visitors, clicks, time-on-page, for example)
  

Your relevant message must occur in a relevant time and a relevant place. Move beyond the big creative idea to the big media idea. Example: Milk gallon with Cheerios label

Think of Google and/or YouTube as your home page - it is where people are looking for information about you.

You need to engage in the online conversation. Do not offer defense or positioning/marketing messages - offer helpful information. (Check out the conversation going on at Urban Planet about DU. How do we engage with that?)

Treat consumers as the new media. They’re out there telling stories, talking about their experiences to such a degree that it transcends traditional media.

• 1/3 of all adults have created content for online.
• How do we harness this enthusiasm for the consumer to be a content creator?
  

4^th dimension of advertising = ambassadors. That’s what you want to create

10 steps to creating a social media plan

• List Keywords and search phrases that describe your organization, brand, competition and industry. Resource for this: AdWords
• Define size of social media universe for your keywords. How many are searching for those terms? Check using Google Blogsearch
• Determine the size of your brand’s social media footprint
• Diagnose your brand’s online reputation. Watch with Google Alerts, Technorati
• Identify the purpose of you social media program: build positive brand awareness, manage brand’s reputation, improve search engine rankings, drive relevant traffic
• Select right tools: blogs, videos, widgets and gadgets, profile pages on social sites
• Create contact strategy for key influencers – engage the evangelists, neutrals, detractors. You want especially to engage the evangelists (student blogs)will be a good way to do this)
• Listen, participate and engage in online conversation. Make useful comments, provide useful information, provide useful links. STOP selling/controlling. Participate
• Constantly measure and refine. Nielsen BuzzMetrics, ,BuzzLogic, Umbria. Dedicate time to it - at least 1/2 day a week devoted to monitoring what's out there.

Just start somewhere, but start now.

Conclusion:

Move from broadcasting to narrowcasting.

• Broadcasting: A little content for lot of money reaches a few people.
• Narrowcasting: Alot of content for a little money reaches many people.