Brad Wellman
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Last night, Facebook dropped a bomb on social media marketers, small businesses and developers alike: Facebook Pages need to be “authenticated” in order to have landing tabs.

What does this mean?

Any new visitor to your Facebook Page will not able to land on a custom tab, unless your Facebook Page has greater than 10,000 fans or the Page administrator has been working with an ads account representative. The problem with this is that it requires Page administrators to spend money on Facebook ads (and you need to spend a pretty penny to get an account representative), or have a large traffic base to build a large following.

Less than 24 hours later, and after a frenzy of disapproval from the marketing and developer communities, Facebook removed the “authentication” requirement for setting custom landing tabs on Pages. The following was posted to the Facebook Developer Forum at 10:44am this morning:

Hello,

As of last night, we’ve removed the recently-added authentication requirement for setting custom landing tabs on Pages. The requirement was instituted as part of a Pages quality initiative, and we apologize for the inconvenience this caused to our developer and business community. We are re-investigating the situation, and will not make any further changes without first giving our community standard notice and lead-time.

Thanks for all your feedback,
Matt Trainer

The problem that Facebook continues to inflict upon itself is that they fail to be transparent with their audience regarding changes to their platform/services/privacy. This Facebook Pages incident isn’t the first time Facebook hasn’t acted in a social manner.  Also, given that Facebook has more than 400 million active users and it is the 2^nd most popular global website (according to Alexa), I’d think Facebook might think twice about doing whatever it pleases and forcing the community to obey its will.

Facebook, like any other social destination site, is not impervious to being abandoned by the community it helped create. Continuing to roll out drastic changes as they please, they may realize this sooner rather than later.

Jason Douglas
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

While the rise in participation in social media channels has increased greatly for individuals and brands, one area where social media has become useful is for professional sports.

Why is social media right for sports teams? As with anyone using a social media channel, it is another opportunity to connect with people inside and outside of your network. You can keep the loyalists connected, and connect with disengaged fans.

Locally, there are teams using social media better than others. The Minnesota Timberwolves, for example, are using social media closer to its full potential than our other local teams.

On Twitter, the @MNTimberwolves provide injury updates, in game updates, and behind the scenes insight for the casual fan. For the serious fan, the Timberwolves are good at responding to followers, and following back fans as shown with their 7,574 followers and by following 3,357 back (as of the time of this post). The Timberwolves also integrate social media with their traditional and other online marketing tactics by promoting their social media channels as part of Wolves Nation prominently on their website and with in-game promotions.

One team that is not using social media to its fullest potential is the Minnesota Twins. Their job should be one of the easier Twitter campaigns to manage, as they have a brand new stadium, a great product, and of course, Joe Mauer.

However, the @MinnesotaTwins have chosen to establish their channels, especially Twitter, as an elite club. Despite more than 9,000 followers, the Twins have chosen to only follow back 20 users comprised of Major League Baseball accounts, other local sports teams, Twins player accounts, and Andrew Zimmern.

The Twins have largely pushed their own content on Twitter, and they have handed out tickets to users who follow them, but by not engaging or following their fans back, they are essentially shutting the doors on them. Are Target Field’s stands only full of MLB representatives, Twins players, and celebrities?

On the Minnesota Twins’ Facebook page, it is more of the same. While their reach is significantly larger with more than 280,000 fans, the same behavior is taking place. On their wall, it is just the Twins pushing out their own content, and not responding to the numerous likes and comments on each status update.

Now this may not hurt a brand like the Minnesota Twins now, as they are enjoying great success. But, what happens if – or when – the Twins experience a long term losing streak like the Minnesota Timberwolves? It is very possible that the fans they chose to ostracize may not be there in tough times.

It is critical that any brand using social media take advantage of the connectivity that each channel allows. For some, this may be the closest one comes to connecting with the brand. If that person reaches out to them, and receives no response, it will most likely leave a bitter taste in their mouth.

What are your expectations when engaging with a brand? Do you want a response? Do you want to be followed?

What makes you feel connected to a brand?

Happy Web Wisdom Wednesday!

In our sixth edition of Web Wisdom Wednesdays, and the second episode of our two-part Foursquare series, Jason Douglas of Spyder Trap Online Marketing shows you how to use Foursquare and how you can benefit from Foursquare.

How have you benefited from Foursquare? We’d love to hear your stories!

**Videos are posted every Wednesday to our Spyder Trap Online Marketing blog, our Facebook Fan Page, and our YouTube channel.**

In this first part of a two part Foursquare series, Spyder Trap’s Jason Douglas and Brad Wellman discuss Foursquare and how businesses are utilizing this popular social media tool. Stay tuned next week, when the dynamic duo explain what benefits Foursquare offers the independent user.

Happy Web Wisdom Wednesday!

**Videos are posted every Wednesday to our Spyder Trap Online Marketing blog, our Facebook Fan Page, and our YouTube channel.**

Happy Web Wisdom Wednesday! In this week’s installment, Luke Kuhlman and Brad Wellman discuss Facebook analytics; using Facebook Insights to assess your Facebook Fan Page.

Be sure to check back on Wednesday each week for the newest installment of Web Wisdom Wednesdays. You can also view our past episodes of Web Wisdom Wednesdays on our YouTube channel.

Mike Rynchek
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

As a fellow marketer you likely wonder, “How can I better appeal to my target audience?” Better yet, “How can I produce more appealing/compelling content to drive a desired reaction?” I’m asking myself these questions as I write this post. The good news is help is just around the corner.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Most marketers have studied or at least heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs (to the right) but few have related it to more current marketing efforts such as social media. As you read this post keep in mind that although technology evolves, people’s basic needs remain the same.

First, the premise: For the purpose of this post, I will keep my analysis related to social media. In some respect, Maslow’s theory explains the massive draw and assimilation to social media channels. The top three most psychologically complex needs are all easily obtained using social media (Self–actualization, esteem, love/belonging). Some people I suppose receive all five, but for the most part, social media allows for the authentic release of creativity, esteem personified by the ability to become a thought leader and, of course, belonging and contributing to a community is all at your fingertips.

The application: How can we use this information to become better social media marketers? Well, first understanding what people are seeking from a physiological standpoint empowers us to better optimize our marketing channels, messaging and calls to action in order to evoke a desired response. For example, creating channels for people to collaborate not only with your brand but one another might be considered an essential need for your audience. The theory is basic enough yet the application is often lost in the shuffle of day-to-day activities. Comments and reviews are all means to connecting with your consumer at a higher level. Creating compelling copy and messaging to appeal to people on an emotional level help to create a deeper bond between your brand and your brand’s consumers. More advanced opportunities are found in attracting “like minded or like needed” people while exposing them to your messaging.

With this application in mind, below are several basic emotion evoking tips that apply not only to social media channels but also apply to general marketing practices.

1. Facilitate – Allow people to creatively participate with your marketing efforts. Encourage and ask for opinions, feedback and collaboration
2. Be Authentic – No auto DMs! People are looking for real human connections, whether they are on the computer, phone or in person
3. Respond- Being heard and having one’s ideas validated by others is a basic need that all people share

What do you think about this analysis and application? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Brad Wellman
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

NBC has made it easier to follow the pulse of the Olympics by developing the Olympic Twitter Tracker, which categorizes tweets for each sport in an interactive, visual interface.

The tool works by indexing tweets related to each Olympic sport every minute, and showcasing the most popular sports in a given time period by the size of that sport’s image.

A similar zeitgeist (a tool used to capture “the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time,”) was created during the 2009 SXSW event, through which users could keep tabs on all the happenings of the event, from what people were saying about particular restaurants in the area, to using location based devices to help people find each other.

The coolest feature – in my opinion – about the NBC Olympic Twitter Tracker is the ability to change the time frame, and see the change in popular trending sports, minute-by-minute.

What do you think of the NBC Olympic Twitter Tracker? With the pervasiveness of social media, are these zeitgeists becoming a necessity for coordinators and hosts of major events to develop?

Brad Wellman
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

News has just been released that Facebook is rolling out its new Ad Conversion tool for Facebook advertisers to track not only how ads are performing, but also to “track activity that happens on your [the advertiser's] Web site as a result of someone on Facebook seeing or clicking your Facebook Ad.”

Sound familiar? If you answered “yes,” you’re correct!

This is all-too-similar to Google Analytics and AdWords. By allowing advertisers to assign specific values to actions on their Web sites, advertisers can get a deeper understanding of a user’s involvement with a particular ad, optimize ads more effectively and determine ROI more effectively.

Currently the tool is in Beta form, but will steadily be rolled out to everyone. This is huge for Facebook, as this will allow it to compete more toe-to-toe with Google in the multi-billion dollar online advertising market.

How do you think this will affect Google?

Jason Douglas

Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to attend Reupations with keynote speaker Chris Brogan, and panelists Beth LaBreche from LaBreche;  Gabby Nelson from Select Comfort , Paula Prahl from Best Buy, and Brian Vanderah from Quality Bike Products.

Brogan kicked off the event with a Zulu greeting ‘Sawubona’, which translates to ‘I see you’, which means ‘I know that you’re there and I acknowledge you are another person’. His presentation was a nice mix of random thoughts, dry humor (even a Star Wars reference), and serious points.

The main takeaways from Brogan’s presentation and the panel discusion:

-There are three main parts of social media: Listening. Connecting. Publishing.

-Brogan said that we should ‘connect with the verticals that aren’t yours’. He was critical of the Minneapolis and St. Paul social media community. He cited Pittsburgh as leaders in social media everything. What the MSP group needs to do is not be so exclusive, but learn how to work together. He added ‘it’s a lot easier to go to battle with a large army.’

-Brogan called Vanilla Ice a social media prophet, citing the line ‘Stop. Collaborate, and listen!’ That gained a fair amount of laughter, but was an interesting take.

-Beth LaBreche discussed how she invited her clients to the Reputations event and even sent out copies of Brogan’s Trust Agents to out-of-state clients. One client responded very negatively to the book and said ‘they’re not ready’ for this. This was very apparent in the attendance of this event. One of my first tweets from the Spyder Trap account: ‘good crowd forming for #reputations #broganmpls. A lot of familiar faces.’ Events such as this one wasn’t necessarily for social media professionals like myself and companies like Spyder Trap. It’s the businesses who have a fear, a hesitation, or a lack of knowledge about what social media can do for a business that need to be at these events. The question: how do we get them there?

Overall, this was a very fun event. I ran into some familiar faces, and was lucky enough to talk with him for a while, and even snap a picture with him. Look for more with Brogan and Spyder Trap in the near future.

For those who  attended, following the hashtags, or watching on UStream, what were your thoughts on Brogan’s presentation and the panel discussion?

Glenn Seaberg
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

As with most other business segments, online marketing is changing health care.  Here at Spyder Trap, we see it first hand everyday.  Here are just 5 ways online technology is changing healthcare:

1. Improving fundraising efforts

More and more, leading healthcare providers like Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota are implementing simple but effective fundraising pages to their websites.  At the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota Online Giving Store, visitors can even select how their donations will be used.

2. Increasing patient convenience

What could be more convenient than an iPhone application that allows users to locate nearby doctors, clinics, and hospitals within its network?  One of many apps, DocGPS, uses iPhone’s GPS system allowing users to search over 20 types of health care facilities and nearly 60 types of physician specialties.

3. Increasing access to quality care

Telemedicine is rapidly becoming a reality.  Using teleconferencing and other technology, the day rapidly approaches when patients can see doctors remotely; from their workplace, private kiosks in malls, and even in mobile clinics towed by semis.  Here’s one example: www.ConnectedCareAmerica.com.

4. Increasing awareness

By actively engaging in social media, caregivers are able to promote their facilities, the patient successes, and their latest initiatives.  Check out how Children’s of Los Angeles engages its various constituencies using YouTube.

5. Reducing patient anxiety

Anyone who has ever faced an upcoming medical procedure knows the dark fear of uncertainty that precedes it.  By accessing any of the numerous specialized websites, blogs, chat rooms, and other social media, patients can now connect with caregivers and other patients in various stages of their respective treatment.  In doing so, patients learn from the experience of others what to expect.  This removes much of the uncertainty and reduces anxiety.

What changes have you noticed as you’ve navigated health issues?  For me, if I would have had access even to www.WebMD.com in the winter of 1989, my personal battle against cancer would have been much different.  What’s on the horizon?  What do we need?  Let me know.  We’re in this healthcare debate together.

Brad Wellman
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Which Twitter application for BlackBerry devices is the best? I have been using UberTwitter as my personal application of choice on my BlackBerry Tour, but to be fair, I figured I’d give Seesmic a chance to change my mind… Did it? Read below to find out…

Seesmic for Blackberry (ver. 1.2)

This is a quite robust Twitter application for the BlackBerry, and certainly packs a punch.

(image credit: BlackBerry App World)

Pros:
- Supports yFrog, TwitPic or TweetPhoto for media
- Default URL shortener: Bit.ly
- Integrates saved searches from personal Twitter.com profile
- Integrates with Twitter Lists

Cons:
- Does not support multiple Twitter accounts easily. Must exit the program and log in again with different account credentials
- Shortest refresh time interval: 5 minutes
- Cannot go to a particular Twitter user by entering their Twitter username
- Cannot add a photo from BlackBerry device to a new tweet. There is an option to, but there seems to be an error in accessing BlackBerry device’s media library (I even uninstalled/reinstalled the program, so it’s not user-error).

My opinion:
I like the support of TweetPhoto (added to the latest upgrade of Seesmic), so users that are used to using this platform for photo sharing need not change. Seesmic is a pretty solid Twitter app as it has a suite of features, but in my opinion UberTwitter blows it out of the water. You’ll see why below…

UberTwitter (ver. 0.945, aka “Beta-6”)

Having the largest arsenal of Twitter features, UberTwitter truly is the one-and-only CrackBerry application any Twitter-holic needs.

Pros:
- Manage and quickly switch between multiple Twitter accounts
- Update your profile, including your bio, picture, location and URL
- Integrates with Twitter Lists
- Allows users to update their Google Talk status or profile location with each tweet
- Timeline refresh as often as every minute
- Allows you to see tweets from people geographically near you
- View trending topics
- Uber Bar – The ability to add your own tabs, such as user timelines, saved searches, and more.
- Preview uploaded pictures in tweets without clicking through a link
- URL shortener: Bit.ly

Cons:
- Supports only TweetPhoto or MyPict.me for photo uploads. It would be nice to have TwitPic as an option as well.
- Large program size (almost twice as large as Seesmic).

My opinion:
This is hands-down the best Twitter application for the BlackBerry. Not only does it allow you to manage multiple accounts by quickly switching between them, but the “chat bubble” style appearance of tweets in UberTwitter make tweets easier to read and separate from other tweets than in Seesmic. This truly is the only application a Twitter-holic needs, as you can stay on top of trending topics and the latest tweets as it has the shortest update interval of any mobile Twitter application.

For those Twitter users out there rocking a BlackBerry, what’s your application of choice?

Jason Douglas
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Recently, Echofon came out with an update to their iPhone app. As the only iPhone user at Spyder Trap, I am the lucky person who gets to test out everything iPhone related.

I have used Echofon as my main Twitter application since it was called Twitterfon. The latest update only enhances the application and in my opinion, if Echofon was not at the top before, officially puts itself at the top out of all Twitter applications.

I tweet for numerous accounts, both personal and professional. Before, you could only have one account registered for the application. If I wanted to tweet from another account, I had to download another app. Now, you are able to hold multiple Twitter accounts on Echofon. Switching accounts is easy to do. Go to your ‘Accounts’ page and tap on the profile you want to tweet from, and it will instantly switch.

Another nice feature is the multiple re-tweet option. This allows the user to re-tweet with or without adding a message and editing the original tweet. This is a significant upgrade compared to the web version of Twitter, where re-tweeting functionality is far behind the capabilities of this application.

Arguably, the most impressive new feature is the ‘Nearby Tweets, Map or List View’. By using the iPhone’s built-in GPS, it’s able to locate your near-exact location and load tweets either by using Google Maps and placing pins from where the tweet happened, or in the traditional list view.  This brings in some of the functionality possessed in Foursquare, where you can view who is also at a place you checked in to, but minus the checking in feature.

Many other Echofon upgrades were introduced, such as:

• Attaching photos using TwitPic or Flickr
• Attaching videos (for 3GS only)
• Landscape keyboard
• Dedicated lists tab
• In-App web, maps, mail, YouTube, and full screen photo viewing
• User authenticated bit.ly
• Shake to reload (exactly like Urbanspoon)

For anyone with an iPhone and using Twitter, this is the application to go with. The free version, which is what I have always used, is great. The ads are never in the way of your tweet stream and never annoying in any other way. For clients, especially with companies who are focused in one area, with the ‘Nearby Tweets, Map or List View’, this can help you interact with your following, or anyone talking about your brand/product.

Example: if you’re a restaurant in the Uptown area, and you can see people within a certain radius of your location talking about lunch plans, you can connect with these people directly and try to get new people to your restaurant.

The next step of Echofon is to be able to search for specific terms within the ‘Nearby Tweets’ to weed out non-relevant conversation.

Now that I have shared my favorite Twitter app, what’s your favorite Twitter application for the iPhone? What features do you want to see from your iPhone app?

Brad Wellman
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

It’s hard not to stumble upon a blog post over the last few weeks discussing predictions for 2010 with regards to Social Media, SEO, Sponsored Search (PPC), etc. So rather than hopping on the bandwagon and look outward at these industries, I decided to take a look inward at our own company, and how we look to make 2010 an even bigger success than 2009. So here we go, our 2010 New Year’s resolutions for Spyder Trap Online Marketing:

1) Blog more frequently
It can be easy to let blogging slip through the cracks as other projects, deadlines and a million other timely business matters pop up, but 2010 will see even more proactive blogging from the folks at Spyder Trap.

2) Attend more speaking events
We have attended MIMA events, #SMBMSP events and appeared on panels at MNAMA events. There is a wealth of marketing knowledge right here in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, and there is always more to learn. As Anthony J. D’Angelo once said: “Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” Cheers, Anthony. We feel the same way.

3) Host another speaking event
Our presentation on Social Media for Business at the James J. Hill Library in November in conjunction with the Twin Cities Thursday Happy Hours group was a great success! In fact, we had so much fun we’re thinking about doing another one! Time for a little crowdsourcing: What would you like us to speak about?

4) Continue to strive to higher levels of success
Always try to outdo yourself. Challenge yourself to something, no matter how small the task may be, faster/better/different/more efficiently than before. You’ll be surprised with how addicting this can be.

5) Continue to grow and nurture our employees’ professional growth
Focus on nurturing your employees’ growth in their respective fields while building their talent in other areas by training them in different aspects of the industry. Developing experts in a niche that are knowledgeable about other dimensions of an industry is a winning combination.

What are your New Year’s resolutions for your company/organization? Maybe you have some professional resolutions for yourself? Whatever they may be, we’d love to hear them!

Greetings to everyone! Due to a high demand, I am posting my presentation for everyone to view.

Thanks to all who showed up to the event, and to those who were unable to show, enjoy the slides. If there are any questions about this presentation, please contact me at jdouglas@spydertrap.com.

Glenn Seaberg
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Today I saw an article in the Minneapolis Star/Tribune titled:  “Med-tech is shy on social media use.”

Among other things it praises a  medical device start-up for its innovative and viral use of  YouTube.  However, it goes on to explain that big medical device and other health care related companies are hesitant to use social media.  The writer points to legal concerns, especially retribution from the FDA as reasons for this.

Indeed, it would be foolish for Medtronic, St. Judes and other medical device companies to rush into the social media wave pool. But guess what?  It’s not foolish at all, providing they take the right approach.

With millions of people tweeting, posting to blogs, commenting on or posting videos to YouTube, chances are excellent that each of these channels are ripe with conversation about medical devices.  Just monitoring and amplifying these conversations hold huge value for an entire organization.  I know; I do this for several health care companies.

From the marketing manager to the CEO, the ability to listen to the unbiased conversation between your company’s staunchest supporters and most stalwart detractors provides insight and direction that no focus group or traditional market research investment ever could.

One need not chime into the conversation.  Remember the old adage: “You become wiser by listening than you do by talking.”   And guess what, no one will even know you’re in the room – not even your lawyers.

Am I off base here?  Is engagement the only real goal for a company with regard to social media?  Or does listening provide enough value on its own? What do you think?

Mike Rynchek
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Is the social media world a dark and dangerous unknown world? The answer is yes and here is why; for most marketers (especially traditional marketers) social media tactics are relatively new. Aside from being on Linkedin and hearing about Twitter on the Today Show, most marketers simply don’t have the experience or training to understand why, where, when and how to use social media strategically.

Does social media need to be a scary unknown world? No and here is why:

• Social media is not unlike traditional media in many respects. You need to have an objective, or reason for engaging in social media. Simply saying, “we need to be in social media,” is not an objective and it certainly is not a strategy.
• You need to have a target audience or demographic that you hope to engage with, to either gain brand awareness through impressions, increase sales through conversions, or to better understand other aspects of your business, consumers or competition.
• Finally, you need a strategy to accomplish these goals or objectives. During this phase, keep in mind that unlike traditional media, social media is a two way street, so be prepared for unexpected or negative comments.  Guess what? Negative comments are okay. Yes, it’s okay because for the first time in your company’s history you can finally respond directly to the customer and attempt to rectify the issue.

Also, remember social media best practices. Though not all social media companies are alike in their approach or strategic thought process, in my experience most have a pretty good understanding of social media best practices.

Whether large or small, below is a phased approach to help with the adoption and success rate of your social media efforts. Keep in mind this is not a good fit for all, and other factors such as multiple brands or stakeholders might be involved.

Phase 1: Listen
Listening is the foundation to any social media strategy. Understanding who, what, where, when and how often these conversations are occurring is paramount.

Objectives of this phase:
1.Define the audience and topics to monitor

2.Capture and quantify conversations

3.Identify trends, dashboard report and analyze

4.Listen to dialog about competitors

Phase 2: Strategy
The focus of this phase is to take the lessons and insight gained during Phase 1 and develop an integrated social media strategy.

Objectives of this phase:
1.Develop integrated, objective-based social media strategy

2.Define tactics to deploy: i.e. Twitter plan, Facebook plan, etc…

3.Determine campaign Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)

Phase 3 Engage
With Listening and Strategy phases complete and objectives set, now you can deploy strategic tactics and engage with consumers to meet those objectives.

Objectives of this phase:
1.Strategy deployment

2.Engage conversations, promotions and incentives

3.Test, measure and modify strategy as appropriate

Jason Douglas
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Earlier this summer, I purchased the iPhone 3g[s]. Once in the App Store, I downloaded as many applications as I could at once; I felt like a kid in a candy store. Google App, Weather Channel App, Facebook app, TwitterFon; the options of apps that were just a click away was overwhelming. The best part: all were free. I still have yet to pay for a single app.

When I got to searching for a Twitter app, I noticed there were free versions, and ‘Pro’ versions that cost anywhere from $0.99 to $4.99. I went with the free TwitterFon application, partially because I am too cheap to spend even $0.99 on something I would use daily, and partially due to the fact that there was a fully-functioning free option.

What if free was not an option?

That day may come, and may come quickly. We, as social media and social networking participants and contributors, have been lucky to use and enjoy networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging platforms, etc. all for free. We all know that in this capitalistic world, there’s one thing we are all trying to do: make money. These social networks, along with all the others, are no different.

If tomorrow, an announcement came from all the above mentioned social networking channels that starting Monday, September 14, there would be a monthly fee to use their respective service, what would you do?

The question: social media: would you pay to play, or would you go away?

Mike Rynchek
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

As an online marketing strategist I am always conscious of, yet fascinated with, the effect specific tactics have on one another. Some call it the ripple effect; I prefer to call it integrated marketing.

In theory I think it would be safe to assume that search traffic would ultimately increase as social media traffic increases. Using the SpyderTrap.com site for my mini-study, I consulted our Google Analytics account. Overwhelmingly, website traffic from search was almost always half of our overall traffic, compared to traffic from social media. In other words, as social media traffic increased, search traffic increased proportionately as well. Roughly 40 percent of search traffic was caused by Spyder Trap-related (Brand Name) searches, 56 percent of which were new visits.

Although this finding is neither shocking nor overwhelming, what is interesting is considering the factors that influenced this spike in traffic. What it does is partially answer some questions surrounding: “what role does social media have in online marketing integration?” In my opinion (speaking specifically to search marketing and social media marketing) it plays a major role for the following reasons:

1. Brand Awareness – Social media can be a great source of brand awareness, and social media marketing can drive direct leads. With increased brand awareness comes increased searches, clicks and eventually conversions.

2. Brand Recognition – In a world of competitive rankings, brand recognition is key! People are in general more likely to click on an organic and paid placement when they are aware of the brand and/or URL.

3. Marketing Reach – If done correctly and evident in the results above, social media marketing is a great tactic for attracting new interest in your brand, product, etc. Along with increased reach comes increased search volume, meaning more traffic and more conversions.

4. Loyalty and Quality – I have experienced first hand with clients and our own Spyder Trap site that website traffic associated with social media tends to have a dramatically reduced bounce rate, a drastically higher pages per visit ratio along with an increase in time spent on site. No kidding!

My point is that, much like traditional media, we need to look at online marketing with a holistic approach rather than tactical in order to optimize for every penny spent. We need to understand how social media fits into our marketing mix, not how our marketing mix can fit in social media.

The next question is what does social media integration look like and how should it be deployed? I have a few thoughts of my own, but I’d love to hear from you too. Any thoughts, ideas or examples? Stay tuned. More to come…

Note – Per a request via Twitter from Nathan Eide @nathaneide regarding the Minnesota Wild’s new 3rd jerseys. I think they are very “Minnesotan” and old school which is very cool, but they do remind me a bit of most college and All Star game jerseys. Overall I don’t mind them. Just my take? Any additional thoughts and or feedback on that topic?  

Brad Wellman
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

It was made fully aware over the last 48 hours, especially from all the buzz on Twitter, of the Southeastern Conference’s stance on new media. Unless you’re ESPN or CBS, the answer was: no…no…and, no.

That policy was more-or-less a ban on all social media usage at SEC games, saying that ticketed fans can’t:

“…produce or disseminate (or aid in producing or disseminating) any material or information about the Event, including, but not limited to, any account, description, picture, video, audio, reproduction or other information concerning the Event.”

This means that social media services, especially Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, TwitPic, and any other social media vehicle used to produce content of SEC events and distribute them in competition with authorized media coverage (CBS and ESPN), is utterly prohibited.

Well, the SEC had heard millions of people’s gripes loud and clear, and over the last 24 hours, clarified its policy with regard to social media. The new policy reads:

“No Bearer may produce or disseminate in any form a “real-time” description or transmission of the Event (i) for commercial or business use, or (ii) in any manner that constitutes, or is intended to provide or is promoted or marketed as, a substitute for radio, television or video coverage of such Event. Personal messages and updates of scores or other brief descriptions of the competition throughout the Event are acceptable. If the SEC deems that a Bearer is producing a commercial or real-time description of the Event, the SEC reserves the right to pursue all available remedies against the Bearer.

Absent the prior written permission of the Southeastern Conference, game action videos of the Event may not be taken by Bearer. Photos of the Event may be taken by Bearer and distributed solely for personal use (and such photographs shall not be licensed, used, or sold commercially, or used for any commercial or business purpose).”

They are adamant on protecting the broadcast rights of CBS and ESPN, and now it seems that casual, not-for-profit social media use by fans is allowed.  The SEC is iterating that its main concern is with video. Sure there is the potential for some fan in the nosebleed section to stream a live game from his or her cell phone, but come on…that isn’t exactly going to “win out” over an HD broadcast on CBS. But for now, at least the SEC has made revisions allowing tweets, Facebook statuses, and even photos to be uploaded (provided the user isn’t making money off of their distribution).

via Mashable

Jason Douglas

Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Yesterday, Ric Bucher of ESPN sent a tweet from his personal account stating: ‘The hammer just came down, tweeps: ESPN memo prohibiting tweeting info unless it serves ESPN. Kinda figured this was coming. Not sure what this means but’. On Monday, the Marines issued an order banning social media sites including Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace within its network. Each is an example of censorship, but for two very different reasons.

ESPN, like many companies, have employees that are visible not only on television, but in the social media world. These employees are an extension of the brand that ESPN has built over the last 30 years. With that comes a large responsibility to represent your company as best as possible. There is a fear that within this ‘new’ method of communicating called social media and with information available instantly, if something improper is said, it will spread like wildfire and may have a negative impact on the individual and the company they represent.

There are two approaches to take here: you an either set guidelines for how to approach social media (in this case: Twitter); or you can choose to trust your employees, and allow them to interact with fans, readers, and other athletes who are using Twitter or social media as their platform to announce newsworthy happenings about themselves. We know which approach ESPN went with.

ESPN

Within ESPN’s memo full of guidelines, included were the following points:
• The first and only priority is to serve ESPN sanctioned efforts, including sports news, information and content
• Assume at all times you are representing ESPN

Maybe I am about to react because the above statements are hitting me differently than others. When you are hired by a company, does that mean you are, in a sense, owned by that company? Are you always on call for that company? Are you ever ‘off the clock’?

If this is the way that ESPN wants to treat social media, they are about to miss the point of social media: two-way communication. One thing about us here at Spyder Trap is that we tell clients that social media is all about communication, engaging with fans, followers, etc. Anyone that just pumps out their own content and does not try to engage with people will not be successful or respected in the social media world.

Giving fans of ESPN the opportunity to communicate and converse with their favorite personality increases the brand perception of ESPN. You are humanizing the personalities, and at the same time, gaining more fans of ESPN. This is now no longer possible due to ESPN’s restrictions.

Marines:

Their restriction of social media sites boils down to one simple word: security. This is an easy out for them. Within their memo, the following is stated:

“THESE INTERNET SITES IN GENERAL ARE A PROVEN HAVEN FOR MALICIOUS ACTORS AND CONTENT AND ARE PARTICULARLY HIGH RISK DUE TO INFORMATION EXPOSURE, USER GENERATED CONTENT AND TARGETING BY ADVERSARIES. THE VERY NATURE OF SNS CREATES A LARGER ATTACK AND EXPLOITATION WINDOW, EXPOSES UNNECESSARY INFORMATION TO ADVERSARIES AND PROVIDES AN EASY CONDUIT FOR INFORMATION LEAKAGE THAT PUTS OPSEC, COMSEC, PERSONNEL AND THE MCEN AT AN ELEVATED RISK OF COMPROMISE. EXAMPLES OF INTERNET SNS SITES INCLUDE FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, AND TWITTER.”

Really? In all caps?

This is an example how having certain restrictions can help solve security fears. Instead of banning social networking sites (SNS), implementing some form of privacy requirements, having an approval process for who’s following you, who’s your friend, what groups you are a part of, etc; would be a better solution.

I have a close friend who is in Iraq with the U.S. Army. Usually, we converse by writing letters and sending care packages, etc. Instead, I know he will be on Facebook at the same time nearly every day, which is how we are able to connect, via Facebook chat. I know that since he is able to communicate with myself and his family most every day in real time, his time over in Iraq has been easier to deal with. If that was taken away from him and the rest of the Army, it could be a demoralizing blow to each member.

Does your workplace have any rules regarding social media? If so, I would like to hear about your company’s policy. If your company instituted a policy restricting your use and presence in social media, would that change your perception of your workplace? Would you look elsewhere for employment?