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?

Jason Douglas

Spyder Trap Online Marketing

I have had many conversations with prospects and new clients revolving around the same few questions. If you are someone who is new to the concept of using PPC for their business, or a business who has been burned by bad service or under-performing campaigns, asking the questions I listed below will help ease your confusion. Here are the top five I encounter and am always prepared to address in any type of meeting:

• What is the first step to give you control of your account?

This is a common question is one I usually get from prospects or new clients who are already dealing with an agency. The process can be as simple as sharing the login information. The first step to this is changing the password to prevent any nefarious activity from anyone who was managing the account. It is very important to also document all measurable metrics and benchmark where the campaigns currently are, which allows for the new agency to continuously measure against each of these metrics to gauge success.

• What kind of reporting will you provide?

Every agency has a different way to report to the client on successes and shortcomings. I have seen updates shared in a simple email through bullets. I have also seen client reports as long as twenty pages. Which are more effective? That depends on what you’re measuring and what the objectives are for the campaigns. Clients may like large reports, but is that what is best for the client? I like to provide all important metrics along with a recap, analysis, and recommendations which I will implement in the following reporting period.

• Will I have access to my accounts?

This seems to be a no-brainer to myself. Being that this is one of the most common questions asked, it means that clients have not had access to their own accounts in the past. Why wouldn’t an agency give access to the client? What is the agency trying to hide? We always give access to our clients, with the caveat of them not changing anything within the accounts. If a client makes changes to their PPC campaign that the agency is unaware of, that may skew the strategy we are implementing and significantly impact the results of the campaign.

• What is the communication process?
  

This is dependent on the client’s schedule. Often, the reason a client is seeking an agency is because they lack the time internally to manage the account effectively. If this is the case, a monthly call or meeting suffices along with email updates when necessary. If the client claims a lack of knowledge about PPC, but has the desire to learn and be hands-on in the process, a bi-weekly call or meeting along with email updates usually works.

• How can we be sure that you are exhausting all opportunities for us?
  

Unfortunately, when pursuing a new account, often times the opportunity is there because they are unhappy with the service received from their current agency. This is where we explain why we are different and how we are going to prove that. Business, especially now, is all about the relationship, and building, maintaining, and nurturing that relationship. Every client for me is not another transaction; they are not faceless. We do the best work possible not just because that’s what we’re paid to do, but because we enjoy the people we work with on the client side; we appreciate the product or service they provide and the value that it provides to their consumers.

As a company looking for PPC help, these five questions will help the conversation greatly, and should help you make a decision on which agency to go with. If you’re interested in starting that conversation, please contact us. Are there other questions you’ve come across with regard to beginning a Sponsored Search campaign?  Any stories you’d like to share?

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?

Mike Rynchek will be representing Spyder Trap Online Marketing as a guest mentor at Ad Fed’s Mentorship Circle Event at 5:30pm tomorrow at Spill the Wine in downtown Minneapolis.

“We are happy to be involved with Ad Fed and are looking forward to connecting with some of the young talent in the Twin Cities.” said Rynchek, who will be discussing interactive and marketing topics with the group.

The Ad Fed Mentorship Circle program is designed to allow members to individually interact with industry mentors by meeting them in an informal group setting called a Circle Group. These Mentorship Circle Events are held four times a year and allow participants and industry professionals the chance to talk one on one and in a group discussion setting. It is a great opportunity to learn from the best and the brightest in the industry, network with professionals and learn from your peers.

The Ad Fed Mentorship Circle program does not facilitate the match between an individual mentor and a mentee, however, these events are designed to allow a mentor and potential mentee to make a connection, and possibly develop a mentor/mentee relationship outside of Ad Fed. Participants can also choose to simply attend quarterly Circle Events where mentorship will happen via group discussions.

To meet Mike at the event, and to see the other mentors attending the event, visit the Ad Fed site for more details.

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?

Brad Wellman
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Recently, the Spyder Trap Online Marketing team sat down with with Kim Opitz of Rribbitz Creative Communications and had a free-flowing discussion about our agency’s background, how we’re working to put Minneapolis (and the Midwest for that matter) back on the map… and food.

Take a peek at this clip highlighting some of our conversation.

Thanks again for the fun and casual conversation, Kim. We’re looking forward to doing it again soon!

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.

Minneapolis, MN, January 22, 2010 – Spyder Trap Online Marketing, a leading provider of online marketing and social media consulting services, today announced its President, Mike Rynchek, has joined the Community Leadership Board of the American Diabetes Association. Mr. Rynchek will serve the board as Marketing Communications Chair.

“We are very pleased that Mike has accepted our invitation,” said ADA Board President Chuck Halstenson. “Mike’s expertise in online marketing and social media adds a dimension to the board that will increase our visibility in many new and exciting ways.”

“It’s an honor to join an organization that has helped so many,” said Rynchek. “I am confident that together we can do even more by expanding the organization’s use of online communications tools including social media and online fundraising tactics.”

As Marketing Communications Chair, Mike has overall responsibility for the promotion of the Association’s Stop Diabetes^SM movement by coordinating and integrating marketing and communications efforts for all local activities including revenue-generating events, mission-delivery activities, and general awareness and outreach events.

Mike Rynchek
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Technology has never moved faster, and my experience at 2010’s Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, Nevada is evidence of that. Companies from around the world gathered to showcase how they plan to gain market share with their 3-D TVs and life-changing smart phones. As technology companies foster this evolution, consumers’ consumption of media is also following suit. Because of this, companies need to understand how their marketing efforts will be received according to consumers shifting expectations.

With the exponential growth in technology, one has to ask:

• How has this surge in technology changed consumer behavior relating to the theory of top of mind brand awareness?
• Has the ability to put information more readily at the consumer’s fingertips changed this methodology in any way?

I would argue YES.

Think about it for a second. If I was in the market for a new TV, Best Buy is the first brand that comes to mind due to an over-awareness and exposure to their outbound marketing tactics. Does that mean I will buy from Best Buy? Not necessarily.

As the consumer, I now control my own purchase process and have a world of information either in my hand or on my desk. Due the overwhelming access to information, the traditional buying process model has been completely altered. Within seconds, I can search for a better price, find a better promotion, compare delivery options; you name it. Basically, I have developed my own personal purchase process.

Keep in mind: As consumer behavior shifts, new best practices are emerging:

1. As consumers continue to gain control of information, the COMPLETE purchase process becomes even more vital. No longer can you get away with a great in-store experience but a less-than-adequate web presence. Also consider what areas of the “new” purchase process you can improve upon beyond the competency of your competition.
2. Consider all of the “non-traditional” touch points a consumer might have with your website, online customer service, and even all the way to search, social and email. Make sure each touch point is consistent with the brand and brand promise.
3. As this shift in consumer behavior occurs, large companies should especially take heed of the opportunity for smaller more nimble competitors to gain market share. (Zappos is a good David-becoming-Goliath example).
4. Cross channel marketing is different than in years past. As you ramp-up your TV, radio or print efforts, are you ready to capture people actively searching for your brand or product offering?
5. As awareness increases, and curiosity leads to increased website traffic, are you prepared to engage and convert visitors with varying interest levels? Do you have a plan to turn tire-kickers into advocates?

As a consumer, how has your purchase process changed?

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!

Mike Rynchek
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

Growth is a wonderful thing, especially when you enjoy the work you do and the people you work with. Over the past year Spyder Trap has substantially grown as an organization thanks to our wonderful base of clients, partners and employees. Even in a down economy, our group more than doubled in size in 2009 and we look to continue that trend into the new year.

Reflecting on the past year, a lot has changed within the online marketing landscape and our clients’ needs and expectations have followed suit. As Spyder Trap continues to grow as a thought leader within the online marketing space, we look forward to facing those needs while pioneering new ways of accomplishing clients’ goals.

While we reflect on the success of 2009, here are a few things to look for from Spyder Trap in 2010:

1) Additional speaking engagements and seminars
2) Online Marketing Quick Tips: 1-minute online marketing tips we began earlier this year
3) Additional Spyder Trap happy hours and events. This year’s Spyder Trap party was a big hit!

THANK YOU to everyone who has helped to make 2009 such a great year and we look forward to servicing your online marketing needs in 2010.

Happy New Year!

-Mike Rynchek

A big announcement happened today from Google, officially launching real-time search, integrated into search results pages (SERP’s).

The real-time updates will include live tweets, Yahoo Answers, news articles, and web pages will now stream in actual result pages for your query. Don’t worry iPhone and Android users, this feature is built for mobile use (thank goodness).

Included in today’s announcement: Google has partnered with both Facebook and MySpace for their real-time data pull. This will include any public pages within the networks.

Here is the official video demonstrating the real-time search:

Why is this significant? This should simplify search for many users. The goal with this is to consolidate as much information into one central hub known as Google. I cannot wait to try this out and use this first hand. The live stream reminds me of the Twitter Search function, which is very helpful in monitoring real-time conversation about a product, show, or public figure. I am also impressed with the partnership established with Facebook and MySpace.

I am curious as to the potential fallout from this. Once Facebook and MySpace users find out that anything on their profile is fair game, will this prompt people to privatize their profiles? Or will users be more careful of what they say and publish? This may help the social media world grow up and think before they speak.

As we look into the benefits and negatives of this further, there are a couple questions I need to get answered:

• How will this impact how people use search engines?
• How does this impact the importance of search engine optimization?
• Will this detract from people looking at sponsored search ads?
• How can we use real-time search to benefit clients?
• What new data will we have access to?

What questions do you have about this feature that should be live within the next week?

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?

Minneapolis, MN, October 12, 2009 – Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota has selected Spyder Trap Online Marketing to support the hospital’s online strategy and marketing initiatives. Spyder Trap will focus heavily on search engine optimization, marketing, social media, web site analytics, and content strategy.

“We’re deeply committed to connecting with and providing access for patient families, health professionals, donors and many others who have a relationship with Children’s,” said Randy Bunker, Manager, Web Strategy and Communication for Children’s of Minnesota.  “Spyder Trap gives us an opportunity to strengthen those relationships, and form new ones, in ways we haven’t done before.  They also share our passion in caring for kids, innovation, and in striving to be a national leader in the online space.”

“We’re extremely grateful for the opportunity to assist Children’s with their philanthropy and social media initiatives,” said Mike Rynchek, President of Spyder Trap Online Marketing.   “Children’s Hospital gives so much to so many that we’re honored and committed to helping them meet their outreach objectives.”

Spyder Trap will initially assist Children’s of Minnesota with the Fill A Room With Care fundraising initiative to help support the development of 280 state-of-the-art private patient rooms.  Specifically, Spyder Trap will lead site optimization for fillaroomwithcare.org, the initiative’s site, and will provide social media consulting and training services for Children’s staff.

# # #

Spyder Trap Online Marketing helps its clients find, win, and keep valuable customers with sound online marketing strategy and tactics including search engine optimization, search engine marketing, web site development and content management, email strategies, and a wide array of social media tactics.

For more information, contact:

Glenn Seaberg, Vice President
Spyder Trap Online Marketing
612-871-2270 phone
612-871-4199 fax
gseaberg@spydertrap.com
www.SpyderTrap.com

Spyder Trap Online Marketing’s own Jason Douglas will be featured on a panel during the November 2009 Marketing Mixer hosted by the Minnesota American Marketing Association (MN AMA). The topic of the Mixer will be “Secret Marketing Tools Revealed,” in which the panel of experts will discuss useful marketing tools you may not know about. It’s sure to be a good time!

Date: Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
Time: 6:30-9:00pm
Venue: Majors Sports Cafe, Bloomington

More information about the event can be found on the MN AMA Events site here.

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