1. When did your interest in internet marketing start?
I had always been interested in advertising and I was a web developer back in 2000, but I didn’t get into marketing until 2005. I was studying mass media communications in grad school and decided to combine my previous experience in web development and my shiny new Facebook account for a paper.
2. What recent activities have you of your company initiated in internet marketing, particularly through social media? What initiative are you most proud of?
We’ve done press outreach campaigns on Twitter and recruitment campaigns on Facebook that have been solid performers but the best has been our YouGov Says campaign. We asked members of our panel to record video answers to the questions “What’s the difference between democrats and republicans?” and “What do you think of Washington politics?”. We used the answers to create a preroll ad that was used on Facebook and YouTube.
3. In terms of good social media marketing strategy, who do you think is doing it right? Why?
Automotive brands such as Ford and BMW are doing some really interesting things with social. But they have an advantage since really good product-based social media campaigns are for products that have a strong emotional tie. Few things beat the automotive industry for passionate consumers.
There are more platforms than ever to engage on – but you can’t abandon one for another. Social strategies should be additive.
4. What social media platform do you use most in your role? How has this changed over the last 5 years?
Twitter is probably the most used right now. We do a signifigant amount of press outreach and Twitter is still the best place to do that. The only change is that there are more platforms than ever to engage on – but you can’t abandon one for another. You can’t drop Twitter if you want to pick up SnapChat, social strategies should be additive.
5. What do you foresee as the next “big thing” in internet/social media marketing?
New user interfaces are going to be huge in the next 3-4 years. Desktops, then mobile have changed the way we interact with brands – but that’s nothing compared to the abilty to use wearables and virtual/augmented reality.
6. What is your greatest challenge when marketing online and via social media platforms?
Keeping things conversational. There’s an tendancy to over-market in social and online. It’s easy to alienate people through heavy-handed marketing and it’s difficult to keep things at a place that’s effective.
Key every message you can and use tools like Google Analytics to see what’s working and what isn’t
7. What advice would you give companies that might be considering an internet marketing and/or social media strategy for the first time?
Review the competative landscape as much as possible, but don’t let it limit your creativity. Learn from the trial and error of others and don’t be afraid to try where they’ve failed.
8. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about?
Wherever you can tie social engagement back to key business metrics. Whether it’s something concrete (units sold) or something more ephemeral (brand reputation as measured through a brand tracker like Brand Index) it’s important to be able to quantify the result of your effort. That and test, test, test. Key every message you can and use tools like Google Analytics to see what’s working and what isn’t.
