Copycats, Pigeons, Puppies and Great Thinkers Posts by Yours Truly
I had the great fortune of writing and posting some of my best articles around online marketing ideas over on Social Media Today last year as one of their Best Thinkers. In case you missed my articles there, here is a roundup of a few of my favs, in no particular order:
Are You Breeding Clones, Copycats, and the Occasional Inspiration?
When you begin from a position of true innovation, it doesn’t really matter what you used as a starting point – even if it was someone else’s breakthrough – because your end goal is different. That shows you are thinking in different directions, which lays the foundation for a creative solution… or at least creative uses of existing ideas.
One way of looking at this is that every great human achievement is built upon the achievements of the past. Another, less generous interpretation would be that new and successful ideas are copied again and again, with only a small percentage being worth the time and effort.
Both viewpoints are valid, but only one can help you take what you’ve seen elsewhere and use it to build something worthwhile. So, are you enhancing something great, or just emulating it in hopes of finding your own success?
Read the full post here on Social Media Today.
Google’s Pigeon update is bringing search results back home.
Local marketing didn’t die with the Yellow Pages; it just got better. That’s easy to see with the rollout of Google’s latest major algorithm change – dubbed “Pigeon” – which places a higher priority on geographic keywords and location-specific results.
The Pigeon update is about more than just having a postal code listed on your website, however. It’s placing more weight than ever on reviews and other forms of verifiable content, allowing customers to find more of what they really want when they’re searching for stores, products, and vendors. For businesses that understand the changing landscape, Pigeon represents a huge opportunity.
Read the full post here on Social Media Today.
Loyalty is Another Hidden Benefit of Social Engagement
It’s no secret that social engagement is one of my favourite topics and something that I feel is not discussed thoroughly enough when people post about the best practices for social, earning loyalty.
Maybe that’s why I was so impressed during a recent session at The Social Shake-Up this past September in Atlanta. More than one presenter was talking about building their social via engagement and how creating relationships and connections just might be more important (and ultimately more profitable) than (surprise) broadcasting offers.
I took a few notes, especially during The Importance of Being Purposeful: How to Maintain Community Engagement, as I couldn’t help but recognize the parallels between what I was hearing and my own experiences. Social truly ‘works’ best when it’s about people connecting, rather than as businesses trying to reach an audience. Community building is one more way businesses can demonstrate authenticity and earn loyalty.
To go a bit deeper, here are a few of the takeaways that felt most relevant and powerful to me:
- social engagement requires listening and monitoring and contributing
- focus on goodwill, not sales
- empower team members
- building communities (and loyalty) takes time, but it can be fun and is certainly worth the effort
I’d like to thank these four leading women for inspiring me to pen this post: Natascha Thomson, Jeanette Gibson, Petra Neiger and Maria Poveromo whose talk at The Social Shake-Up stuck a chord and created a loyal follower in me.
Read the full post here on Social Media Today.
As always, the best way to get insights directly from the Kayak Marketing team is to subscribe to our blog and connect with us in Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. There’s no telling what kinds of changes we might see in the world of online marketing as you wander into an exciting 2015!
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