"I've Got a Golden Ticket!"

So I am working on a video test project.  And I haven’t paid much attention to analytics as that isn’t the purpose of the project. But last night I was reading Eric Ries (Lean Start Ups) guest blog post on Tim Ferriss’s blog (Four Four Work Week) about “Vanity Metrics vs Actionable Metrics”

He emphasized how vital it is to not only observe the page views per month and what users are doing on your site, (as we all have become accustomed to doing) BUT rather first pay special attention to the discovery process that brought them to your site.

So I went into YouTube and was absolutely SHOCKED when on a recent test video out of 41 views 37! were from a mobile device.  The numbers are small but it is definitely something I am taking note of to pay attention to moving forward.

Eric Ries: How To Build Your Company WITH Your Users on Mixergy

Below is a thorough recap written by attendee Caroline Graeff of Imagine Marketing.

“Where’s Waldo?”

Last night, I attended “Where’s Waldo”, a social media discussion featuring great panelists, experts in the social media craze:

- Jonathan Rosen, Lucky NY

- Cameron Olthius, 5ones.com

- Scott Tilton, loopd.com

- Emily Goligoski, Federatedmedia.net

- Jonathan Nafarrete, JonathanNafarrete.com

- Greg Cargill, bigMETHOD.com

The conversation was centered around Influencers online and using them in your social media campaign:

- Who are they?

- How do you find them?

- How do you approach them to talk about what you’re selling?

- How do you measure your success?

- And how do you handle negative feedback from these influencers?

It was one of the best panels I have listened to so far. Everybody had lots of energy, they definitely knew what they were talking about and provided great insights to people that don’t know much about social media.

Here is a quick recap for those who missed it! Let’s get back to the questions above:

- Who are they? Influencers are the people who create compelling content to others. Their feedback shapes others’ opinion on a product, service, and so on.

- How do you find them? This takes time. Use sites such as Google Blog. When looking at potential Influencers, you have to evaluate factors such as number of subscribers, number of followers, friends, and content of whatever social media platform they use (FB, Twitter, Youtube, Blogs, etc.). You also cannot forgot those “Hidden Influencers”, who might not come as Influencers at first because they run a smaller blog or have fewer followers, but actually provides content to quality people that have a larger network of “friends”, “followers”, “subscribers”, etc. Basically they act as connectors to bigger Influencers.

- How do you approach them to talk about what you’re selling? The “pitch” needs to be extremely authentic and personal. You cannot be pushy and expect the Influencer to talk about your product, service, etc. First, do you homework. Go over the Influencer’s blog, content, interests, etc. to capture information that will help you connect with them. So use this information in your pitch, so when the Influencer reads it, first, he is stoked you actually pay attention and care about what he does, and second, you provide him with information that is relevant and compelling to him/her/

- How do you measure your success? The panelists agreed that positive feedback is extremely valuable. bigMETHOD, a social media agency, compares social media campaign success to advertorial and show the added value of positive comments by an Influencer speaking to a large audience of Followers and other Influencers. There are also a large number of tools out there that helps you track your social media campaign results. Google Analytics has been brought a few times as being an essential.

- And how do you handle negative feedback from these influencers? After pitching a blogger, if he ends up talking poorly about your product or service, don’t get mad, write him back thanking him for his feedback and indicating him that you took note of his comments and will do your best at making the necessary changes to improve the product or service. They typically appreciate the open and honest communication and might write something nice about you.

The event was brought by Espree Devora (Owner at ZexSports) and Sabrina Hayat (Graffy, Inc), moderated by Denise Garciano (Social Media Manager at PacSun) and sponsored by Barefoot Wine.

Up late working and if you are reading this straight away obviously you must be up working late too. Thought I’d pass on this Search Engine Marketing goodie I stumbled across.  Has beginning, intermediate and advanced search engine optimization tips. I happen to learn a lot faster with videos so I’m pretty excited I found these.

Click here for SEO Video Tutorials

A lot of you ask me to quickly teach you social media. It’s not as quick as its perceived to be. Gary Vaynerchuk himself says if you dedicate an hour then you get an hour’s worth of results. If you dedicate 11 hours then you receive 11 hours worth of results. But its not just being on these social networks. It’s knowing how to use them so that fans, members, consumers, engage with you in order to in end create stronger ROI than your current marketing and advertising efforts. Which social platforms are right for you and your brand. Do you jump on Twitter because everyone seems to be on it… Not necessarily.

Tonight I am teaching a 3 hour course on behalf of Media Bistro in Hollywood, CA. “Social Media Essentials – How to choose the best platform to enhance your exposure” .

5405 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90036 - (323) 330-9505

I look forward to answering all your questions and spending time with you to help you explore this crazy online world that has hit us by storm.

Here’s Gary’s video… so much good info.

Last night I was blown away by what Christina Suwa can pull off in only 3 weeks of planning. Most people take at least a year to plan an event and still get poor attendance and/or poor coverage. Not Christina. Media poured in to cover the sardine packed event with just enough room to savor the delicious treats as appetizers passed by regularly throughout the night prepared by Bravo’s “Top Chef” Stefan Richter.  Tasty beverages provided by big names like Hansen promoting their new tea and Nestle showing off their new beauty in a bottle drink GLOWELLE. Then for a little Me Time, beautifully wrapped gift bags filled with Neutrogena face wash and POP eye liner. Wearing my new cool silver eye liner now. Paint Lab (2912  Main Street, Santa Monica, CA) is a perfect date joint to express creativity – be it novice or pro any person who wants to splash some color onto canvas is welcome. Live music was perfect. JETT vodka provided the spark in our Cranberry juice replacing my Madras with a drink called Jett Fuel. I just can’t say enough good things about this awesome event. To top it off the support Venice Magazine shares with their community is unstoppable. Apparently they assisted in spreading the good word about Paint Labs opening and treated each guest to their magazine.  I’m definitely now a fan if I wasn’t before. Christina is a must for any event if you want your big soiree to be orchestrated to perfection.

From Christina after reading this post… Thank you so much for your kind words, but I must say that I cannot take credit for pulling off this entire event myself.  I had the support of numerous people, including Paige Petrone from Venice Magazine who was instrumental in securing our drink sponsors and providing me with fantastic leads on different vendors.  Kelly Albright helped with securing the entertainment and lighting.  And I’ve had the incredible support of PAINT:LAB’s owners/partners Oana Bogdan and Melanie Cote.  It is because of this fabulous team of people that I can say we pulled off an incredibly successful and fun event!