We all live in a world of digital ubiquity where information is being broadcast at us via social media, gadgets, smartphones and tablets. Even traditional outdoor pursuits like walking, hiking, camping and trekking have gone digital, with paper maps now replaced by GPS and mobile applications. Our attention constantly moves from one electronic source to another sapping our resources and preventing us from fun thinking, being creative and feeling good.

We all know how stressful it is when “we lose signal”.

Walks And Walking – East Sussex Walks Using ViewRanger Android Software

Latest research from the University of Kansas suggests that being outdoors in the countryside showed startling cognitive improvement amongst several groups of backpackers; boosting creativity, insight and problem solving by 50% after living for a few days steeped in nature.

“There’s growing advantage over time to being in nature,” said Ruth Ann Atchley. “We think that it peaks after about three days of really getting away, turning off the cell phone, not hauling the iPad and not looking for internet coverage. It’s when you have an extended period of time surrounded by that softly fascinating environment that you start seeing all kinds of positive effects in how your mind works.”

“Nature is a place where our mind can rest, relax and let down those threat responses,” said Atchley. “Therefore, we have resources left over — to be creative, to be imaginative, to problem solve — that allow us to be better, happier people who engage in a more productive way with others.”

Being an active walker I am already living the benefits of this research and find that walking for at least 4 – 6 hours in our Great British countryside is enough to clear the mind and refresh the senses. You can read the full report here and if you are interested in walking then check out these walking routes.

If your social media marketing is currently being managed by someone who posts your product messages by day and their ballet pumps and white wine consumption by night, or responding to your most irate twitter or Facebook comments between their daily schedule of meetings (more often than not discussing how they could improve their social media performance) then, not only are you just treading social water but your whole social media strategy is completely flawed. So, are we really any closer to measuring Social Media ROI?

My opinion is that you really need a Social Media Strategist and a Community Manager running your social networks together. The strategist to translate overall business objectives into ambitious executionable social media plans to inspire, lead and develop solutions for customer acquisition or retention with the potential ability to measure the ROI of a conversation. The Community Manager to identify the target audiences, repurposing content to pull those audiences into your brand conversations and beginning the process of achieving customer intimacy, moving away from addressing the crowd to addressing the individual in a scalable way.

Currently only 10% of UK businesses are able to effectively measure their social media ROI, the results from fresh research by EPiServer. UK companies do tend to agree that they need to be more active on social channels but most still do not seem to know how to implement a social media strategy. Even the rapid growth achieved by new social networks such as Google Plus and Pinterest, and the huge opportunities they represent, does not appear to be having much effect.

EPiServer’s ‘Tackling The Social Challenge’ examines the results of their study and sets out best practice advice to help brands best manage their online communities and social media channels. This includes opinion on social media now and in the future, the role of the community manager and their four stage process to social media maturity; monitor, push, reach and engage.

EPiServer - Tackling The Social Challenge - Social Media Maturity

There is still no Silver Bullet to achieve social media ROI, which is why most brands are still so reluctant to invest in these austere times, but the main conclusion from EPiServer is that you are more likely to achieve social media ROI if you follow best practice and manage your social channels more appropriately.

You can download the full report here EPiServer’s ‘Tackling The Social Challenge’

How To Use Social To Improve Your Email Marketing Engagement Segmentation Strategy

I recently read a report by RedEye on “How to successfully integrate engagement segmentation into your email marketing strategy” which although offered nothing ground breaking in terms of how email interacts with digital consumer experiences it served as a gentle reminder on how important email still is in the marketing mix.

Customer intimacy is crucial in attracting sales from social consumers with all the latest research trends proving that by addressing and engaging with the individual they are up to 80% more likely to convert. With all the excitement and buzz around social media it is no surprise that most brands have almost forgotten about how to maximise the potential of email marketing. In fact, according to a previous RedEye report, only 37% of companies segment their data based on engagement.

Social consumers tend not to trust corporate broadcasting and prefer a more personalised approach from companies to gain their attention. Although not the solution to a bespoke and scaled approach, social media is certainly the conversation starter in teaching brands how to listen and respond to customer needs. Couple this with the data gained from legacy email marketing campaigns and you are then in a good place to find out who is already heavily engaging with your brand.

How to successfully integrate engagement segmentation into your email marketing strategy outlines the importance of building a reliable database that is accurate, clean, includes all the interactions attributed to each channel and is kept up to date. From there it is simply instilling the time and discipline to test and measure your engaged, semi-engaged and disengaged subscribers with automated segment management to ensure your customers are always in the right group receiving the right message.

The top level mantra for email marketing has always been “right message to the right person at the right time” and by following an engagement segmentation plan you should be able to integrate your email strategy into your overall marketing plans far more effectively. If you approach email in the same way you approach your Facebook community management strategy to optimise your campaigns around EdgeRank then this can help you further.

Facebook audiences want to be entertained with interested content otherwise they won’t interact with you. If they don’t interact with you then you won’t appear on their timeline anymore. It’s the same with email, if you keep sending them the same message they won’t open it.

So, if you want to fully optimise your email marketing campaigns then apply the same creativity as you do with social media and integrate engagement segmentation into your email marketing strategy.

You can download the full report with case studies here: RedEye Engagement Segmentation

The latest consumer research suggests that most people think that internet search results are fair and trustworthy enough for the search engines not to add unnecessary authority to the results by showing personalised options that limited their choices.

When I use search engines it is mainly to find new and fresh information and I do not want my search queries to be distorted by what they think I want to see. This opinion is reflected by the respondents of a recent study by Pew Research’s Internet and American Life Project, kindly created in an infographic by MDG Advertising.

With the UK government now seeking access to all of our internet browsing and email activity at work there is almost no such thing as privacy any more and personalised search results expose our online behaviour even more.

You can read the original article here: Is Personalized Search Getting Too Personal?

If you are looking to manage your social media campaigns more effectively and autonomously then this report will give you almost everything you need to make an informed decision. Every company and agency has now added social media to their credentials. By understanding who the real players in this market are will help you cut through the overwhelming amount of chaff to find the best of breed software platform options for publishing, monitoring, moderating and measuring your social media campaigns more effectively.

These are enterprise level tech solutions encompassing the management of multiple social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube including features such as content creation, scheduling, publishing and moderation, collaboration, workflow and permissions, data analytics and reporting, sentiment analysis, vertical-specific compliance, marketing campaign automation, integration with legacy marketing and analytics platforms and strategic social media consulting services.

You need to fill in a few details and then the report is available free: Social Media Management Software

Here are 10 free white papers courtesy of Michael Crosson, founder and moderator of the largest Social Media Marketing Group on LinkedIn. Michael recently shared some insights on the hottest topics in social media; Pinterest, Google Plus, Facebook Advertising and LinkedIn as well as other extremely useful e-books and guides for general online marketing success.

Pinterest Google Plus LinkedIn and Facebook Advertising White Papers

1.) Pinterest – Learn how to increase traffic, leads and sales by reaching more than 11 million people
http://bit.ly/GGdZQe
The fastest-growing social media site ever has become a huge traffic referral (arguably, more powerful than Google+) for all businesses. An increasing number of companies are leveraging the platform to reach a new audience, increase visits to their websites, and generate leads or retail sales. And guess what? It’s working.

2.) Learning LinkedIn From the Experts: How to Build a Powerful Business Presence on LinkedIn
http://bit.ly/GElwgy
In Learning LinkedIn from the Experts, five LinkedIn specialists provide key insight into how you can use LinkedIn to successfully grow your network and business.

3.) How to Create Epic Facebook Ads
http://bit.ly/GExOvB
Placing ads on Facebook provides one of the most targeted advertising opportunities today. The social network knows the demographics and interests of more than 800 million people who are active online. Written by Andrea Vahl, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One For Dummies, this ebook will walk you step-by-step through the nuances of Facebook ads.

4.) How to Use Google+ For Business
http://bit.ly/GFqmPU
Google+ is the new social network on the block. With more than 90 million users and a growing influence on search, Google+ has definitely emerged as a key player in online marketing.

5.) The Ultimate How-to Marketing Guide
http://bit.ly/GFAELr
How do you get a comprehensive view of the important ones and prioritize accordingly? To ensure your proficiency in Internet marketing, we’ve designed this multimedia ebook which, as David Meerman Scott says, “identifies nuggets of inspiration to drive success at your business.”

6.) How to Execute & Measure Successful Email Marketing
http://bit.ly/GEycug
Email marketing is arguably the most powerful channel for lead generation. If you don’t have a strong email marketing foundation, you’d better start building that knowledge. Download our free ebook and use the best practices shared here as a roadmap to your email marketing success

7.) An Introduction to Lead Generation
http://bit.ly/GEyhOA
By now, many businesses understand that lead volume is based on a wide array of factors, ranging from social media presence, to blogging frequency, to online content. Learn how to effectively generate traffic and leads for your business through the basics of lead generation and techniques for optimizing your lead gen strategy.

8.) An Introduction to Business Blogging
http://bit.ly/GDnJj8
Nearly 40% of US companies use blogs for marketing purposes. •Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors. Marketing data clearly shows that blogging is a critical piece of the inbound marketing methodology and directly correlates to better business results. In this ebook, we walk you step-by-step through blogging fundamentals.

9.) An Introduction to Inbound Marketing Analytics
http://bit.ly/GBIOWY
Analytics programs can give marketers amazing insight into their marketing campaigns. Our free ebook highlights the essential inbound marketing metrics for data-driven decision making, along with advice for how to use that data to improve and optimize your marketing efforts.

10.) An introduction to Lead Nurturing
http://bit.ly/GFeZFh
50% of leads are qualified but not ready to buy. So if you are not nurturing them, you are simply burning money. Lead nurturing is all about understanding the nuances of your leads’ timing and needs. Learn how to leverage lead nurturing to increase high-quality conversions and reduce your cost of customer acquisition.

The future of Search is Social (Organic and Paid) and whilst almost all agencies would agree that an integrated approach is the most logical solution to staying ahead of competitors it is almost impossible to implement. Why? Because Search is driven by ROI and Social Media is not (yet). Another reason is that you would probably need to change your clients entire business model which again, is almost impossible to implement.

Search is a mature commodity driven market that is embedded into the majority of e-commerce marketing departments as it guarantees revenue. If Social Media is shoe horned into the e-commerce marketing team then it is more than likely in the wrong hands. However, what Social Media will do is generate indirect revenue through referring traffic and increasing branded search. If Social Media is owned by PR or customer services then it is in a safer pair of hands but ideally brands need to have Social Media integrated across the entire business and then implemented via specialist Social Media Champions that have been trained and governed.

Integrating Search and Social Media can be much easier if you can grasp why the two disciplines are so well suited to each other. Social Media is far, far more cost-effective for brand awareness compared to investing heavily in generic search terms (that rarely convert) to increase direct traffic. Search is direct response and lead generation for cold hard sales whereas social consumers are so far reluctant to buy direct from social platforms.

The Takeaway

Remember the story of the Hair and the Tortoise? Well, Search is the Hair and Social is the Tortoise. Search will find you new prospects today and convert them quickly whereas Social will nurture your prospects and repeat customers for tomorrow…. and with both of them in your race you will always win.

Why You Should Integrate Your Search And Social Marketing - Infographic

Infographic by @MDGadvertising

A new study from Unisphere Research released last week at the 2012 SHARE ExecForum suggests that 75% of organisations are not collecting data from their social media networks. With Facebook recently reiterating that it owns all the data on its platform and not the brands you would have thought it a very logical step to ensure that any Like is tagged and logged into your CRM database. This is even more vital if you are trying to measure the ROI from social media and ensuring your attribution modelling is accurate.

Data Ages Like Wine Applications Age Like Fish

“Data ages like wine and applications age like fish” is a very well-known phrase on why you should be collecting data from your social networks. Big budget creative campaigns and entertaining applications may win you awards and buying Likes and Followers may get your numbers to be less embarrassing but it is who you attract that is the difference between turning these social consumers into your new customers. But with so many brands managing their social media networks so badly it doesn’t surprise me in the least they are pouring their vintage wine down the sink.

Current adoption rates for measuring social media networks are still very low despite many brands claiming they are entering a maturing stage of their social media development. Planned investments are on the increase but investing in social media doesn’t just mean hiring a new Social Media Manager to look after the company Hootsuite account, it means hiring an experienced marketer who can answer the tough but simple questions like “Why are we spending all this money on social media and not selling any more of our stuff?”

“Social media monitoring and data collection will be one of the fastest growth areas for business intelligence vendors over the next several years as companies try to gain competitive advantage by getting closer to their customers,” says to Peter Auditore, Principal at Asteria Research, “This represents not only a new IT discipline, but a great opportunity for vendors to create and deliver products, services, thought leadership and best practices for conducting Social CRM.”

To download the study, visit http://www.share.org/research

The F-commerce formula doesnt work

Why The F-commerce Formula Does Not Work

If you have millions of Facebook fans and high levels of engagement then it makes sense to give that community an opportunity to buy your products from within the platform. Or so you would think. It wasn’t so long ago that even ASOS admitted that sales from their social networks were not as good as expected, a statement that was publicly retracted, probably after a few embarrassing months later.

You have to be naive in thinking F-commerce will generate immediate sales as millions of fans does not mean millions of existing and new customers ready to buy. If the adage that brand conversations on Facebook should be the same as you would “talk to you friends down the pub” then it’s no wonder they don’t want to buy anything directly. The likelihood is, if you have the correct tracking in place, that they will Like you on Facebook but go to your website to browse your products. For my Walks And Walking website the top 4 referrers, in order, are StumbleUpon, Twitter, Ping.fm and Facebook but that’s not to say I should be looking into S-commerce, T-commerce P-commerce and F-commerce!

Top 4 Referring Websites To Walks And Walking

Facebook is the most visited website in the world, it’s where people are hanging out to chat. My highest levels of engagement aren’t reached from posting work related content on my personal page, it’s when I post a new photo of my 16 month old son. When I Like a brand on Facebook, enter a competition or interact with a Facebook page in any way I usually get a stony silence from my friends. When I post a family photo or a light-hearted joke I get loads of friends Liking, sharing and commenting.

I personally don’t believe social media should be managed by the e-commerce team anyway. If it sits in PR then that’s the best place to start but ideally you need a social media group within the business with champions from customer services, product, marketing and sales and remember social media is not just another channel. Facebook is a channel, Twitter is a channel, YouTube is a channel and each one needs its own social media strategy, publishing process, rules of engagement and content plan.

Click here to read the Bloomberg Report on failing Facebook Stores that have recently closed.

If anyone has simplified and nailed down exactly how you should use social media then it is Nick Stamoulis at Brick Marketing.

Read it, print it off and stick it all over your marketing department’s walls!

4 Social SEO Mistakes to Avoid | Search Engine People | Toronto.