Part1. One of my favorite micro-blogging services is Soup.  It’s an easy-to-use app that lets you add text and media to your page with the simple push of a button.  Different from standard blogs, microblogs are for sharing text snippets and bite-size media only.

Your “soup” can be a mix of the content you add and imported feeds from other social media channels like Twitter, Digg, Del.icio.us, Facebook… (You get the picture).  Add blog feeds to your “soup” – your own blog is a definite “must” – posts are displayed and a new audience is now within your reach.

Every time a user adds a new ingredient to their soup — it also shows up on Soup.io’s front page for all to see.  Don’t expect your content to stay on the homepage long though, because in truth, new stuff is continuously going up.  Soup is about sharing – so if somebody finds your content interesting, they may visit your soup, add you to their friends list, or even “re-post” your content on their own soup.  Like a retweet in Twitter, this is the real potential behind Soup.io.  It’s in your ability to potentially reach networks of people outside of your own by creating valuable content that gets spread.

During part 2 we’ll share 10 ideas for integrating Soup.io into your marketing mix. Are you currently using Soup.io? Let us know in the comments.

Anybody notice how noisy it’s gotten?  I mean, all of a sudden I’m being flooded by a constant flow of press releases and social media releases and sooo-much-PR… it seems endless.

It’s as if, in a mad dash to be heard, companies are cranking out more and more releases every day — whether it’s newsworthy stuff or not — just hoping, even praying they’ll get picked up.  Working harder to accomplish less is never the smart business choice.  Better to have a few effective campaigns under your belt than a dozen forgettable attempts.

What does your communication strategy look like?  Do you even have a strategy?  Or are you like many busy marketers out there firing off standalone tactics?  The good news (If I can call it that) is that your competition’s probably in the same boat that you’re in — so what we’ve got here is an opportunity.  A chance to get ahead of the pack and sharpen your skills at the same time.

From figuring out the goals for each campaign — to allocating the appropriate amount of resources and time — you need a plan to be effective.  And believe me, the answer isn’t to write a press-release about everything just to cover your bases.  It’s a lot like crying wolf — after a while your audience tunes out.  You need to know what’s newsworthy in order to keep them engaged and listening.

If you’re not sure where to start, there’s an eWorkshop with Demand Metric and MarketingExperiments on April 28th that’s worth checking out.  In addition to the hour-long training, you get tools and templates to use for developing your media relations strategy.

I started using the tools and played around with the templates today (My company’s producing the event) – as a package, they’re powerful indeed.  During a webinar rehearsal a couple weeks back Brian Solis, Principal at Future-Works, said that “Influence is the ability to inspire action and measure it” — Optimizing my media relations strategy seems like an excellent starting point.

What do you think has caused the uptick in press releases?  Do you think it’s a result of reduced marketing budgets and thus an over-reliance on traditional media strategies?  Let us hear your theories in the comments.

—————————————————

I’m particular about who I follow on Twitter.  I’d imagine most people, depending on their interests, are pretty particular as well.  I use Twitter as a resource for my work so I tend to follow people who tweet about marketing and social media.  Most days, my timeline is packed with useful information and fresh ideas.

It’s kinda flattering when you get a new follower, in a way – you’re being paid a compliment.  The polite thing to do when you’re paid a compliment is to say “thank you” and reciprocate.  Now there’s a time and a place for the “follow me and I’ll follow you” Twitter philosophy – but for most of us, that could mean junking up our streams.

To keep things fresh, regularly check out your new followers to see if you’d like to follow them.  You can quickly scan them by placing your cursor on their username to make their bio visible. For additional info, check out their full profile.

Here are a few red flags to keep in mind when you’re deciding whether or not to follow:

1.  Bio – If it’s blank (devoid of any useful information) how useful can their tweets be?

2. Spammy username – “GetRichQuick” anyone?  Sure we’d all love to, but it’s not likely.  If it doesn’t look legit, it probably isn’t.

3. Following a bajillion people with few following back – This is a dead giveaway for a Twitter spammer.

4. Profile is in a foreign language - If you have no ties to the culture or language of the user, then move on.

5. Tweets are primarily personal – Your personal stream-of-consciousness is just that, yours.  Unless you’re on Twitter for the sake of casual conversation, you won’t advance your business much by following these folks.

Happy Tweeting!

——————————————————

Don’t get on Twitter because it’s cool or trendy — That’s never the “right” reason to do something.  Like your mom always asked: “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?”

Call me an idealist, but I believe all business and personal decisions should be based on whether it’s the “right” thing to do — right for you, right for your customers, right for your business.  Here are the 4 “Right” reasons for being on Twitter:

1. Your customers are on Twitter – Don’t know for sure?  Ask them.
2. Your prospects are on Twitter – Compare Twitter marketplace data to your customer profile – Sufficient overlap? Go for it.
3. Your offers are time sensitive – Assuming you’ve met the criteria for #1 and #2, if your calls 2 action require immediate response, Twitter is “right” for you.
4. You have fans – People want a personal connection with things they love – this is tricky to accomplish for large brands (impersonal), perfect for celebrities of any sort.

Can you think of other reasons why Twitter would be “right” ?  We want to hear them! Let us know in the comments.

——————————————————-

Have you been a victim of thoughtless landing page design? Or worse, are you a guilty perpetrator?  It amazes me that some companies make any money, given how hard they make it for prospects to become customers.  Honestly, I have very little patience for this.  Following is an email I sent to an unnamed company (HINT: They’re a job-search site and their name rhymes with “The Matters”).

Here’s the scenario:  Every year I pay to have my resume re-written by an expert.  This year I decided to try out  a new company.

Dear Marketer,

How is this page performing for you?  Are you getting tons of customers?  Well I would argue you’re nowhere near where you could be if this page was actually designed with me in mind.  For one thing, it would be nice if there was a button, checkbox, something–to start down the resume re-write path.  There isn’t.  I fiddled around your site for 8 minutes (yes I counted) without finding what I came here for.

Lucky for you I’m motivated (or dissatisfied) enough to write this email — most people won’t be.  They’ll just forget you and move onto the next company on their list.

I optimize conversion funnels for a living, so I promise you that your customers are spending too much time in “unsupervised thinking” mode.  If only you would at least provide a clear path to conversion – you might be awed by the lift that will result.

You Should Provide Two Distinct Choices:

1.  Get your FREE critique (for those who need a little more convincing)
2.  Get your resume re-write (for people like me who are ready to buy NOW)

It really shouldn’t be this much trouble for me to give you my money.  Whats more, I’m not interested in the auto-responder bucket you’re going to drop me into — I’m past that point so please have a real human being contact me with a quote.  You don’t need to market to me anymore — plus, you’re really not that good at it anyway.  I’ll just take my business somewhere else because you’ve already annoyed me and I’ve already wasted too much time.

Yes this is very direct and somewhat rude — if you’re smart, you’ll politely respond with a “thank you”, then take this as a wake-up call and change your page!

~Tameesha

P.S.  If I get an auto-responder, I’m blogging, twittering and updating the status on all my networks about you — and you definitely don’t want that.

———————————————–