The Buyer Group PR + SEO News

Will Obama implement the same groundswell tactics that aided him to victory in his government? Josh Bernoff, social media expert and author of New York Times Bestseller, “Groundswell” seems to think so…

Bernoff is a Forrester Research analyst and blogger who calls on Obama to create “a community of committed Americans to discuss the solutions to the problems that face us.”

After the stunning Internet strategy Obama used to secure the presidency, harnessing the groundswell to govern is certainly a logical next step. Obama’s revolutionary social networking site, mybarackobama.com (MyBo), engaged hundreds of thousands of voters and supporters in an unprecedented fashion. Designed by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, MyBo’s contribution is described as “maximizing group collaboration, while acting as a gateway for millions of ordinary Americans to participate in the political process.”

MyBo was just one factor in Obama’s groundswell efforts. Through the use of social networking sites including Facebook pages and Twitter updates, Obama was able to rise above the press in a proactive way. By giving supporters and “naysayers” alike, direct access to his campaign via the Web, Obama achieved online PR goal “numero uno”: Positive messaging given directly to the target audience, no message clutter in sight.

Now that’s good PR.

*UPDATE!* 10.7.08: It seems we were correct in our assessment of President-Elect Obama’s commitment to harnessing the groundswell to help him govern a new America. Visit www.change.gov to see social media in action, changing the government one blog at a time. Also, guess who’s the most popular Twitter user? Yes, President Obama.

by Nicole Balistreri

It’s a Social Media Revolution!

Social media is poised on the brink of a new revolution. Google recently filed a patent application for it’s newest proprietary technology that determines the biggest influencers on the web.

So, it’s like high school except instead of boyfriend stealing and homecoming queens, this popularity contest helps determine how to place ads and brand-related applications with more targeted accuracy than ever before.

For those of us in the online PR world, that means more valuable opportunities to place our client’s brand and messaging on pages that are undoubtedly visited/run by the biggest influencers online.

Better ROI anyone? Yes please.

So far, Google has remained pretty mum on the subject, declining to be interviewed for Business Week’s article on the topic. However, we do know it’s based on the same principles as Google PageRank; that coveted number that tells us how popular our client’s pages are in a group of online search results.

Google’s social media ranking has the potential to be more valuable to online PR than PageRank could ever be. Just imagine, finding your best online brand advocates – and talking only to them. It’s an online PR and social media dream!

Word of Mouth PR Replaces Old School Ads

According to The Buyer Group’s online pr team, the old adage of spending money to make money isn’t necessarily true. How is this possible you ask? Well, the New York Times has the answer, and they’re called Yelpers. (Yel * Perz: n. def: an individual who uses www.yelp.com to create product and service reviews, to spread the word about quality businesses.)

In a recent article, NY Times business writer Dan Frost profiles several business owners who have increased their profits and decreased their ad spending simply by utilizing Yelp and other social media sites.  The Buyer Group can attest to the increase in online visibility that our clients receive with the simple addition of social media networking to their business model.

When participating in Yelp, business owners can also join in on the conversation by responding to user reviews and encouraging patrons to review them on Yelp in their physical business locations.

Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst with Forrester Research contributes to the article with this important fact: 83 percent of consumers trust the opinion of their peers when making product and service choices. Yelp allows consumers to reign supreme over advertisements, as they should.

To read the article in full about how Yelp can be a valuable interactive public relations tool click here.

By Sarah Van Elzen 

A recent Social Media Webinar hosted by Bulldog discussed ways BtoB marketers can use social media and where to start. 

The discussion advised the main points to cover before introducing social media into a marketing plan are:

1.    Focus on what you what to accomplish
2.    Master your company Web site for usability
3.    Make sure your email messages act as an ongoing conversation and build a relationship between the recipient and your organization
4.    Landing pages must have a call to action

Once you have that in place – develop a social media plan.

In order to develop a social media plan, you need to consider:

1.    What is your customers’ online behavior?  Are they up to speed with the social media world? Are they observers or participators?
2.    How will you use social media to interact with your customers?
a.    Will you listen or speak to them?
b.    Will you offer support for their problems?

Whatever you decide, make it a goal that your social media efforts embrace your customers in a community setting to make your product/service better.

Once your social media efforts are into place remember to use social media to listen to your customers – treat it like a listening post or an exchange of info, not a push tactic.

If you want to learn more about social media and user behavior please contact me to request a copy of the presentation.  

My grandmother used to say “What will the neighbors think?” Now we are
living in such a virally social world that we all should care ‘what the
neighbors think’, especially if you are a retail business owner trying
win customers and good referrals. Sites like Yelp, Angieslist and even
facebook are putting the consumer in charge of getting the word out and
social media. Monitoring your reputation online is all about what the
neighbors think.
by Lisa Buyer

"Social Media" or just "Old-Fashioned Referrals"

By Danielle Leitch, Exec. Vice President at MoreVisibility

It has been amazing how much referring business or website traffic we are currently witnessing for clients through Word of Mouth Advertising (WOMA). Some of these channels may be considered part of Web 2.0 relative to the Social Media craze, but they really seem like good old-fashioned referrals to me after all is said and done.

Through website analytics it is very easy to identify referring URLs and distinctly differentiate those channels and campaigns you pay for, versus the outlets that drive visitors to your site through “natural” sources. Part of this could also include viral marketing or WOMA, as the sites on which this type of activity normally occurs for a business would result in a “natural-appearing” traffic source. To identify it definitively as something other then your organic search traffic, you will need to drill a bit deeper into actual traffic sources or referring sites by name.

Recently we saw a client, who had some highly qualified web site visitors (on a local level) being delivered by AngiesList and YELP. These sites are delivering visitors, not being generated from any paid efforts and that traffic is converting very strongly. After researching a bit further as to the two sites the traffic came from, it became clear why it was so highly qualified. These sites are very wholesome in nature and content. YELP is an almost fanatical "neighborhood" sounding board for good (and bad) service. When someone "Yelps" (raves or complains) about a product or service, the readers of this site listen — really listen! It is set up on a city or local basis, so it becomes a personalized experience you are sharing with others in your community. I’d like to think of it as a "Lead Generation" service to the local business owner, for rewarding their efforts and solid customer service.