But Mike Corak, vice president of strategy for Tallwave, believes a crucial step needs to be added after auditing: Listen.

“What is in demand?” Corak told the audience at the May 20 Online Marketing Summit in downtown Phoenix. “If you listen, people will tell you what they want.”

Mike Corak of Tallwave

First, you need to know the language of your customer, the vernacular.

He told the story of a major dental brand that decided to emphasize “oral health.” But consumers viewed the subject as “dental health” – a term that was used five times more often in web searches, he said.

Second, understand the context of the customer’s inquiry. Is it an enthusiast who wants the “latest and greatest,” or a typical customer with a typical problem?

Third, categorize and prioritize the interest exhibited by customers.

He cited a recent case involving the Arizona Office of Tourism.

“What did they find the searchers wanted? Information among the Grand Canyon and Sedona,” he said. “Be relevant.”

Fourth, create packages of content according to the demand. Does the customer want to see videos? Read a blog? Engage a microsite? You’ll know if you listen to their needs.

Last, once your strategy is in place, create a plan to update it, as circumstances and tastes change.

Sorak also challenged the audience with this homework:

1. Perform search-based keyword research. Where does your brand show up? Your competitors’ brands? Your product or service?
2. Use social media to understand where conversations about your brand are occurring and what is the context of inquiries.
3. Categorize the interest in your product or service by comparing your keywords with the relevant demand.
4. Audit your current content.
5. Is there a difference between Nos. 3 and 4?
6. If there is, do something about it!

Corak noted that there are a variety of free – Google AdWords, technorati, and Twitter search – and paid – Radian6, Spiral16 – tools available to give insights into customer behavior.

That was the message of Katie Van Domelen, social media manager for Off Madison Ave, a Tempe adverting firm, at the May 20 Online Marketing Summit in Phoenix.

“Most companies think their customers start at their website,” she said. “But brand interactions are messy.”

The traditional funnel looks like this: Awareness, Consideration, Purchase Intent, Purchase and Loyalty.

The 2010 funnel has this form: Engagement, Awareness, Discover Product, Search for Additional Information, and Purchase.

She noted the differences in understanding the campaigns of two automakers.

For one, a friend alerted her to a funny video: the Swagger Wagon featuring rapping parents.

Then she was watching TV and saw a Toyota commercial for the Siena minivan with the same parents. Intrigued, she went to the Toyota website and clicked to the Sienna. The key message was “Daddy Like,” the humorous close of the commercial.

The web page had a button with a link to a YouTube channel with more videos featuring the family and an interactive feature for Facebook – minivanimals. Nice, the social media expert thought.

She then saw a Ford commercial with “Dirty Jobs” star Mike Rowe. A fan, she went to the Ford “channel” on YouTube but … no Mike.

There were other videos but no links to other Mike Rowe videos, she noted. No links to a Facebook page or a website. She did go to the Ford page on Facebook but there was no mention of Mike Rowe.

“They employed Mike Rowe but it could have been much more,” Van Domelen said.

She eventually found a Ford microsite featuring “Super Duty” trucks with Rowe but it didn’t have a way to easily share the content with friends via Facebook or YouTube or Twitter.

“To me, this reflected that Ford had different people in different ‘silos,’” she said. “Different people were in charge of each segment of media.

She said a brand has many touchpoints.

“Companies see different segments,” she said. “The consumer sees it all together.”

Each touchpoint needs to be able to “stand alone, but stand together.”

She added that this “real life” includes mobile. If you’re going to have a website, you need to know how it works on a smart phone.

She recounted an experience during a recent visit to Dallas.

She and a friend wanted to go out for dinner. The concierge gave her the names of some nearby restaurants.

On her phone Van Domelen called up Yelp and found a review, which was positive. But she wanted to see a menu. The website wasn’t set up for mobile. It didn’t work.

She found a different restaurant on Yelp. At its website, she saw she was eligible for a special if she signed up for an email list. She did, she got an immediate email, which was easy to read on her phone, and got a free pita.

She also checked into the bistro with Foursquare and there’s a tip with a coupon, she said.

She urges companies to follow a two-step approach:

1. Map your customers’ usual journey
   

   Ask them through surveys how they found you and listen. Track them through web analytics to know where they came from. Test your approaches with site-specific discounts and special codes.

2. Shape your customers’ journey
   

   Organize links in order of importance. Cross-link your networks. Leverage promotions across all media and offline, in in-store promotions.

It’s also important to know your customers. If they are comfortable sharing photos or videos, you can engage them with a fun feature like the “Mad Hatter Yourself” tool on the “Alice in Wonderland” Facebook page.

If they like trivia, consider a game like the one Southwest Airlines introduced on Facebook to promote travel to California.

“Guess what?” Van Domelen said. “If you’re playing, you’re being marketed to.”

She said companies can take different approaches to web marketing: promoting the company, promoting a product or service, or promoting an individual or personality. She believes creating a “character” for a product or service through social media is the most effective.

Groves, the founder and CEO of Social Marketing Conversations, explained that social media can’t – and shouldn’t – stand on its own in organizations.

It needs to be integrated into the entire marketing/pr strategy and, because it involves interaction with customers, deserves a more prominent spot at the table – media that is social.

He cited Dell’s and Pitney Bowes’ efforts, along with Tom Dickson’s Will It Blend? website for Blendtec.

Steven Groves

The first part of his talk looked at one aspect of customer behavior: the screen.

One screen is the movie screen. Movies were seen by 14 billion customers worldwide in 2009.

The second screen is the TV. Ninety-nine percent of U.S. homes have one. Gaming consoles and BluRay devices now allow you to access the Internet on the TV.

“You can have NetFlix now on your Wii,” he said. “It’s really the way to watch TV. I’m about ready to give up my Cox cable.”

The third screen is the computer.

The last screen is the mobile phone.

“Mobile will grow faster than the desktop,” Groves said. “There are some impressive devices, like the iPhone and the Droid.”

He mentioned a Morgan Stanley Mobile Internet Report from December that suggests that 20 percent of Internet traffic is coming from mobile devices and that that figure will continue to grow.

“We need to figure out how to connect to them,” he said.

The new iPad – or “sofa computer,” to Groves – has the potential to change the mix.

He added that marketers also need to look to the BRIC – Brazil, Russia, India and China – for growth.

“There is only 23 percent penetration of social media but they are huge markets,” he said.

The Bravo case study

Integrating brand content across the screens is one challenge.

The Bravo cable television network, a division of NBC Universal, gets it, Groves said. He credits Ellen Stone, Bravo’s senior vice-president for marketing, for exploring ways to bring everything together.

“They want to use social media around (the network’s) ‘forward-leaning’ approach,” he said. He explained that ‘forward-leaning’ means they want active viewers, not ones who lean back.

They put out content like “Real Housewives,” “Top Chef” and “America’s Next Top Model” on the second screen, the TV.

On the third screen, Bravo invites fans of its shows to learn more through its website, Facebook, and Twitter. Use of a show’s hashtag on a Tweet may win you a prize. Bravo “Talk Bubbles” allow viewers to share questions with hosts immediately after shows are aired. Shows are also available “on demand” through NetFlix.

Bravo also has gone mobile – with games, Bravo Guides (showing where its reality-show stars eat and shop), Foursquare check-ins, and ringtones.

But it doesn’t stop there. Groves noted that offline Bravo is selling cookbooks, wine and clothes, offering tours of the stars’ local haunts, and creating board games and magazines for the brand.

“They can have the actors wear certain clothes and then have 500 shirts for sale in the Bravo store,” he said. “They are extending the reach to expand the brand and message.”

What Bravo is doing is the “perfect” case study, he said.

“Give customers what they want, when they want and as much as they want,” Groves said.

New paradigm

Companies need to understand that the characteristics of commerce have changed.

“In the future you will own less of your brand,” Groves said. “It will be co-owned by your customers.”

Your brand will be determined by what others are saying, plus your own messaging. That puts the onus on the company to connect with customers in as transparent a way as possible.

“And it will be 7x24x365 and global,” he said. “And you will need to listen.”

Companies are hiring individuals who simply “listen” for complaints. They are using Twitter to provide quick responses.

Some are also engaging companies like Sentiment360 to monitor the tone of comments about a company and generate a monthly report on trends, Groves said.

A lot of companies fear losing control of their brand, getting a bad reputation or acknowledging product flaws, he said.

“But the real risk is not listening to your customers,” he said.

Once you launch a social media effort, you need to manage it, audit results and make adjustments.

Aaron Kahlow

The inaugural Online Marketing Summit in Phoenix attracted more than 200 search and social-media marketers May 20 to the downtown Sheraton convention space.

The all-day event, organized by Aaron Kahlow, CEO of Online Marketing Connect, featured several keynotes and then presentations broken into three tracks: B2B, B2C and Social Media Integration.

Based on the comments of attendees, the summit produced numerous nuggets for navigating the ever-changing online landscape.

This is the first of a six-part series.

Creating a ‘Center of Excellence’

For mid-sized to large companies, the social media/online department is no longer a pair of folks working in their own silo and trying to get the rest of the organization to listen to them.

Companies realize that everyone is having conversations online, and that it’s in their best interest to participate.

What Back Azimuth search consultant Bill Hunt and Autodesk senior manager Maura Ginty described, however, is the importance of bringing that communication to a higher level.

Hunt described creating a “Center of Excellence” within a company. It would comprise four “pillars”:

• Uniform KPIs: The organization determines what they will measure in terms of online participation and why. Instead of trying to gather all types of data, a company should select only those that are relative to its objective and can provide actionable information.
• Education: When it comes to search and social media, a company needs to know what it’s doing, when it’s doing it and how it’s doing it. One issue is what keywords or tags should be used across all marketing divisions.
• Force multipliers: If a company can establish some basic standards and rules, the message will be more unified. A company needs to actively manage its portfolio of brand assets for best effectiveness and analyze processes to see that efforts are not being duplicated.
• Engagement: Commonality is great but the center of excellence’s impact will rely on customer service. For this reason, a company needs to set up scenarios and document the actions expected by front-line personnel. Furthermore, if keywords being used by the online marketing are repeated by the team pushing out emails, the company’s search presence will be enhanced.

In a reply to a specific question about gaining a higher presence in search engines, Hunt recalled his days with Procter & Gamble and the importance of “shelf space.”

“You want to seek out multiple positions in search,” he said.

Ginty said one of the problems companies face in social media is “publishing without listening.”

“There’s inconsistent reporting, goals are experimental only and there is an absence of a common strategy,” she said. She showed an image of a lot of building blocks collapsed on a table.

Instead, an organization needs to coordinate its marketing efforts with the public-relations team, and with its technical support and customer-service folks. She suggests identifying one person who “listens” and then distributes questions to the individuals who can best produce answers.

Interactions may occur on a company website or blog or forum. But she emphasized that your customers are on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

“That is where the party is happening,” Ginty said. “You need to go there and listen.”

This may be as simple as doing a search of the company name or product. The team should develop a template for how to interact with customers.

She particularly encourages companies to use YouTube.

“Create an advocate for the customer,” she said. “Produce a video that helps them.”

Maura Ginty of Autodesk shares some ideas on integrating a digital strategy throughout an organization. Bill Hunt looks on.