Affiliate Summit West 2010

Effective Social Media Techniques

Objective: To unbundle the uncertainty, skepticism and cynicism surrounding social media

The Panelists

Rebecca KelleyDirector of Social Media, 10e20 (Twitter @RebeccaKelley) •Began her online marketing career in 2006, SEO consultant, focuses on organic SEO, social media, content creation, blogging, viral marketing, linkbait

•Provides consulting for clients and manages 10e20’s blog and social media presence

•Guest blogs for IM publications and speaks about IM and viral marketing at industry conferences

The Panelists

Brett TabkeCEO, WebmasterWorld (Twitter @btabke) •CEO and founder of WebmasterWorld Inc and Chairman of PubCon Conferences

•Coined several SEO staples such as “Link Farm”, “SEO Themes”, and the classic “SERP” (Search Engine Results Page)

•First known person to have fully decoded the Excite and most of the Altavista search engine algos

The Panelists

Keith PlocekSocial Media Manager, Mail.com Media Corp(Twitter @KeithPlocek) •Heads up social media efforts for Mail.com Media’s family of sites, including Movieline, Hollywood Life, Deadline and OnCars.

•Original social media manager for Village Voice Media, where he started as an editor.

•Specializes in crafting and identifying eyeball-grabbing content that connects writers and readers

Moderator

Andrew WeeOwner, WhoIsAndrewWee.com(Twitter @AndrewWee) •Singapore-based affiliate, consultant, marketer

•Webmaster and site developer for one of Asia’s first internet portals, developed 10+ vertical portals

•Background in technology/electronics focused business reporting

What is effective social media branding/marketing?

Second Contact

@KeithPlocek

@btabke

@AndrewWee

@Rebecca Kelley

Affiliate Summit West 2010

Effective Social Media Techniques

Brett TabkeCEO, PubCon/WebmasterWorld

PPC Advertising $65,000 on PPC Ads over 4 yearsZero Tracked Sales

$75,000 Marketing budget 2008Moderate Success

All-Twitter-All-The-Time 2009

• $0 On marketing or adsResults:• Up 30% attendance in down year• Overall income up 40% year-over-

year and up 15% from peak year.

Ah-Ha MomentBlogging vs Tweeting

• Blogs live forever - Tweets don‘t

• A blog post starts to live when you post it - a tweet starts to die when you post it

What is Tweeting?

• Tweeting is a one time broadcast event

• ReTweeting is when it enters reruns

Twitter Tracking

• SocialMention.com• PitchEngine.com • Twitalyzer.com• TweetEffect.com• TwitterAnalyzer.com• Socialoomph.com• CoTweet.com• Klout.com

Retweet is A Marketing Arm

• Retweets reach and tap new markets that you can reach alone

Retweet Reach

• I have 26,000 followers.• My 26,000 followers have a

total of 22,000,000 million followers, about 1.1 million unique people!

• If Tweeting is a broadcast medium, then retweet reach is your max audience share

• RT + 1 space + @nick + space or colon + tweet (about 130 chars max)• Do not start the ReTweet with an @ sign• Respect the tweet and keep it original• Do NOT RT this way: (via @foobar)• If you have extra space, drop in a #hashtag• RT’s reaches new followers - #hashtags reach searchers

How To Retweet?

Twitter: @btabke

Retweets Types

• Educational Content – tutorials• Breaking news – losing steam• Alerts and Warnings (virus, phishing, etc)• Contests (decreasing)

What Retweets?

• Tweets with #hashtags have a higher amount of retweets

• Bit.ly retweets more than TinyUrl• Afternoons are retweet heavy

Retweet The Classics

10 Retweets7 related @’s@ Slushy Related Mix = 20Total Reach = 91k follower

When to ReTweet

• Timing is everything – TOD rules.• When is your audience on Twitter?• A good tweet deserves to be seen.

Tweet it again

When To Tweet

• Highest Tweet Day- Wednesday• ReTweet Days - Monday & Wednesday• Highest number of retweets 2:15pm-3:30pm

eastern.• #1 Twitter City: London England

Tweet Who/What?

• ABO : Always Be Optimizing • Troll the friends of your competition• Scout related keywords and hashtags• Contests, coupons, limited time offers, and

invites to beta programs.

Retweetables

• Put Tweet-It buttons everywhere • Retweet buddies. Ask for a retweet• Fresh content while it is being retweeted

Influentials

• Klout – Page Rank for Twitter• ReTweeters? Track them.• Thank your retweeters. Let them know you

saw it.• Keep score. Remember to retweet friends.• 1 offs - “payback” retweets at odd hours

Klout

Tweet This! Hello Twitter = Goodbye Google

Brett Tabke, PubContwitter: @btabke

Affiliate Summit West 2010

Mail.com and Social Media, or the Power of Personality

Keith PlocekEditor + Social Media Manager, Mail.com Media Corporation

Mail.com Media Corporation

comScore Nov. 2009

• 4.7 million unique U.S. visitors

• 10 million unique visitors worldwide

Mail.com Media Corporation

• Large focus on the entertainment industry• Breaking news, exclusive interviews and colorful analysis• Name-brand talent:

• Nikki Finke, Bonnie Fuller, Mark Lisanti

• Social media efforts reflect this focus• Never shy about having an opinion• Individual voices placed front and center

The Power of Personality

Opportunities and Challenges• Variety and scale offer opportunities for cross promotion.

• Varied personalities require varied solutions.

• The need to build and maintain brands requires long-term thinking, i.e. no quick fixes.

The Rules of Social Media, or Why Social Media Is a Little Like Sex

• Be kind.

• Don’t just take. Give.

• Variety is key.

• Hand-crafted > automated

• Take your time (but don’t waste it).

So What’s This Got to Do with Affiliate Marketing?

• The rules are the same• Quick tricks = traffic• A little extra effort = quality traffic

• Personalities help drive engagement• Bland: “What you guys think of Avatar?”• Better: “Anyone else think Avatar was overhyped?”

• One word: Linkbait

Good Linkbait Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

Top 3 Reasons Why Lists Are Awesome

1.) They are easy to write.

2.) They are easy to read.

3.) They get conversations going.

Charts and Graphs

The Mail.com Personalities

@bonniefuller @marklisanti @louisvirtel@nikkifinke @corynnes @ppfanner@willlee

twitter.com/keithplocek/mail-com-media

@strange_news@hollywoodlife@oncarsonline@movieline

Many thanks!

@keithplocek

281-513-4867

Come up and say hello!