Posts Tagged ‘Mary Beth West Consulting’

“A Very Special Brain”

By Mary Beth West, APR

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Those were Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak’s words in likening the late Steve Jobs to such historic geniuses as Isaac Newton and William Shakespeare, this morning on the “Today” show. 

Jobs wanted to make “a dent in the universe,” and for those of us here on Planet Earth, he did just that. 

Speaking in those terms, while some people can see the forest for the trees, Jobs could see the universe for the galaxies.  He operated on that scale.

For us, Steve Jobs will remain forever iconic not only for the vast swell of innovative technology he delivered to the global marketplace but also for the unique brand of entrepreneurship he embodied in his leadership.

There were many twists and turns in his career.  From what has been documented about him, not everyone embraced his leadership style.  So many of the true creative geniuses of our world face fierce criticism or rejection because of facets of their personalities that others find difficult, which also can be a part of what makes them great.

The world will sorely miss what would have been so much more future potential of Steve Jobs’ life, cut short by his illness.  In the wake of the loss, we can still be inspired by what he accomplished, how he accomplished it and what he shared.

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The Google+ Grouch

By Mary Beth West, APR

Do I have time for this?!  I mean, @#^&$#%! 

That was my bad attitude this past week as I started trying to set up my Google+ profile. 

I know that this admission flies in the face of who/what I’m supposed to be as a marketing communications professional.  When it comes to all things social media, I’m supposed to be early to the game and quick on the draw.  But this week, I had to lay claim to my humanity.

Perhaps it was the timing.  August 1 was the first day of school for my kids with all the associated chaos, we had several new-business pitches in play, and if I didn’t have enough perspiration issues already, it’s been about 100 degrees outside.  Trying to figure out the Google+ social media interface and where everything fit in just wasn’t jiving for me.

And that’s part of the challenge Google+ may be up against as it continues its launch.  Folks know Facebook.  They know where the buttons are and what they do.  It’s hard to change . . . or at least to give a stab at a new-kid-on-the-block social media presence that may seem like a mere duplication of what Facebook already does quite nicely, thank-you-very-much.

But not so fast.  I’m going to have to give myself an “F” on attitude and remember that I had a similar perception of Facebook back when I was still milling around on MySpace four years ago and someone first sent me a FB friend request. 

Que sera.  It’s almost a new week, so I’ll start taking my own advice: don’t get overwhelmed with analysis-paralysis.  Enjoy the process of discovering this new social media gizmo . . . it should be fun seeing where it leads.

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Making Social Media A Driver of Genuine Relationship-Building

by Tori Rose, Principal, Blue Media Boutique

Your social media content is consumed voluntarily, so it has to be valuable enough to pay attention to. We all have topics we think are important, and it’s pretty typical to want to share them all, but you can’t make your audience consume your content. Here are a few things you can do to make sure your content is meeting the needs of your audience:

  • Analytics: What kind of content is your audience already consuming? What pages are being hit? What posts are being read? Take a look at your analytics and let them determine where you should focus future efforts. Note: If you don’t have analytics set up on your website, consider Google Analytics. Google Analytics is the web analytics solution that gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness.

  • Keywords: Now that you have a better sense of what your audience is absorbing on your site, analyze the terms they are using to find your site. If they are searching on a particular service, make sure you have enough content on your site describing that service. If they are searching on a product, consider adding a page about that particular product. It’s possible you are wasting time writing and editing content that no one is reaching. An analysis of these keywords will help guide that effort.

  • Site search: If your website has a search engine, it can be the best indicator as to what content your audience needs/wants. You can find out what your visitors search for and which pages they visit as a result. You can also see where they begin their searches, how many pages they visit after searching, and which product groups they are most likely to search.

Keep an eye on what your audience is doing and continue to engage them. If you meet a need, and become a trusted resource, you will begin to build relationships with your audience that will prove invaluable over time.

For more on this topic, check out our presentation: No Cookie-Cutters Allowed: Making Social Media A Driver of Genuine Relationship-Building.

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