Ideally, you’d like all your customers to talk about the products/services they’ve purchased from you with their friends; realistically, this probably probably won’t happen. In order to drive people to share more, you may have to ask them and you may have to incentivize them.

Our Shout It Out technology (example above) makes it easy for you to encourage people to share news of their purchases with friends and get rewarded for it.  Here’s how it works:

• Someone purchases a product from your website
• On the purchase confirmation page, Shout It Out comes into play, asking people to share news of their purchase with friends, explaining why they should do this (ex: share with 5 friends and get 20% off your next order), and showing them what will be sent out
• An email is sent out to the purchaser’s friend/s. This email contains a call to action or special offer that will encourage the purchaser’s friends to check out your company.
• Our technology enables the email to be “sent” from the purchaser. People are more likely to open/view emails that come from people they know and trust.
• Our team works with you at each step of the way to determine what the offer should be and do the creative that will drive people to share.
• Tracking is included, so you can see how many new purchases, revenue and/or email subscribers you receive from this

The best source of new revenue and subscribers are often the friends and family of your current customers. Contact us today to learn how Shout It Out can help drive sharing, acquisition and revenue for your company. Also, check out our precision email marketing platform, Calibr, if you’re looking to be more successful with your email programs.

Does +1 Impact SEO?

According to Google is “a potential signal to improve search quality.”

Question: “Does +1 affect my site’s performance in search?”

Answer: “Content recommended by friends and acquaintances is often more relevant than content from strangers. For example, a movie review from an expert is useful, but a movie review from a friend who shares your tastes can be even better. Because of this, +1’s from friends and contacts can be a useful signal to Google when determining the relevance of your page to a user’s query. This is just one of many signals Google may use to determine a page’s relevance and ranking, and we’re constantly tweaking and improving our algorithm to improve overall search quality. For +1′s, as with any new ranking signal, we’ll be starting carefully and learning how those signals affect search quality.”

Google +1 has the potential to have a major impact on search results for online retailers. But which of the top 100 Internet retailers are using Google +1 on product pages? We conducted some research to find out.

Even though this a new button, we were surprised to find that only ten out of the top 100 retailers have the Google +1 button on their product pages. I suspect when Google officially announces that Google +1 will start directly affecting search rankings, more retailers will put the button on product pages. But those smart ten retailers that already have the button in place might possibly gain an edge by being early adopters. Here’s the list of the ten companies that are using Google +1:

• Best Buy
• L.L. Bean
• Overstock.com
• Nordstrom
• Redcats
• Buy.com
• BarnesandNoble.com
• Blue Nile
• Hayneedle
• Sierra Trading Post

Here are three examples of Google +1 buttons on product pages:

From Blue Nile.com

From Buy.com

From BestBuy.com

Have you added  Google +1 to your site or are you planning to soon? Check here to get the button.

About Chris: 

I spent a long time (18+ years) in the technology field, before moving to the pet industry about a year ago. Pets are a lot more entertaining than computers and printers. I started life as a CPA before seeing the light and moving over to marketing years ago.

About Pets Best:

Pets Best was founded by Dr. Jack Stephens who started the pet insurance industry in the US about 30 years ago. He brings his tea-cup Chihuahua into the office almost every day. She weighs about a pound-and-a-half and thinks she weighs 80. Most of the folks in the office are a little bit scared of her (at least I am). If she had a full set of teeth, she’d be a menace.

What are some of Pets Best Insurance’s goals in using social media?

First and foremost, to create an environment for our customers to engage with us in an informal, fun way. Social media also provides us a way to communicate and provide value to both customers, pet owners the veterinary community, and at the same time, learn what’s important to them when it comes to their pets’ health.

What’s your general philosophy on running the Pets Best Facebook page?

We strive to engage both customers and non-customers in our activities. Our contests and promos are open to anyone who wants to participate – they don’t have to be a customer or even currently own a pet – and anyone can ask questions of us or the vets we partner with. In addition, we don’t delete negative comments or reviews. We see them as a way to communicate individually with customers to solve problems and continually improve how we do business.

Describe some of the benefits of running campaigns like “My Vet’s the Best” on your blog and Facebook Page?

We get to know our customers so well through these campaigns. Whether they’re helping us name a kitten, trying to decipher an x-ray or nominating a dedicated veterinarian they’ve had for 10 years, we actually have lots of laughs and even some teary-eyed moments. And in turn, the customers get a taste of the Pets Best Insurance personality so we can be more than just an insurance company to them. Often when we post pictures of our Customer Care Reps, a Facebook friend will comment, “I just spoke with her last week and she was so helpful!” It really brings us full circle with our customers.

What advice would you give people who are looking to implement successful promotions and programs on Facebook?

The most important tip: Be prepared to give your promotions daily attention. You can’t just start a contest, walk away and come back 3 weeks later to award a prize. My Vet’s the Best is the first longer-term promo we’ve done, and it works because we reach out to pet owners in ways other than just Facebook. But for Facebook-only promos, keep the timelines short (ideally 3 days to a week) and give your team permission to communicate with your fans. If they stop hearing from you, they’ll lose interest.

Pets Best Insurance creates a great deal of good content for your blog and video blog. How do you plan out the content and how does fit your in overall strategy?

We generate content in two main ways: First, advice from our veterinarian and behaviorist partners, and second, from our social media friends. We often solicit pet health questions on Facebook and Twitter, and those questions get answered in the video clips we post on our site. This helps us keep track of what’s really important to pet owners and can tell us what the trending topics are. For example, this spring we had questions about the new rattlesnake bite vaccine for dogs. Strategically, it’s all about pet health so it’s all relevant to us. Once those videos and blogs are posted, we make sure they have the proper keywords associated to them so other pet owners can find the info easily online.

What is the single most important thing you’d tell a brand that was looking to step up its efforts in social media?

You absolutely must be prepared to monitor all your social media accounts daily. Assign someone with good grammar, spelling and business judgment, and give him or her the flexibility to interact with fans without running every response through a corporate filter (hence the need to have folks with sound judgment engaging).

Thanks to Chris for taking the time to answer these questions and share his thoughts with us! We hope you enjoyed this as much as we did!

#CRME11 @ekolsky -- Does your company recognize the value of customers beyond their wallets?

August 10, 2011 9:46 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@PaulContentMan

Paul H. Simon

Paraphrasing @mjayliebs: #SocialMedia "complaint" channels forcing improved cust service - companies can't hide #CRMe11

August 10, 2011 9:47 am via TweetChatReplyRetweetFavorite

@neilglassman

Neil Glassman

Phone skills harder to find now among young people than social media skills, say contact center managers - @mjayliebs #CRMe11

August 10, 2011 9:53 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@CRMOutsiders

CRMOutsiders

What do customers want? "Know me, be competent, be trustworthy ,be likable, be relevant, be available," says @CRMStrategies #CRMe11

August 10, 2011 10:24 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@Bucholtz

Bucholtz

#CRMe11 key skills in an Am-hoc world: access, awareness, agility, empowerment & creativity @CRMStrategies

August 10, 2011 10:40 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@ahall3649

Art Hall

Interesting stats from @BrentLeary 93% of Americans think businesses should have a #facebook presence. Well duh! #crme11

August 10, 2011 12:04 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@CRMAdvice

Software Advice

"Pushing marketing 1.0 messages over marketing 2.0 channels won't work." - @BrentLeary #CRMe11

August 10, 2011 12:16 pm via SeesmicReplyRetweetFavorite

@BlakeLandau

BlakeLandau

@PaulContentMan: #CRMe11 via @BrentLeary company that buys tech w/o changing philosophy will see things happen that they don't like. So True

August 10, 2011 12:32 pm via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@i_AMwilliams

Alex Williams

"The Revolution will be measurized" - @BrentLeary #crme11

August 10, 2011 12:41 pm via TweetChatReplyRetweetFavorite

@CRMStrategies

Brian Vellmure CRM

@brentleary: Folks that were more strategic measured for sentiment. #crme11 #crm #cem #scrm

August 10, 2011 12:41 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@dmyron

David Myron

Not just about Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) but about Customer Lifetime Influence (CLI) @brentleary #CRMe11

August 10, 2011 12:45 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@johnrmatthews

John Matthews

If you come across interesting tweets that you’d like to nominate for inclusion in this series, feel free to drop us a line during the week @eWayDirect.

What is a Klout Score?

According to them, “It’s the measured influence based on your ability to drive action. Every time you create content or engage your influence others.” It uses the data from your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare and (most recently), YouTube accounts.

According to Megan Berry, Marketing Manager for Klout, “Our goal is to measure everywhere people are creating content and influencing each other online. For most Facebook is more personal and LinkedIn more professional, but we see influence happening in both platforms.”

How is it Measured?

According to Klout there are three main parts:

True Reach- “The number of people you influence. We filter out spam and bots and focus on the people who are acting on your content. When you post a message, these people tend to respond or share it.”

Amplification- “is how much you influence people. When you post a message, how many people respond to it or spread it further? If people often act upon your content you have a high Amplification score.”

Network- “indicates the influence of the people in your True Reach. How often do top Influencers share and respond to your content? When they do so, they are increasing your Network score.”

Why it is Important?

Measure, measure, measure! There is great deal of pressure in the marketing world to measure social media. People are spending a lot of time validating social media to clients and probably people within their own company. Klout is a popular (and free) way to measure social influence. Sometimes, even people who don’t in believe in its merits end up recognizing it.

I believe that Klout can be  a good part of a larger influence measure or score. For example, I wrote a blog post on “How Evaluate Blogs for Blogger Outreach Programs”, where I point out that companies need to identify some baselines so you can rank the blogs and see which ones are the best fit for your outreach program. Those baselines are to find bloggers who are passionate about the subjects they write about; blog metrics like PageRank, monthly site traffic and Technorati authority; evaluating bloggers subjectively to see if they fit with your brand; and other numbers bases on social media presence, like a Klout score. I think it’s ok to use Klout scores when they’re part of the puzzle or part of an overall strategy.

Why it is Not Important?

It’s not perfect. Klout provides what topics you are influential about along with a number score. I have never met a person who had “correct” or “right” influential topics. My currently influential topics are oatmeal, marketing, forums, social media, and drinks. I will take marketing and social media. Good job, Klout for getting that right! As for forums, I tweeted once about forums and now I’m influential about it? Ok? Whatever, I take it. Oatmeal is one I don’t understand. I’m actually on a low crab diet, so I have not eaten oatmeal in about six months. The only thing I can attribute to that, is sometimes I tweet about the comic website, “The Oatmeal.”  The last one kind of makes me mad. Drinks? I assume it means alcoholic drinks, so I will assume the others will believe that too. I’m not much of a drinker (and if you are, each to their own) but I try to keep my Twitter and other social media sites as professional as possible because I use my Twitter account as a networking tool. It’s not the end of the world because you can hide topics, but still it’s the principle of the thing.

About 2 weeks ago, Mark Schaefer wrote on his blog about how some companies are using a job candidate’s Klout score in hiring decisions. This stirred quite a debate with over 140 comments on the blog post. If you have some time read through them, since many people made some very interesting points. Here is a part of an important comment made by Nicole Cairns:

“As for Klout’s validity, I’d like to point these two users out: @hipstermermaid has a Klout score of 77. He/She runs a parody account, is anonymous, and tweets about beer and liking music that’s more obscure than your music. @acarvin has a Klout score of 78. Andy is changing the way news is produced and social media is integrated within an organization. The fact that these two rank even on the same chart as one another, much less within one point of each other, is a serious problem.”

So, take Klout as a gain of salt. If a person has a high Klout score, make sure to look at the full picture and don’t take the score at face value. And I will give Klout props for trying to create the best possible way to score influence. Over time, I believe it will get better. But it’s not there yet. In the meantime, people should focus on creating great content and connecting with people.

And remember to follow eWayDirect on Twitter, because we need a better Klout score. Wink, wink.

PLNDR is a members-only flash sale site that offers the latest in streetwear clothing and accessories at prices up to 60-80% off retail. PLNDR was launched a little over a year ago and has grown exponentially since then. One of the key things that distinguishes their company from other similar sites is that they are very member-oriented. They give their members the opportunity to write for their blog, help them choose what PLNDR sells on the site, and also to submit their brands and designs for a chance to be sold on PLNDR. 

We got in touch with Christos Tsatsopoulos, PLNDR’s Marketing Coordinator, to ask him some questions about how PLNDR is utilizing social media. See below for our questions and the answers that Christos kindly provided.

What are some of PLNDR’s goals in using social media?

One of our main goals in using social media is to bring our members together as a community  where they can interact with each other, take part in contests and giveaways, and to stay involved in everything that is going on in the PLNDR world. Besides our core focus, we just try our best to maintain consistent interaction and communication between PLNDR and our members by responding to comments and tweets as much as possible.

What’s your general philosophy on running PLNDR’s Facebook page?

Our general philosophy in terms of our Facebook page is to provide material that will appeal to our members. Material that will not only grab their attention, but get them involved in it. Giveaways, secret sales, and design competitions are just a few things that we do to get our members actively involved in the PLNDR community.

Describe some of the benefits of running campaigns like “March Madness” on your blog and Facebook Page. How often do you run contests like this?

By running campaigns on our Facebook page in addition to our blog, it allows our participants to go out and directly tell their friends to vote for their brand. Once they have invited their friends to our Facebook page to vote, they can then send them to our blog to vote again. It beneficial for us on both ends as our “likes” increase on our Facebook page, and traffic increases on our blog page.

Since our first Brand Battle in March (March Madness), we have had about two more competitions since then. We like to wait at least a month or two after every Brand Battle, so that there is ample time for new brands to submit to us.

We have recently launched a new campaign that works similarly on a social media level. It is called Members Made. We are giving our members the opportunity to submit their t-shirt designs based off a specific category that we give them (ex. Sports, lyrics, cartoons). The top designs are again posted on our Facebook page and blog for voting. Once voting is done, the winning design gets printed on tee’s then sold on PLNDR and the designer wins a fantastic prize.

What advice would you give people who are looking to implement successful promotions and programs on Facebook?

The best advice that I could give is to always think of creative ways to keep your audience interested and engaged. Simply posting sales pitches will not attract people. Most of the promotions that are posted on Facebook should be captivating and actionable in order to make your FB fans feel as if they are a part of an exclusive community.

You have a pretty active Tumblr blog. What motivated you start using that platform and what is your strategy in using it?

We understand that Tumblr may be low on the totem pole of popular social media outlets, but we know from research that there are a ton of people using it. So we keep up to date on our Tumblr as best we can by updating it with specific stuff that we have going on whether it’s promotions, brand battles, or design competitions. In addition to that, we make sure to post and reblog images or material that we think are cool, funny, or just interesting enough to make people want to follow us.

What do you think is the biggest challenge most brands have with social media?

The biggest challenge that brands have with social media is most likely the ability to retain their fans’ interest AFTER they have already liked their Facebook page or followed them on Twitter. Getting a like or a follow isn’t enough. Consistent, appealing content and material is what keeps the user interested, and if that is done efficiently, then their social media future is likely to be successful.

Thanks to Christos for taking the time to answer these questions and share his thoughts with us! We hope you enjoyed this as much as we did!

Google+ may be the fastest growing website in history, but they also aren't a new release platform. This shouldn't be a surprise people.

August 4, 2011 10:00 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@AdamZ

Adam Zuckerman

Your Social App Will Survive Only If You Can Convert "Lookers" Into "Doers" http://ow.ly/5UJRu

August 4, 2011 10:00 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@FastCoLeaders

Co.Leaders

When I was kid, I lived each moment - never wondered who I was, how the world was turning or turning out. Why start now?

August 4, 2011 10:00 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@lizstrauss

Liz Strauss

Infographic: Who Shares the Most on Social Networks: Yahoo! study finds “power sharers” tend to be young, male ... http://yhoo.it/nxeXiP

August 4, 2011 9:59 am via twitterfeedReplyRetweetFavorite

@stevehall

Steve Hall

Networking doesn't mean trying to connect with people on every social network. It actually involves some elbow grease & conversation.

August 3, 2011 3:23 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@BethHarte

Beth Harte

No one cares how much you know util they know how much you care #automarketing

August 3, 2011 2:04 pm via TweetChatReplyRetweetFavorite

@pcmguy

Larry Bruce

http://t.co/yaQmrhz Fabio vs. Mustafa thoughts - old spice and social media "campaigns"

August 3, 2011 11:57 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@garyvee

Gary Vaynerchuk

Tweeting to remind myself. http://t.co/T1uS6CA

August 4, 2011 9:08 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@skeevis

Zvi Band

Wow..."Facebook working on expanding its "Like" button to include other gestures marketers can create" - http://t.co/XpNgeRq

August 4, 2011 11:28 am via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@robbirgfeld

Rob Birgfeld

Lastly, if you have not seen this yet, you need to check it out.

Today my mustache and I embark on our quest to land a job at @Google. Start the journey with us here: http://t.co/QLgIxHz

August 1, 2011 9:13 am via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@MEtweetz

Matthew Epstein

If you come across interesting tweets that you’d like to nominate for inclusion in this series, feel free to drop us a line during the week @eWayDirect.

QR codes are more commonly being used in billboard ads like at bus stops or subway stations. Normally, after you use the QR reader, the phone app will automatically open your mobile phone’s web browser and direct you to the company’s website or landing page.

Jay Bear recently wrote in an article that many marketers and companies are missing the point or using QR codes because it’s the cool thing to do. And he is right, some companies are using it for the sake of using it.

I wanted to point out a nice example of a QR code/experience. I recently was at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD. As I was wandering through the exhibits and I started to see small signs on some of the glass tanks with questions and QR codes.

When I reached the Puffin area, I whipped out my iPhone and gave it a try. The link directed me to a YouTube video called “How do our puffins stay happy?”

I was pretty delighted because taking advantage of this QR code enabled me to get the inside scope on the life of a Puffin from one of the National Aquarium experts. And this added a more enriched experience to already happy trip to see the Puffins and other aquatic animals.

There happened to be a National Aquarium intern near by, so I asked her how often people use the QR codes. She replied that only one or two people use them each day. However, after that initial person does it, there will be about five to ten people that will try it right after them. Sure enough, after talking to the intern, I turned around and there were three other people trying the QR code and watching the video on their phones.

What does this have to do with marketing? Simple, it’s all about the customer experience. This QR code experience helped improve my overall experience at the Aquarium. I went from being indifferent about Puffins to thinking Puffins are cutest and coolest animal ever.

QR codes can be great. But this doesn’t mean all great customer experiences need to come from the new shiny thing or trend. Great experiences can come from email, Facebook, Twitter or even over the phone. It’s up to companies to make sure that they giving people great experiences no matter what channels people are using.

Are you giving people a great customer experience?

Here a few more photos from my trip:

Wonder how accurate this is...some of the trends are bewildering RT @simchabe: Twitter trends per country/city: http://ow.ly/5Pccg

July 28, 2011 12:15 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@bigfuel

Big Fuel

Twitter takes a baby step toward ads in timelines: http://dthin.gs/pCOHcs via @pkafka

July 28, 2011 12:15 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@DebraWilliamson

Debra Aho Williamson

Kinda cute: Gmail Wants You to Stage an Email Intervention http://ht.ly/5PqhF

July 28, 2011 12:15 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@SBKelsick

Shannon BowenKelsick

How Being “Friends” On Google+ Leads To Better Rankings http://t.co/JDXJhoB via @sengineland

July 28, 2011 12:16 pm via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@adamsherk

Adam Sherk

If you have enough horses in the race, you don't care which one wins. Multiple ads, multiple sites. @marketing_bill #mozcon

July 28, 2011 12:17 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@stevendunston

Steven Dunston

What do you think? Good reasons? Why Google+ insists on having your real name http://bbc.in/oWyrHk H/T @Jason__Ramsey

July 28, 2011 12:18 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@MarshaCollier

Marsha Collier

Google+ traffic down 3% last week. QUICK! EVERYONE BACK TO FRIENDSTER!!

July 28, 2011 12:26 pm via UberSocial for BlackBerryReplyRetweetFavorite

@unmarketing

Scott Stratten

Passion is all about going forth in the world with confidence. Small company + big cojones = big results. #smallagency

July 28, 2011 1:36 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@supahstef

stef miller

#smmeasure A2 don't be fooled into thinking even a mix of tools will give insights a campaign needs, consultancy on top of data a must

July 28, 2011 12:29 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@jamesmossman

James Mossman

If you come across interesting tweets that you’d like to nominate for inclusion in this series, feel free to drop us a line during the week @eWayDirect.

Have an awesome weekend!

In the style of this book, I’m going to try to make this review short and sweet.

The Book: 

Stratten gives practical advice about the new understanding of marketing or unmarketing. In a connected and information-driven world, we have to think differently about our approach to customers. The whole book is based on the premise that everything in marketing comes down to how businesses interact with their customers. And in the end it boils down to common sense marketing and customer service. No gimmicks, shinny trinkets, smoke and mirrors… just true connection.

Stratten flat out states that traditional selling tactics like cold calling don’t work, because they are unappealing to people that you’re trying to sell to and don’t give you much of a return for your business. He writes, “If you believe your business is built on relationships, make building them your business.” Throughout the book, he shows you different ways to use social media to build relationships that are more beneficial for you and your business.

My Take: 

The book contains a lot of one-two punches, and throughout the narrative he presents a great deal of sarcasm and wit. I actually laughed out loud a few times, which is rare; I’m not type of person that does that, especially when I’m reading by myself. Most of the humor is in the footnotes, which seem to be on every page. But the footnotes are definitely worth the read.

Stratten is straight and to the point. The book is made up of 56 short, digestible chapters of stories, case studies, and observations. It’s like the “Twitter” of marketing book, a stream of different thoughts but with a unified theme. Plus, it has the same “relationship” affect as Twitter or a blog. When you are an avid follower someone for a while and read all of their content, you tend to feel like you already know them. After reading this book, I feel like I know Scott.

We hope you enjoyed this (un)review. Check out Scott Stratten on Twitter, @unmarketing.