Ellen D. Kiehl
My Blog
Hello Readers
Welcome to my newly designed website!
I can't wait to start blogging so I can share my thoughts with all of you.
My blogs will include discussions of areas of expertise within the public relations world as well as real world experiences and reflections. I want readers to have a clear vision of who I am.
In the meantime, please feel free to explore the rest of my website. Especially my portfolio - I have included some interesting pieces about breast cancer as well as a personality profile of a current TCU student.
Check back for my first blog post soon!
Welcome to the Blogosphere
As the phenomenon of blogs continues to grow at a rapid pace, it has become an essential marketing tool for companies and consumers alike. Web log, blog for short, is the equivalent of an online journal, allowing two-way communication between companies and their publics. This powerful vehicle of online word-of-mouth has become an increasingly relevant marketing strategy for companies.
Blogs are beneficial because they provide a new way of communicating with consumers, as consumers want to be talked with, not to. The causal forum and conversational aspect of blogs is largely why they are so successful. As a combination of public relations and promotion, blogs allow companies to: disseminate news and information, promote products and services, interact with customers, provide exposure and establish expertise. Furthermore, this two-way communication is used often by consumers throughout their decision-making process.
When creating a blog, there are a number of guidelines to keep in mind in order to maximize its effectiveness. First and foremost, it’s important to create a recognizable blog personality, giving the business or company a “human face.” This more personal approach, connecting with consumers on a person-to-person basis, will help companies gain and sustain customers. Secondly, it is essential that blog posts be consistent and frequent. In order for this vehicle to be successful and maintain readership, it is imperative that blogs be kept updated and relevant. Also, bloggers must remember to keep things simple. Blog posts do not need to be long. The key is to keep them interesting and conversational, engaging the reader. Additionally, allowing comments is essential as it lets readers and potential customers interact with you. Lastly, and arguably most important, the title. Titles draw traffic, and as such, they should be creative and attention-grabbing. Short and sweet is best, keeping the title under 10 words.
Blogs also have a number of advantages over other promotional marketing tools. Undoubtedly, the most important advantage of blog marketing is its potential of viral spread over the Internet, which can help companies establish a recognizable brand identity. Additionally, blogs allow interactive dialogues to replace the traditional monologues companies have often had with consumers. Furthermore, interruptive marketing messages which many other promotional marketing tools posses, are replaced with engaging and collaborative messages.
Measurability is another great feature blogs offer. Users are able to track page views, unique visitors, session duration and traffic sources. These analytics can then be applied to determine how engaged consumers were based upon comments, click-through rates and conversions. These metrics make it possible for companies to measure the direct impact their blog has on sales and if need be, make adjustments. Additionally, keywords can be applied to increase search engine optimization and their impact can be measured in organic search rankings.
Overall, blog marketing is a low-cost, highly effective promotional marketing tool. As our society continues to become more digitally engaged, blog marketing is likely to have an increasingly important role in the future of marketing.
SEO is the Way to Go
Today, in a world where all interactions are digitally driven, search engine optimization (SEO) is no longer a mere preference, it’s a requirement. Without utilizing SEO, a business simply cannot compete.
Search engine optimization is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or webpage in a search engine’s “organic” search results. Organic meaning, the result ranking was not purchased but rather earned based upon the content of the site and frequency of visits compared with the keywords (search terms) that were entered in the search bar.
There are many steps in this process in order to achieve efficient and effective SEO. Search engine optimized content is one of the most important elements of SEO. It plays an integral role in determining who finds your website and what information consumers take away once they have landed there. It also plays a vital role in increasing the conversion rate.
First, it is important to understand how search engines (like Google, Bing and Yahoo!) operate and how people perform their searches, as it directly correlates to the importance of SEO-friendly content on your website. Since Google is the most widely used search engine, I will use them as an example.
After a website is launched, Google scans the code of the site and indexes it. Indexing is the process of creating indexes for record collections. This process is used to organize the massive amounts of information acquired while continuously scanning or “spidering” new and existing sites. Google uses this method to retrieve specific information quickly when searched.
For example, when a person performs a specific search, they use keywords to try and narrow their results so information can be found quickly. Almost instantaneously, these keywords are reviewed by Google, combed through its massive database indexes and matched to the key words used. Once matches have been found, Google returns only the most relevant results called SERP’s (search engine results pages).
Google then uses highly advanced algorithms to determine which links are the most relevant to your search terms. While there are seemingly countless SEO elements at work here, the number one thing remains true; content is the number one factor. Therefore, it is vital to the success of your website that your website contains only unique and original copy.
Due to the importance of selecting and implementing relevant keywords, many companies hire search engine marketers to expertly integrate keywords using proven-techniques within the online marketing industry.
Of course, having a successful website isn’t just about catering to the search engines. It is equally important that websites contain content well-suited for the audience whom you are selling to. However, having a full and rich site that utilizes SEO techniques can help you get there.
The Dark Side of Social Media
In 2011, more Americans were connected than ever before, with 69 percent of adults using a social networking site of some kind. This statistic represents more than half of the entire adult population in the United States. Over the past decade, social media has transformed the Internet, changing its passive role into a much more dynamic and user-centered forum. Year after year, faster, better, more enticing sites and operating systems have been created.
Due to the high interaction rate with users and specific demographics that can be targeted, social networking sites have become a major marketing outlet for companies and organizations. Marketing on these sites has allowed companies to target extremely specific audiences, utilizing users’ interests and hobbies, which are posted on sites like Facebook. Companies are then able to look at what pages a user has “liked” and then cross-references those with a users’ listed hobbies. This ultimately creates an advertisement that is unique, and speaks specifically to that consumer.
Marketing on these sites is relatively in-expensive and provides companies with several metrics and impressions that can easily be adjusted. However, while these marketing strategies can be effective and especially useful for organizations with small budgets, it can also overwhelm users. As the amount of adults using social media continues to grow, so does the level of fatigue amongst its users.
Social media fatigue refers to social media users’ tendency to pull back from social media when they become overwhelmed with too many social media sites, too many friends and followers and too much time spent online maintaining these connections. To remain high functioning individuals, our brains can only process a certain amount of information at a time before reaching an information overload.
A survey conducted by Gartner in December 2010 and January 2011 showed that the earliest adopters of social media reported fatigue and proactively reduced the amount of time they spent on social media sites. It is thought that this decline may have caused a negative chain reaction in social media. When users reduce the amount of time they spend online, this leaves existing users with fewer people to chat and interact with. Thus, these existing users begin spending less time on social media as well.
These are the “dark sides” of social media. Companies that continue to advertise heavily on social networking sites often end up fostering a negative relationship between the consumer and their brand. The increase in advertisements may also deter some users from remaining active on their social networking sites at all.
Companies need to be cognizant of information overloads and limit the amount of advertisements they display on social networking sites. While organizations can continue to market on these sights, they need to think strategically about what they post, ensuring that the information is relevant and engaging. It’s all about moderation.