Category: Infographics

Infographic Bonanza

Infographics, Personal Branding, Social Media

In the last 12 months there has been an avalanche of infographics produced and consumed. They can not only be a useful way of explaining complex processes and situations, they are also easy to share and are ready-made for a content hungry audience.

But have you tried to create an infographic? They are challenging! You need to establish your messaging and understand the narrative you want to share with your audience. You need to cohesively design your infographic. And you need to make it interesting – the best seem to take us on a journey that engages and informs.

Little wonder then that sites like Visual.ly have started to appear. It’s a place to share and market your infographic skills. They are even planning on building out some data visualisation tools. Sounds great!

And to kick it all off, you can login via Twitter and generate your own Twitter infographic. Here’s mine. It seems that you really are what you tweet!

When to Tweet

Infographics, Social Media

Some time ago I started using StumbleUpon to shorten the links in my Twitter stream. It means that not only am I able to share links with my network – but I am able to tap into the already existing StumbleUpon network to reach audiences who are already interested in the topics which I share.

And while su.pr provides some basic analytics around the time for tweeting, how can we find more information about the “best” time to tweet? Dan Zarella has done a great deal of research into the world of social networks and the folks from KissMetrics have turned this data into an infographic. What does it confirm? For me it’s very similar to direct email – Wednesdays around midday are gold – it’s hump hour on hump day and we need a pleasant and relevant distraction. Make sure your most important tweets count.

science-of-social-timing-part-1

What Content Do You Post Where and When?

Branding, Digital Strategy, Infographics, Social Media

Once you have your strategy in place, it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty of publishing. It’s time to determine the types of content you will be producing and where and how you are going to publish it. It’s time to setup an editorial calendar.

But I don’t want you to think of an editorial calendar as a series of items which you post over time. I want you to think of an editorial calendar as a way of engaging your customers at different stages of your customer relationship. I want you to think about how you tie content to ROI – and to delivering value against your key performance indicators.

Take a look at the content grid chart below (hat tip toiLoveCharts). It is a great starting point for your content planning. Think particularly around the borders between elements. What kind of content will help your customers move from awareness to consideration? How can you brief and deliver your creative elements in such a way that they remove barriers for your customers moving from one stage to another?

And finally, find easy ways for your customers to engage and buy from you. Don’t make it too difficult. And once they buy once, make it easy to do so again. Help them talk about their brand experience. Encourage it. And remember, every little tweet is magic. Every Like can recommend. And sometimes the best branded content you can have is produced by someone else other than you.

ContentGrid

Global Map of Social Networking 2011

Audience 2.0, Infographics, Social Media

GWI_Mashable_23-06-11 The folks at Global Web Index have investigated the patterns of consumer adoption and pulled together this infographic map. On this scale, it’s easy to see where (and how) trends become markets and how patterns of use become opportunities.

Look for example at China’s massive online population, sitting at 155 million – dwarfing Australia’s paltry 7 million. Look also at the behaviour types – who are the sharers, which populations join and create groups? Then think about how these behaviours impact your marketing:

  • Are there already existing behaviours that you can incorporate or amplify?
  • Are there social and digital channels that you are ignoring?
  • Are there opportunities that you are leaving on the table?

The data may not have all the answers – but it should prompt some questions for you. Or for your agency.

Via Mashable.

Social Business Maturity Model

Enterprise Social, Infographics, Social Media

Almost every day there is another way that social media encroaches upon our businesses. It could be a new technology designed to help us reach new customers or something to help us target buyers more accurately. It could be a new device, some software or a must-have community building platform.

Similarly, in our so-called “personal lives”, we are seeing a blurring of the boundaries – between home and work, work and play, friends, colleagues, connections and family.

But while many of us have been weaving social media into the fabric of our lives, most businesses are at the very beginning of this process. Their efforts are ad hoc, barely repeatable and hardly defined. There is confusion, miscommunication – and even misinformation.

So what then would be a model that enterprises – large scale businesses – could look to? I thought I’d try my hand at putting a “social business maturity model” together. Running vertically are the five stages of enterprise maturity. Each of these stages have key process areas which provide milestones and evidence capabilities that mark the transition to a new level of maturity. It’s a draft, but I’d love your input and suggestions. How can we make it better? What would you add or change?

Social Business Maturity Model

The Shift to Inbound Marketing

Digital Strategy, Infographics

Since the dawn of the advertising era, our marketing efforts have been directed towards broadcast. We wanted to get our product messages out, make people aware, encourage their interest, stimulate their desire and drive them to convert this to sales. We have built models, processes and systems that are the bedrock of marketing courses the world over.

But the social web has changed all this.

The early internet promised to level the playing field. It brought large scale publishing and commercial capability to any size business. It meant that a local retailer could have as much “presence” and online processing power as a national retailing powerhouse. Yet while the level playing field was set, not all businesses were ready for it. The innovation in the consumer market had not filtered into the businesses – the place where change is notoriously difficult to drive, measure and achieve.

Yet before businesses could catch their breath, the social web shifted the goal posts on the level playing field. You see, suddenly the barriers to entry dropped away and it wasn’t the small businesses that claimed the high ground. It was the consumers. The customers. The people like you and me when we’re not at work 😉

These days what counts isn’t how many people you reach and how frequently you do so (that’s an expensive and oh so 1990s way of doing things). Now it’s about how your business and digital strategy gravitate towards, recommend and choose your products/services in a hyper-competitive market. We call that “inbound marketing” – and if you haven’t considered its role in the future of your business, just take a moment and check out the infographic from MDG advertising. Check out the thinking, tools and practices that can help you ride the wave of this shift. Figure out how you can use this with your continuous digital strategy – and align your own business goals with the posts that shift – before they do again.

mdg_marketing_infographic-475