Need Your Advice on Upcoming Webinars

ALmost all of these sound great, but these are my favorites: 10 Ways to Insure Your Social Marketing Plan SucceedsSocial Marketing: 5 Pitfalls to AvoidSocial Marketing Explained: The Bottom Line on Your Bottom LineBuilding a Business Case for Social MarketingSocial Marketing: This ROI Sounds Too Good to Be True!Integrating Social Into your Traditional Marketing MixThe only thing glaring I see missing is mobile. How does mobile fit in with what your customers / readers need to know about?

Hi, @astrout. @gcmag here. The 5 that resonate with me most as an association communicator and a content entrepreneur are Building a Business Case, 2008 Social Marketing ROI (duh), 10 Ways to Insure (Ensure?) Your Social Marketing Plan Succeeds, and Benefits of “Managed” vs “Un-managed” Online Community Solutions. Our association has a robust listserv. Very active. I need advice on how to capitalize on that to create more content for our magazine and other publications.

Well, your “in stone” webinar, 2008 Social Marketing ROI Report, is the one with the most appeal to me. That said, you can’t go wrong with any of these. They all sound valuable. Maybe you might want to bundle a few together as some look like they naturally build upon others? Here are two bundle topic titles: Breaking In and Breaking Through/Open. BTW, good luck in this new venture!

Aaron,Besides my @marketingprofs shoutout – HEY ANN!!! I also had a real suggestion.Social Media Measurement – with real answers, not, “we just dont know how to do it yet”And I thank you

Hey Aaron,All are of interest, which means they don't suck. That said, the ones I think will be most valuable in the near term (3-6 months) and retain good "shelf life" are:* A Brand's "Place" in the World of Social* Social Marketing Explained: The Bottom Line on Your, Your Company's and Your Customer's Bottom Line* Top 5 Reasons Your Company Can't Ignore Social Marketing* Building a Business Case for Social Marketing – Crossing the Chasm between Awareness and Purchase while Integrating Social Into your Traditional Marketing Mix* 10 Ways to Ensure Your Social Marketing Plan Succeeds (i.e. "Managed" vs. "Un-managed", compelling content, strategy & objectives, etc.)As you can see I struggle with limited choices, so I combined some. Also, my preference re: webinars is lots of steak and sizzle in as little time as possible (the majority "pack" 10 minutes of content into 50 minutes). Also, offer some sort of clear call-to-engagement whether it be making it super easy to ask questions, talking with you off-line or getting more related stuff elsewhere.

Top 5:★ Social Marketing Explained: The Bottom Line on Your Bottom Line [ I've experienced so many situations where managers and executives just fail to respond to anything other than numbers. Putting a practical ROI in front of them with cause and effect scenarios will help make the idea real to them and will help demonstrate that it's *not* just some 'new-fangled fad' like iPods or the Internet. ]★ A Brand’s “Place” in the World of Social [ Some companies get it already; one such example is @ComcastCares on Twitter. Most... need help. Companies need guidance to help find which social platforms will be most effective and *appropriate* for their product, brand, service, etc. ]★ Top 5 Reasons Your Company Can’t Ignore Social Marketing [ Purely from a consumer's perspective, I feel this is crucial. I will unabashedly judge - and in some cases, dismiss - companies based on their websites, reviews on sites such as Yelp or PlanetFeedback, Facebook entries (points deducted for having one!), etc. As social marketing and media become increasingly mainstream, if a company doesn't exist in those realms, they will effectively cease to exist. ]★ Integrating Social Into your Traditional Marketing Mix [ This one would bve especially useful and relevant to those who 'mean well' but who may just not knpow where to begin. It also offers a chance to nip the 'pitfalls' in the bud. Perhaps those two topics could be combined into one? ]★ Moving Beyond Pageviews: Measuring Real Customer Engagement [ THIS one is the winner. Marketing isn't just about clicks and impressions; it's about attribution. Advertisers want to know what compelled the visitor to click here or there, where they came from, what they looked at before, what they're seeing on the site, what will bring them back, and so on. Yes, conversion data is crucial, but if you have no idea what is bringing the customer to your door, how will you ever get them to return? I think one major blind spot for companies is determining what makes a site 'sticky'. What makes a gadget/widget/web app awesome vs. lame? What will the viewer remember and more importantly, how will they associate it with your brand? A site can get a million pageviews, but if those million visitors don't care about what they see, they won't return. If they don't return, they probably won't buy, whether online or offline. They probably won't even give your company another thought. Pageviews/impressions is one tiny piece of the puzzle and by no means provides a comprehensive understanding of the customer experience. It means nothing without other supplemental information, and businesses need guidance to figure out *what* supplemental information is needed, how to get it, and how to use the data to make changes to help them reach future goals. ]

Not giving any particular order, these all sound very interesting (the rest sound interesting too, but wonder if duplicative)* Building a business case for social marketing* Content your customers care about* Social Markting: This ROI Sounds Too Good to be True!* Moving Beyond Pageviews: Measuring Real Customer Engagement (but would prefer if the seminar is led by someone who isn't trying to sell their own metrics software)*Content & Conversations webinar – yes*Integrating Social Into your Traditional Marketing Mix

Aaron,I’m guessing you mean “social media marketing” instead of “social marketing.” “Social marketing” is the practice of using traditional marketing methods to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good: http://tinyurl.com/5ctulr

Great list! I think you could group the topics into two main audiences. The first is those who are seeking to explore social marketing initially – either as brand marketer or 3rd party provider (with the eventual real world goal of carving out a budget). The second is those who have carved budget and are launching an initiative, but need insight into how to build a strategy and how to avoid tactical pitfalls, fulfill that ROI story they already built.I think you have great topics here that serve both audiences, but I feel like most of the people I talk to in marketing would benefit slightly more from the first category. Even those who seem to have carved budget are still challenged to expand that budget/effort into something more strategic and to hold the line on ROI.To that end, the central issue is understanding ROI. But let’s be honest, the more familiar mechanisms in marketing aren’t nearly as tightly observed as social marketing (or online in general!) is. So the other piece is increasing that familiarity in marketing teams with how the mechanisms behind social marketing work, why they work, and why they drive such great ROI. To that end I love “A Brand’s Place in Social,” “Integrating social into your traditional marketing mix,” and “Social Marketing: What’s in it for me?” – along with all of the ROI-centric topics. Again, though, this whole list would be valuable!