Recently I gave a short presentation about social media marketing and why I am not always thrilled with it for Dabgo – Danes Abroad Business Group Online – Zurich.

For instance, I am always re-discovering that more companies than I would like follow neither the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle nor SMART (Specific, Manageable, Actionable, Relevant, Trending) metrics. The result is costs that outweigh benefits, and worse, forget ROI (return on investment).

Article source – Social media ROI: 3 things we usually do wrong

Advertising is a great tool to make customers more aware about your product. Nevertheless, the amount of resources expended may result in a great campaign flopping if the price of success becomes too high.

Don’t forget! Benchmark your blog – measure for impact – use My.ComMetrics.com and improve your blog’s performance. CyTRAP Labs can help you improve your social media efforts. Start a conversation! Email us at info [at] CyTRAP [dot] eu or call us at +41 (0)44-272-1876.

Take aways – 3 tips that will help you

1. Combine offline and online: It makes sense to combine your offline (e.g., brochures, exhibitions and print ads) AND online (e.g., more pageviews, subscriptions for newsletter, Facebook friends/fans) marketing efforts. However, be specific and spell out how they will create what synergies (e.g., will they buy your app, digital newspaper or what?).

2. Define your objectives BEFORE launching your campaign: These goals must be agreed upon, written down and defined. For example, spend X amount of money on print ads and gain 1,000 Facebook friends = cost per additional friend.

3. Measure the right things: If the objective is to gain Facebook fans, what do you hope to achieve with them once you have them (i.e. can you measure and deliver the results)?

Tip: Search for more information about ROI, cost-benefit analysis for social media, Facebook & Co from CyTRAP – ComMetrics (click to query).

Read more about the tricks and tips we presented at the networking event.

Podcast, video and presentation slides

1. Find the podcast/audio MP3 file below (just click on the audio MP3 text to listen or download) or receive it via our iTunes Podcast channel.

You can also subscribe to the podcast using our ComMetrics RSS podcast code and automatically download right after we upload them (for a crash-course for non-geeks on how to use RSS with email programs or browsers, click here).

2. You can watch and share the video on Facebook or view it right here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

3.  You can view and share the slides on LinkedIn or view them right here and click on the additional resources links within the presentation:

More information about this topic:
- 2011 trends: Luxury brands and social media ROI
- Virales Marketing als Verkaufsfoerderung: Wo bleibt der ROI
- Achieving social media ROI: The definitive guide
- 2011 trends: Social media best practice and ROI
- Top 10 questions customers are asking you in social media
- Going viral or selling product: ROI anyone?

Kürzlich habe ich für die Krebsliga Aargau einen Workshop moderiert der sich mit dem Thema Social Media – Twitter, Facebook & Blogs – für Selbsthilfegruppen befasste. Hier ein paar Informationen zu diesem interessanten Tag.

Den Blog Eintrag mit den Tipps und Tricks finden Sie hier:  Selbsthilfegruppen: 4 Tipps zum besseren Social Media Marketing

Hier gibt es the Präsentationsfolien, das kurze Video sowie den Podcast (weither unten).

Quelle des Artikels – Selbsthilfegruppen der Krebsliga Aargau: Effectivere Nutzung von Social Media

Social Media Tools und Platforms können von Selbsthilfegruppen effektive genutzt werden. Wenn dies geling profitieren Krebspatienten wie auch deren Angehörigen.  Bevor ich erkläre was das für ihre Arbeit mit einer “non-governmental organization” (NGO),  Selbsthilfegruppe oder Verein bedeutet, registrieren Sie sich wie 500 andere Leute dies schon gemacht haben für unseren Newsletter mit Ihrer eMail hier:

Tipp: Suchenauftrag für mehr Informationen von CyTRAP über Social Media Marketing, Benchmarks und NGOs

Video, Präsentationsfolien und Podcast

Wir haben die Materialien vom Workshop lektoriert und etwas gekürzt.  Sie finden diese unten.

1. Den Podcast/Audio MP3 Datei finden Sie unterhalb dieses Blog Eintrages (einfach auf den Audio MP3 text links unten draufdrücken – zuhören oder runterladen), inklusive ein iTunes Podcast hier.

2. Ein kurzes Video über den Workshop finden Sie hier oder gucken sich es an und sharen dieses mit Freunden  auf Facebook:

Click here to view the embedded video.

3. Die Präsentationsfolien können Sie sich hier anschauen inklusive hyperlinks zu weiteren Resourcen – oder aber auf LinkedIn :

Tipp: Suchenauftrag für mehr Informationen von CyTRAP über Social Media Marketing, Benchmarks und NGOs

Was denken Sie? Was ist Ihre Meinung. Wir freuen uns auf Ihren Kommentar.

ZL:NG
@CyTRAP schreibt: Selbsthilfegruppen der Krebsliga Aargau: Zieldefinition für Nutzung von Social Media| Tweet This

Weitere wichtige Links zum Thema

- Links zu Blogs von Brustkrebspatienten
- Krebsliga Schweiz – über Krebs
- Krebsliga beider Basel – nützliche Adressen
- Palliative Care – Nationale Strategie Schweiz – der Bund
- Palliativpflege – Patientenverfügung – Krebsliga Schweiz
- Löwenmut e.V. – Selbsthilfe für behinderte Kinder – Stan Albers’ blog Tagebuch

The original story is below, while details about the updates can be found at the bottom.

Update 2011-06-22: The video for this webinar can now be viewed, as well as the slides.

This tip-filled, free webinar will show you how to monitor your Twitter use.

Twitter has many assets that businesses can overlook or forget about, but as a marketer or user you cannot afford to make the mistake of wasting time by doing things wrong.

Article source – Twitter users: Want more attention?

Join us for this webinar, which will cover Twitter’s three key advantages when it comes to helping your business achieve the most critical part of online marketing: content creation. Learn how to better focus your Twitter feed instead of frittering away your time.

Among other things, we will address:

1. Why few clients care to know that you are checking in at the airport or having coffee at Starbucks.
2. Why investing 3.5 hours every day into long-term strategy and sales activities instead of tweeting (e.g., during your commute) is a smart choice!

The costs and benefits to your organization (for-profit, government, NGO, not-for-profit, etc.) are at the heart of this webinar.

This ComMetrics coffee break webinar – Number 8 for 2011 – will be held on

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 17:00 hours CET

Who can attend?
Just leave leave a comment below and I will send you an invite. Also, please feel free to leave a question you would like answered!

Space is limited, and we follow the first-come, first-served rule, so please snag your invitation sooner rather than later.

By the way, you can find more information about Twitter Tools or slides and videos by including ComMetrics in your search query.

More resources

How to use RSS with Twitter lists and blog comments
Twitter lists: How to reap the rewards
Twitter lists: Could your usage improve?

As always, the comments are yours! How have you used Twitter groups? What tip would you share to improve group use?

How we help
CyTRAP Labs helps non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-profits, governments and brands engage their target audience through social media by assisting with development of an effective social media strategy and mentoring through the implementation process, conducting social media audits and supporting your efforts regarding corrective actions and improvements.

Start a conversation! Email us at info [at] CyTRAP [dot] eu or call us at +41 (0)44-272-1876.

Final words
Upcoming webinars on 2011-07-04 and 2011-07-12 (you can sign up in preceding weeks – just leave a comment). For BEST access, register yourself below and get updates about upcoming webinars first!

UPDATES
Update 2011-06-22: View the video and slides.

1. You can watch and share the video on Facebook or view it right here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. You can view and share the slides on LinkedIn or view them right here and click on the additional resources linked to with URLs right from within the slide presentation as shown here:

This tip-filled, free webinar will show you how to get the most out of Twitter lists.

Twitter has many assets that businesses can overlook or forget about, but as a marketer you cannot afford to make the same mistake.

Article source – Twitter lists: How to reap the rewards

Join us for this webinar which will cover five key advantages of Twitter lists to will help your business with the most critical part of online marketing: content creation. Learn how you can use Twitter lists to come up with new business ideas, conduct keyword research and monitor your brand.

Among other things, we will address:

1. The best way to use Twitter lists for your business – whether charity, consumer brand or carpenter shop.
2. Using Twitter lists to gather intelligence – the costs and benefits for your organization (for profit, govenrment, NGO, charities, etc.).

This ComMetrics coffee break webinar – Number 7 for 2011 – will be held on

Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 17:00 hours CET

Who can attend?
Just leave leave a comment below and I will send you an invite. Also, please feel free to leave a question you like an answer to!

Space is limited, and we follow the first-come, first-served rule, so please snag your invitation sooner rather than later.

By the way, you can find more information about Twitter Tools or slides and videos by including ComMetrics in your search query.

How we help
CyTRAP Labs helps NGOs, non-profits and brands engage their target audience through social media by assisting with development of an effective social media strategy and mentoring through the implementation process, conducting social media audits and supporting your efforts regarding corrective actions and improvements.

Start a conversation. Email us at info [at] CyTRAP [dot] eu or call us at +41 (0)44-272-1876.

1. You can watch and share the video on Facebook or view it right here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. You can view and share the slides on LinkedIn or view them right here and click on the additional resources linked to with URLs right from within the slide presentation as shown here:

4. The podcast/audio file is  available in English, at the bottom of this blog post (listen online or download for later use) or get it for your iPod / iPad / iPhone using our iTunes podcast subscription service.

You can also subscribe to the podcast using our ComMetrics RSS podcast code and automatically download right after we upload them (for a crash-course for non-geeks on how to use RSS with email programs or browsers, click here).

Final words
Upcoming webinar on 2011-06-28 – and 05-07-2011 – you can sign up in the following weeks. BEST, register yourself and get the the update about the next webinar when we post here via e-mail:

Twitter: Why have most users no impact

Just leave a comment using the above link and I will send you an invite. Also, please feel free to leave a question you like an answer to!

The original story is below, while details about the updates can be found here:

Update 2011-05-10:  Video and slides for this blog post are available – see bottom of this post
Update 2011-05-09:  See blog post:  Why do social media audits fail?

A review (which at the initial stage is not an audit or an inspection) typically starts with an assessment of the maturity of an organization’s social media program. It includes evaluation of the enterprise’s social media policies, procedures, security controls, implementation and integration across all business areas.

Article source: What makes a baseline review effective?

Social media activities are becoming increasingly critical for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities and international relief groups (e.g., non-profit organizations such as Doctors Without Borders). I recently participated in a panel at the Geneva Forum on Social Change (GFSC) and shared my impressions in a blog post titled, Can cause marketing damage reputations?

Based on this experience we held a successful webinar entitled Geneva Forum on Social Change: Accelerating impact outlining

A. What is the best social media channel for me and my organization (e.g., Twitter or Facebook)?
B. What is the best way to get the biggest bang for my buck?

This was followed by another webinar addressing Why do non-profit social media efforts fail?, including

a) how context can affect our possibilities, and
b) development of KPIs (key performance indicators) and operating drivers to channel resources more effectively.

Feedback suggests that we address some important issues pertaining to social media audits. The objective is to have webinar participants walk away with a clear understanding of

1. The best way to conduct a baseline review for social media in my organization?
2. Using baseline review findings to prepare for the next social media audit.

This ComMetrics coffee break webinar – Number 7 for 2011 – will be held on

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 12:00 hours CET (lunch hour)

Who can attend: Those who attended our panel at the Geneva Forum on Social Change (GFSC) can just email me. If you work for a non-profit organization, leave a message below and I will send you an invite.

Space is limited, and we follow the first-come, first-served rule, so please snag your invitation sooner rather than later.

By the way, you can find more information about customer engagement and relationship management or slides and videos by including the word ComMetrics in your search query.

Register yourself now – leave a comment below – to get an invite AND leave a question that you like to have an answer for!

How we help
CyTRAP Labs helps NGOs, charities and brands engage customers, patients or donors through social media. We help clients develop an effective social media strategy and mentor them through the implementation process, conduct social media audits and support your efforts regarding corrective actions and improvements.
Start a conversation. Email us at info at CyTRAP.eu or call us at +41 (0)44-272-1876.

1. You can watch and share the video on Facebook or view it right here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. You can view the slides and click on the additional resources linked to with URLs right from within the slide presentation as shown here:

Social media activities are becoming increasingly critical for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities and international relief groups (e.g., non-profit organizations such as Doctors without Borders). I recently participated in a panel at the Geneva Forum on Social Change (GFSC) and shared my impressions in a blog post, Can cause marketing damage reputations?

Based on this experience we held a successful webinar entitled Geneva Forum on Social Change: Accelerating impact outlining

a) how context can affect our possibilities, and

b) development of KPIs (key performance indicators) and operating drivers to channel resources more effectively.

Article source: Why do non-profit social media efforts fail?

The feedback I got via email, on our blog post and via phone from attendees working for international organizations, charities and companies after the last webinar was positive. In fact, webinar participants asked me to address some strategic issues.

Get the next webinar, workshop update first via email – register here:

They mentioned the need for more real-life examples of and insight into how NGOs and non-profits decide which social media channels to use and implement their strategy once the decision has been made. Therefore, I will be organizing a webinar to illustrate how different social media channels can be used successfully with different case-studies.

The objective is to have webinar participants walk away with a clear understanding of:

1. What is the best social media channel for me and my organization (e.g., Twitter or Facebook)?

2. What is the best way to get the biggest bang for my buck?

This ComMetrics coffee break webinar – Number 6 for 2011 – was  held on

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 17:00 hours CET

Who can attend: Those who attended our panel at the Geneva Forum on Social Change (GFSC) can just email me. If you work for a non-profit organization, leave a message below and I will send you an invite.

Space is limited, and we follow the first-come, first-served rule, so please snag your invitation sooner rather than later.

By the way, you can find more information about customer engagement and relationship management or slides and videos by including the word ComMetrics in your search query.

1. You can watch and share the video on Facebook or view it right here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. You can view the slides and click on the additional resources linked to with URLs right from within the slide presentation as shown here:

Please leave a comment!

Last week I participated in a panel at the Geneva Forum on Social Change (GFSC) and shared my impressions in a blog post, Can cause marketing damage reputations?

Article source: Geneva Forum on Social Change: Accelerating impact

The feedback I got via email, on our blog post and so on from attendees working for international organizations, charities and companies was overwhelming. As important, it indicated that there was a need for more insight about benchmarking, measuring and assessing of social media activities in the context of non-profit organizations.

Therefore, I will be organizing a webinar to address benchmarking social media activities, including:

1. How will you develop an effective benchmarking program for your company’s social media activities?

2. Which metrics and measures work for your organization’s context?

3. Three tips to benchmarking your blog.

This ComMetrics coffee break webinar – Number 5 for 2011 will be held on

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 17:00 hours CET

Who can attend: Those who attended our panel at the Geneva Forum on Social Change (GFSC) can just email me.
Other ways: If you work for a non-profit organization, leave a message below and I will send you an invite.

1. A shortened video of the English webinar can be viewed right here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. You can view the slides and click on the additional resources linked to with URLs right from within the slide presentation as shown here:

Last week we launched the ComMetrics social media cost classification model. This post – in the form of a webinar – is the next installment in a series that addresses social media issues arising from increasing links between compensation for service providers and the value they generate for clients (pay-for-performance 2.0).

This ComMetrics coffee break webinar – Number 2 for 2011 was held on:

Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 17:00 hours

We will provide a trend briefing regarding full cost accounting and social media marketing, especially for your brand or product’s Facebook page.

If you don’t have a free login, get one now to participate -

registration is at the top of the right-hand column

, under Members, and completely free.

Article source: 2 tips for better cost control on Facebook

The webinar was held.  You can  watch the video, listen to the podcast and download the presentation slides (see further below).

Let’s be frank – social media is not just about being social, especially during business hours, is it? In fact, we are using it to help improve our revenue stream. Some issues pertaining to social media marketing and return on investment (ROI) that we address include:

Direct costs versus indirect ones: Why use full cost accounting and how can it help you handle your Facebook expenses?

2.Facebook fanpage set-up: Beyond a certain input level (e.g., time spent on social media marketing), output increases at a decreasing rate (e.g., level of engagement with clients). How do we find the magical happy medium?

3.Maintaining Facebook pages: Focus on making it an easy and satisfying experience without having to jump through hoops.

4.Running Facebook promotions: To get more Likes you may organize a sweepstakes, but costs can be much higher than one might expect.

Also check out the videos, podcasts AND slides from the webinar (in German or English) below.

1. A shortened video of the German webinar – podcast/audio file further below, including an iTunes podcast was planned but we decided against uploading it here – would you like to see it, please leave a comment and we will upload pronto.

2. A video of the English webinar – podcast/audiofile further below, including an iTunes podcast shown here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

3. Get the slides with links with additional resources.

4. The podcast/audio files will be  available in German and English, at the bottom of this blog post (listen online or download for later use) or get it for your iPod / iPad / iPhone using the iTunes podcast subscription service we offer.

What is your take on this? Is this stuff even useful to you? Please comment if you just watched a video, listened to a podcast or attended the webinar. We love to hear from you! Thank you for sharing your impressions and ideas in a comment below.

To ensure that we address the problems social media strategists deal with, we ask that you please answer a few questions.

We will choose the most interesting response and send that person a free copy of our eBook, Hold up your hand if you hate research methodology – A guide to getting the right intel online.

Okay, here are the questions:

1. What is your company’s or brand’s Facebook page’s URL (address)?
2. How did you budget for your Facebook page?
3. How do you keep track of the costs you have for maintaining your Facebook product page?

Please, leave your answers in the comments section. We will announce the winner in next week’s post, 3 insider tips: What does your Facebook page really cost?

Based on client feedback regarding our ComMetrics blog checklist by CyTRAP Labs GmbH, we launched the My.ComMetrics 2011 trend briefing series, consisting of 25 blog posts and 7 webinars about trends to watch and social media monitoring DOs and DON’Ts. Our previous webinars were:

- 2011 trendwatch webinar: Social media marketing and ROI (return on investment)
- 2011 trendwatch webinar: Mobile communication and ROI
- 2011 trendwatch webinar: Social media monitoring and ROI
- 2011 trendwatch webinar: Luxury brands and social media ROI

This post provides additional intel for the fifth webinar of the series, which addresses why key performance indicators (KPIs) need to be the right actionable metrics in order to better understand how social media can influence operating metrics. We discuss also this in an upcoming blog post:

2011 trends: More useless social media measures – 2011-01-26

ComMetrics coffee break webinar number Nr. 2 for this year was held.

Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 08:30 CET (German) and 16:00 CET (English – 7:00 am PST)

Now you can watch the videos, listen to the podcasts and download the presentation slides (see below).

Article source – 2011 trendwatch webinar: More useless social media measures

Let’s be frank – effective social media use is not a science but an art. Nevertheless, if used during business hours we have to demonstrate that it helps improve our revenue stream. Therefore, we will focus on two issues:

1. Actionable metrics or, why the easiest metrics to get are the least helpful
Generally we say get the low-hanging fruit first. But while getting data about pageviews or unique visitors is easy, what do you intend to do with such data? Will ten more or fewer pageviews result in action? Instead, nail down your key performance indicators (KPIs) and measure for them.

2. Show how social media relates to operational metrics
Can your Facebook wall posts, tweets or answering of questions on Quora help reduce customer returns, calls to the customer helpline and so forth? We tell you why developing measures that visibly relate to operational metrics will result in actions that make a difference.

Developing actionable metrics means that if your pageviews go up or down, you take specific action to improve the situation.

Also check out the videos, podcasts AND slides from the webinar, available in German or English by 2011-01-15.

1. A shortened video of the German webinar is available here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. A shortened video of the English webinar is available here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

3. Slides with links to visit the resources mentioned in the webinar right here.

Enter your email below and get the latest posts first. You will be glad you did!

4. The podcast/audio files is  available in German and English, at the bottom of this blog post (listen online or download for later use) or get it for your iPod / iPad / iPhone using our iTunes podcast subscription service.

You can also subscribe to the podcast using our ComMetrics RSS podcast code and automatically download right after we upload them (for a crash-course for non-geeks on how to use RSS with email programs or browsers, click here).

Final words
Please don’t forget to register for the next webinar… See the orange button above?

What is your take on this?
Is this stuff even useful to you? Please comment if you plan to attend the webinar or have a specific question you would like addressed.

Also, if you just watched a video, listened to a podcast or attended the webinar, why not give us some feedback? We love to hear from you!

Thank you for sharing your impressions and ideas in a comment below. We always answer questions and comments from readers like yourself, GUARANTEED.

More resources

- Measuring ROI: Why it fails
- Budgeting for SM: Cost-benefit analysis vs. ROI
- Using the right blog metrics
- Engaging comments: Where is the beef?
- 3 metrics: Impact, influence and outcome
- 2011 trends: Social media monitoring and ROI
- 2011 trendwatch webinar: Social media monitoring and ROI
- 2011 trends: More useless social media measures
- 2011 trendwatch webinar: More useless social media measures
- ComMetrics – Boosting ROI through social media measurement
- 2011 trendwatch webinar: Luxury brands and social media ROI
- Podcast: ComMetrics University – Coffee break webinar: Turning social media metrics into money

Based on client feedback regarding our ComMetrics blog checklist by CyTRAP Labs GmbH, we launched the My.ComMetrics 2011 trend briefing series, consisting of 25 blog posts and 7 webinars about trends to watch and social media monitoring DOs and DON’Ts. Our previous webinars were:

- 2011 trendwatch webinar: Social media marketing and ROI
- 2011 trendwatch webinar: Mobile communication and ROI
- 2011 trendwatch webinar: Social media monitoring and ROI

This post provides additional intel for the fourth webinar of the series, which addresses issues that we discuss in some detail in an upcoming blog post:

2011 trends: Luxury brands and social media ROI — release date 2011-01-13

ComMetrics coffee break webinar number Nr. 1 for this year was held.

Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 08:30 CET (German) and 16:00 CET (English – 7:00 am PST)

Now you can watch the videos, listen to the podcasts and download the presentation slides (see below).

Article source – 2011 trendwatch webinar: Luxury brands and social media ROI

Let’s be frank – effective social media use is not a science but an art. Nevertheless, if used during business hours we have to demonstrate that it helps improve our revenue stream. Therefore, we will focus on two issues:

1. Luxury brands – engaging clients
The purpose behind writing a blog, having a website or Facebook page is to have visitors perform an overriding task regardless of gender, age, country and so forth. Nail it down and then test for it.

2. Usefulness and usability are NOT the same
What about websites that state, “In order to view this page you need JavaScript and Flash Player 8+ support!” or those made with gorgeous visuals that confuse users instead of helping them navigate the page and find the information they need? Follow the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) principle.

Resources
- 3 reasons why A/B testing fails in web design
- Using great visuals = Failing your customers
- 4 strategies for leveraging usability tests
- FT and Razorfish fail web usability 101
- Asia luxury good sales are soaring
- 4 rules for social media success: Luxury brands
- Christmas and luxury brands

Also check out the videos, podcasts AND slides from the webinar, available in German or English by 2011-01-15.

1. A shortened video of the German webinar is  available here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. A shortened video of the English webinar is  available here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

3. Slides with links to visit the resources mentioned in the webinar.

Enter your email below and get the latest posts first. You will be glad you did!

4. The podcast/audio files will be available in German and English, at the bottom of this blog post (listen online or download for later use) or get it for your iPod / iPad / iPhone using our iTunes podcast subscription service.

You can also subscribe to the podcast using our ComMetrics RSS podcast code and automatically download right after we upload them (for a crash-course on how to use RSS with email programs or browsers, click here).

Final words
Please don’t forget to register for the next webinar… See the orange button above?

What is your take on this?
Is this stuff even useful to you? Please comment if you plan to attend the webinar or have a specific question you would like addressed.

Also, if you just watched a video, listened to a podcast or attended the webinar, why not give us some feedback? We love to hear from you!

Thank you for sharing your impressions and ideas in a comment below. We always answer questions and comments from readers like yourself, GUARANTEED.