Alliance Interactive Squawk Box

20 Government Social Media Trends Posted On: February 5, 2010

allianceinteractive — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:27:32 +0000

As the world watched the recent presidential elections, political strategists were abuzz with how campaigns leveraged social media to build large and energized supproters. While national elections proved a useful example of the power of a social media campaign, state and federal government agencies are leveraging social media to enhance public relations.

The government is very different than the private sector when it comes to identifying and utilizing technology and the barriers to change to create those opportunities. The difficulty for government 2.0 marketers is the bureaucracy and entrenched special interests make collaboration between agencies difficult. Social Media therefore remains an effective tool for promoting agency specific goals and missions. Social media campaigns tend to build social awareness of their missions while reducing costs significantly.

Some uses of Government Social Media Campaigns Include:

20. Vary Methods and Techniques (blogging, podcasting, wikis, etc.) strategy to drive performance-based government communications
19. Improve Government Agency Branding
18. Boost the Impact of Government Direct Marketing
17. Engage your stakeholders and the public by connecting them to your organization’s goals and strategic plan for the future
16. Collaboration with senior management support for your social media programs
15. Integrate government 2.0 social media tools into your internal and external communications practices
14. Develop Government 2.0 policies and guidelines
13. Communicate more effectively and efficiently through the use of government 2.0 social media (blogs, podcasts, Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, video podcasts)
12. Measure the effectiveness of your social media strategy and determining its value within your organization
11. Understand how government 2.0 social media can be vital during an emergency, such as an earthquake or fire
10. Monitor government 2.0 social media for your organization, see what others are saying
9. Learn how to easily communicate to the public through external blogs, podcasts and video podcasting and social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and many more.
8.Assimilate cutting-edge social media 2.0 online techniques and tools presented by other agencies
7.Utilizing social networking tools as sources of information that the public can use and trust
6. Demonstrate the Return on Investment (ROI) of your social media program
5. Operate social media tools and campaigns within the boundaries of government restrictions and firewalls
4. Gain inside knowledge of social media and why it is a crucial addition to your communication arsenal
3. Use social media tools, such as, blogging, podcasting and RSS
2. Maximize awareness of your agency’s mission to the public
1. Get the Message Out Faster – and to More People

Social media will continue to shape and support the way we communicate and collaborate, offering government marketing officer’s new options.

Learn more about Government Social Media Trends by visiting http://allianceinteractive.comor contact us at Alliance Interactive at 888.222.9056.

Is Your Brand Name taken on Twitter?

allianceinteractive — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:59:04 +0000

As a frequent user of Twitter, I follow and support some of my favorite Big Brands Coca Cola, Apple, Cannon, Heinz to just name a few. Twitter has provided the ability for Big Brands to communicate immediately and effectively to new and existing customers. So why are so many of our favorite brands names on Twitter having such difficulties? Simply, they don’t control their brand names either through twitter account hijacking, twitter account squatters or unrelated individuals using the brand name account for their own personal benefit. The reality is that if you’re a Big Brand or somewhere in between you can do something to get your control of your account.

After a quick check here are some large corporations that don’t own their own twitter accounts:

http://twitter.com/Coke (not a real company account)
http://twitter.com/Heinz (not a real company account)
http://twitter.com/BMW (not a real company account)
http://twitter.com/Cannon (private account)
http://twitter.com/Loreal (not a company account)

Of all the Big Brands we tested only two were actual companies, Wegmans and CNN. The amount of free marketing and advertising possibilities these large corporations could take advantage on Twitter has been drastically reduced. As users embrace technologies that allow them to communicate with Big Brands, obtaining your username on twitter has become more important than ever.

If your brand name has been taken on twitter you do have options to potentially get control of your brand name. Here are some options you have of regaining control of your brand on twitter:

- Email username@twitter.com along with the following information:

Your existing username,

The username you want, along with an explanation your brand name being taken,
Detail if you are looking to start a new account or switch your account from your existing username to the new account name.

-          After 9months of inactivity, Twitter will generally release the account back to its proper owner.
-          Advise Twitter about abuse or misrepresentation, Twitter will shut down the account based on fraudulent activity.
-          Twitter has instituted Twitter Verified Account, read more about Twitter Verified Accounts at http://twitter.com/help/verified.
-          Post a complaint on Twitter’s getstatisfaction.com/twitter website.
-          Secure legal counsel and have your counsel draft an action letter.

Big Brands know the value of using Twitter, take advantage of Twitters incredible growth and make sure to secure your brand name today. Protect your brand (even if you have no intent of using Twitter) make sure to take your name and secure it to prevent someone from hijacking your brand.

Learn more about Government Social Media Trends by visiting www.allianceinteractive.com or contact us at Alliance Interactive at 888.222.9056.

How To Create a Negative Keywords List and Get Positive Results

allianceinteractive — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:23:58 +0000

In the hunt to maximize pay-per-click effectiveness one of the most effective but frequently used strategies is negative keywords.

What are Negative Key Words?
A negative keyword is a request to the search system to prevent Google Adwords (or Bing Search Ads) popping against a specific search containing those words. For example if your company is advertising purified water, you would want to add a negative key word for well purified water (-well purified water). Because you don’t provide “well purified water” services and you don’t want to incur the ad costs of brining web traffic to your site looking for erroneous searches.

How do I Find Negative Key Word Lists?
Finding negative keywords is relatively simple. Access your Google Ad Words Keyword Tool and enter in a keyword phrase you have for your website. In the results section scan far right until you find match-type and select “Negative”. You will see a large string of negative key word results you can add to your campaigns.

What is a Good Negative Key Word Example?
If you a premium brand looking to market yourself properly you would want to add a list of keywords that would prevent bargain or discount shoppers from accessing your ads. Examples of this would be:

closeout
blow out sale
liquidation
cheap
bargain
for sale
overstock
free
discount

Preventing Irrelevant Traffic with Search Reporting
The goal of any search campaign is converting as many relevant clicks as possible. If you are still having difficulty in building a negative key word list, use Googles Search Query Performance Report. This simple tool will list all the keywords that are triggered by your ad. The majority of keywords are going to be ones you’ve bid on, occasionally you will find some keywords that don’t fit or should be omitted into your negative key word list.

The use of negative keywords on Google AdWords campaigns limits the ads’ click-through rate to only the most targeted ones. Need more Google AdWords help? Contact our AdWords Experts now or be one of the many who have applied for the Free Website Analysis today.

Learn more about Bank Branding and Financial Marketing Strategies by visiting http://allianceinteractive.com/ or us contact Alliance Interactive at 888.222.9056.