Online Strategy « The Online Strategist

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Oscar Del Santo 12:58 pm on October 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply
Tags: mark smiciklas (2), Online Strategy (5)

Online Strategy 101

Online Strategy 101 (for small businesses)

Creating an online strategy worthy of that name can be an arduous proccess for many small businesses. Thanks to the creative genius of Vancouver social media entrepreneur and blogger Mark Smiciklas, we now have an attractive visual guide that covers the essentials of building an online presence from scratch that will allow any and every small business to become an active participant in the social web and market their products or services effectively.

I have converted this presentation to Scribd and would like to share it here with you all. It is worth reading even if you consider yourself an online or social media marketing pro.

View this document on Scribd

Oscar Del Santo is an online strategist, publicist and trailblazing reputation manager. He helps individuals and organizations achieve their online goals through the implementation of tailor-made online strategies with strong social web and ORM components. He is a sought-after ‘de-mistifying’ trainer, key speaker and trusted & confidential advisor in online reputation crises scenarios .

Mark Smiciklas 7:44 am on October 12, 2009 Permalink | Reply

Hey Oscar – Thanks for featuring my e-book in your blog post…and for uploading it to Scribd! Regards, Mark.
- Oscar Del Santo 11:23 am on October 12, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  
  Thank you Mark for creating this wonderful resource.

Oscar Del Santo 3:14 am on September 24, 2009 Permalink | Reply
Tags: big idea, online agencies, Online Strategist (3), Online Strategy (5)

The Big Idea

The Big Idea (have you got one?)

As I argued in a recent post, search engine and social media projects are becoming increasingly complex, and in the more forward-looking digital agencies it is not uncommon for multifarious departments – SEO, SEM, analytics, web design and development and online reputation management amongst others – to work closely together under the guidance of the online strategist to ensure a harmonic, coherent and compelling end result that matches the expectations of our clients.

And yet, no matter how many human and technical resources are engaged in the effort or how competent and experienced the agency, time and again projects that truly take off have one deceptively simple and yet often overlooked success quotient in common: a big idea. So much so that I want to advocate here that the first question we should ever pose ourselves before embarking onto any sizeable online initiative ought to be as straightforward as: ‘what is the big idea?’

Which of course could be rephrased in various ways such as: ‘What are you about?’ ‘What is the one message that you are trying to convey in the online medium?’ or ‘What is the unifying theme behind this effort?’

I can think of no better example to prove the validity of this philosophy than the successful London bid for the Olympic Games of 2012. Obviously there were all kinds of political arm-twisting and influence wielding going on behind the curtains, but London’s success was attributed in great part to the recurrent theme ‘London is a happily multicultural and diverse city’ that informed the bid and as such was echoed in the official website, communications, online/offline promotional efforts and even the London 2012 employment policies up to this day. This grand theme acted as a catalyst for the enthusiasm of Londoners and thanks to its consistency and underlying honesty it became I believe instrumental in swaying the initially reticent members of the Olympic Committee.

Any organization that is serious about creating and managing a successful online presence should think hard before committing time and resources and not stop until a satisfactory answer has been reached to the questions posed above. Your business may be about uncompromising quality, cutting-edge innovation, superior tailor-made customer service, upholding traditional values or just cool, hip and trendy. But whichever the case, your commitment to that single big idea that reveals either who you are or who you aspire to be, coupled to your day-to-day demonstration to your clients that you intend to live up to its challenges, should constitute not only your trademark but also your best guarantee of online success.

Oscar Del Santo is an online strategist, publicist and trailblazing reputation manager. He helps individuals and organizations achieve their online goals through the implementation of tailor-made online strategies with strong social web and ORM components. He is a sought-after ‘de-mistifying’ trainer, key speaker and trusted & confidential advisor in online reputation crises scenarios .
Oscar Del Santo 6:14 pm on September 12, 2009 Permalink | Reply
Tags: Online Strategist (3), PR, SEO (3), Social Media (4), social media strategy (2)
PR & SEO : Together We Stand
Communicate Magazine from London recently published a fascinating and timely debate between PR heavyweight Abigail Harrison from thebluedoor and her SEO nemesis Andrew Girdwood from bigmouthmedia about the pros and cons of using either a PR or a SEO agency to assist a company in their social media strategy.

I do not believe there is currently a more urgent or pressing debate from the point of view of online strategy or online reputation management.

The arguments used by the two participants are the ones we might have expected from the PR and SEO camps. See if you can guess who said what:
- “PR, like the web, has always been about people. SEO is intrinsically and historicaly linked to Google bots and algorithms – not people, and certainly not reputations“
- “I don’t think we have seen any evidence that the PR agencies have caught up with, or overtaken, the digital natives“
- “I feel that SEOs… get in the way of the strategic thinking required for meaningful PR“
And yet there were some gems to be found in the crossfire, like Andrew’s adroit assertion that “Social media is a discipline which requires online communication skills, alongside technical skills and analytical skills. A deficit in any one of these three key areas is a threat to success of the campaign.”

Quite, Andrew! Bull’s eye! This is indeed what I have been arguing for quite some time: that SEO and PR are inextricably linked in today’s social media realities, and that any agency that is deficient in either is competing at a serious disadvantage. Which in turn explains why the more enlightened agencies are favouring a cross-pollination of digital and communication skills for new key roles – the likes of online reputation manager or social media strategist.

Indeed, the leading agencies of tomorrow will be integrated communities where technical and communications staff work together seamlessly under the ovearching leadership of the online strategist, a professional whose qualifications and interests must encapsulate the best that the worlds of SEO and PR have to offer.

Oscar Del Santo is an online strategist, publicist and trailblazing reputation manager. He helps individuals and organizations achieve their online goals through the implementation of tailor-made online strategies with strong social web and ORM components. He is a sought-after ‘de-mistifying’ trainer, key speaker and trusted & confidential advisor in online reputation crises scenarios .
The Big Idea « The Online Strategist, Jose Llinares, Oscar Del Santo and one other person are discussing. Toggle Comments
- squidoo 4:34 pm on September 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  
  thanks for this interesting read, nice one, excellent.
  - Oscar Del Santo 9:39 pm on September 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    
    Thanks, I am glad you liked it.
- Jose Llinares 9:00 am on September 24, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  
  As a person working in SEO I have to say that PR activity is providing to our work huge benefits and therefore is completely need to work close to each other.
  
  “SEO and PR are inextricably linked in today’s social media realities” AMEN
Oscar Del Santo 10:48 pm on September 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply
Tags: Online Strategy (5), Social Media (4), social media plan, training

Not an IT issue

Not an IT issue: Social Media Plans and the Importance of Training

“It’s the buzz; We have to jump onto the bandwagon; All my friends are in it; Our competitors have this brilliant Facebook page; It’s free advertising …”

These are some of the most recurrent reasons why we professionals are called to the rescue of many a decent-sized company eager not to be left behind and ready to implement some kind of half-concocted social media strategy in record time – which usually entails having a modicum of a presence in the social networks to begin with.

Happy as we are to be of assistance, the reasons above denote a lack of understanding of the new realities the company or organization will be facing as it joins the social side of the Web 2.0 that should set our alarm bells ringing. ‘I want to join the social networks to have a better communication channel with my workers, customers and the community’ or ‘I want to be able to offer information of true value to my customers’ are reasons I have never come across in pre-sales meetings. Little surprise if events take a disheartening but expected course after a while.

Time and again I have seen the same story unfold. The pros are called in; the strategy is implemented; all the IT applications and the web design & development phase is completed; the company builds up a budding presence in the social networks … and then, after a few months, interest dwindles, enthusiasm wanes and no one is able to name any tangible benefits in return for the time and the effort invested in the first place!

I want to argue here that we professionals are often to blame. The single, most damaging mistake that internet consultants of every guise make when implementing any social media plan is this: lack of previous adequate training beyond the technical side of the initiative.

As Jennifer Korell noted in a recent article worth reading in full, the social media means that “dialogue has replaced monologue and narrowcasting is replacing broadcasting online.” And yet companies are still operating under the old marketing and PR tenet of “remaining on message” and using the novel social platforms as just another means of monologuing and broadcasting. Unsurprisingly customers (and even staff) fail to be persuaded and tune out once the novelty wears off.

This sad state of affairs is to be expected unless we expose our clients to ‘the new rules of marketing and PR’ (to use David Meerman Scott’s felicitous phrase). Any project undertaken without previous training in the new philosophies of transparency, optimized content generation, soft and viral marketing, online democracy, etc. is doomed to failure – no matter how slick or glossy the application or network in question. The shift in perception needs to predate the actual implementation phase and must engage all the parties directly and indirectly involved.

I am a strong advocate that, whenever possible, training should reach the whole company in one way or another. Engaging outside stakeholders is a risky enterprise unless enough critical mass has been reached at home. We want employees of every department to understand what increased transparency is going to mean to their everyday working lives, we want them to become evangelists for their company in the social networks, we want them to generate enthusiasm and exchange ideas and even constructive criticism via blog comments and other means beyond the official line. And we want everyone to be of one mind when it comes to editorial and content generation policies.

My advice to my fellows and my clients is straightforward: never implement a company-wide social media policy without securing as much as this is practicable company-wide training in the philosophies that are being embraced. Training should come at the start of the project, and be particularly thorough for anyone remotely involved in the key areas of communication, marketing and PR.

It has been stated hundreds of times and it bears repeating: a Social Media Plan is not an IT issue. It is a company-wide issue where the involvement and the sharing of values by all according to established guidelines will be of true and lasting benefit.

Oscar Del Santo is an online strategist, publicist and trailblazing reputation manager. He helps individuals and organizations achieve their online goals through the implementation of tailor-made online strategies with strong social web and ORM components. He is a sought-after ‘de-mistifying’ trainer, key speaker and trusted & confidential advisor in online reputation crises scenarios .
Oscar Del Santo 3:03 pm on September 6, 2009 Permalink | Reply
Tags: Online Reputation (3), Online Strategist (3), Online Strategy (5), web design

Why we need online strategists

As a starting point, let me state that this is most definitely NOT an ego trip about my own self-importance or that of my peers. As I am about to argue, the crucial point is that we are all important in this collective enterprise called the Web 2.0

Very often small and not-so-small businesses and organizations approach web design & development agencies to ‘sort out’ their online presence. And yet – as we professionals know – most web designers (though by no means all) are woefully unprepared when it comes to fundamental factors for the success of even the smallest of XXI century internet projects.

I am referring here to the likes of SEO (search engine optimization), SEM (search engine marketing), web analytics, monitorization and social media integration/social media marketing – let alone online content generation and editing, online reputation management or digital PR.

Think of the web designers of renown in your city or region. I bet the prime criterion they are judged with and the strength upon which their current success rests is their ability to produce eye-catching and technically sound webpages – usually loosely following the dictates of their patrons, though often with much professional autonomy and artistic license.

I should know. Not long ago I was part of an agency pitch team for a local authority that was about to invest €55,000 on a ‘webpage’ in order to promote their city as a tourist destination of choice. “We want a website with such and such colour and with little text”, was the councillor opening line before either myself or my colleagues could begin to explain the crucial importance of any of the elements I have mentioned for the real success of the project (i.e., to promote that city as a tourist destination, and not merely please the councillor’s team aesthetic sensibilities!)

Result: this local authority ended up with the colourful and minimalist website they wanted, to be sure: but a website with no social media widgets, flawed from the point of view of SEO, difficult to find in the search engines, bereft of any interactive elements and as such unable to galvanize public enthusiasm through the social networks. Their city is losing out today as a result.

I am convinced that the agencies of tomorrow will be collaborative enterprises where the importance of all the links in the chain of Web 2.0 success – programmers, SEO and SEM copies, web designers, analytics experts, monitoring and reputation managers – will work together under the overall guidance of an online strategist or an online strategy team that will act as the orchestra conductor that ensures everyone plays together in precise rhythmic coordination and to the same tempo.

What is the role of online strategists and what must be their qualifications?

In most general terms, the online strategist’s job is to find the most compelling way to coordinate the technical, artistic and marketing teams in order to meet the previously defined set of goals with the client. She must lead them in such a way that those goals are accomplished in the quickest and most cost-effective way.

Just as an orchestra conductor does not necessarily play every single instrument, online strategists are not experts in every single aspect of the Web 2.0. It seems to me, however, that the following are essential if they are to perform to a high standard:

-        Basic technical competence and a thorough understanding of the role of all the various integrating elements – like SEO, SEM, etc. – and crucially the fair value of their contribution in monetary terms

-        A nose for online publicity and PR. At the end of the day a webpage or an online presence is always about selling something.

-        Good managerial and ‘people’ skills – they must refuse to give in to ‘prima donnas’ in their teams and emphasize the importance of collaboration and team-play.

-        Excellent client-facing and communication/training skills, since it will be their responsibility to deliver the finished product to the client and an element of ‘post-delivery’ training will be consistently involved.

If coordinating multifarious technical, artistic and marketing professionals within an agency is difficult, coordinating independent external providers working for the benefit of a single project can easily turn nightmarish for a client who is not truly well versed in Web 2.0 matters. And this recurrently translates into significant amounts of wasted time, money and effort.

This is why we online strategists are often hired as overall coordinators of the various outsourced agencies with the responsibility of bringing order to chaos and ensuring the client is not overcharged. Hardly a dream scenario – the dream scenario would be an integrated, diversified and coordinated agency – but one that makes much more sense than leaving the end client to fend for himself amongst professionals that don’t often speak the same language and then expect him to sell the results internally.

Finally, while good online strategists must be fully in synch with the client, they should also be thick-skinned enough to challenge the latter by opening up new possibilities to promote his/her end product or service through a combination of the best technical, artistic and marketing mix. We want to be regarded in the end as trusted advisors with a ‘can do’ attitude who are decidedly on the client’s side.

Oscar Del Santo is an online strategist, publicist and trailblazing reputation manager. He helps individuals and organizations achieve their online goals through the implementation of tailor-made online strategies with strong social web and ORM components. He is a sought-after ‘de-mistifying’ trainer, key speaker and trusted & confidential advisor in online reputation crises scenarios .

oscardelsanto, Jose Llinares, and Why we need online strategists | SEO Article Expert are discussing. Toggle Comments
- Jose Llinares 9:31 am on September 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  
  Hi Oscar;
  
  Very interesting article indeed.
  
  I completely agree with your thoughts, in this complex environment such as the online world we need people that looks over the different specialties, that understands how they are related and acts as a coordinator of all of them, you can call it ‘online strategist’ or ‘online project manager’.
  
  Regards.
  - oscardelsanto 11:28 am on September 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    
    Thanks for your comments Jose. I believe that you hit the bull’s eye there. It’s much more than being simply an account manager.
    
    Best of luck in your multifarious projects.