Director of Audience & Revenue at 10up, focusing on business insights, audience growth, and monetization for some of the biggest digital brands on the planet. Comprehensive experience across a variety of business models and product strategies.
I've yet to see an SMS campaign go viral. You're probably better setting up an interactive live event and then documenting it and creating content that can be published across niche and non niche channels.
Rules of Thumb For Naming Anything:
1. Easy To Say 2. Easy To Remember 3. Do something outside the obvious
No one will care about another 'Innovation and Technology' conference unless you do something to make it different from the rest of them. Maybe take advantage of the setting and rent out a creepy castle.
If you want long term evangelists you're going to have to think outside of the relationship between your product and the customer and focus specifically on the customer.
Identify the influencers who are already engaging your brand through social media channels and see what you can learn about them.
If their profile picture is them playing an instrument, you might send then a gift card to Itunes or Guitar Center.
In Short: Spend a little money and show your interest in them instead of just rewarding their interest in you.
I had Wheat Thins send me a box of crackers and that was cool but I sent one tweet out and was done. General Electric saw that I was wearing a Batman shirt and sent me a really cool book as well as a hand written thank you note.
I regularly engage and promote content about GE.
You can use a custom ending if it can tie in to your company/brand name. visual.ly is a good example.
With browser history and personal settings it's much less an issue than is used to be.
If you talk to someone and they leave feeling like they know exactly what to do and how to do it, you gave them too much. To quote The Joker ' If you're good at something, never do it for free'
Even if it takes you 30 minutes to explain, it probably took hours upon hours to figure out. Time is money.
Take away the specific industry and you still need to look at basics.
Map your steps out by the level of commitment they require. A whitepaper requires less time and commitment than a webinar, for example.
You should have a series of responses mapped out for every action in the funnel AND every inaction.
From there the key is the present the CTAs in the right way. This really does need to be specific to the path the person has come down. By the time they've invested a significant amount of time going through your funnel your communications should seem like they're written specifically for that person.
If you're looking for agencies who have it down I'd recommend Ogilvy Social W+K Social and RGA. But it really depends on how you want to position your agency, you'll see they all take pretty different approaches.
https://twitter.com/SocialOgilvy https://twitter.com/WiedenKennedy https://twitter.com/rga
Before looking at other examples I'd recommend figuring out who exactly you aim to be or who your customers want you to be and go from there. There are hundreds of ways to do social and the only definition of right or wrong that counts comes from your clients.
I know that on Facebook and Twitter you can schedule ads and posts so that question should be answered.
I know in Facebook you can target users by whether they're using a mobile or desktop device and also by which operating system they're using i.g. iOS or Android
You can also target by interests like 'Running' or 'marathons' based on their profile and activity or you can use partner categories to target people who spent money on fitness/running equipment or possibly even registered for a marathon.
If you know exactly who your customer is, Linkedin is a great option because you'll be able to target by job title or by company.
When you do reach out, try to be more personal and less salesy. The relationship should always seem mutually beneficial.
I try to capitalize on the times when the kid(s) are either asleep or doing something else and then make sure I'm available the times when we can be together as a family. I might hard stop work at 5 and then catch up on outstanding tasks really early in the morning or later at night.
I also work at home and make myself take a few breaks to help my wife out and say hi to my son. Helps me get a quick refresh.
I first came across Mike's work in a "State of Social Media" report. Whilst there were 100 experts in the report, Mike's words were the words that stood out the most as "real world" social media help for my market (fitness). Mike has done hangouts with my Facebook group of 2000+ fitness professionals, and continues to provide feedback and suggestions to them whether they're rookies or seasoned social veterans. Plus, he's a top bloke who can talk TO you rather than AT you. Recommend massively.
His hangout on social marketing for newbies. Watch:
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Mike is easily one of the most down to earth and knowledgeable minds in the digital marketing field. His constant pursuit of quality and cutting edge methods always inspires me to look for new ways of accomplishing goals, as well as delivering content. He consistently delivers results and empowers his clients with his knowledge and expertise.
Not only is he a gifted mind, but he's a fantastic human being, who will go the extra mile to take care of his clients and business partners. I can't recommend Mike enough.
Michael Bal was one of the most dedicated professionals through his work at Baseline21, LLC. He is a open minded team player with boundless energy. Dedicated, proactive, highly motivated and responsible strategist with a great skill to analyze and summarize ideas.
Michael Bal is an always punctual and precise with great interpersonal skills. He is a great asset to any company, Michael definitely shines in a fast-paced environment.
Michael Bal is not only a multi-skilled and ambitious Digital Marketing Director but also an inspiring employee. Michael Bal is a reliable co-worker, his knowledge is vast and thorough. Responsible expert with excellent communication skills. Very good, result driven, efficient and careful person. Michael Bal is probably one of the best team players I've ever met in my life.
Mike is a fantastic person to work with, one of the best among all people I have ever worked with and did not fail me a single time. Hardworking and very creative. Forward thinking and careful, he is ready to deal with difficult situations and solve the problems on time. If you ever need someone to deliver under pressure, no slip-ups, just results, Mike is your man! Lots of work and little talk. Deliver results and move on. That's Mike's way.
Mike has the talent and skills of a marketing professional that go well beyond what anyone could describe on paper. Mike's ability to look at a challenge, situation or project and come up with 5 equally compelling and creative ideas to tackle it always had me stunned and wanting to learn more.
We worked together on a team of project managers, and Mike was not only the one with the most focus and had some of the best time-management skills I've ever seen, but he was more than willing to put his work aside to help you with whatever project you needed help on. He was our go-to in-house design expert who could help us edit or critique any web or print design we were working on.
Mike would be the perfect addition to any team looking for an independent thought-leader with charisma, kindness and the ability to make every person in the room feel as though they are important and their ideas have just as much right to be heard as anyone else. It would be an honor and privilege to ever work with Mike again, and I hope someday our career paths will cross.
I've worked closely with Mike Bal for over a year and a half and I couldn't have been more impressed with his creative ideas and incredible work ethic. He has consistently delivered results by exponentially growing my social media following by developing and executing innovative marketing strategies. Mike has an unrivaled ability to visually translate written content and he has helped bring life to my nationally syndicated column by choosing images that help people to better understand and relate on a weekly basis. Mike also led the way for the launch of my most recent national best-selling book The Mackay MBA of Selling in The Real World. Mike helped by planning an in-depth marketing plan that was vital to the success of the book. I highly recommend Mike and I can guarantee that he will be a valued asset to any team.
Mike is a creative, hard working, and talented marketing strategist. While he brings a wide range of creative ideas to your company, he's also a problem solver as he's able to come up with creative solutions to nearly any challenge which is even more important.
Miked worked with for me and was part of the One Social Media team during the most important growth period of our company. He was instrumental in coming up with several of our creative social marketing campaigns for our clients. Some of these campaigns caught national attention by major brands, amplifying the success of the campaigns we worked on.
A great team player, he's also self-motivated, energetic, authentic and truly fun to be around. He's also has the self-discipline necessary to work autonomously when needed on projects.
Mike has my highest recommendation. He's one of those people you don't want working for your competition, you want him working for you.
I enjoyed working with Mike when he was at One Social Media. His expertise, coupled with his quick response and helpfulness were exceptional. He knows social media, is creative and a true collaborator. I recommend him and his services.
There is one word that comes to mind when I think of Mike: uber-creative. Okay, that's technically two words, but you get the idea. I know that creativity can be learned and cultivated, but Mike seems to have been given an extra dose of it.
I remember one instance where the team was trying to come up with a fun and memorable name for a new video series we were doing. Each team member submitted an idea that would then be voted on. Mike did not participate. He simply gave an idea out loud and exclaimed "That is what it's going to be." Sure enough - it was far and away the best idea presented. We were in awe, to say the least.
Mike is also a branding expert. He can help your company figure out it's voice better than anyone I've come across. He'll find the message you need to be conveying, the images you need to be displaying and the words you need to be writing.
Mike is one of the most creative people I've ever had the opportunity to work with. Not only does he constantly work hard to come up with creative ideas for our company and our clients, but he also develops effective ways to put these ideas into action. Mike's versatility and his willingness to go out of his way to learn more about the tools he uses is what sets him apart from others. Mike comes to work every day with a positive attitude, the motivation to get things done, and a genuine desire to do the best he can at whatever he's working on. It's always a pleasure to work with Mike on projects. I'm always extremely impressed with his work ethic. We're lucky to have Mike on the One Social Media Team!
