The Moment of Truth

By Alaina Sheer
Chief Content Strategist

Whether I am speaking one-on-one with a potential client, typically a marketing manager or business owner, or to a larger audience, typically a room filled with the latter, I use the experience to improve my translation skills. [Hint: kicking up your shoes and letting the sun shine in always make this process a less painful.]

Boots aside, making sense of all of this “search and social stuff” isn’t for the faint of heart.

But, invariably, after a little bit of on-the-spot investigation into keywords or competitor strategies, I figure it out. I have solved a riddle and found an avenue where social or search marketing could transform their bottom line.

When I relay the idea or my discovery their faces light up. There’s a visible click and it hits them; any remaining skepticism washing away. That’s the moment I love the most, the moment when the translation succeeds and my audience (small or large) begins to see things clearly.

But first, I have to convince them that this isn’t just a waste of time or space. Instead it’s the most effective, most powerful and most targeted form or marketing we have ever seen. That’s when I turn to talking about measurement. Showing them analytics reports, actual results for actual websites.

“Sometimes I feel like a social or search marketing detective,” I said to an audience of two during a meeting last week. Twenty minutes into our meeting, I had determined that they should be targeting an entirely different audience with their search marketing – an audience they hadn’t previously considered.

“You are!” they both chimed in, “This is incredible.”

If you want a one-on-one visit with your personal social and search marketing detective – give me a call at 614-754-8228 or e-mail cementmarketing@gmail.com. Better yet, come and find me at one of the following public speaking engagements coming up this Spring. (And yes, I’ll probably be wearing my cowboy boots).

Ohio Wesleyan Center Lecture

“We can measure that! The metrics behind social media strategy”
March 25, 2010 – 3:10 pm
Bayley Room
Beeghly Library, 43 Rowland Ave, Ohio Wesleyan University
Free and open to the public or LIVE Webcast

Association of Fundraising Professionals Monthly Luncheon

“Measuring social media.”
April 13, 2010, noon – 1:30 pm
Grange Insurance Audubon Center
$20 for members; $30 for guests

Sway Social Workshop

April 22 – 23, 2010 – 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Wild Goose Creative
See website for rates. Early bird expires March 12th and there are only a few seats left!

Tags | alaina sheer, Search Engine Optimization, search marketing columbus, social marketing columbus, social marketing speaker columbus, sway social workshop