Shanika Poppema

This days im interested in SEO

(Editor’s note: Serial entrepreneur Scott Olson is president of MindLink Marketing. He contributed this column to VentureBeat.)

Quick marketing poll: Who has an industry contact list and used that to send out direct mail, email or some other marketing promotion?

Guiltily holding your hand up? You’re not alone, but it’s pretty well established that this approach no longer works. Playing the numbers game of a less than 1 percent response on marketing outreach to unknown contacts doesn’t have a future.

Social media and the decline of traditional media have changed the marketing discipline forever. Broadcasting marketing messages to a vast population who may or may not care is a formula for failure – so it’s more important than ever to tailor your outreach and messages to connect to people who do care.

Tailoring your marketing to be interesting and relevant to the people who receive it both increases its effectiveness and builds relationships with customers, prospects and contacts. It’s not an easy task, but it can be made easier by utilizing social media to identify, listen to and connect with the true fans of your company, your peers or competitors – and even your industry as a whole.

Seth Godin, one of today’s most recognizable marketing visionaries, wrote about this on his blog, saying “one true fan is worth perhaps 10,000 times as much as a stranger.”

If this is true, how do you know who your true fans are? How do you effectively market to them? What do they care about? Here are some recommendations on how to use social media to guide a true fan marketing strategy.

Identify the right fans – The first step is simply understanding and knowing who your true fans are. True fans aren’t necessarily people who are evangelists of your company. They could be proponents of the broader category of technology that you sell or could even be fans of your competitors.

Use social media to identify people on the internet who have something to state about you, your competitors or your industry and follow them. Twitter is an ideal medium for identifying fans, but you can also identify relevant blogs, Facebook fans and LinkedIn group participants who will add to your list. If you could create a list of the 1,000 people who cared most about your industry and who influenced others, what would it be worth to you?

Listen to your fans – Once you have identified and followed the fans of your company and your industry, listen to them. Establish a process for regularly watching the trending topics of the people who care about your space.

Fish your pond, not the ocean – If all you are fishing for is fresh water trout, why look for them in the ocean? Search is an extremely important component of your marketing strategy, but it isn’t precise. Google and other search engines require you to be highly specific in your search terms. Otherwise you are flooded with irrelevant data. Similarly, wouldn’t it be nice to refine search to the output from your true fans?

Create a data feed from your fans outputs and then use search more effectively on broader terms. An example: I’ve worked in the security industry, but looking at a Twitter feed of anyone who mentions “security” isn’t that useful. There is simply too much data. By searching on that same term from the 1,000 people who care about my space, everything changes.

Engage with your fans – Once you know who your fans are and what they’re about, you can more effectively interact with them. Reply to their tweets, comment on their blogs, or generate original content that addresses an emerging topic your fan base is about. All of this will strengthen the connections to your closer community.

Market to your fans – Your true fan list should be one of your most valuable marketing assets. As you establish these contacts, your marketing promotions can become that much more effective and viral. Keep your fans top of mind when you do any of the following things:

• Solicit product feedback
• Launch a product
• Promote an event
• Publish a whitepaper
• Host a webinar or on the internet forum

Give your fans the tools to market for you – The whole point of marketing to your fans is that they have reach and influence that you simply won’t be able to achieve. Generate promotional items and marketing content that your fan index can get behind, promote to their own network and evangelize on your behalf.

Your pipeline growth from these efforts will be of a much higher quality and your sales team to be much more productive with their interactions.

Many companies spend an enormous amount of time and energy focusing on how to grow their contact database and marketing to that list. That time can be superior spent, though, by understanding who your fans are and using them to increase the quality of that and the effective use of your limited resources.

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This series is supported by The Awareness Social Marketing Hub, a leading enterprise-grade application for marketers struggling with the social media chaos of managing multiple social channels. Click here to learn more.

Twitter Lists are a great way to follow a group of like-minded Twitter users. By following a List, you can get an overview of a particular subject by simply taking a look at the stream from time to time. A well-curated Twitter List can be focused on a specific topic, industry or interest.

With the increase in C-level executives joining and taking part in social networks across the Internet, there are bound to be questions. While Twitter is one of the simplest social media tools out there, Lists are one of the more complicated features for new tweeters to comprehend.

We suggest using tools like TLists, Listorious and TweetMeme Lists to scope out and follow Lists of interest. To get you started or to beef up your current List inventory, here are 15 Twitter Lists for C-suite executives to follow, separated into categories for CEOs, CMOs, CIOs and CTOs, and CFOs.

Share your favorites in the comments below.

Twitter Lists for CEOs

For the latest business, management and leadership tweets, here are three Twitter Lists for CEOs to follow:

• CEOs: If you’re a CEO and not on this Twitter List, send a friendly tweet to Brand Strategist Valeria Maltoni, and she’ll likely add you to what seems to be the most comprehensive index of CEOs on Twitter. Look to this List for the latest tweets from over 150 CEOs. The List seems to be highly concentrated on digital and technology.
• Business News: Curated by The New York Times, this compilation is a short index of the most essential business news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Reuters Business and Silicon Alley Insider.
• Management & Leadership: This TLists SuperList compiles the top tweeters from 216 Twitter Lists, tweeting about management, leadership and power.

Twitter Lists for CMOs

To stay up-to-date on the latest marketing and advertising trends and news, here are four Twitter Lists that CMOs should follow:

• Advertising & Marketing: This mashup of advertising and marketing pros is another TLists SuperList and pulls from 1,500 Twitter Lists to round up the 250 most listed tweeters updating about digital marketing, advertising campaigns, mobile strategy, SEO, branding and more. Averaging around 4,000 tweets a day, this List is perfect for staying up-to-date on the advertising and marketing industries.
• CMO: COO of RecruitingBlogs.com Miles Jennings, curates this expansive List of over 200 marketing executives and CMOs. Follow this List to see what your fellow CMOs are working on and reading.
• Marketing: If TLists’ SuperList of 250 tweeters isn’t massive enough for you, check out this List of over 400 marketing, networking, advertising and social media promotion experts. Curated by Peter Urbanski, a web developer and designer based in Columbus, Ohio, this List should satisfy your hunger for the latest marketing-focused content.
• Advertising: FutureClaw Magazine, a fashion, art, and culture publication, maintains the largest Twitter List specific to advertising with 500 tweeters from advertising backgrounds including creative agencies, media planners, and marketers of all kinds.

Twitter Lists for CTOs & CIOs

Amidst the sea of tech-related Twitter Lists, there are quite a few gems worth checking. Here are some of our top picks for technology Lists that CTOs and CIOs may find of interest:

• Most Influential in Tech: Video blogger and tech enthusiast Robert Scoble has interviewed over 3,200 geeks throughout the years, so we take his recommendations on techies pretty seriously. This List brings together over 200 of the most respected and influential tech executives. As Scoble puts it, these movers and shakers “make stuff happen in and to the technology industry.”
• Technology: Yet another TLists SuperList, this tech-focused List compiles the most listed tweeters on 377 lists about technology. Follow it to stay fresh on tech news and trends.
• Tech Company Execs: Also curated by Scoble, this List is composed of over 400 C-level execs from a range of companies, both small and large.
• CIO/CTO/Directors/Techies: Andy Lymburner, IT director at Babson College, must have put a lot of time into creating this list of 500 technology professionals from a variety of industries. The conversation in this List revolves around tech, cloud computing, data and security.
• CIO: Produced by IT professional Jason Sparrow, this List includes over 400 Twitter accounts, including news sources, such as CIO.com and CIO Talkradio, as well as CIOs from across the world.

For a more comprehensive look at tech-driven Twitter Lists, check out Barb Dybwad’s recommendations for 10 Twitter Lists for IT pros to follow.

Twitter Lists for CFOs

CFOs need the most current information in order to smoothly operate their company. Here are three lists that can help keep CFOs privy to the latest financial news, analysis and information:

• Finance & Insurance: For a collection of the best resources and experts, check out TLists’ Finance & Insurance SuperList, which compiles over 200 of the most listed tweeters on 335 lists about finance and insurance. Conversation is quite focused on this list, including topics like accounting, insurance, taxes and legislative decisions.
• WSJ Staff: For the latest business news and financial chatter, follow this comprehensive index of reporters, editors and columnists from The Wall Street Journal, curated by the publication itself.
• CFOs: Curated by Frank Mullens, CFO and COO at Marketing Innovations International, a promotional and retail merchandise manufacturer, this List brings together 300 CFOs on Twitter.

These 15 Twitter Lists for C-suite executives are great starters or additions to any Twitter List collection. Let us know which Lists you are following to stay up on current events, trends, news and analysis in your industry in the comments below.

Series supported by Awareness

Awareness builds social marketing software for marketers leveraging multiple social channels to engage with customers, build their brand, and increase revenues. Built upon Awareness’ expertise deploying more than 200 communities and social media projects for the world’s biggest brands including Sony, JetBlue, Kodak, ASOS.com and AIRMiles, The Awareness Social Marketing Hub is a leading enterprise-grade application for marketers struggling with the social media chaos of managing multiple social channels. With the Awareness Social Marketing Hub, marketers are now able to publish, manage and measure across all their social channels from one central location using advanced built-in permissioning, workflow and audit controls.

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