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Trends in Social Media and other predictions for success in 2012*

Watch the Slidecast (PPT+MP3) As part of the San Diego Direct Marketing Associations (#SDDMA) 2012 Marketing Trends Seminar, I was asked to present what I thought would be trends to watch in social media during this coming year. Admittedly, I felt somewhere between The Great Carnac and Jimmy the Greek. Sure, I can make predictions, but ultimately where I would tell you to put your money will be based on my experience and insight.

In preparing, I reviewed each of the types of social media (yes, there is more than one ;-) and recounted some of the the latest activity in the space (not necessarily the newest comers). Most of the usual suspects are still very active (Facebook, Google+ – even MySpace), but there’s some new names on the roster for this coming year you may not be familiar with (like Pinterest, Tumblr and Klout).

Ultimately, it’s still just people interacting with people – using technology…

Ideahaus® voted Best Boutique Agency, Best Creative, Best Interactive in Media All-Star Awards

The votes are in, and according to the Media Association of Pittsburgh (MAP), Ideahaus is the Best Boutique Agency in the city. It’s also the Best Creative Agency, and the Best Interactive Agency (which includes social media).

The Media All-Star Awards is one of MAP’s signature events “held to celebrate the hardest workers in the media industry.” Agencies, media, vendors and marketing professionals are nominated, then the communications community votes for their choice in a number of categories.

Hosted by KDKA-TV on-air talent Larry Richert, the event was attended by nearly 200 professionals who filled the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh to learn who would make this year’s All-Stars team.

Ideahaus Founder Kevin Popovic was honored by the recognition, and elated with the wins…

The Devil is in the Details: User Experience Design’s Impact on Customer Retention

A Chief Marketing Officer can create a broad sweeping, exceptional branding program but can lose countless customers based on the smallest, tiniest interaction—even something as simple as an online password reset.

This concept became crystal clear on a personal level past Saturday when doing something as mundane as ordering more coffee. I have a Keurig and I order K-cups from them online. Unfortunately, this time I could not get into my account. I tried the password reset feature, but it wouldn’t work.

Needing to reset my password is not a reason for me to “leave” Keurig. How Keurig handled my password reset is why. When I could not get in, I submitted a customer service request to Keurig and Googled “K-cups” which immediately lead me to Amazon.com to order my coffee…

Understanding “What Great Salespeople Do”

A review on Mike Bosworth & Ben Zoldan’s new book exploring “the science of selling through emotional connection and the power of story” by Kevin Popović, Founder of Ideahaus.

“What Great Salespeople Do” humanizes the sales process. Learning from sciences, and from their previous success in Solution Selling, Mike and Ben takes the sometimes very impersonal business of sales and reminds us that it’s still people communicating with other people…

Popović shares life stories and lessons learned with SDSU student entrepreneurs

In the formality of an EMC boardroom, Popović will informally share the stories of his success and failures, and the lessons he’s learned along the way. “My father taught me to ‘learn from others mistakes’. I never knew what an education that could be. I learned what I wanted to be, and even more importantly, what I didn’t want to be. I learned how I wanted to treat people, how I wanted to be viewed, and what I had to do to earn what I wanted. I think that helped me learn…

e-Commerce has gone Social

Think of Social Commerce as the “new mall”. Everyone is there. People watching. Catching up with familiar faces and checking out what others are wearing. What’s hot and what’s not. Shopping is a social sport. Online shoppers are motivated in similar ways, but rather than using window displays, it’s now “curated” online products and recommendations from friends, families or even an anonymous consumer. Word of mouth is still the cornerstone of commercial activity. 71% of online shoppers say that reviews from family members or friends exert a “great deal” or “fair amount” of influence…

The goals and metrics by which we measure our website traffic and success change with the evolution of social media. The reasons and places that online commerce take place are changing daily, and unfortunately, they are not trending towards your website. They are going social and mobile. With influences like Facebook friend’s purchase recommendations, social plugins, group buying incentives or photos and videos from smartphones showing off user’s acquisitions, it’s obvious that social media is playing a pivotal role in the online purchasing process…

What Great Salespeople Do: An Introduction

We’ve been training salespeople for a combined 40 years. For most of that time, our definition of selling has been some variation of “helping people solve problems.” The definition was based on the belief that the decision to “buy” was like problem solving, logical and rational.

At the time we got into sales productivity improvement, empirical industry research had established that what distinguished successful sellers from less successful sellers was questions: the best sellers asked their customers questions. Lots of questions. So for our Solution Selling and CustomerCentric Selling workshops, we developed sales models in which sellers asked buyers a logical, rational series of questions designed to persuade the buyer to choose the seller’s product to solve his or her problem…

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Kevin Popović, Communications Director, Ideahaus

The Invisible Mentor Blog changes the way people look at mentoring. Avil Beckford, Chief Invisible Mentor, is a writer, researcher and the published author of “Tales of People Who Get It” and its companion workbook, “Journey to Getting It”. Avil interviews Ideahaus Founder & Communications Director Kevin Popović on his life, his work and the people who helped shape who he is today.

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Kevin Popović: My job has evolved. I call myself a communications director so I help my clients direct all their communications – marketing, strategy, corporate identity and branding, advertising, design issues, public relations and quite a lot of social media these days. Quite simply, I help my clients figure out what to say and how to say it to their target markets…

Testing My Social Capital: Getting the ROI from my social media network

For years now, we’ve been told – and preached ourselves – on the virtues of social media and the value of a network connection. We must get friends, followers and connections to build our reach and expand the resources necessary to be successful. This, we’re told, will help us make new contacts, build our careers, and generate business for ourselves, and our companies.

But how many actually do what you’re supposed to do?

How many people are working towards reaching out to the people you already know to create more connections? How many people communicate with new followers once you get them to follow you? Do you actually participate within the network you’ve created or are you, like most, a voyeur? And do you ever get anything in return for any of your effort?

The biggest challenge with social media isn’t growing a network, it’s identifying the return on investment…

An Offer to Help for Vistage CEO’s

Every company communicates better with a plan. And although this may be easier for the experienced, most companies could use a little help.

For a limited time, we’re offering Vistage members a discount on our Communications Planning consulting services. Finally achieve the clarity you need to get your entire team on the same page. Invest now and you’ll improve the effectiveness of your communications, get your messages to your target markets faster, and save money by getting the most out of every opportunity.