Are you looking for a messaging silver bullet that you can deliver a clear message to the perfect prospect who will resonate, increase engagement, and boost your bottom line? I hate to tell you this, but it does not exist.  That is because every single one of your customers is unique, with individual personalities and preferences. And despite most marketers’ best efforts to categorize consumer preferences based on common demographics, most consumers approach the internet like they do in all other areas of life—with intrinsic personality traits and motivations that influence how they’ll interact online.

The Internet has fundamentally transformed the way people discover, share, connect and shop. 79% of adults use the internet (Pew Internet & American Life Project, May 2010). It’s time for your company to transform the way you connect and communicate with your customers – and maybe even more importantly, with potential customers. Old-school techniques, including telemarketing, direct mail, TV, radio and print advertising (to reach customers), just don’t work anymore. Your customers shop and learn in a whole new way compared to just a few years ago, so marketers need to adapt or risk extinction.  78% of Internet users conduct product research online (Pew Internet & American Life Project, May 2010). The average information seeker conducts dozens of searches per day , and- rather than listen to a sales rep, read a spam message, watch a TV ad, or fly to a trade show - most people find it easier to sit at their desks and find information online through Google. In order to take advantage of this new reality, marketers need to change the way they think about marketing – from the ground up.

If you think of a consumer’s online interaction with your company as a treasured relationship (as any good marketer should!) then the next logical step is to explore the termination of that relationship.  Most romances come to an end at some point, and—whether conducted through Email, Facebook, or Twitter—online consumer-brand romances are no exception. Regardless of channel, research by Exact Target’s new study “The Social Break-Up”  shows that one thing consistently drives consumers away; communications that, in some way, demonstrate that the company doesn’t care.

While being on this list may not get you groupies, drugs and million dollar record deals, it does get you book deals, millions of followers and immortality (well maybe at least digitally). Just like how a Rock Star needs to have charisma, talent, and authenticity, in order to be a Social Rock Star, you need to be a triple threat as well.  You cannot be a one hit wonder, or a mere hack spamming the internet with useless garbage.

It is well known that most purchasers start their online purchase process with a query of a search engine. New research from GroupM and comScore reveals that 48% of consumers who started with a search engine search for products and subsequently purchased, are taking a social activity as a next step in the buying process.  Their findings also reveal  that when consumers are exposed to both search and social media by a brand, that overall search click-through rate went up by 94%. This clearly demonstrates that search and social media are powerful channels individually, but in combination they create huge opportunities for companies to gain the edge on their competitors.

When your customers wake up in the morning, are they reaching for their smartphones to check Facebook, updating their Twitter status, or are they logging onto their laptops to check email? Do you even know? Believe it or not, what an individual does first thing in the morning can tell you a lot about the types of marketing messages you should be sending them across email, Facebook, Twitter to build engagement. People are creatures of habit and what your customers do first thing in the morning reveals not only their priorities and motivations, but also tendencies that can tell you when to communicate with them.

Everyone is always talking about the ROI of social media and how can you convert a Facebook fan into a sales qualified lead. I have seen many great looking Fan pages on Facebook, but much like early websites, these pages are designed more for image and less for lead conversion.  That is, however, until I came across the Facebook page of ViperChill.  Not only does Glen at ViperChill get it, he shares just how to create the page complete with free templates.

With the massive growth in sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media sites, there has become a great debate over who should be responsible for these new channels.  PR agencies, full service media agencies, search agencies and lead generation teams are all staking claim to social media monitoring, but who should really be responsible for it?