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About Lisa Peyton
Lisa Peyton works full-time at EngineWorks in Portland, OR. During her free time she also does freelance, internet and social media marketing work. What little time she has left is spent working for West Cafe in Portland.
How did you get to where you are and with the company your with?
I have started as a web designer/developer and that developed into search engine optimization and marketing.
What is your favorite part about what you do?
I love analyzing data and working with challenges like how do you track social media.
Where or from whom do you pull inspiration?
Data, I LOVE data.
Who is someone in your profession that you've always looked up to or followed their progress? Why?
Avanish Kaushik, Eric T. Peterson - They are the analytics guru's, really trying to reshape the way marketers look at web analytic data.
What is new and exciting that your working on (can talk about) and want to plug?
I am in love with Twitter - it's not new but I love it anyway. I have been running several campaigns on Twitter -
@virtualjobcandy, @vjcnews, @slentrepreneur, @westcafepdx.
All of these campaigns have had outstanding results, in fact when I implemented the @virtualjobcandy campaign it doubled the traffic to our website!
There is a NEW fad tool coming out every day, but reality is it's just building conversations with your customers. It's not a big new secret, remember 5 years ago email was scary. How do you see these tools transforming and helping you and your industry in the future?
I am impressed by the new anlytics tools being developed around behavioral and contextual targeting. You can now serve up unique content on your website based on the demographic of the user. The days of casting a wide marketing net are over, it's all about relevancy.
How can social media boost your marketing and pr?
By leaps and bounds…
What mistakes should people avoid in social media?
Trying to control it, BIG MISTAKE!
What are some issues to consider when someone embarks on a social media marketing initiative?
Can the content be sustained, in other words is there enough manpower to ensure that fresh content reaches the users on an almost daily basis.
It's not the kind of marketing you can just set-up and not touch for a month or 2.
Define 'Social Media' in 500 words or less.
User-generated content and interaction.
How does your company also use social media?
EngineWorks does use Twitter, maintains a company blog and I think we have a Facebook group. Unfortunately I don't think anyone has enough time to devote to truly making it work.
How are you/they using it to connect to your customers and leverage social networks to expand your brand's recognition and build a positive reputation?
We could use work in this area.
We only hear about how the emerging companies are using social media marketing. Can you give me some examples of your work with the clients. Also, what is that you have been able to achieve for them that you could NOT have achieved without social media marketing?
The brilliant thing about social media marketing is being in direct contact with your customers. I am always surprised by the feedback I get from Twitter. Having that kind of insight into the voice of your customer is priceless.
How open were your clients (or boss) to this new approach? If they resisted, how did you overcome the resistance?
LOL, Resisted?? My freelance clients still have no idea what Twitter even is. They don't know enough to be resistant.
Do you track your name and your companies name? What are some of your favorite reputation management tools and why? If you do not track social media, why? (this includes search twitter-formerly Summize, radian6, etc.)
I regularly check sites like Summize for my clients branded terms.
What do you consider "must-have" sites/profiles to establish and why? (this includes micro-blogs, e-vite, schedule organizers, apis, build your own network)
It depends on the client and the project. With Virtual Job Candy we were trying to reach technically savvy, young job seekers. Twitter was the perfect platform for that demographic. A different campaign wouldn't have had the same results.
What companies do you think are doing a great job with social media, or horrible? Tell us one story or a very successful client or your own story that you feel makes online networking worth while. (case study)
Twitter Campaign = Double the website traffice = Good!
How much time do you think people should spend on social media?
You can spend limitless hours so it's really all about how much time you can prioritize.
How can I write viral content around boring products? For example, if I was a sink company, how would I drive massive traffic and build authority around it?
You can't.
(This answer is not true. You can, read some of the other responses to this interview)
How has social media impacted you and your company?
I am completely overstimulated and constantly thinking about new ways to use various aspects of it to improve customer experience.
What is your favorite networking event that you would recommend to others (either in your field, the field of marketing, or learning sessions for social media. Including sxsw, Podcamp, social media breakfast, MIMA, AdFed, AMA, Blog World, PRSA etc.)
SEMPdx is great for learning a bit about search engine marketing and analytics.
InVerge also has some excellent speakers and informative sessions.
What game plan would you recommend to someone just starting with social media?
Improve customer experience and you will improve your companies bottom line.
What do you consider social media ROI? How do you recommend tracking it?
That is the million dollar question, Social media is very difficult to track as it plays on intangibles such as customer attitude and behavior.
There are enterprise level platforms that are now claiming they can help a business track ROI on such things as Blogs, Rich Internet Applications and other off-site campaign efforts. I haven't worked with these tools personally and am a bit weary of the results. There are some very basic metrics that can be measured if you have the right tools in place - like visits referred to the website from social media platforms, the number of subsribers to your blog, your ranking on Technorati, etc.
What do you consider a good community manager?
Someone who is very active in the given community, honest, open and sincere.
What makes you and your company unique? What and why should people contact you for your services/products?
As a freelancer, I have quite a bit of integrated knowledge that I bring to the table - Web design/developement, Marketing, eCommerce, Social Media Marketing experience, Search Engine Optimization and Paid Search. I think an intergrated approach is essential when you are trying to get value out of any type of online marketing campaign, nothing works in a bubble.
How can people contact you or your company? (don't answer this if you don't want it included in the article)
I am always available by email - moc.liamg|notyep.asil#moc.liamg|notyep.asil.
My current projects and publications include:
WWW.SLENTRE.COM
www.virtualjobcandy.com
www.optimalcopy.com
On Twitter:
@lisapeyton
@slentrepreneur
@virtualjobcandy
@vjcnews
@westcafepdx
Where do you think social media marketing is headed?
The sky is truly the limit baby!
Resources
Articles
External Links
- See us at the Virtual World Conference in LA 09.03.08.
- See also Events
- Virtual Worlds
- Virtual Job Candy
- Slentre
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