Are LinkedIn Groups Still Relevant?

LinkedIn company pages seem to be constantly improving.  Since this post last year, company pages have gotten even better with seamless tools for sharing from personal profiles and content administration.  Groups on the other hand have been largely sidelined, both in updates and in the platforms navigation.  LinkedIn recently provided an update for groups but in many cases the improvement actually makes groups more irrelevant rather than re-defining their purpose.

LinkedIn group usage has been in decline since 2015.  While this article points to many potential causes for that, my thoughts are that the primary detractor from group pages is that the improvement to company pages made groups largely redundant.

Before the company pages were so well defined, groups were often the best platform to deliver company content to a client or prospect base.  As the company pages administrative and user experiences improved, there was less and less need to use groups as company communication platforms.  As content and interaction moved to company pages, many company-centric group pages drastically reduced content and interaction resulting in them becoming ghost towns.

So a revamp sounds like a good opportunity for digital marketers to reinvigorate a languishing group page right?  In some cases that might be true, but for lingering company-centric group pages it seems like this might be the death knell.

The revamped groups add many useful features but most of those are rehashed tools that already exist for company pages.  If group pages are losing ground because company pages have improved, making them more alike actually makes groups more irrelevant.

So is it time for trainers, consultants, and professional coaches to pull the plug on their LinkedIn group page?  If you have been duplicating content on your company page, then probably yes.  But if your group is focused on a specific topic or shared interest, then it might be a good time to reinvigorate it.

For example, if a sales training company is placing announcements and offers that already exist on their company page or could be easily transitioned there, then the group isn’t really serving a unique purpose.  In that case make a post that the group is going to be discontinued and redirect the group members to follow the company page.

However, if a sales training company has a group page for sales professionals in their city that features tactics and local events, that group would be well suited to use the new updates.  The sales trainers can continue to share their tactics but also collect events from the members and interact with the user base on professional development opportunities.

Company pages and group pages are overlapping more than they ever have.  If you can’t clearly define different purposes between your company and group page, and have supporting content to illustrate those stated differences, it might be a good time to let the group page lapse.

Digital Marketing Width is Expanding, but is Skill Set Breadth?

Being a jack of all trades can be advantageous especially in a digital marketing role for a small or medium sized company.  But that also means that the versatile digital marketer is master of none, so it’s important to analyze suitability and skill-sets before undertaking a digital marketing activity outside typical competencies.

A past client recently asked me for input on a replacement hire for a departed marketing coordinator.  They liked their previous marketing coordinator but had identified a few areas where they would prefer greater technical competency.  I was shocked to see an extensive skill set list.  It included basic skills like Microsoft Office but then went into a laundry list of programs and platforms like Photoshop, Premiere, WordPress (or related CMS), Google AdWords, Google Analytics, InDesign, Acrobat Forms, SharePoint (Workflows), UX Design, Web development (JavaScript and PHP), eight social media platforms, and content creator (writer).  The programs weren’t just listed, they had requirements for years of experience for all of them.

In short, they wanted their marketing coordinator to be a seasoned graphic designer, web developer, video editor, photo editor, advertiser, desktop publisher, data analyst, social media marketer, application/workflow developer, and writer.

Best of all, they had a candidate that seemed to meet all the needs and was in the ballpark of their compensation package.  In the interview they had asked the candidate to rank his skill level on a scale of 0 – 10 with each program/skill set.  The candidate had placed an 8, 9, or 10 next to each line item.  In all honesty, I wouldn’t feel comfortable placing a rating that high for myself for all of those items across the board, so I was skeptical that a perfect candidate just so happened to be available for hire.  Furthermore, the candidate’s online presence didn’t seem to reflect the advanced proficiencies that his resume stated.

My suggestion was to have the candidate do a small test project that utilized as many of the skills as possible without being an extensive time commitment.  The candidate agreed and, unsurprisingly, the result of the project didn’t rate any higher than a 4 on any of our rating scales. Some of the elements showed a skill level of 1 or 2.

The surprising take away for me was not that a job candidate was exaggerating their abilities but that all of the skill sets listed could be considered digital marketing in some form or fashion.   The width of digital marketing seems to keep expanding and the skills to execute it professionally grow with it.  However, it’s almost impossible for a single individual to have sufficient breadth in all of these disciplines to consistently execute a professional product.

As the width of digital marketing grows it’s important that digital marketers have a realistic view of what they can and cannot execute.  Sometimes a basic skill level is sufficient but some initiatives require a polished professional campaign and “basic” just doesn’t cut the mustard. Partnering with a colleague or external provider with true expertise is sometimes necessary.  When hiring an employee or going through day-to-day marketing initiatives, analyze whether the resulting campaigns are sufficient.  It’s not uncommon to find a deficiency.  Rather than settling for a sub-par result, find a partner with suitable skill set breadth to create the professional product you are looking to achieve.

Calls to Action in an On Demand World

“Immediately” has become the expected time frame for online inquiries and requests.  Calls to action are no exception.  If a user submits their payment and/or personal information then they expect to promptly receive what was offered.  And, for the most part, digital marketers and the tools they use have evolved to meet this timeline.  Auto responders and customized fulfillment pages are now commonly at the ready to fulfill online requests.  So does that mean that calls to action now HAVE to be available immediately?

To some extent the answer is yes.  But that doesn’t mean that CTA’s that can’t be delivered immediately have to be abandoned.

For example, free physical events or briefings used to be a mainstay offer for many trainers, consultants, and professional coaches.  These events gave a sample of training so that prospects can get a taste of what training is like. However, the inconvenience of actually going to an event and needing to wait for the content is a legitimate detriment to some users and has made filling a room more difficult than it was in the past.

So in person events are no longer an effective call to action?  Not necessarily, but the offer likely needs to be modified.

One obvious option is to deliver a webinar rather than an in-person event.  While the prospect still needs to wait to get the content, they can do so from the convenience of their home or office. If the session is recorded, it has the added benefit of being an on demand offer after the webinar takes place.

For many trainers, however, a webinar is often a pale imitation of delivering their content in person. So another option would be to expand what’s included in the event.  If prospects need to physically come to a location and wait for the content, make sure the event is worth the inconvenience.  Offer robust topics so that prospects feel more like clients than just getting a sample. In many cases, this becomes a fee based event but the added value can be emphasized in the marketing materials.

If smaller in-person events are still an effective offer to your marketing campaign, there’s no reason to stop doing them just to offer more immediacy.  However, you might offer some immediacy in how the event is delivered.  An immediate registration confirmation is a given.  But how about reminders?  Use the slower delivery time to your advantage by offering reminders with content associated to the event so that anticipation builds rather than the added steps feeling like a chore.

There’s no doubt that online users default to expecting on demand delivery.  While catering to that expectation is necessary for many CTA’s, it’s simply not possible in all cases.  For CTA’s that can’t be delivered immediately, make sure to have some intermediate steps to bridge the gap from opt in to delivery.

Next Steps After a Mystery Unsubscribe Request

After identifying how a person requesting an unsubscribe that is absent from your email marketing list is receiving your email marketing messages, what should you do about it?  Typically a digital marketer will simply unsubscribe the uncovered email address and consider the matter settled. But savvier digital marketers can leverage the opportunity to minimize loss and potentially re-engage a subscriber.

Email Forwarding

If the email was forwarded from a subscriber’s old address, you should unsubscribe both the old and the new address from your email marketing list.  This will ensure that the unsubscribe request is honored for all of the individual’s email addresses and won’t result in any SPAM complaints from the unsubscriber in the future.

Former Email Address

If the message was redistributed from an old address at an organization to a new one, check your list to see if a subscriber from the same URL can provide a more suitable contact.  Sometimes, an email address is set to forward to the wrong or unsuitable person. In other cases, an email address was intended to be temporarily forwarded to a co-workers email until a replacement for the old employee was hired but never gets redirected to replacement hire.  In either of these cases, it’s possible to update your list with a new subscriber that is likely to be engaged with your content by inquiring if there is a more suitable contact.

Group Mailbox

Group mailboxes are the biggest risk of missing an opportunity because unsubscribing that address might remove an entire organization from your communications. If most of the group wants to receive your emails, it’s a disservice to remove them all.  At minimum, you can send a final email to the group email box alerting the group that the email address has been unsubscribed and provide a link to your subscription form for those that want to opt-in to continue receiving your email communications.

Once you track down how someone apparently not on your email marketing list that wants to subscribe is receiving your communications, it’s paramount to honor the unsubscribe.  But that doesn’t mean you have to cut your losses.  Analyze the situation to see if similar contacts or group recipients would like to freshly opt in to your email communications.

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An Unsubscribe Request from Someone Not On Your Email Marketing List

It’s important to be diligent about unsubscribe requests, not only to respect the recipients wishes but also to keep your communications targeted to an engaged audience. In fact, it’s a legal obligation to include a method for unsubscribing in all of your email marketing.  However, it’s common for subscribers to overlook your unsubscribe instructions and simply send an email requesting removal from your list.  But what if the email address for the person asking to be unsubscribed isn’t in your list to begin with?

The root cause of this problem is almost always an issue of an email address or system forwarding communications to other email addresses.  For instance:

  • Email Forwarding – As people move to new companies or create new email addresses, they often set up automatic forwarding to a new email address. The old address is the one on your email list and is what’s actually redirected to the new email address that you have no record of.
  • Former Email Address – Some companies will redirect a former employee’s email to a colleague. Technically it’s the same thing as an email forward but can be more difficult to diagnose since it’s a different person that requested an email vs. the person requesting the unsubscribe.
  • Group Mailbox – Some organizations will subscribe a group or shared email address that distributes an email to multiple people. In this case, one person subscribed but other recipients might be unaware of it.  So the group mailbox is the record in your email marketing list.

Investigating the unsubscribe request in a logical manner will expedite the process while inconveniencing the requester as little as possible.

1. Use the Unsubscribe Method that the User didn’t

An email request from a user to unsubscribe is often a reply or forward to your marketing email.  In this case, the customized link or instructions for the user are still active.  Click the link and complete the unsubscribe process for the user.

2. Search for Similar Data

Do a search in your email list for the person’s name. If you have that on record it can be used to unsubscribe the old email address that is forwarding to the new one.  You can also try searching by company or similar URL in an email.  This can often hint at a former or group mailbox that might be redirecting to the person that made an unsubscribe request.

3. Respond to the Unsubscribe Request

If you struggle to make any connection between the email address that wanted to unsubscribe and your list, try replying to the person.  It’s better to let them know that the email is likely forwarding from an old or shared account and then the two of you might be able to identify how the email is being delivered.  Even if you can’t identify how the recipient is receiving the email, the recipient should be able to forward you the email that they received so that you can use the unsubscribe link.

With some logical steps, digital marketers can often uncover the delivery method to an email address not on the email marketing list and fulfill our obligation of honoring an unsubscribe request.

Be Suspicious of Your CMS’s Publishing

Are you taking your Content Management System’s word for it that content has been published?  Sooner or later it’s likely you’ll find that you’ve been lied to.  It’s always a good idea to check the actual page to ensure that the CMS has actually pushed the content, rather than relying on the CMS’s confirmation.

Publishing new or updated content on your website or social pages can often happen in a rush or on the fly.  In those instances, it’s tempting to hit publish and move on to the next task, especially when the CMS has marked the content as live.  Those situations are inevitably when your CMS will lie to you and you’ll have to circle back to correct content that has not published.

This problem can happen on any CMS platform because any platform can fail to move the new content through to the server or service that it’s hosted on. It can often be a delay or time out issue that prevents an update from publishing correctly. Obviously, more robust website CMS platforms run more of a risk of publishing failures because they have more functions that might fail. This risk is even higher on modular CMS templates where pages, segments, components, assets, or widgets all need to be published separately to make a unified whole.

The good news is that there is a simple solution that works on all platforms.  Check the page or post on your live site.  If you find that updates are not appearing, be sure to get the newest version of your page or post by holding down the shift key and refreshing your page (this makes sure you’re not loading an old version from your browser cache). Checking the live site rather than trusting the CMS’s confirmation, verifies the publishing process and the timing of the published content before using it in your digital marketing.

Systematic Digital Marketing Platform Migration

The need to move digital marketing platforms for social media, email, and/or your website is becoming more common as tools evolve and develop.  The change might be necessitated by external factors, like one platform acquiring another. Or it could be internal factors driving  change like finding more appropriate platform pricing or services.  Many trainers, consultants, or professional coaches procrastinate on making these changes for fear that it will be an arduous undertaking. If you focus on the principles of the digital marketing platform rather than the individual tool, it helps to simplify the requirements and make a migration much less daunting.

There are five basic components that can make up a digital marketing platform:

1. Audience

Contact lists can be time consuming for a system to export if they are large but it doesn’t need to be cumbersome for the digital marketer. If you export all your data to a spreadsheet file, it’s typically a simple process to set up matching categories on the new platform and import it so that you have a direct conversion.

2. Communications

Email/Communication templates can be challenging to migrate if you are relying on system generated layouts. However, most platforms offer a large variety of formats so matching up the new platform to something similar as the old platform is typically not hard.  If you happen to use custom layouts then the code can typically be copied over to a new platform and appear exactly the same.

3. Tracking / Analytics

It’s best to download or archive your tracking data from your digital marketing platform because it’s rare to have that migrate. If you archive your analytics as saved charts or in a spreadsheet then you can continue your standard analysis without pause until you have sufficient data on the new platform.

4. Call to Action

System generated calls to action like forms or tracked links often function on a template system. It’s best to analyze which of these calls to action are active so that you can create a duplicate on the new system and relink to that across your marketing channels. If calls to action are old and inactive then it’s a good time to let them expire.

5. Social Media

This is typically a simple setup to set and link up your social media accounts. As long as you have the login information for those accounts readily available, you can quickly integrate social media on the new platform

Of course making a migration will take some time and effort so it’s not something to undertake habitually.  However, if you need to migrate because your current digital marketing platform is no longer available or is no longer meeting your needs, it doesn’t need to be fretted over.  Rather than focusing on all the details that might be different, set a plan for the five elements above.  If you successfully get those five items migrated, you won’t lose any critical component and figuring out the nuances of the new platform becomes a minor task.

Keep a Record of Your Digital Marketing Resources

Digital marketing is often a complicated mix of communication, technology, marketing, and administration in a rapidly shifting landscape. Add changing personnel and a wide variety of tools and it can become chaotic. As digital marketing initiatives evolve and change course, it’s important that the professional(s) driving that initiative can quickly and accurately execute on the new plan. Nothing slows that process down as quickly as being disorganized about who owns a particular resource.

Most trainers, consultants, and professional coaches rely on external providers for some or all of their digital marketing needs. It’s important to have a well-organized list of all those resources and who to contact for each element.

We recently encountered a situation where an SSL certificate needed to be added to a client’s website for a new application. The digital digital marketing campaign was poised for launch but acquiring the SSL certificate proved to be a hold up. Contacting the website host was the natural assumption but it turned out that the host was not the site registrar. No one at the client office seemed to know where the site was registered. After some wild goose chases, the administrator at the client office discovered that the original site creator, who had moved on to a different job, had registered the site. Thankfully we were able to contact the original site creator who hunted down the registrar information so that we could purchase the SSL certificate.

Unfortunately, the delay caused the digital marketing campaign to launch about two weeks later than anticipated. That shortened schedule reduced pre-launch registration lead times and results were not as high as they otherwise could have been.

This was not a disaster but serves well as a cautionary tale on how missing information on even an infrequently used resource can cause a noticeable setback. Had there been an accurate list of digital marketing resources then the registrar records would have been on file which would have eliminated the need to contact the original creator. Even having the original creator listed as the contact for the site could have trimmed down the delay.

It’s important to be organized and up to date with your digital marketing resources, both people and tools. If you don’t currently have an accurate record, it’s best to create one now when there isn’t an urgent need rather than waiting until that need arises and suffering delays because of it.

Social Media: For Business or Leisure?

Pausing for a moment before posting to social media is sound advice for everyone.  After all, there’s no shortage of unadvisable celebrity tweets that quickly get deleted after a very negative public reaction. So the obvious suggestions, like avoid mixing alcohol and social media, apply.  But digital marketers that are responsible for business communications have another layer of screening they need to be aware of – intermixing business and leisure.

Social media platforms are doing a much better job of integrating business profiles/pages into individual accounts so that a person can administer both from one location.  However, that convenience comes with a price. It’s gotten much easier to post your personal message as if it’s coming from the business.

This lesson was somewhat harmlessly driven home for me when a friend posted a message to Facebook about the restaurant we were at, waited a few moments, and then said, “Shoot, I think I just posted my review to the company Facebook page.” Thankfully she was immediately aware of what she had done, the content wasn’t distasteful, and she removed the post before it became a problem.

Posting to the wrong account can be way more damaging than this based on what the post contains and how long it is live on an account.

So how should a digital marketer handle separating business from leisure? Here’s a few specific tactics.

Don’t post leisure or personal content to Social Media.

More than once I’ve heard it said that the best social media marketers are people that post little or nothing personally.  That’s often said because they don’t tend to get distracted by the sheer volume of content on the platform and instead focus on executing their marketing strategy.  However, it does have a side benefit here.  Digital marketers that don’t use the platform socially eliminate the risk of accidentally posting leisure content to their business profile

Always finish a social media session in your personal profile.

It’s easy to leave your business profile loaded on your phone or device, forget which profile is active when you load it again, and haphazardly publish something to the business profile by mistake.  Getting in the habit of always ending a session on your personal profile insures that the worst case scenario is a business message landing on the personal profile which is almost always easier to clear up. It’s worth noting that business messages on a personal profile still need to be corrected as it’s possible the marketer that posted it is not a qualified representative of the company to deliver the content.

Only publish business posts via a social media content app.

Social media publishing apps allows for digital marketers to set aside a period of time to create their content and pre-schedule them according to their publishing calendar. That largely eliminates the need for the use of a phone or device for direct business posts where spontaneity can often lead to errors.

The answer to avoiding a toxic mixture of leisure and business in social media really comes down to diligently reviewing anything before posting. Set some safeguards in place so that content your social network would enjoy doesn’t get shared to your business community who might find it unsuitable.

Digital Marketing Help Through Volun-telling

Digital marketing can be an arduous task for trainers, consultants, and professional coaches that have a small staff. In these cases, the task list often gets assigned as an administrative chore to someone that struggles to keep up with the workload and/or has no interest in the role. Digital marketing serves as the first point of contact to your target market and having an amateurish apathetic approach to it will bleed into the messaging.

It’s important to look for volunteers that are knowledgeable and/or excited to take on digital marketing.  Volun-telling a staff member often results in frustration because the person has not bought in to managing the process. Since they haven’t committed to the role, they often won’t work to become proficient at it. As a result, frustration sets in easily and only the bare minimum is completed to check items off as complete.

Discuss the goals and processes of your digital marketing campaign to gauge a staff member’s aptitude and willingness to fulfill the role.  It’s important to get their feedback and input so that they can engage in the process rather than having it assigned as a list of to dos.

If you find that they aren’t well-suited or uninterested, then it’s advisable to inquire with another staff member, scale back the digital marketing scope, personally handle some of the responsibilities, or contract the work out.

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