pmwarner.com

Blog

  • The Ultimate Guide to 150+ Google Analytics Resources

    The Ultimate Guide to 150+ Google Analytics Resources

    On Google Analytics – Originally posted on KISSmetrics.

    Are you ready to get the most out of Google Analytics? If so, we’ve collected the ultimate guide to over 150 Google Analytics resources you can use, including the top official Google Analytics channels, Google Analytics integrations, tools for Google Analytics, and articles about Google Analytics.

    Official Google Analytics Channels

    Stay up to date with the latest Google Analytics news, and get support when you need it via these official Google Analytics channels:

    1. Google Analytics Blog – The official Google Analytics blog for news and features updates.
    2. Google Analytics Help Center – The official Analytics Help Center where you can find tips and tutorials on using Google Analytics and answers to frequently asked questions.
    3. Google Analytics Developers – The Google Analytics developer platform provides access to the resources used to collect, configure, and report on user interactions with your online content.
    4. Google Analytics Product Forums – Use this group to ask and answer questions, search for existing answers to questions, discuss this product, and meet other Google Analytics users.
    5. Google Analytics Academy – Improve your Google Analytics skills with free online courses from Google.
    6. Google Analytics Training & Certification – Educational resources for users of Google Analytics and those who want to become Google Analytics certified professionals.
    7. Google Analytics Partners – Whether you need the help of an implementation or analysis expert, or you are looking for a turnkey solution for your business, Google Analytics technology and certified partners are ready with a solution.
    8. Google Analytics Solutions Gallery – This solutions gallery contains in-product solutions (such as dashboards, custom reports, and segments) to deepen your use of Google Analytics and accelerate your learning curve. Whether you’re a newbie or guru, they will help you learn more about your data through the power of Google Analytics.
    9. Google Analytics URL Builder – The URL builder helps you add parameters to URLs you use in Custom Campaigns. Then, when users click on one of the custom links, the unique parameters are sent to your Google Analytics account, so you can identify the URLs that are most effective in attracting users to your content.
    10. Google Analytics on YouTube – The official channel for all videos about and related to Google Analytics. Learn more about Google’s web analytics and online advertising products.
    11. Google Analytics on Google+ – Follow Google Analytics on Google+ for the latest news, tips, and trends from the Google Analytics team and friends.
    12. Google Analytics Academy on Google+ – The Google Analytics Academy provides a foundation for marketers and analysts seeking to understand the core principles of digital analytics and improve business performance through better digital measurement.
    13. Google Analytics on Facebook – Community page for Google Analytics. Please keep discussions on-topic. For customer service inquiries, please contact Google directly.
    14. Google Analytics on Twitter – News, tips & trends from Google Analytics.

    See also: Analytics? Let’s Defer to Avinash Kaushik

    Read the rest of the listicle HERE.

  • The Google way of attacking problems

    The Google way of attacking problems

    Liked this HBR post. What do you think of the Google approach? 

     

    One Friday afternoon in 2002, long before his company became a household verb, Larry Page walked into the office kitchen and posted some printouts of results from Google’s AdWords engine. On top, in big bold letters, he wrote, “THESE ADS SUCK.”

    In most companies, this would be seen as cruel — an arrogant executive publicly humiliating his hapless employees for shoddy work — but not at Google. In fact, his unusual act was a show of confidence, defining a tough problem that he knew his talented engineers would want to solve.

    In their new book, How Google Works, Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg describe what happened next. By early Monday morning, a group of engineers sent out an email with a solution that not only resolved the AdWords problem, but helped transform Google into a major money machine. The episode exemplifies how Google has built a culture that attacks problems — not people. I see four assumptions that drive that kind of culture:

    1. People want to do a good job. Lost in most of the talk about “accountability” is the fact that most people are professionals who want to be proud of their work. Mistakes are not nefarious; they’re often the result of good intentions.

    Back in the ‘80’s, “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap was the prototypical CEO. He would ruthlessly downsize, firing thousands of employees in the process, with the purported aim of “creating shareholder value” and instilling a “culture of accountability.” His performance earned him a place on covers of business magazines with glowing headlines.

    If Page had instilled that same culture of accountability, he would’ve run straight down to the ads team and took them to task. He could’ve threatened to fire them, demanded that they work through the weekend and promised that, unless the problem was dealt with quickly, there would be hell to pay. Most companies work like that.

    Yet what Page did was something else altogether. He didn’t threaten to fire anyone or demand “accountability.” Rather, he offered his engineers a difficult and interesting problem to solve, confident that someone would want to accept the challenge. That speaks volumes about the culture he and Sergey Brin created at Google.

    2. Given enough eyeballs, every bug is shallow. Page didn’t go to the AdWords team, but posted the problem in the kitchen where the whole company was bound to see it. In most companies that would be seen as harsh, purposely embarrassing an underperforming team.

    Yet the employees at Google recognized it for what it was. Page was simply abiding by the mantra of the open source movement: Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow (also known as Linus’s Law). And the engineers responded accordingly.

    Google is a large company, with nearly 50,000 employees strewn across more than 40 countries and, from an organizational standpoint, it looks like many other companies of similar size. It has a hierarchical command structure that manages multiple divisions. Yet the difference is that it doesn’t let it’s organizational structure dictate its operational practice.

    That’s why Google still, in many ways, is able to operate like a startup. Its leaders recognize that while some of the trappings of a large corporation are inevitable, you can still preserve your ethos. You never really have to grow up as long as you maintain your sense of wonder and excitement.

    3. People perform best at tasks that interest them. It’s also important to remember the context of the incident, which took place in 2002, just as Google was gearing up for its IPO.  There was an urgent need to beef up revenues and the problem with AdWords was a serious impediment to achieving that.  Most CEOs wouldn’t have put up a note in the kitchen, they would have made sure they got their best people on it.

    But think about what would have happened next. A meeting would have been called and, because the “best people” are usually very busy, it would have taken a few weeks to set up. They would have discussed the problem, suggested possible solutions, tested the most promising ones and months later they might have had an answer.

    Yet Page understood that the “best people” would be those that were interested in the problem. As it turned out, while glitch in AdWords was complex problem for most people, it was relatively basic for search engineers. They quickly recognized that implementing an “ad relevance score” and ranking ads that way would be a perfect solution.

    So the “best people” weren’t chosen by Page, they chose themselves and proved so adept at the task that the AdWords problem was solved over a weekend. Far faster than most CEO’s can organize a meeting among “top people.”

    4. Great leaders provide a sense of mission and purpose. Many managers are fond of saying that they consider talent to be their number one priority, by which they usually mean hiring people that went to certain schools or had senior positions at key competitors. However,talent is overrated. It is only effective when directed by passion and purpose.

    I once had a business unit manager that seemed completely incapable of coming up with creative solutions. We mutually agreed that it would be best for her to leave our company and she went on to be a very successful interior designer. Obviously, she had no shortage of talent, but it only came to the fore when she could apply it to problems she cared about.

    That’s why culture is so important. It’s self-selecting. In enterprises with strong cultures, everybody knows where they want to go and do what they need to get there. In weak cultures, people just do what they’re told. They perform tasks, follow the rules and try not to color outside the lines. There’s no mission to be passionate about.

    When he posted that note in the Google kitchen, he knew the culture at Google would go to work. He didn’t have to spell out what to do because he’d already created a company with a mission and a purpose.  All he had to say was: “These ads suck.”

    Greg Satell is a U.S.-based business consultant. You can find his blog at Digital Tonto and follow him on Twitter @DigitalTonto.

    Original article

  • 12 social media tips for business

    12 social media tips for business

    Ah, social media. Still the wild west of marketing and populated with a mix of guns for hire and snake oil salesmen who, unfortunately, outnumber the authentic Gary Coopers out there. Sigh. I despise watching businesses that don’t have the time to understand what social can really do for their business get taken advantage of by folks promising more followers and reach.

    So what?

    How about grow revenue, inquiries, email lists, orders, bookings, downloads? It would seem a novel concept and an expectation to which many snake oil social media consultants don’t wish to be held accountable.

    So next time you hear another “social media guru/jedi/ninja/sherpa/ expert,” etc. pitching you all about the awesome new followers, content and reach they can get you on the social platform du jour, step back and ask why that’s important to your business. The beauty of digital marketing is most everything can be tracked, and if your “hired gun” can’t provide analytics to show you what their efforts are specifically doing for your business, well…

    The title on this post was modified from the original slightly clickbait-ish hed, 12 Social Media Truths No One Tells You – otherwise the content is the same and I agree with these “truths.” The following thoughts go hand in hand with a previous post, 7 things to quit doing with social marketing. Read on!

     

    There’s no shortage of social media tips, how-tos, and advice for small businesses and entrepreneurs getting started and building a strategy. But if you’re like most business owners, you don’t have a lot of time. So here are 12 social media truths I hope can save you some time, avoid some common pitfalls, and focus your efforts on success.

    1. It doesn’t matter how many followers you have.

    People often fall into the trap of chasing follower numbers (or worse, paying for them). I’d rather have a network of 500 people in my industry who I can learn from and influence than 10,000 randomly-acquired bots and spammers and self-promoting chuckleheads. Build your networks by engaging like a real human being and helping people and you won’t have to worry about this.

    2. You don’t have to be on every network.

    I love Pinterest. These days I’m pinning ideas to spruce up our back patio. (It’s a thrill a minute ’round our place.) As a former social media snake oil salesman, I can make a convincing argument why any business can get value out of Pinterest or Instagram or Periscope or Glabberplat (I made one of those up). But if you have limited time, focus on providing value on the networks where your customers and prospects are most active. Better to not be somewhere than to have a presence there and ignore it.

    3. You know your audience better than anyone. And if you don’t, ask.

    You could pay a consultant to do an audience survey and explain the demographics of each social network and make recommendations about what networks you should use and what your customers want to see from you. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of smart consultants out there who can do that well. Or you could just spend the next couple of weeks asking your customers yourself.

    4.Yes, your customers are on Facebook.

    There’s, like, a billion people on Facebook. No, I mean literally. The number grows so rapidly that I check it every time I mention it. Your customers may not use Facebook daily to conduct business, but they’re definitely there, sharing pictures of their kids and finding out which Game of Thrones character they are and researching products and checking out local businesses. If you’re there too, and are interesting and helpful and human, they’ll appreciate that and remember you.

    5. Social media isn’t free.

    Have we thoroughly debunked this by now? Even if you only use free channels to engage and don’t pay to promote your posts, social media requires a time commitment, and like everything in life except making hamburger patties, the more time you put into it, the better it will be. Is your time free? Nope.

    6. You don’t have to be a millennial.

    Yes, “digital natives” have a lower learning curve when it comes to picking up apps and new social networks, but none of this is hard, no matter your age. Can you balance a checkbook? Can you do a Sudoku puzzle? I can’t, and I do social media for a living. Apps and networks won’t get traction if they’re hard to use, so the makers have an incentive to create a good user experience.

    7. No, your cousin’s kid can’t do it for you.

    Maybe Little Jimmy can build a wicked house in Minecraft, but does he know your business? Your customers? Does he have anything of value to add to a conversation about your industry? He can probably use a telephone, too (as long as it isn’t a pay phone, because how does that thing work and who even has change, gah!) but would you ask him to lead a call with your biggest client?

    8. Yes, you do have time.

    You’re busy. I’m busy. Everybody’s busy. Do you ever watch television? Then watch a little less and spend that time building your business. Need another example? I’m writing this post on my smartphone on the…train. (What did you think I was going to say?)

    9. You can produce content. Yes. You can.

    Have you ever sent an email to a business associate giving your take on the impact of some piece of industry news? Do you talk to your sales team about the potential ramifications of a piece of legislation, or a big move by a competitor or industry leader? That’s content. Just type it up next time. Your customers will find it valuable too. Don’t you want to be a thought leader? It’s so much better than being a guru. The hours are better and you don’t have to sit on the ground.

    10. A blog post is whatever you say it is.

    Some people think a blog post is a 2,000-word white paper. Some of the most useful posts I read are lists of links to important news in my industry. They might take 10 minutes to create, start to finish, but they can be very valuable. One paragraph that gets a customer thinking (and thinking about you) is a successful blog post.

    11. Your customers really do care where you went on vacation.

    Have you ever had a prickly email or telephone exchange with a new prospect or client, and then you met in person and found out your kids both play volleyball and are going to the same tournament in two weeks and then you were pals? That’s Facebook.

    12. You can do it.

    Building a social media strategy doesn’t have to be a big, hairy, difficult thing; in fact, it can and should be fun. Imagine having better, more human relationships with your prospects and customers, all the time. Social media can be the part of your marketing strategy you’ll actually enjoy. And if you’re having fun, your customers and prospects will have fun, too, and they’ll want to work with you. And that’s how you’ll know it’s working.

    David B. Thomas is Senior Director of Content and Engagement at Salesforce.

     

    Original post on VentureBeat

  • How to grow your reputation (and business) in competitive fields

    Two things. One, I don’t know about the ethics of posting an article from HBR that allows you to read 5 free articles and then has a paywall in place [I ALWAYS link back to OC, but please let me know your thoughts on this – I do appreciate knowing if I’ve pissed somebody off]. I also didn’t like the original title of, Get People to Listen to You When You’re Not Seen as an Expert. It sounds a tad manipulative to me. Two, what I’ve found that really helps in growing any reputation and business is time and honesty. OK, let’s throw reliability in there as well. Now, I’m not saying that good old fashioned networking and self-promotion are a bad thing, but it takes time for people who decide their marketing spend to get to know you. There is also a wrinkle in this field as we fight to convince folks digital is overtaking traditional in the fight for eyeballs. Many of the the decision makers -or, HiPPOs – need to be familiar with your reputation and opinion of your peers before they even agree to hear your pitch, let alone that their traditional efforts may not be working as well as they did in the past. AND, let alone why they should reapportion some of that spend to the digital realm.

    And we won’t even go into the difficulties a new graduate, or someone who’s switched careers at any age will experience [This will be definitely be another post, as I’ve experienced both firsthand]. Again, time, honesty and reliability will win out. I cannot stress enough the reliability part. I am regularly surprised by how hard it is to find reliable folks to help with a project in a freelance/consultant (or even salaried) capacity.

    That said, I will repost the article that started this thought below, with links to the original article on Harvard Business Review. Enjoy!

    Get People to Listen to You When You’re Not Seen as an Expert

    Growing a business when your new can be difficult
    Being new to your field can be difficult

    One of the most powerful forms of influence, according to psychologist Robert Cialdini’s famous analysis, is authority — often derived from perceived expertise. When a doctor advises us to exercise more, or a Nobel Laureate raises questions about a certain economic policy, we’re likely to pay much more attention than if a random person offered the same counsel. In our professional lives, this principle can be a boon: if you have a Ph.D. in a subject, or have worked in the industry for 20 years, or are seen to be an expert because you write for a certain publication, you have an increased ability to influence others.

    But what if you don’t have those credentials? As I describe in my new bookStand Out, when you’re just starting out in a field, or lack blue-chip affiliations, it may be hard to persuade others to listen to your ideas, even if they’re groundbreaking and valuable. Here are four strategies to help you overcome your perceived lack of expertise and ensure you can make an impact.

    The first step, if you aren’t yet seen as an expert in your own right, is to borrow others’ expertise. If you’re a thoughtful curator of the best ideas in your field, even if you’re not developing them yourself, others will start turning to you for guidance. “Originality can be overrated,” says Des Dearlove, co-founder of Thinkers50. He cited Malcolm Gladwell and Daniel Goleman (of Emotional Intelligence fame) as examples of thought leaders who are actually “synthesizers” of information. Says Dearlove, “These guys bring communication skills and an ability to bring complex ideas and make something out of them, but it’s not their [original] research.”

    YOU AND YOUR TEAM

    Another strategy to gain more influence for your ideas is finding commonality with your audience, a technique that makes them far more receptive to hearing from you. In Stand Out, I profile Robbie Kellman Baxter, a consultant who earned her MBA from Stanford and, as an active alumni volunteer, now derives more than half of her business from her fellow graduates. “The reason it’s good for your business is that you’re able to form genuine relationships with like-minded people very quickly, and to me, that’s the definition of good networking,” she says. “There’s a kind of trust: I know what you went through because I went through it, too.”

    It’s also important to be strategic about how and where you’re applying your persuasion techniques. In my previous career as a presidential campaign spokesperson, we frequently created powermaps, which identified who the relevant decision maker was on an issue, who she listened to for advice, and how close we were to those advisers. The goal was to create an “echo chamber” effect, in which – even if we couldn’t reach the target directly – we could ensure she would hear about our position favorably from a variety of sources. Powermapping is a highly targeted form of influence that can enable you to bypass objections about your own level of expertise on the subject.

    Finally, the best antidote if you’re lacking an expert reputation now is to start creating one ASAP. Creating original content is the single most effective way to develop an expert reputation. Though the best channel will vary (photographers and chefs should double down on Instagram, while it’s less helpful for attorneys and insurance brokers), blogging is a good bet for most professionals. In just an hour or two a week, you can begin to demonstrate how you think about the issues facing your field and sharing your unique point of view. Your content creation sparks a virtuous circle: because reporters looking for comment almost always start their articles with an online search, if your name keeps coming up as someone writing about the issues, they’re likely to contact you, reinforcing your expert reputation with third-party validation.

    If you’re not yet considered an expert, it’s harder to get your ideas noticed — but not impossible. With these strategies, you can begin to overcome others’ resistance and make sure your voice is heard.

    Dorie Clark is a marketing strategist and professional speaker who teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is the author of Reinventing You and Stand Out. You can receive her free Stand Out Self-Assessment Workbook or follow her onTwitter.

    Here is the original post: Get People to Listen to You When You’re Not Seen as an Expert

  • Networks fret as ad dollars flow to digital media

    Networks fret as ad dollars flow to digital media

    Published by the NY Times 5/10/15 – It will be interesting to see how much advertisers are willing to spend on traditional media this year. The question isn’t how much [there will be plenty of advertising time purchased] but will the decline continue? I believe so.

    Where are you putting your budget?

     

    With the number of digital alternatives growing quickly, the television industry is bracing for what many expect to be an anemic upfront market.

    Beginning Monday, television networks will roll out the red carpet for marketers during the annual bazaar known as the upfronts, trying to lure them into committing tens of billions of ad dollars for the coming TV season. If things go well, the networks will sell as much as 75 percent of their advertising time in the negotiations that follow a week of flashy presentations and star-studded parties.
    But behind that lavish veneer, the mood at some television networks is nervous and the sales pitch urgent.
    That is because broadcast and cable companies are asking marketers to open their wallets at a time of great anxiety in the industry, when TV ratings have collapsed and networks are fending off fierce competition from digital outlets.
    Television viewing has plummeted 9 percent so far this season compared with the previous season, according to MoffettNathanson Research. To explain the drop, some industry executives and analysts point to the rapid increase in the amount of time people spend watching Netflix and other streaming alternatives. Netflix viewing accounted for about 43 percent of the decline in traditional TV viewing in the first quarter of this year, according to MoffettNathanson.