Social Media Questions For Cameron Olthuis
We are really excited that social media leader Cameron Olthuis has agreed to be the interviewed in our social media optimization series. Cameron is CEO of a media startup that is currently in stealth mode and his blog is a must read for anyone interested in social media ad search.
Cameron, you are one of the early evangelists of social media optimization. Can you tell me about your decision get involved in this market?
I guess you could say that I stumbled upon social media optimization by accident. In the early days of Digg I had an article from one of my sites get on the homepage and it didn’t take long for me to see the amount of traffic and links that were a result of it. Coming from a strong SEO background I knew the power of inbound links and it was common sense that this would be a very powerful tool for building links. From there I started to explore other social media sites and the various ways they can be used for marketing and connecting with consumers outside of search. I’m still to this day blown away and at how much power social media marketing has.
Social media marketing has really taken off over the last 12 months. What has been the biggest surprise to you about the growth of social media?
The biggest surprise to me is that many big brands and industries have failed to recognize this trend and leverage it. Take the surfing industry for example: many of the big lifestyle brands in that industry have large followings and crazy brand evangelists that would be perfect for social media marketing, yet none of them have recognized this trend or leveraged it properly. That whole industry needs a kick in the ass when it comes to online marketing.
What do you see as the biggest opportunity in social media over the next 12 months?
I think the biggest opportunity is for companies and brands to integrate social media features within their own sites. This is especially true for brands that are already heavily involved in traditional media and are perceived as ‘cool’ by consumers. Can you image how successful a social network would be for Oprah?
You have worked with an impressive group of companies Cameron. Are your clients asking you for an SMO strategy? What social media tools or tactics are you seeing them use? What works?
Some clients do ask for an SMO strategy but most of the time it’s me, the consultant, that is educating them on why they need SMO and how it would benefit them. The tactic that is most successful depends on the goals we are trying to accomplish with the marketing campaign. YouTube may be the most successful to use for viral videos and branding while creating content for social news site would be successful for link building and SEO.
What are some of the opportunities in social media that you see that marketers are not taking advantage of?
Like I mentioned before, there are several industries and brands that are completely failing to see the opportunities that are available with social media marketing. I also see a lot of marketers that fail to create SEO friendly campaigns. Search is huge and just about everyone uses Google to navigate the web; these campaigns would be more successful if they leveraged SEO.
Social retailing is one of the hot buzzwords in 2007. How are your clients using it?
They’re using it to leverage the power of word of mouth. We’ve seen a lot of studies lately that show proof that word of mouth plays a huge role in purchasing decisions. By tapping into peer networks and making content easy to spread, our clients are able to make it easy for consumers to make the right purchasing decisions. Even if that sometimes means your product is the best for a given situation. It’s nice when a consumer can ask for feedback on certain products or seen what others with similar interests and needs are buying.
Which SMO techniques that you think are wastes of time?
I think trying to game the system is a waste of time. Even if you do go popular on social sites that content is so bad that it won’t result in any kind of success. I also think it’s a waste of time to try and spread mediocre or bad content. Instead marketers should focus on writing/producing remarkable content that will easily spread on its own once you give it a little push.
Tell me about the biggest blunder you’ve seen in SMO?
I’ve seen some pretty bad ones. One that comes to mind was actually just mentioned on your blog a few days ago. When Walmart tried to launch a social network aimed at teens, it was shut down within a few months because it went nowhere. Everything from the idea to the execution was just horrible. It was an example of a large corporation trying to cash in on the social networking craze who had no clue what they were doing. They failed to innovate and their social network offered nothing unique or cool enough to stick.
Filed under Brand Marketing, Interviews, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization, Social Retailing : Comments (8) : Aug 6th, 2007
August 6th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Good interview but I’d like to have had Cameron’s thoughts on which Social media sites he sees climbing or falling…
August 6th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
That is a good question Gidseo. I will have to add that one to my list of questions.
David
August 6th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
good interview! Thanks!
August 6th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Gidseo, on the top of my list would be Facebook. I also see more ‘niche’ sites like Hugg, Sk-rt, and even Sphinn going big.
August 7th, 2007 at 9:30 am
[…] Social Media Questions For Cameron Olthuis […]
August 9th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
[…] Noticed an interview with Cameron Olthius, long-time blogger and social media contributor. He comments on how mainstream companies are using - although extensively neglecting also - social media, and he includes his take on retail. It’s a quick and informative read for a useful overview: Social Media Questions For Cameron Olthuis […]
August 9th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
[…] It’s the end of a very interesting week. On Monday we kicked off the week with an interview with Cameron Olthuis. Cameron gave some really insightful answers. I asked Cameron what has been the biggest surprise to him about the growth of social media. His answer was: The biggest surprise to me is that many big brands and industries have failed to recognize this trend and leverage it. Take the surfing industry for example: many of the big lifestyle brands in that industry have large followings and crazy brand evangelists that would be perfect for social media marketing, yet none of them have recognized this trend or leveraged it properly. That whole industry needs a kick in the ass when it comes to online marketing. […]
September 5th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Cameron - thank you.