I would say that there is no difference in marketing and digital marketing except for the tools and media used.  The different tools and media requires different emphasis, approach and timing.  Unlike conventional marketing mediums, digital marketing gives instant results and the flexibility to tweaks and change if results are not as expected. Here’s my take on what a digital marketing strategy should have (might not be a conclusive list/item) :-

Objective-Driven Website
I believe that every website should be crafted with a goal in mind – and worked around it are elements to drive towards that goal.  Websites should not just be informative, it should drive inquiries and/or sales.  Even if you do not have an e-commerce site, a lot of people goes online to get additional information before buying it offline.

Corporate Blog
A blog to keep customers / would-be customer / stakeholders / potential investors updated on the latest on-goings with the organization.  Everyone loves news, insider news from the source, so using the blog can help deliver messages subtly.

Digital Campaigns
Running a campaign targeted to the online crowd requires careful planning.  The first thing to consider is target market and which channels (media) to use to reach out to your target market.  Secondly, to tie the marketing message with a dash of creativity.  Creative ideas brings out amazing results.  Thirdly, time the campaign properly – duration, how long, when .. etc.

Digital Medium / Tools
Use the various digital medium and tools to engage with would-be customers and customers, yes.. things like Facebook Page, Twitter and Linkedin.

Consistency
It is important to update your digital messages faithfully and consistently.  At times I see a twitter page with last messages dated 6 months back, I know that it is abandoned and overlooked, maybe?  Digital can be convenient and ‘cheap’ (this is arguable because it requires time, space which is money) but it also requires careful planning, proper execution and consistency.

Meeting up with my Twitter buddies. *phew* I’m not really the ‘meeting-up’ kind of person and I was feeling very unsure until the very last minute.  I would say that its fate that brought us all together – so we met ala-@JasonGan-coffee-talk-style in Starbucks Jaya One. The group comprised of @JasonGan @PrincessJoLing @eltonkuah @Flashout13 and of course yours truly @chewmeiling.

I liked the fact that everyone turned up in their everyday attires and that sets the mood to ‘relaxed’ – something that made everyone felt like friends for a long time.  It was a cool sharing session, mostly about social media and also a little bit of our personal life.  After all, it was the first time we met so we took time to get to know each other a little bit more.

There were a few things I concluded from the sharing session :-

Social Media is about Ideas
Technology enhances ideas. Without ideas, technology is dead. No amount of tools can replace the need for ideas. Without ideas (good ones!), social media is not function-able. Fresh, crazy ideas are a must!

Social Media is about being daring
Recycling ideas are for those who are not daring enough to venture into something new. Maybe due to business restrictions, a lot of social media campaigns today are nothing new. If no one dares to try new ideas, we are as good as staying status quo in everything we do?

Social Media is about real business results
I’ve read a gazillion of times that social media is not able to bring real business results, but yesterday’s discussion changed my perception. I used to think that its about engagement, bla bla bla… but now I know that social media can bring in actual business results … like increased sales, additional leads, more reach!

Social Media is an art and science, combined into one
Putting up a Facebook page and having a Twitter ID is just the beginning. You need a consultant who can go deep dive into your business, utilize his brain juices to churn out actionable, business-driven campaign to meet end objectives.  The who what why when and how are answered by numbers and statistics; justifying actions and forecast results – now that’s not just about guessing or estimating!

Social media is here to stay
In 2009, I told my peers that every marketer must equip themselves with social media knowledge.  I foresee digital to be a very important chuck in every marketing plan and in 2010, it happened.  With the multiple benefits social media can bring, its no surprise that more budgets are being allocated for this and more companies are jumping into the bandwagon.  Social media is not a fad, it delivers real business results and is going to stay!

I became involved in digital 4 years ago when online banners were mainly big boys, and in my small tiny organization I recommended the use of online medium in a large way.  Now, I’m ready to get into action.    Digital marketing is my passion and expert I may not be but that has never stopped me from doing what I’ve wanted all this while.  I agree with @eltonkuah and @JasonGan that once you are doing something you are passionate about, it really doesn’t feel like a job.  Some time back a peer told me that if I put in the exact amount of energy, effort and excitement in my own venture, I would go very far.  Now is the time to test it.

There will be more meet ups … and more Starbucks?  I think I’ll go get a Starbucks tumbler as well *LOL*

UPDATED :
I think I like the below… hahaha.. I’ll go check it out first. And, I also found that there is a Starbucks Merchandise Store in Ontario, California! Wahh..

Here’s a list of activities that every marketer (including myself) should take extra attention of when crafting a social media marketing campaign:-

Objective of Social Media Marketing Campaign
Social media cannot deliver results like online advertisements, so it has to be made clearly understood that social media marketing has got different objectives.  Amongst them are increasing fan base, a personalized engagement with users/fans, additional tool to deliver messages and more.

Deliverable
What the campaign can deliver, in what intensity and timeframe needs to be spelt out carefully and cannot be over-promised.  The bosses expect deliverable with every of their investment (with our without monetary investment) and its important to use some statistics & mathematics before commiting to a deliverables.  This is especially if your deliverables are leads generated or total sales generated.  Be honest and truthful, there is no point over promising if you already know its impossible or if you are completely not sure of the results.

Monitoring the Results/Deliverable

Any marketer knows that every campaign needs to have ROIs, so make sure that you are fully aware of how your campaign is performing.  Some of the items you want to monitor include total clicks on the links you posted, total retweets, total followers/fans and others.

Consistent Plan to Increase Followers/Fans

I always believe that I need to increase followers/fans because this equals reaching deeper and further into the already established base.  So, there must be a consistent & persistent plan to increase the total followers and fans.  While it is ideal to churn out huge figures to impress the bosses, it is also important to be very level-headed when it comes to commiting such figures.

Daily Monitoring

Its ideal to have tools to monitor the social media for keywords and your business name.  Not only will you be able to do damage control if anything negative is being said about your business, but at the same time you can also know what is being said about your competitors or about the industry in general.

“It depends…”

“You mean…?”

Its funny how people expect a quick one liner answer to a question like this. I wished there is a quick answer but unfortunately its not as simple as it sounds.

Social media is not just about blogs, Twitter, Facebook, internet, online banner advertisements. These are social media tools. To get into social media, the first thing you must have in mind is your goal and what strategy you want to use. The strategy must be unique to your business, and no blind copying because a strategy custom-tailored for another business (though might be in the same industry) might not have the same effect to yours.

There is an interesting article I came across, “Social Media Not The Answer for Weak Brands” which quotes that social media is akin to better weapons & bigger army strength in a war, but ultimately it is the warfare strategy that leads to a win. The emphasis is to get the strategy right, then use social media as a platform to execute the strategy.

Although I truly believe in the strength of social media, I’d not want business to think and believe that social media IS the ULTIMATE everything to help improve businesses. Social media is a tool and a platform that can help businesses reach out to target audience, engage with them, interact with them, understand them, maybe even as a channel to test responses for new product/service roll out. All these information leads to better understanding of the business, which can then be used to improve business processes, realign products/services offerings, offer new products/services and of course (hopefully), lead to a bigger bottomline.

Thinking about using social media for your business? My advise – start with the end in mind, that is what is your goal, then think about the strategy to deploy, then only which social media platform to use.

(1) Build a network who agrees to receive your broadcast of marketing messages & engaging with your customers & potential customers
Those who has done direct emailing know that every email address must opt-in to receive your marketing messages.  Unsolicited messages can lead you to a lot of sticky issues ~ getting a call from the internet provider is not pleasant & damaging, having your domain blacklisted means that even your emails will not reach your customers (these days email servers subscribe to these blacklists to keep spam low) and you definitely don’t want to have your email server blocked (I’ve experienced this in my previous company).  But with social media, they are following you voluntarily and you can broadcast your messages to them ~ of course with a proper strategy & execution.
(2) A channel to listen to feedback/comments
The truth hurts, and some companies choose to ignore constructive feedbacks or ‘listen less’ of such feedback, and assume that they are the minority.  With social media, even the minority’s voice can become major if not handled carefully.  People are talking and sharing thoughts/ideas/experiences all the time ~ you don’t want a multiplication effect for the wrong reasons.  So, listening is important, and social media can help you reach out to listen.
(3) Knowing what’s hot / being discussed in your industry
Because of the nature of social media, news and latest updates gets discussed so very quickly and you want to make full use of these conversations – to know the latest trends/issues/challenges so that you can make a business decision on how to react to it.
(4) Opportunity to clarify/correct misconceptions
You can immediately rectify misconceptions by offering clarifications and these messages are going to be read by all who follow you.  Your voices gets heard and you can reach out to many at one go.

(5) Participate in the conversations, reinforce your message
When you see a topic concerning you being discussed, this is your opportunity to strike while the iron is hot.  Not only are you able to participate, you can even reinforce your message and subtly promote yourself.

(6) Opportunity to be the voice of authority
Its not easy, I know.  People don’t trust you overnight, it has to be done consistently over a period of time.  Start with providing good information with interesting information and real value.  If you can offer tips that can help and yet subtly sell yourself, that would be best! Track your click-through rates for your to know the effectiveness.  When you offer tips/interesting information, people tend to take note. Now you’ve got their attention and their trust!

I’ve seen some companies thinking and believing that social media is HARD SELLING when its not.  No one wants to be a fan of Facebook to be continuously bombarded with endless promotions and hard-sell marketing messages.  You have to engage with your audience, build the trust, and listen in order to get people to buy the idea.  Some get impatient by the day because the expectation has been set wrongly in the first place.  The other things is also the tendency to OVERDO because its a free tool.  A strategy in mind and proper execution is key to successful social media use.