You don’t have a choice

Catching up on podcasts again. Mitch Joel had a great conversation last month about digital marketing and social media with Avinash Kaushik, “Analytics Evangelist” at Google (Six Pixels of Separation #152).

“Orgasmic” digital marketing, in fact.

Kaushik is the author of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day and the Occam’s Razor blog.

If the mere mention of analytics makes you run for the door, this podcast will blow away any thought you have that analytics are boring. Kaushik is enthusiastic about his craft.

First off, we all need to understand this stuff better. And by stuff, I mean how to measure the impact your social media efforts are having on behalf of your company, brand, etc… What do you measure? How do you do it? What’s significant and what isn’t?

Are you measuring and caring about the wrong things?

And, how you can capitalize on the conversations on the Web that are happening about your company, for good or bad?

The title of this post came right from Kaushik in the conversation with Joel, after Joel asked him if businesses and brands really want two-way conversations in this day and age on the Web, since it doesn’t lead to big sales overnight. It’s more of a long-term effort.

“You don’t have a choice,” Kaushik replied.

In 2007 and 2008, he says, businesses still had a choice in how to interact with customers – and do what they had always done if they wanted to - but we’ve reached a point where it is mandatory that you have two-way conversations.

“The influence channels that have worked thus far – TV and coupons – don’t work anymore and they will not work anymore at a rapidly escalating pace. With every passing day the slope of the curve is becoming more and more hard to reach.

Another great takeaway comes toward the end of this podcast, when Kaushik says he spends four hours a week learning about something new he didn’t know about before. If you aren’t, you will be irrelevent. If you are, you will be at “the top of the mountain,” Kaushik says.

Good advice, indeed.

Anyone doing marketing, PR or corporate communications must listen to this podcast. Whether you think you know what social media is about, or not.

Kaushik’s smarts are scary. His enthusiasm is contagious. Listen to this podcast and learn.

Read Wheel on the Web via email