#sdb-sdvosb-8a

11 in Share

    © 2008-2012 Nononina, Inc. All Rights Reserved

In social media’s early phase, marketers primarily focused on increasing fans, then engaging those fans, using a mix of “content and conversation.” While content and conversation are great at building loyalty and mind share, social marketers are learning that they are not as great at increasing revenue and market share.

Along the way, many of us have invested in dedicated resources and tools to help manage our social efforts. But as these investments have grown, inevitable questions about returns have arisen, and for many, quantifying value has been elusive. Why? Because there is a hole in the social media marketing funnel.

There are three major issues causing this chasm. Digital marketing and e-commerce teams need to face these issues to begin achieving quantifiable results we can all be proud of.

The consideration gap.We’re doing a great job at the top of the funnel, where awareness and brand engagement are the objectives. Content and conversation posts work well up there. When we use more advanced tactics such as engagement applications, we’re going a bit further down the path to purchase, but because we’re not integrating products, we’re unable to drive discovery or progress toward consideration and purchase. While brand work is fun and important, a sole focus on brand creates a consideration gap because an essential piece of the puzzle is missing. In traditional digital marketing, we use ad banners, search and e-mail to drive customers to our e-commerce stores. Over time, we realized that context mattered, so we began to focus on landing pages and optimization. We learned that customers need a “transitional experience” between an ad and a purchase and that driving directly to standard detail pages, for example, wasn’t as effective.When social marketers, on the other hand, implement a product-focused strategy, we see a different set of steps than we’re used to. Starting with rich posts across social networks meant to drive sharing or discovery, we drive traffic to branded product experiences that drive participation, amplification and, ultimately, consideration and enable social customers to easily buy, moving them down the path to purchase.

The limits of social media management. The job of the social media manager has become widespread. Some brands are even starting to create dedicated social teams with social executives. For many, the job includes responsibilities including customer support, community moderation, social media monitoring, marketing and optimization. On top of all that, we’re expected to integrate complex marketing programs “into” social, post to every social network on the planet, create content, and gather and report results. People responsible for promoting and selling products using social media are spread thin. Bringing a focus on selling products into our social strategies will require a more disciplined and focused set of resources and tools, as well as tight integration with digital, e-commerce and other teams.

The limitations of tools and expertise. As content and conversation became our primary focus, an ecosystem of tools and expertise emerged to further that goal. These solutions have grown up incredibly fast, and there are great options for management and measurement at many levels. This is exciting, as it illustrates how important social has become for business. As our efforts expand toward sales, a similar tool set and set of expertise must be purpose-built around promoting and selling products.

11 in Share

    © 2008-2012 Nononina, Inc. All Rights Reserved

In social media’s early phase, marketers primarily focused on increasing fans, then engaging those fans, using a mix of “content and conversation.” While content and conversation are great at building loyalty and mind share, social marketers are learning that they are not as great at increasing revenue and market share.

Along the way, many of us have invested in dedicated resources and tools to help manage our social efforts. But as these investments have grown, inevitable questions about returns have arisen, and for many, quantifying value has been elusive. Why? Because there is a hole in the social media marketing funnel.

There are three major issues causing this chasm. Digital marketing and e-commerce teams need to face these issues to begin achieving quantifiable results we can all be proud of.

The consideration gap.We’re doing a great job at the top of the funnel, where awareness and brand engagement are the objectives. Content and conversation posts work well up there. When we use more advanced tactics such as engagement applications, we’re going a bit further down the path to purchase, but because we’re not integrating products, we’re unable to drive discovery or progress toward consideration and purchase. While brand work is fun and important, a sole focus on brand creates a consideration gap because an essential piece of the puzzle is missing. In traditional digital marketing, we use ad banners, search and e-mail to drive customers to our e-commerce stores. Over time, we realized that context mattered, so we began to focus on landing pages and optimization. We learned that customers need a “transitional experience” between an ad and a purchase and that driving directly to standard detail pages, for example, wasn’t as effective.When social marketers, on the other hand, implement a product-focused strategy, we see a different set of steps than we’re used to. Starting with rich posts across social networks meant to drive sharing or discovery, we drive traffic to branded product experiences that drive participation, amplification and, ultimately, consideration and enable social customers to easily buy, moving them down the path to purchase.

The limits of social media management. The job of the social media manager has become widespread. Some brands are even starting to create dedicated social teams with social executives. For many, the job includes responsibilities including customer support, community moderation, social media monitoring, marketing and optimization. On top of all that, we’re expected to integrate complex marketing programs “into” social, post to every social network on the planet, create content, and gather and report results. People responsible for promoting and selling products using social media are spread thin. Bringing a focus on selling products into our social strategies will require a more disciplined and focused set of resources and tools, as well as tight integration with digital, e-commerce and other teams.

The limitations of tools and expertise. As content and conversation became our primary focus, an ecosystem of tools and expertise emerged to further that goal. These solutions have grown up incredibly fast, and there are great options for management and measurement at many levels. This is exciting, as it illustrates how important social has become for business. As our efforts expand toward sales, a similar tool set and set of expertise must be purpose-built around promoting and selling products.

TSA, union land first labor pact for security officers

By Joe Davidson, Published: August 2

 John Gage is a happy man.You’d think he’d be tired, too.

The president of the American Federation of Government Employees personally participated in the lengthy negotiations that concluded after 3 a.m. Thursday for the first-ever labor contract for 45,000 transportation security officers (TSOs).

He then went off to play 18 holes of golf.

Perhaps it was a way to relax after a negotiation process that began in January, following a decade of pushing to get collective bargaining rights for TSOs.

The agreement, which must be ratified by the membership, would create a new performance management system, provide an increased clothing allowance and a standardized vacation bidding process. A side agreement allows officers to take certain issues to the Merit Systems Protection Board or a neutral arbitrator.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Gage said.

A major provision in the tentative deal replaces the Transportation Security Administration’s performance management system known as PASS (Performance Accountability and Standards System) with another called TOPS (Transportation Officer Performance System). The difference goes beyond acronyms and gets to the way workers are evaluated.

“For 10 long years AFGE has fought hard so that Transportation Security Officers would have collective bargaining rights. We have often looked back and wondered why it was taking so long,” Gage said in a statement. “Today we begin to look forward.”

Under the tentative contract:

●The TOPS program will be based on employee execution of goals and supervisor observations over a year’s time, rather than on PASS’s certification test.

●●●A standard shift and annual leave bidding process would be based on seniority.●

■The annual clothing allowance for TSOs would increase to $446 from $232. The allotment of clothing provided by the agency also would increase.

●TSOs would have more flexibility in uniform selections, including shorts in hot weather and “Ike” jackets — named for the World War II military jackets associated with Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower — in cold weather.

Additionally, ●under a side agreement worked out between Gage and TSA Administrator John S. Pistole, issues that could result in a suspension of more than 14 days could be taken to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Some less-serious issues could be decided by a neutral arbitrator.

The contract agreement “represents a significant milestone in our relationship with our employees,” Pistole said in a statement.

Congressional opinions were mixed.

“I commend the TSA and Administrator Pistole for increasing aviation security by professionalizing the TSO workforce,” said Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.), who has long advocated TSO collective bargaining rights. “By allowing TSOs to bargain collectively, TSA will engage employees, improve morale and increase our national security. This is critical to keeping experienced screeners on the job and protecting the safety of the traveling public.”

But Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the Homeland Security transportation security subcommittee, said he remains “concerned that TSA’s collective bargaining agreement may impact security operations and further insulate its bloated workforce and bureaucracy from transforming into a smarter and leaner organization.”

Actually, the tentative agreement doesn’t affect security operations. It does, however, get into fine detail about an officer’s appearance:

“Tie tacks may be button or stud style tie tacks that do not exceed one-half inch diameter and must be plain gold or silver in color. Tie bars must not exceed three-eighths inch in width and be plain gold or silver tone metal.”

Baseball caps can be worn with an agency patch on the front, but only “with the brim facing forward” and generally “outside the view of the public.”

Want to stop for a beer after work? Don’t do it in uniform.

“The public will view an employee in uniform as representing TSA, even if the employee is off duty,” the agreement says. “Therefore, employees may not wear the uniform in inappropriate establishments, or participate in activities that could compromise the credibility of TSA.” That includes gambling and drinking booze, according to the deal.

Pistole said he looks “forward to a review of the agreement by our covered employees.”

Speaking of covered employees, those employee body parts with tattoos must be covered, says the tentative agreement: “Tattoos must be covered at all times and not visible to the public. When an officer is wearing a short-sleeve shirt, tattoos may be covered by a plain, single-colored royal blue acceptable band or sports sleeve that does not detract from the uniform.”

There was no mention of nose rings.

Gage leaves his presidential post this month, an office he’s held since 2003. He didn’t want to go without getting a contract for TSOs.

“I was going to finish this . . . thing, and I finished it,” he said. “I feel pretty good about the future.”

  Twitter: @JoeDavidsonWP

TSA, union land first labor pact for security officers

By Joe Davidson, Published: August 2

 John Gage is a happy man.You’d think he’d be tired, too.

The president of the American Federation of Government Employees personally participated in the lengthy negotiations that concluded after 3 a.m. Thursday for the first-ever labor contract for 45,000 transportation security officers (TSOs).

He then went off to play 18 holes of golf.

Perhaps it was a way to relax after a negotiation process that began in January, following a decade of pushing to get collective bargaining rights for TSOs.

The agreement, which must be ratified by the membership, would create a new performance management system, provide an increased clothing allowance and a standardized vacation bidding process. A side agreement allows officers to take certain issues to the Merit Systems Protection Board or a neutral arbitrator.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Gage said.

A major provision in the tentative deal replaces the Transportation Security Administration’s performance management system known as PASS (Performance Accountability and Standards System) with another called TOPS (Transportation Officer Performance System). The difference goes beyond acronyms and gets to the way workers are evaluated.

“For 10 long years AFGE has fought hard so that Transportation Security Officers would have collective bargaining rights. We have often looked back and wondered why it was taking so long,” Gage said in a statement. “Today we begin to look forward.”

Under the tentative contract:

●The TOPS program will be based on employee execution of goals and supervisor observations over a year’s time, rather than on PASS’s certification test.

●●●A standard shift and annual leave bidding process would be based on seniority.●

■The annual clothing allowance for TSOs would increase to $446 from $232. The allotment of clothing provided by the agency also would increase.

●TSOs would have more flexibility in uniform selections, including shorts in hot weather and “Ike” jackets — named for the World War II military jackets associated with Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower — in cold weather.

Additionally, ●under a side agreement worked out between Gage and TSA Administrator John S. Pistole, issues that could result in a suspension of more than 14 days could be taken to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Some less-serious issues could be decided by a neutral arbitrator.

The contract agreement “represents a significant milestone in our relationship with our employees,” Pistole said in a statement.

Congressional opinions were mixed.

“I commend the TSA and Administrator Pistole for increasing aviation security by professionalizing the TSO workforce,” said Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.), who has long advocated TSO collective bargaining rights. “By allowing TSOs to bargain collectively, TSA will engage employees, improve morale and increase our national security. This is critical to keeping experienced screeners on the job and protecting the safety of the traveling public.”

But Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the Homeland Security transportation security subcommittee, said he remains “concerned that TSA’s collective bargaining agreement may impact security operations and further insulate its bloated workforce and bureaucracy from transforming into a smarter and leaner organization.”

Actually, the tentative agreement doesn’t affect security operations. It does, however, get into fine detail about an officer’s appearance:

“Tie tacks may be button or stud style tie tacks that do not exceed one-half inch diameter and must be plain gold or silver in color. Tie bars must not exceed three-eighths inch in width and be plain gold or silver tone metal.”

Baseball caps can be worn with an agency patch on the front, but only “with the brim facing forward” and generally “outside the view of the public.”

Want to stop for a beer after work? Don’t do it in uniform.

“The public will view an employee in uniform as representing TSA, even if the employee is off duty,” the agreement says. “Therefore, employees may not wear the uniform in inappropriate establishments, or participate in activities that could compromise the credibility of TSA.” That includes gambling and drinking booze, according to the deal.

Pistole said he looks “forward to a review of the agreement by our covered employees.”

Speaking of covered employees, those employee body parts with tattoos must be covered, says the tentative agreement: “Tattoos must be covered at all times and not visible to the public. When an officer is wearing a short-sleeve shirt, tattoos may be covered by a plain, single-colored royal blue acceptable band or sports sleeve that does not detract from the uniform.”

There was no mention of nose rings.

Gage leaves his presidential post this month, an office he’s held since 2003. He didn’t want to go without getting a contract for TSOs.

“I was going to finish this . . . thing, and I finished it,” he said. “I feel pretty good about the future.”

  Twitter: @JoeDavidsonWP

ATCA is a non-profit, non-government, professional organization. Membership is open to all who share a common interest in promoting and encouraging the advancement of aviation and air traffic control. The governing body is composed of representatives from all segments of the aviation community. 

Established in Washington, D.C. in 1956 by a group of air traffic controllers, the Air Traffic Control Association has been from the outset dedicated to progress in the science of air traffic control and the preservation of a safe flight environment. It provides a forum in which those concerned can address the myriad issues inherent to the development of viable air traffic control systems and aviation infrastructures, and the ever increasing demands on the global navigable airspace environment. Those in the aviation community; the providers of air traffic control, system architects, manufacturers, suppliers, system operators and users join together in ATCA to share their collective experience and knowledge, and efforts in pursuit of common goals. ATCA is unique in representing the broad spectrum of civil-military cooperation typical of global flying activities. Its Annual Technical Meetings and Exhibits feature North America's largest and most diverse display of aviation related technology. These events are attended by thousands of civilian and military members and representatives from around the world. ATCA also sponsors Technical Conferences and Symposia annually in Europe, the Pacific Rim and Latin America. ATCA’s Civil Military Air Traffic Management Summit know as CMAC™ attracts Civil and Military Aviation leaders from around the world. Beginning in 2009 this will be held annually. 

ATCA is a non-profit, non-government, professional organization. Membership is open to all who share a common interest in promoting and encouraging the advancement of aviation and air traffic control. The governing body is composed of representatives from all segments of the aviation community. 

Established in Washington, D.C. in 1956 by a group of air traffic controllers, the Air Traffic Control Association has been from the outset dedicated to progress in the science of air traffic control and the preservation of a safe flight environment. It provides a forum in which those concerned can address the myriad issues inherent to the development of viable air traffic control systems and aviation infrastructures, and the ever increasing demands on the global navigable airspace environment. Those in the aviation community; the providers of air traffic control, system architects, manufacturers, suppliers, system operators and users join together in ATCA to share their collective experience and knowledge, and efforts in pursuit of common goals. ATCA is unique in representing the broad spectrum of civil-military cooperation typical of global flying activities. Its Annual Technical Meetings and Exhibits feature North America's largest and most diverse display of aviation related technology. These events are attended by thousands of civilian and military members and representatives from around the world. ATCA also sponsors Technical Conferences and Symposia annually in Europe, the Pacific Rim and Latin America. ATCA’s Civil Military Air Traffic Management Summit know as CMAC™ attracts Civil and Military Aviation leaders from around the world. Beginning in 2009 this will be held annually. 

Don't see a video screen? Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page. If that doesn't work, click here to download the video directly.

    "Complacency has no place in soaring" are the words Larry Hockensmith uses to open a brief description of a video that ends with him crashing a Schweizer 1-26 into a row of mailboxes and a few trash cans ... and they're also the point. Hockensmith, a student glider pilot and 40-year licensed power pilot, posted the video to YouTube with a simple message. "I was trained better than to have lingered on the lee-side of a ridge over rough terrain," he writes. "The dramatic outlanding was due to my actions exclusively." He says he has shared the video with his instructor, the FAA and the NTSB and those interactions have helped grow his skills. He also says there's more to come and issues a challenge.

Don't see a video screen? Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page. If that doesn't work, click here to download the video directly.

    "Complacency has no place in soaring" are the words Larry Hockensmith uses to open a brief description of a video that ends with him crashing a Schweizer 1-26 into a row of mailboxes and a few trash cans ... and they're also the point. Hockensmith, a student glider pilot and 40-year licensed power pilot, posted the video to YouTube with a simple message. "I was trained better than to have lingered on the lee-side of a ridge over rough terrain," he writes. "The dramatic outlanding was due to my actions exclusively." He says he has shared the video with his instructor, the FAA and the NTSB and those interactions have helped grow his skills. He also says there's more to come and issues a challenge.