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Michael Bal

Comprehensive digital strategy.

Bio

Director of Audience & Revenue at 10up, focusing on business insights, audience growth, and monetization for some of the biggest digital brands on the planet. Comprehensive experience across a variety of business models and product strategies.

Recent Answers

Work Life Balance

How do you, as a working parent, balance work/life? Do you think it's stressful to be a parent? If yes/no, why?


Michael Bal

Comprehensive digital strategy.

I try to capitalize on the times when the kid(s) are either asleep or doing something else and then make sure I'm available the times when we can be together as a family. I might hard stop work at 5 and then catch up on outstanding tasks really early in the morning or later at night. I also work at home and make myself take a few breaks to help my wife out and say hi to my son. Helps me get a quick refresh.

Social Media Marketing

Is there a way to advertise to Facebook/Twitter/mobile users by date and location?


Michael Bal

Comprehensive digital strategy.

I know that on Facebook and Twitter you can schedule ads and posts so that question should be answered. I know in Facebook you can target users by whether they're using a mobile or desktop device and also by which operating system they're using i.g. iOS or Android You can also target by interests like 'Running' or 'marathons' based on their profile and activity or you can use partner categories to target people who spent money on fitness/running equipment or possibly even registered for a marathon.

Digital Marketing

What are your recommended touch points for a successful drip campaign for an analytics SaaS provider in the unified communication industry?


Michael Bal

Comprehensive digital strategy.

Take away the specific industry and you still need to look at basics. Map your steps out by the level of commitment they require. A whitepaper requires less time and commitment than a webinar, for example. You should have a series of responses mapped out for every action in the funnel AND every inaction. From there the key is the present the CTAs in the right way. This really does need to be specific to the path the person has come down. By the time they've invested a significant amount of time going through your funnel your communications should seem like they're written specifically for that person.

Social Media Marketing

I'm rethinking the social media marketing strategy for my digital marketing & development agency. What 3 Twitter accounts are good examples to follow?


Michael Bal

Comprehensive digital strategy.

If you're looking for agencies who have it down I'd recommend Ogilvy Social W+K Social and RGA. But it really depends on how you want to position your agency, you'll see they all take pretty different approaches. https://twitter.com/SocialOgilvy https://twitter.com/WiedenKennedy https://twitter.com/rga Before looking at other examples I'd recommend figuring out who exactly you aim to be or who your customers want you to be and go from there. There are hundreds of ways to do social and the only definition of right or wrong that counts comes from your clients.

Domain Names

If there are no quality .com available domains suited for my travel startup, is it too bad to use a .org or .travel gtld?


Michael Bal

Comprehensive digital strategy.

You can use a custom ending if it can tie in to your company/brand name. visual.ly is a good example. With browser history and personal settings it's much less an issue than is used to be.

Business Strategy

How do you know when you are giving off too much information to anyone?


Michael Bal

Comprehensive digital strategy.

If you talk to someone and they leave feeling like they know exactly what to do and how to do it, you gave them too much. To quote The Joker ' If you're good at something, never do it for free' Even if it takes you 30 minutes to explain, it probably took hours upon hours to figure out. Time is money.

Naming

How would you name a technology and innovation conference?


Michael Bal

Comprehensive digital strategy.

Rules of Thumb For Naming Anything: 1. Easy To Say 2. Easy To Remember 3. Do something outside the obvious No one will care about another 'Innovation and Technology' conference unless you do something to make it different from the rest of them. Maybe take advantage of the setting and rent out a creepy castle.

B2B Marketing

What are ways to find and engage B2B beta users for a brand new application?


Michael Bal

Comprehensive digital strategy.

If you know exactly who your customer is, Linkedin is a great option because you'll be able to target by job title or by company. When you do reach out, try to be more personal and less salesy. The relationship should always seem mutually beneficial.

Growth Hacking

Looking to create a viral strategy for a new mobile app, it seems to make sense for it to be via text message. Any good examples of SMS strategies?


Michael Bal

Comprehensive digital strategy.

I've yet to see an SMS campaign go viral. You're probably better setting up an interactive live event and then documenting it and creating content that can be published across niche and non niche channels.

Product Strategy

How do you convert your users into evangelists, to push your product? The product in discussion is a map based product (both navigation & travel apps)


Michael Bal

Comprehensive digital strategy.

If you want long term evangelists you're going to have to think outside of the relationship between your product and the customer and focus specifically on the customer. Identify the influencers who are already engaging your brand through social media channels and see what you can learn about them. If their profile picture is them playing an instrument, you might send then a gift card to Itunes or Guitar Center. In Short: Spend a little money and show your interest in them instead of just rewarding their interest in you. I had Wheat Thins send me a box of crackers and that was cool but I sent one tweet out and was done. General Electric saw that I was wearing a Batman shirt and sent me a really cool book as well as a hand written thank you note. I regularly engage and promote content about GE.

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Digital MarketingSocial MediaSocial Media MarketingMarketing CommunicationsMarketing StrategyContent MarketingSocial Media StrategySocial Media DevelopmentSocial Media MonitoringSocial Media Relations