Marketing
Your Blog As A Beer Tasting
I’m thrilled to see North Carolina is on the verge of approving a bill that will “permit beer companies to hold tasting sessions in food stores.”
I hope it raises the level of the beer culture in this blue law heavy state. And who doesn’t want to taste a good beer in the grocery store?
The product sample is an old marketing method and is about the lowest barrier to entry you can give the customer. Take the concept online, and the economy of free really negates the free sample, or more correctly, is an extreme extension of the free sample.
Consider all the free content you produce online as a taste of your full personality or company culture, a sample of what you have to offer as a person or business.
What Does Your Culture Taste Like?
The entire art of writing a blog is a free sample of your business or personality, a taste. You are sharing insights and stories for free, as an investment in your audience. So what does this sample taste like?
How are your readers remembering you? Does your content taste like everything else that is out there? Is it refreshing? Is it a deep, strong flavor?
One thing I have had to get better and better at as a blogger is writing as a person and not as a journalist. I think the best blogs share a lot of personality and culture of the writer or company. A personal touch builds more of a relationship, more of an investment.
photo credit: dave apple
‘Interactive’ Websites Need to Evolve Faster
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. I am a huge history buff and a big fan of all things NASA and all things JFK. So when someone on Twitter pointed me to the JFK Library re-enactment of the moon landing, I was kind of excited to take a look.
The website is by the Martin Agency (and for some reason in connection with AOL) that celebrates the anniversary with a high media flash site that allows you to experience what happened with the landing in real time. A pretty cool concept, no doubt.
Interactive? I Guess So
The site is definitely focused on a high media experience. Cool interactive angles of the Apollo craft and the trip they take, along with great audio of the whole mission. In the traditional sense of being “interactive” it is a quality production for sure (minus some insanely small text). My critique is that the site is one sided. I can watch and listen to this cool thing, but I want to engage with other people about it. And I will likely, but it would have been so much cooler if that engagement was better facilitated and grouped on the site.
Social? Nope
Where they lost me is a pretty lame implementation of any interaction and real connection with the people involved with Apollo 11. They have 3 Twitter accounts hooked up to the experience (@AP11_EAGLE as Houston Control, @AP11_SPACECRAFT as Apollo 11 Craft, and @AP11_CAPCOM as the Apollo 11 Landing Craft). I think they are using Twitter integration pretty minimally, and beyond Twitter, there are tons of things they could have done to improve the social nature of the site.
I have seen several blog posts mentioning the Apollo Anniversary, including a great post of at WebInkNow by David Meerman Scott about taking some marketing lessons from Apollo. Showing me the chatter on the web about Apollo or about NASA in general would be a nice reflection on the legacy. Show me the Youtube videos and Flickr photos about NASA and Apollo. Give me a live chat on the site where I can connect to my friends on Facebook or Twitter. Get on Facebook and either create or partner with pages for each of the famous people involved in the historic day. Brand mascots, especially historic figures, are a great way to add some depth to the connection you form with the end user.
These are all minor things, but I really wanted to engage others about this cool site, a reenactment of a great moment in American History and the site did not make that easy to do.
Reach Out To Existing Social Profiles
NASA has done some cool things on Twitter and Facebook with their different missions and Mars Landers. Maybe even beef up the JFK Library Twitter account or talk to Twitter about claiming @JohnFKennedy for some rousing quotes from Kennedy’s famous speeches about going to the moon. The 3 accounts the site did use barely sent out any content (12 tweets total by my count) prior to today’s reenactment. There was no building of momentum or interest.
Show Me People, Not Anonymous Cold Call Signs
The accounts are not names, they are call signs. The account are not people, they are groups of people involved with the Apollo 11 mission, and even the lander has an account. Show me real people, a face as an avatar, one person per account. Give it some personality. I connect better with people, not call signs.
Follow Someone, Talk to Someone
The Twitter accounts as they are now do not talk to anyone but each other, do not follow anyone but each other, and in general are one way, broadcast channels. This does very little for me. What this gives me, is much more interesting if I get the live audio directly from the site. I don’t connect with it. It does not drive me to ask questions, to get involved, to engage.
It would have been a little bit of a time investment, but well worth it to assign real people to Twitter and Facebook as the actual personalities that made up the mission. A couple of the astronauts, the main voices at Mission Control, even an astronaut’s wife, or JFK, or an enthusiastic kid listening to the radio with bated breathe waiting for them to reach the moon.
Overall, it was a really nice site, and I left the amazing audio up for a little while, listening to the Apollo 11 mission. But I think the media would have shined a little more if people could interact more intimately with the story.
What do you think, was an opportunity missed or not?
It’s Easier to Bitch at a Logo
Earlier today I saw a smart question on Twitter from Rachel Levy (@BostonMarketer) – “Do you think it’s more difficult to talk to a logo versus a photo?”
My response? It’s “easier to connect to a photo. Easier to bitch at a logo.”
I think we all have some simple, subconscious reactions to all images.
A logo equals a brand equals a company equals someone who wants to sell you something, someone with which you are doing business.
A photo of a real person equals a relationship equals something more genuine.
The decision is a familiar one for any company deciding to establish a Twitter presence. I recommend investing in the personal, the human. Using the company name subtly in your avatar (Ning is a good example) or the account name is more than acceptable. But give me a smile to talk to and I will feel more engaged, even if I like your snazzy logo.
Dead simple concept? Yes. But one that echoes some basics of social media that are always worth reminding.
PR, Social Media Skills
Guest post by Christine Perkett, named “PR Executive of the Year” by the American Business Award in 2008. President & Founder of PerkettPR, Christine speaks regularly on the crossroads of PR, marketing and social media and has been featured in numerous books and publications such as BusinessWeek’s Social Media Report 2009.
What Social Media Marketers Need to Know About Public Relations
With the rise of social media and its use for marketing purposes (some of which haven’t gone so well and others which are really fantastic), there has been increasing demand for a class of professionals who dedicate themselves to communicating brand values through these unique new channels. Traditionally, PR professionals have used a variety of communications methods to reach the public, and the good ones see social media as a wonderful new tool in the PR or marketer’s overall arsenal. This overlap of domain expertise can lead to more success if the two functions understand each other and work together, or it can lead to frustration and friction if relations are allowed to become a turf battle over who owns what.
Understanding and coordinating with PR is a sure way to make sure your client engagements run smoother and produce the best results. PR is about communication and engaging a variety of public audiences and therefore, social media marketers that understand the need for creating messages that resonate with each of those audiences will gain the benefit of this expertise and make sure social media-based conversations feed into and enhance the brand’s overall value.
To learn some basics on PR, read this great article from AdAge. To get a bit more specific on how it relates to social media marketing, here are my thoughts:
1. The difference between social media and PR
Social media is a method of communication. Public relations is focused on reputation awareness and management – the practice of communicating with and influencing a variety of publics that matter to a company or an individual. Social media is one of the tools used to establish, raise and maintain such awareness.
2. Why thoughtful positioning and messaging matter
Social media marketers need to understand the messages that a PR or marketing department want to share with a company’s publics and why. Yes, social media is about transparency and authenticity – – so is good public relations. Dishonesty is bad, regardless of the channel. But “spin” doesn’t always have to mean dishonesty – “spin” is a word largely used by those that don’t understand the value of “positioning.” Everyone positions in one way or another. When you write your social media bio you are positioning. When you pitch a customer you are positioning. Positioning is about wisely choosing the way you communicate when attention is at a premium. Does that sound familiar?
PR executives help companies and individuals to position or deliver messages in a favorable way – one that can, and should be, open and transparent as well. Despite some bad apples, PR teams are not in the business of hiding things. But they are in the business of positioning communications in such a way that is memorable. Social media marketers need to respect the public relations team and their expertise here – taking the time to understand the messages that the PR and marketing team have determined will work best to reach each of a company’s publics – and incorporate these messages into their social media marketing campaigns. Haphazard messages – in the spirit of being “social” – that aren’t well-coordinated will defeat the marketer’s purpose – consistent, persistent messages help publics to remember and recall a brand/individual/company better. Whether the messages are delivered in a social media community or in a written press release, they need to be thoughtful and consistent.
3. PR is much more than media relations
This is perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions about PR. I’ve heard more than one “social media expert” tell companies that they can also do the marketing and PR because “they know bloggers.” While blogger and media relationships are an important element to the overall PR campaign, this is just one part of what a PR executive deals with on a daily basis. Because it’s the most visible part of a PR executive’s job, many relate it to the profession as a whole. But in fact, PR executives spend a great deal of time working on the best and most memorable communications methods for a variety of constituents: industry analysts, investors, tradeshow coordinators, customers, prospects, partners, employees, recruits and more. Not all of these constituents are created equal – they don’t have the same wants or needs. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all social media campaign – or one that will get great media coverage because of its innovative digital content will not appropriately impact every audience that a company or individual entrepreneur wants to reach. A fun video that might attract customers to a retail website will not necessarily communicate the more serious messages needed to attract investors, for example. A slick-looking microsite with bad messaging might get good press pick up for the concept, but could confuse prospects, hurt sales or worse, lead to customer attrition.
Overall, social media marketing is a great new method for engaging directly with the public to share a brand or company’s core messages, values, culture and news. Social media marketers often know where to reach key audiences and how to create exciting digital content. But the PR team should have a hand in what messages are in that content for maximum impact and the greatest ROI. Working together, social media marketers and the PR department can create compelling messages and information and deliver them in exciting new ways that let a company’s public audiences interact, engage and most importantly – remember the brand.
SERIES Social Media Skills — Advertising, SEO, PR, Graphic Design, Copywriting, and more…
Enabled Champions Mean Business
Speaking in front of small business owners on a couple recent occasions has spotlighted, for me, a pattern of their frustrations with social media. They want to make social media work for their brand but see it as too much work to learn and implement and not enough real results for their bottom line.Whether a startup, freelancer, or brick and mortar shop, the limitations of budgeting, staffing, and the lack of a large brand to build on are universal for many small enterprises.
To them I present the Enabled Champion – A concept that is by no means new, but in today’s online world of speed and access, it can be an especially powerful tool. Many business owners know these lessons already, but do not know how to magnify word of mouth concepts online.
Enabled Champion n. A customer that willingly markets and spreads word of mouth on behalf of a brand – A brand that is actively providing them opportunities to do so.
When a small business owner picks up a book like Groundswell and sees every other suggestion is to buy into some service that costs thousands of dollars, this Social Media thing can be a bit underwhelming.
Corporate Examples are Daunting
When Pepsi or Best Buy or Burger King does something really cool using Social Media, it is great and all, but sometimes scaling down their successes for small companies can be unrealistic. The important thing to remember is to boil these success stories down to their bare bones. I can usually break down any social media success into one of a few basic concepts:
- Listen/Respond to the consumer (Building trust)
- Provide value to the consumer (Invest in them)
- Give the consumer ownership (Letting them invest in you)
- Be remarkable (Viral potential)
Multiply Your Voice
The next-to-last bullet point above is where the Enabled Champion really gets down to business. Any business should be looking for opportunities to let their customers market for them. If you are in business, someone, somewhere values your product. Build on that success by making it as easy as possible for them to share that experience and encourage others to partake. A simple “tell your friends” is helpful and nice. And basic word of mouth happens organically. But online, for a small business, you must actively provide opportunities for your customers to pass along your brand. The main difference between the potential for word of mouth online and offline is scale. Within the social web, “telling your friends” can have much larger implications.
Hustle Your Word of Mouth
A few examples:
- Assign customers titles and give them perks. Call them your ambassadors or champions or any name. Give them discounts or insider info. I had a boss once that whenever I would ask for a raise, he would respond with “Do you want the money, the title, or the experience?” There are a lot of people out there that would be more than willing to help you for those second and third options.
- Let the consumer create your marketing. Have a contest for written stories about your product or video responses. Ask them to blog for you about how your product or service has helped them or just about your industry. Get input from customers about what your next product should be. Any of these tasks will make the customer feel less like a consumer and more like a community member, one of the team.
- Praise your customers. Write blog posts or video blog about your favorite customers. Interview them so they can share their experience first hand. Put them front and center.
- Use simple, inexpensive online tools to keep the conversation lines open and vibrant. The larger the consumer side of this two way conversation is, the more invested your customers become. Maintain an email newsletter, blog on a regular schedule, and use social networking filters (groups, tags, etc.) to target and give attention to your inner circle of customers. Or just start your own social network with free tools like Ning, Buddypress, Facebook or Google Groups, etc.
Many business owners know all too well that a return customer and a vocal customer are incredibly valuable commodities. As a small business, learning how best to enable your customers to become champions of your brand is a smart investment.
How are you enabling champions of your business?
