Your Brand, In Plain English

I'm not a big fan of buzzwords. Why? They dilute brands more effectively than almost anything else. And I promise, these have all come from real corporate documents, though names have been withheld to protect the offenders.

The Compound Buzzword
This is what you get when you take a perfectly good normal word - like "organic" - and cram it into some business-related context because it sounds cool, often smashing it together with some other buzzword. Something like:

We create organic solution stacks to solve our clients' infrastructure issues.

You've now compounded the confusion by making up collections of words that independently may (or may not) mean something to your customer, but have lost all context.

The Noun-Into-A-Verb
Ever heard this one?

We've tasked our customer service team to meet your every need.

Beside the fact that this violates every grammar rule because it's just a made-up word, it sounds self-important. As if you're too good to just have customer service teams that are dedicated to meeting needs. They have to be "tasked" to do so. Ergh.

The Tech Upgrade
This practice uses technically-related terms and applies them to non-technical subjects.

Our mission statement outlines our read-only values: integrity, creativity, and collaboration.

In essence you're trying to say that those values can't or won't be compromised. So why not use a word designed for that purpose? Like, say, uncompromising?

The Mashup
It can be tempting to create a whole new word, hoping that someday, someone will know you coined that term. Most of the time, you just sound like you're trying too hard:

We keep our client meetings centergistic and focused on outcomes.

What do you think? Does this make you want to hire them, or does it make you wonder if their meetings will be equally difficult to interpret?

The Misnomer
Here we've got words that are either oxymorons - meaning that that by definition the two words are opposites - or words that are completely redundant and unnecessary. My favorite example of late:

We form collaborative partnerships to help you meet your goals.

I don't know about you, but I haven't met a partnership that wasn't - at least by the pure definition of "working together" - collaborative.

Ok, Amber....What's your point?
Ok. The above are kind of fun, and you may have gotten a chuckle out of it. (For even more laughs on the buzzword front, check out BuzzWhack.) But the truth is these kinds of offenses are rampant in the world of marketing, and even more so now in social media.

Everyone wants to be different, innovative, the first to the finish line. And in the process, we've left behind some very simple words to describe what we do.

A brand isn't about 20 point Scrabulous words (or Scrabble, for you analog folk). It's about clearly defining your brand in words that make it easy for your customers to explain it to someone else.

So next time you're writing copy for your website or putting together your pitch for a new client, skip the lingo, and don't try to be a hero. Use real words that real people use and understand, and they'll be much more likely to talk about you. If you have trouble explaining your brand in a sentence, you ought to spend some time distilling it down until you can.

Sometimes, simple really is better.

Is your social media consultant...social?

There was a great post on Mashable yesterday about ways to know when you should fire your social media consultant. I agree very much with the points Alex raised, but would also like to add a few of my own to the list.

They swim mostly in the fishbowl.
What I mean by this: some so-called social media gurus love to spend a lot of their time backslapping each other about how great they are. (Note to these folks: spending the bulk of your time pimping your blog on Twitter while not taking the time to engage on any of the comments on said blog does not qualify you as a social media "expert"). A good adviser of ANY kind needs to be taking in a strategic spectrum of expertise across industries and disciplines - of course with a focus on their area of expertise - in order to advise their clients in the most informed manner. You simply can't do that if you only spend time with your own "kind".

Jason Falls cautioned social media professionals yesterday about spending too much time in the bubble, and it's great advice. Make sure your consultant has offline expertise and the ability to understand the bigger business picture.

They tout social media as the only strategy.
I could probably retire if I had a penny for each time I had to explain that social media is NOT a replacement for sound corporate communication strategy overall. It is not a shortcut. It is but one piece of a larger picture, and it is not necessarily the right approach for every company. Yes, community and relationships are valuable no matter what the industry, and I believe companies should strive to build lasting relationships with their customers. But social media requires an investment of time and resources, and not all the tools are suited to any given company.

If your consultant is insisting that creating a page on Facebook or an account on Twitter is the answer to all your marketing problems, don't walk away. RUN.

They don't practice what they preach.
This is a biggie with me. Is your consultant building a relationship with YOU? Do they respond to emails, engage readers on their blog, seem like a community is something they enjoy being a part of? Ask them why they do what they do. Talk to passionate and dedicated people like Mack Collier, Jason Falls, Connie Reece, Liz Strauss, or Geoff Livingston, and see how much the conversation truly matters to them. They're shining examples of what it means to walk the walk, and I learn from all of them, every day.

I can't speak for everyone else, but social media is a passion for me because I believe that relationships are the cornerstone of truly great businesses. How those relationships are cultivated is different for everyone, but you have to love the philosophy in order to apply it well. Social media is a powerful and dynamic set of tools, but the underlying premise of building stronger and more fruitful communities should be the undercurrent of why you're using them.

Marketing, Social Media and Web...oh my!

After some discussion and sharing on Twitter, I pulled together this list of some of the upcoming conferences and events for those wanting to expand their horizons in marketing and social media (and a little Web 2.0 thrown in for good measure). This list is by no means exhaustive; if you know of a great event that marketing folks should know about, please include it in the comments with a link.

TechnoMarketing - Oct 6-7, 2008, Chicago and Oct 20-21, Newport Beach

Corporate Communications in a Web 2.0 World - Oct 14-16, 2008, Cary, NC

New Marketing Summit - Oct 14-15, 2008 - Foxboro, MA (2009 dates too)

MarketingProfs DMM - Oct 22-23, 2008, Scottsdale, AZ

PRSA International - Oct 25-28, 2008, Detroit

BlogWell - October 28, 2008, San Jose, CA

Forrester's Consumer Forum - Oct 28-29, Dallas, TX

SWOMFest - October 30, 2008, Austin, TX

Ad:Tech New York - November 3-6, 2008, NYC (int'l dates year round)

PubCon Search Marketing Conference - Nov 11-14, Las Vegas

AdAge 360 Marketing Conference - Nov 12, 2008, NYC

WOM Crash Courses - Nov 6, Dec 10, and Jan 21 in Chicago

SES Chicago (dates and locations worldwide) - December 8-12, Chicago

Affiliate Summit - Jan 11-13, 2009 in Las Vegas

SXSW Interactive - March 13-17, 2009, Austin, TX

Web 2.0 Expo - March 31 - April 3, 2009, San Francisco

SBMU - TBD in April 2009, Houston, TX

SOBCon - May 1-3, 2009, Chicago

SMX (Search Marketing Expo) - International Dates

If you missed these events from last month, be sure and watch their sites to catch them in 2009:

BlogWorld Expo - September

Interact - September

Inbound Marketing Summit

Gnomedex

TechCrunch 50

BlogHer

If big formal conferences aren't your thing, check out these unconferences that are happening all the time, maybe in your area (or host your own):

PodCamp

BarCamp

Contemplating the Social Media Plunge

When I asked around about the reasons why companies hesitate to get involved with social media - whether misconceptions or legitimate concerns - it sparked some great discussion.

By far, the overwhelming consensus was that social media makes companies far more transparent than they're used to being. Dave Murr and Matthew T. Grant on Twitter and Sonny Gill on Plurk all said that companies are uncomfortable not completely controlling the brand message anymore. Of course, the message we're delivering loud and clear is that customers are the ones driving much of your brand messaging anyway, with or without you (and they started doing it the minute they became your customers). Frank Martin says that the practice of some traditional media - press releases, advertising messages - being company-controlled gives companies the illusion that they should be able to control all of their marketing. In a digital age, that's nearly impossible.

Putting time and money toward something that doesn't have hard ROI attached.
Beth Harte and Laura Pritchard agree that many companies want to see a hard, direct line between efforts and sales leads. So far, metrics for social media are soft and indirect, and tend to be reflected instead through measurements in other areas - website traffic, customer satisfaction levels, strength of relationships with customers and prospects. How do you think these effects compare to other cultivation efforts - like customer appreciation events, golf outings, or other business development activities?

Taking communication outside the communication department. Companies may have a hard time trusting their non-communications trained employees to do and say the right thing without intense supervision. The trick is that customer service reps are talking to customers about product issues, your accounting team is discussing the slow decision processes with their vendors, your product managers are talking about disagreement about the new widget design. Employees aren't following the script in their everyday business interactions, anyway, and giving them a chance to communicate more openly on behalf of the company can bring to light new insights.

Thinking that social media is an all-or-nothing proposition. Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester has a great post today about how scare tactics are causing some companies to steer clear of social media. The reality is that social media isn't an overnight sea change, nor is it a silver bullet. It's one (important) part of a comprehensive, and well thought out communication strategy for any business.

Being faced with questions they don't have answers to. Tara Whittle mentioned this one and I was glad she did. Sometimes, online customers will ask questions or point out issues that don't have immediate resolutions. In these cases, I think it's less the immediate solution to the problem, but how the company handles it that matters. Do they have the confidence to answer "We're not sure! But we're going to find out, and here's how we'll let you know when we do." That can build trust and credibility.

Committing the resources to do it right. Social media done comprehensively takes an investment of time, capital, and human resources. As I've posted before, engaging in social media can be a part of anyone's job. Listening alone takes effort - GM alone has at least 10 staff people dedicated to monitoring their brand on the web. As Sonny says, monitoring social media has become an extesion of brand mangement. And once you've heard what's being said, responding and doing something of value with the feedback you receive requires new thinking and sometimes, new ways of doing things. And, as another savvy plurker pointed out, some companies might even think that shifting their position and messaging in response to feedback can make them seem weak. I'd venture to say that evolving your messaging to respond to your community does quite the opposite, but would welcome your take on this too!

It's just new. Frank points out that it may not be fear so much as that many companies simply aren't early adopters, and he's right. Kellye Crane points out that much like websites once were the unproven tool, some companies are waiting to see just how other companies are making use of social media and how they in turn can leverage it for their specific business. And some may be comfortable with the status quo, thinking that "if it ain't broke...". The more that bellwether companies like Dell, Starbucks, Ford, Beam Global, Southwest Airlines and more blaze the trail, the more likely others are to see the value for themselves, too.

So how about you? Is your company venturing into the waters of social media, and what are your concerns? Are you the champion for social media, and how are you addressing these concerns with your clients or management? Please share in the comments!

Photo by danflo

Are your social networks too scattered?

On Plurk, my friend Kellye Crane pointed me to a social map that Brian Solis of PR 2.0 did for his online presence - both the places where he maintains a presence, and those where he's simply in touch or aware. Check out his post about it here.

So naturally, it got my gears turning. Since social media is so much of what I do and breathe every day, I'm pondering where the perfect fulcrum is to balance having a social presence with being so completely decentralized that you can't give any one community it's due. Brian says:

The truth is that we are embracing new tools because they’re are either intriguing and fascinating to us and/or because those within our social graph are also adopting them to stay connected and participate in online conversations.

We are responsible for the decentralization of our content and our attention.

Some individuals are using things like FriendFeed to aggregate all of their sites and try to stay abreast of them all. Personally, that removes the unique elements of each community and seems to make participating more about me than contributing to the community, which kind of goes against my grain. And I don't see companies making use of FriendFeed to connect with individuals (please let me know if you know otherwise, I'd certainly be interested!).

Then there are tools like Ping.fm that help you post a singular update to many networks. But again, this takes away some of the interaction quality to me because, in my case, it wouldn't be as natural to hang around and participate in the (hopefully) ensuing conversation.

I haven't yet participated actively on YouTube, StumbleUpon, or Mixx even though I have a presence in those places, if nothing else to understand what they're about in basic terms. Obviously, I've barely scratched the surface. And I haven't even touched many other sites at all - ooVoo or Qik or Utterz. In some cases, I avoid something that seems like a new-but-not-distinctly-different iteration of something I already use with success, like Twitter or LinkedIn.

Shift gears away from my personal experience, and put it in business perspective. Where are my potential clients online? Where are your business' potential customers and clients? How are they using these tools, or are they? Is this all a fishbowl, and are we swimming around just running into the same people in different places?

My savvy and always insightful friend Connie Reece put it this way:

Amber, yes the "right" networks are the ones that will be most profitable for your business, and that will be where your customers are.

Takes a lot of research and careful consideration to find exactly what those are, sure. But to me, this is a critical aspect of making social media strategy a viable, effective part of your overall communications plans. Many of these networks are most familar to the early adopters, or people who focus on this space for a living. But is this where the critical mass of customers is?

Taking the time to understand your customers and how they're using the web to engage with businesses cannot be underestimated. Not every social site or network is going to be right for every business. And participating in one or two at a really engaged, invested level is much more important than having a face everywhere but a personality nowhere. It's also important to recognize that just because I enjoy participating in a social community, it doesn't mean that I'm connecting with a business audience of potential customers. They may be somewhere else entirely.

So what say you? How do you draw the line, and what criteria do you use to make sure your investments of time and effort in social media are paying off? Do you have different criteria for your personal involvement and that of your business? I'd love to hear about your approach.

image by jurvetson

ASPCA: Marketing For a Cause Gone Awful

I'm a huge animal lover. I have two rescue dogs, two rescue cats, and would probably have a houseful if only I had acreage.

But I cannot watch the ASPCA commercial that's been on the air now for several months. (I'm embedding it below, but I warn you that it's hard to watch, and might be near impossible if you're an animal lover. I had to stop it playing on YouTube just so I could copy the link. If you're sensitive, might just skip it and take my word for it.)



It's been running on the Food Network, which is a favorite TV destination of mine. This whole thing is awful to me for two big reasons.

1) Food Network is losing a viewer on a regular basis, because every time the commercial comes on, I switch channels. And often I forget to switch back. This morning, I've switched three times in the last hour, and I now will not go back for fear of running into this spot again.

2) The ASPCA has gone past the line of sympathy and empathy, and crossed into anguish. If I can't watch the commercial because of how distressing it is, I'm not going to be compelled to stay tuned and give. It's causing the opposite reaction - complete avoidance, despair, helplessness. That's not what they're after I'm sure. And I've heard from literally dozens of people who won't watch the commercial either. Are they giving?

Tugging at heartstrings might have it's place in advertising, marketing, fundraising - emotional appeal is a cornerstone of strong messaging, and I understand the motivation. But I think there's a line. I'd be much more likely to get online and give if I saw a spot full of success stories - happy animals moving on to bigger and better lives after being rescued by the ASPCA. Instead, I'm afraid to head to their site lest I be bombarded with horrific images of mistreated animals all over again.

I *know* what the ASPCA does - I'm not ignorant of the mistreatment of animals, it's harsh reality, and the great strides the ASPCA is making to combat it. But seeing it in all of its brutal reality isn't making me more likely to get closer to their organization.

So what do you think? Is this spot too extreme for you, or do you think this is just the right message? Are you motivated to give, or to change the channel?

25 Reasons Social Media Can (Should?) Be Anyone's Job

Social Media is still a new thing to many people and companies, so I’m thinking optimistically - even aspirationally - here. There are most certainly companies that are ahead of the curve with the way they’re allowing social media to be an undercurrent of many aspects of their business. Here, 25 ways that social media can apply to lots of different job descriptions, no matter what you’re in business to do. Add yours, too, in the comments!

Marketing and PR
This is the obvious category, of course, since these are the folks responsible for crafting, managing, and communicating the company’s messaging to customers and prospects. It’s often (but not always) the “home” for social media in a company. Here, social media can:

• Help you understand if your customers are online, and if they are, what sites and tools they use most.

• Provide insights into your own company culture and highlight your business’ comfort level with social media tools.

• Give the company a human face through online discourse, highlighting the people behind the brand and the hearts and minds that drive it.

• Let you hear how your community – instead of the company – defines the brand. Messaging in their language is more likely to stick.

• Give you human insight into market dynamics, instead of relying on only structured reports or surveys. Take the “pulse” of your community, from their perspective.

• Hear how your competitors are perceived online, too, to identify additional ways to differentiate your brand from theirs.

Sales and Business Development
In sales, finding and solving problems is the key to success, and good listening skills are essential. In the world of social media, business development pros can:

• Locate prospects that might be self-identifying elsewhere on the web without making themselves readily apparent to the business.

• Listen to the words your customers use to describe you, for better or worse. They might write your sales pitch for you.

• Maintain relationships with customers before and after the sale by continuing to connect with them online.

• Again, competitive analysis and insights about how and where your competitors are reaching the prospects that you might be looking for.

• Identify trends and niche markets that you might not yet be tapping.

• Hear how your prospects and clients are articulating their needs and pain points so your future presentations and proposals can address them directly.

• Open more channels for communication – different tools and sites – and provide opportunities for dialogue that are more comfortable for customers.

Customer/Client Services
Customer service can be a never-ending, demanding job but it’s absolutely a make-or-break piece of any business. So, how can customer and client service pros tap into social media?

• Identify product or service issues that are being talked about online first. Believe it or not, some people don’t come straight to the company with their issues.

• Say thank you to clients and customers in their own space.

• Solve minor issues on the spot (even in other peoples’ online territory, like their website or a community forum) and demonstrate that you’re listening. Be the conduit back to the company to resolve more complex issues, faster.

• Build trust by developing and maintaining relationships with customers during a critical time – in between sales.

• Serve as the outward-facing voice of the company to build its’ community and provide a direct line of communication back to you.

• Actively ask for feedback from your customers about their recent experiences with you, and what would have made it better. Doing it live and online turns it into a living, breathing dialogue instead of just another static survey.

Product or Brand Managers
Even though product or brand managers aren’t always directly customer facing, social media can still play a key intelligence role. By listening, your product and brand teams can:

• Identify quality issues in competitor’s products for a leg up in product improvements.

• Hear customer’s “wish lists” that they’re posting on the web for products you may not have, or enhancements to the ones you do.

• Work with customer support teams to develop comprehensive responses to product or service issues in real-time.

• Help develop a useful FAQ for customers and clients based on common issues communicated on the web. Instead of relying on third party forums, make your company site the destination for information.

• Gather anecdotal evidence of innovative ways that customers might be using your products (that could be very different than what you intended!). Great example: Ikea Hacker.

• Create product tutorials that directly address the feedback and issues you might hear from users online. (Best part: go where they are and introduce them directly.)

I didn’t break out executive ranks above because I’m thinking there’s an executive role in every category (?). But as several people pointed out to me, executive buy in is critical. Otherwise, the big gold mine of information gathered via social media won’t be worth a fig. Somewhere, someone has to do something with the insights and use them to move forward.

Seems as though that might be the biggest challenge of all: what to do when you know the information is valuable but there are disconnects? Executives might delegate without being invested in the results. Managers might not be empowered to act. Production folks might not have all the information they need to understand why that information is important in the first place. Perhaps another post for another time. I’d love your thoughts on this one!

Thanks to Geoff Livingston, Frank Martin, Gianandrea Facchini and Sonny Gill and all of my fantastic fellow marketing/social media mavens for their great input on this post! You all teach and inspire me daily.

What do you think, folks? Help me round out the list with your ideas, and let’s share these with our colleagues, clients, teams.

cool image by Ralph Bijker

They're Talking About You! Now What?

So, then. You've done your homework. You've listened. You know what social media isn't and you're ready to dive in. You're paying attention.

And lo and behold - they're talking about you! And as GI Joe reminded us, knowing is half the battle.

But Now What??

Prepare for Action
First, be sure you have the tools in place for great content and conversation. Do you have:

• A great website or blog to send people to for information and valuable, relevant and timely content?
• An easy way for people to contact you? Think multiple channels like phone, email, and instant messaging. Or extend your ears and try Twitter or Plurk.
  
• Excitement, an open mind, and enthusiasm for what social media can do for you? If you're not enjoying the interaction people will know.
• Resources at the ready to answer questions, troubleshoot, or provide additional information to your community?

Got all those things and then some? Great. Let's talk about what you're hearing, and a few thoughts on how to engage. And please, add your own! Comment. Argue with me. Point out what I've missed! I want to learn from you, too.

The Good
There's nothing more gratifying than to hear that you're doing a great job. Your customers and clients are delighted, and they'd recommend you to anyone needing what you offer. How to respond?

• Say thank you. Post a blog comment, send an email, drop a personal handwritten note.
• Ask for more details about their experience, and how they found you. Find out what they liked best, and commit to doing more of it.
• Hand over your contact information and make a personal connection. Offer to be a direct contact for them or offer up someone in your company that can take good care of them and make sure they continue to be happy.
• Engage them as an insider. How can you get them connected to your company and encourage them to go from a happy customer to an evangelist?

The Bad
Uh oh. They're criticizing your product, trashing your customer service. What they're saying isn't at all what you'd hoped to hear. Ignoring it isn't the right answer, so where to start?

• Apologize. Good old fashioned "I'm sorry we disappointed you" can be a great start to a constructive dialogue. Take the conversation to a more personal forum like email if that's what makes sense.
• Ask what went wrong, and how it could have been a better experience for them.
• If you have a solution at the ready, offer it. No solution yet? Explain what next steps you're going to take to come to a resolution. And follow up.
• Don't be defensive. Nothing kills trust faster.
  
• Be creative. What about having a negative reviewer be part of your next product innovation brainstorm? It's not for the faint of heart, but it can be a gold mine of new perspectives.
  
• Say thank you. Just as important as when they say something nice. Thank them for sharing their experience, and caring enough to be angry. It's a great opportunity for you to learn.

** To note, negative comments are entirely different than hate mail, flames, or trolls. Those are best ignored altogether.

The Indifferent
This one is tricky. They're talking, but it's a solid "maybe" as to whether they'd do business with you again. They're not mad, but they're not overjoyed, either. Is it still worth interacting? I think so.

• Ask them what would have taken their experience from so-so to great. You may just have an "a-ha" moment that makes you even better at what you do.
  
• Invite them to continue the dialogue and share more detail. You've started the connection, and you can help it prosper.
  
• Tell your story. "Eh" might just become "oh!".
  
• Say thank you for their feedback. (Notice a theme here?)
  

Look who's talking!
I'd love to hear more about companies that are making the most of their online conversations. Let everyone know who deserves some kudos, and share your stories in the comments.

What social media isn't.

There is so much discussion about what social media truly IS, and as many definitions as there are definers. (Check out the results of this google search to see what I mean.) If your mind is whirling about trying to nail down a definition and discover how you should be using it, we'll try a different approach by pointing out a few things that social media is NOT.

Show and Tell

There was a time when people were content to be an audience; to sit and listen and be presented to (and yes, interrupted). “Look at our shiny new product!!” “Look how smart we are!!” Those days are changing rapidly, and folks want to interact, not just observe. Social Media is about giving your customers an opportunity to talk with you about your products and services and opening up the floor for dialogue.

A Popularity and Numbers Contest

Twitter followers. FriendFeed followers. LinkedIn Connections. Plurk friends. RSS subscribers. The online world is full of folks bragging on and on about just how popular they are, how many networks they’re part of.

But unless you’re saying something worth listening to, and unless you’re allowing the conversation with your community to be two-way, those numbers just don’t matter. A big community is great, but it’s truly the level of attentiveness and engagement that matters.

Geoff Livingston in his recent post on hype in social media explains beautifully the critical importance of understanding this:

“Social media is about people. Customers are people. Social media marketing is about networking and community participation with the right few [networks], from which relationships are developed, in turn creating results.”

A Silver Bulllet

Social media in and of itself is no magic solution. And just because “everyone” is doing it, how and why social media will (or won’t) work for you may be very different than someone else. Mack Collier of The Viral Garden has a great post about corporate blogging, for example, that talks about the importance of using these tools as mutual communication vehicles:

“Instead of attempting to create an environment where readers are given valuable content and interaction is encouraged, many companies are attempting to use their blogs as an extension of their weekly circulars…[t]hey attempt to approach blogging as a one-way communication channel, which is what they are most comfortable with. The results, i.e. disappointing returns, are completely predictable."

Indeed, you must pay attention to social media because it’s not going away and it is truly changing the landscape of marketing, communications, and customer engagement. But you absolutely must take the time to evaluate WHY social media should be part of your strategy, and what tools are the right ones for you.

Just for “Experts”

This is a vast, deep and largely uncharted ocean we’re swimming in. We’ve only just scratched the surface of the tools and potential of social media (in other words, don’t let someone tell you they’re a social media “expert” – none of us are yet. Experienced? Knowledgeable? Maybe.).

There are, however, some characteristics that are common to many of those who focus on this dynamic industry for a living: curiosity, determination, relationship building, and enthusiasm for discovering the potential. Check out Tamar Weinberg’s excellent post on what traits define successful people in this industry according to people who use, know, and love social media.

But do you have to be an “expert” to benefit from this groundswell? I don’t think so.

Waiting for the “right time” to get into social media is like looking for a break in rush hour traffic in Chicago. (Trust me, I know this). Sometimes you just have to stick your nose out there and jump into the fray. You will make mistakes. You will listen and learn. And you just might find that the effort alone is enough to help you find your way.

Let me close by saying that there are a lot of things I could include on the list above. But social media is, and will continue to be, about building communities and having great conversations. Embrace this and let it be the foundation of your efforts, and you’ll already be ahead of the game.

Awesome Photo by That Blonde Girl

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Plurkshop #6: Measuring Social Media Effectiveness

Yesterday marked another fantastic Plurkshop, hosted by David Alston of Radian6, a groundbreaking social media monitoring company.

What is a Plurkshop?

Plurkshops started as spontaneous discussions on various topics over on the social networking site Plurk. They've evolved into regular discussions, scheduled specifically around certain topics, and open to the entire community. Fun, fast, and furious, they're chock full of great information. (If you'd like to get news of future plurkshops, follow @Plurkshop on Plurk).

Talking Social Media Measurement

Marketing, PR and Social Media types are abuzz with the importance of finding ways to measure the impact of companies’ engagement with social media. We discussed some of the key questions on everyone’s minds:

What makes social media efforts so difficult to justify?

The term “social media” has gained acceptance, but it can be misleading in literal translation. The “social” aspect of SM can create an informal (and incorrect) impression that these tools are only for casual personal relationships vs. building brands and value for companies. And the “media” aspect is often seen as just another broadcast vehicle, held to traditional marketing and media metrics that may not accurately reflect social media’s holistic community impact.

Many companies are wary of trying social media until and unless they see concrete and tangible results, and success from competitors can be a might fine motivator. A collection of viable case studies from established companies using these tools to their benefit will help blaze a trail for others to follow.

Perhaps a different question: is there a cost to not being involved? What are you missing if you’re unplugged from the Groundswell? The more examples like Dell, Zappos, Fiskars and GM we uncover across different industries, the more readily we’ll be able to get companies on the train before it leaves the station.

Why measure?

Companies using or considering social media as part of their communication strategy want to establish the true ROI of these online networks. And for marketers, accurate measurement of the impact is important to establishing credibility and long-term viability for these new tools in a business setting.

We’re able to point to positive effects that we think are being generated by participation in social media – increased customer satisfaction, sales numbers – but the hard line from social media to sales has yet to be drawn clearly. If we can create a direct connection between a company’s engagement with their community and their growth, we’ll have something powerful indeed.

What are we measuring, really?

David asked at one point “do you want to measure the ‘social’ or the ‘media’?” which sparked some interesting answers.

Focus on the word “media” seems to drive people to measure social media effectiveness in the same way we’ve evaluated traditional direct marketing or public relations efforts (impressions, response rates, website visits, sales figures). But the word “social” means we ought to be measuring the quality and depth of the relationships with people that are fostered within communities. That will require discovering metrics that are reciprocal, not just one way.

Is Return on Investment really the right term, then? Perhaps we need to consider a new “I” when it comes to social media. How about these:

• Return on Initiative. What are we reaping from the effort when we look at it holistically?
• Return on Interaction. Are you having better conversations with your customers and do they feel more connected to you?
• Return on Involvement. Does this change how involved your customers want to be with your business?

Listening is an (the?) important facet of any successful social media effort, because it creates an avenue for customers to directly affect the products and services they purchase. What do you think, can you effectively measure the importance and impact of listening? How?

What makes measurement difficult?

Social media is a long-term strategy that takes time to show quantifiable results, and the agility and patience to make adjustments along the way. The nature of relationship building means that the impact may not be immediately visible, but will grow and strengthen over time. But because relationships and other “soft metrics” like community building are hard to quantify, it can be even harder to tie social media to the ever-present bottom line.

Monetization is key for most marketers in order to establish the direct line from marketing time and dollars spent to revenue earned. But revenue developed through social media is often indirect, and follows a winding (and hard to track) path from company to community and back again. That lack of clarity is what often causes a company to dismiss social media as unproven, risky, inefficient, or not valuable.

Is there anything we can measure?

From David's arsenal:

• Mapping out the top influencers on a topic/brand and whether they are advocates (percentage of supporters amongst top influencers)
• Amount of “long tail” coverage (posts/commenting activity for or against your brand
• Tracking effectiveness of an outreach campaign/product launch over time (based on tracking WOM)
• Share of brand buzz vs. competitors online
• Engagement on website/forums/company blogs
• On topic inbound linking
• Total views/comments/unique commenters
• Level of engagement in commenting activity
• Speed of spread (how fast and idea is adopted and carried across all forms of social media)
• Social media to mainstream media hops (story growth beyond where it started) and vice versa
• Reaction time to engagement (most commenting activity happens in first 48 hours on a post)
• Comment acceleration (how fast a discussion on a topic is taking off/slowing down)
• Post sampling/collection (tweets, posts, comments are the new client testimonials)
• Favorites/diggs/vote counts
• Customer satisfaction (including tools like the Net Promoter Score)

So, what’s the case to be made for social media?

Social media is long term, and has to be viewed as an investment.

Social Media can support and strengthen other traditional marketing and public relations efforts by adding a listening channel.

Social Media is about building relationships, trust and community, not merely marketing.

If used properly, social media leads to more and better connections with customers.

Making a strong case for using social media in business seems to still be an uphill battle for many. From companies who seem downright afraid to talk to their customers to those who view these efforts as nothing more than productivity killers, social media advocates clearly have their work cut out for them.

Showing the true value of social media means collecting and sharing crucial case studies outlining companies’ success. Do you have great examples to share of companies who have successfully used social media to build their business and bring value to their customers? Please share them with us!

Special thanks to David Alston for hanging out with us and giving of his time and expertise. For more information on Radian6 and the great stuff they're doing, please check out their website.

Update: Check out Connie Reece's great post on the Plurkshop, too, along with a rundown of the participants!

Diluted Brands: Just Add Everything

I was talking to Jane Chin on Plurk about her conundrum of too many blogs, and too little focus, and she’s not alone. My feeling was that in today’s hyper-niched world – brought to you by the wide and vast internet – brands are forced to go narrow and deep instead of wide and broad in order to retain their relevance. I’m not the first to say this, of course. (Check out The Long Tail.)

Here’s why I’m adamant that a focused brand beats an “everything” brand any day (unless you're a bagel).

Managing expectations.
Focusing your brand means that your community always knows what to expect from you. This doesn’t mean that you never do anything innovative, it just means that your innovations are focused on the things that add value, interest, or dimension to your brand while still responding to the needs of your community.

Solving real problems.
As the saying goes, you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and if you try, you risk your brand feeling a little schizophrenic. But if you focus your efforts on the things you’re passionate about and you can do best, you’ll truly be able to solve problems for the community that needs you.

Longevity.
Brands that are built with purpose and depth have the foundation to endure, adapt, evolve.

Some discussion amongst the smart folk yielded a few examples of brands that may have lost their focus:

• Starbucks and their forays into music and chocolate?
• Mercedes by offering lower end cars for mass markets?
• Barack Obama by hitting the campaign trail with Hillary Clinton?
• Coke – too many varieties?
• Harley-Davidson and their cake decorating kit (no, I’m not kidding)
• Target – are they getting into too many things?
• Martha Stewart – just how many things can one license in how many quality/price tiers and still be competitive?

Do you have examples of brands that are diluted? How important is it for a brand to stay narrow and deep? What keeps a brand relevant to you even as they evolve? Let’s talk more.

Photo Credit: Bripc

Audience is a Four-Letter Word

Used as a noun, the word audience means “The group of spectators at a public event; listeners or viewers collectively, as in attendance at a theater or concert; the persons reached by a…broadcast; public.”

I can’t stand the word “audience” when I’m talking about a company’s clients or customers. I’m not even crazy about those words, because they imply a one-way relationship. I prefer things like “community”. And I’ve caught myself using it, so I’m putting it on my list of four letter words that aren’t ok to use in business, and especially in marketing and social media. Here’s why.

Audiences are meant to listen and observe.
You go to a play or a seminar, and with the rare exception, you sit quietly and listen. The idea isn't to engage the performer or speaker, but to absorb and appreciate. That has it's place in the world, sure. But not when it comes to marketing and social media. Your community WANTS to engage with you and have the chance for exchange and conversation. It puts a human face on business and allows community members to feel like they're helping to build and steward the brands and businesses they love.

Audiences come for the performance, and usually only once.
How many times have you gone to a movie twice? A couple, perhaps, for the really incredible ones. Most times, an audience shows up, watches, goes home, and that's the end of their interaction with the performer. You want your community to be a constant - surrounding you and interacting with you, giving you feedback and connecting with you. You want them to come back, again and again, because you've given them reason to. Change your thinking from "audience" to "community", and they'll feel more welcome on your doorstep.

A bad audience review rarely changes the show.
If a broadway show gets panned, they just pull it or ride it out, but they don't rewrite it because someone didn't like it. The amazing thing about having a community is how they can - and should - help shape the ideas behind a company or product. (Stay tuned for a follow up post on great examples of this). Their engagement with you and the dialogue they welcome is gold; valuable information you can use to improve your product or service offerings based on the people who matter most - the ones that buy them!

So, I'm going to officially jettison the word "audience" from my marketing/social media lexicon. Do you agree with me? What other words do you think we need to retire or change given our interlinked and hyperlinked world?

Photo credit: Felipe Trucco

Joyful Marketing! (Really.)

Making people happy still fosters some of the strongest Word of Mouth you can find.

This video has been all over the web and TV, and it never fails to make me cry tears of joy. Why is that good? Because joy is a feeling that you just don't come across every day, so when you do, you remember it. And I sent it out to a bunch of people so they could enjoy it as much as I did. Take 5 minutes and watch this if you haven't seen it already (and see the story behind it here.)


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

The astute mind behind Servant of Chaos has a great post about this video, and he makes some great observations. Most especially, I was struck by the fact that this video is indeed sponsored by a national chewing gum brand - Stride - but they were content to take a credit on the end of the reel instead of their logo plastered all over everything. In fact, I had to watch the whole video before I realized it WAS sponsored.

Sometimes, it's not about sales or pimping your product. It's not about splashing your website url or MySpace page all over. Stride did a powerful thing by sponsoring this effort - they put a whole bunch of money into merely spreading happiness and joy. And guess what? We're writing about them. Happiness - and the power of community - is truly contagious. (PSST - all you "viral" marketing people out there, take note).

The takeaway: How can you make your customers happy, just for the sake of it? Does it always have to be about key messages? How about finding something that makes you happy and sharing it with them, just as a thanks for being part of your community?

Worlde: It Is Indeed All About Conversation

If you haven't seen the cool application Wordle, check it out.

Give it a link to your website, or plunk in some of your marketing or website copy and it will create a cool word cloud based on the content. Are the words showing up the ones you want?

I'm excited to note that The Brand Box is indeed all about conversation.

Brand Adversity? Meet It Head On.

The Tour de France has had it's share of scandal for the last few years. Doping allegations, disgraced champions, the absence of reigning champions, struggles about how to govern this flagship cycling competition. It's been a rough road for them, to be sure.

Versus, the cable sports network that covers the Tour, has taken matters into their own hands to try and motivate cycling and Tour lovers alike to Take Back The Tour. The TV spots are unapologetic and in-your-face. And they're effective for an evangelist like me that loves the sport, loves the race, and wants to see the world's greatest bike race regain its former glory.



So what's the lesson here to be learned?

Brand tarnishing happens to the best of the best. In today's market of interconnected and superconnected online networks, referral- and review-minded consumers, and customer-driven branding, it's inevitable that the negative will creep out amongst the positive. And whether it's a small smudge or a giant smear campaign, nothing can be gained by hiding amongst the trees and hoping it will all blow over. (Jusk ask fans and users of Twitter these days).

Engaging those that are talking to you and about you can do wonders for healing - even improving - a brand's reputation. Yes, it's scary sometimes and it can sting to take a few blows. But your credibility is heightened when you speak in your own voice and try your best to have a dialogue with those criticising you. Companies are populated by people and a human face is critical to meeting adversity with credibility.

And if you've been the unfortunate victim of bad apples spoiling your bushel like the Tour de France has, take back your brand by denouncing bad behavior and reaffirming your commitment to your company and your customers. Skip the corporate-y crisis press release and put out real, human responses by real people. Get out there and engage with your loyal evangelists, and rally them to the cause. Apologize for your mistakes. Commit to correcting them. Thank your community for caring enough to be angry.

After all, isn't your personal Tour de France worth defending?

Capturing an Idea Storm

I asked my favorite online universe the other day what tools they used for capturing all the ideas that come flooding at me every day - for my blog, for my business, for my clients. I don't want to miss an opportunity to capture something brilliant, even if I have to file it away for later. And if you're a Post-It junkie like me, you might need help reforming your ways.

I was just planning to check out a few tools for myself, but got to thinking that everyone - especially small business owners - needs great ways to capture the plethora of information they find on the web. So here's my list of a few great tools I've come across, thanks to these great recommendations.

Evernote - fresh out of beta, I'm liking this application for its clean interface, and it's handy "clip to Evernote" shortcut for a browser toolbar. Simply highlight the portion you want to capture on a web page, and click. You can set up multiple "notebooks" to categorize your page however your brain works, and you can use it on the web as well as download a desktop application. Free.

Google Notebook - Rumor has it that there are lots of GN evangelists, but they've got a little buggy thing going on with Firefox 3 right now so I'm waiting on that. But for those of you with other web browsers, this looks like it could be a super useful tool that functions a lot like Evernote above. Free.

PersonalBrain - This is a desktop application that allows you to collect your web pages, contacts, emails and files all in one place, and it offers a sort of "mind mapping" of your stuff to show you how they're all interrelated. A little bit schizophrenic for my taste, but it might be just the right tool for someone more free thinking. Free trial with full features that reverts to a more limited version after 30 days. Costs of upgraded versions are $149 and $249.

OneNote - Microsoft, of course, has their own product of this stripe. OneNote is a digital notebook that allows you to collect all your notes and information - text, pictures, audio and video - and it integrates a search function so you can find your stuff again easily. It integrates with the Office 2007 system, too. Free 60 day trial, or purchase for $99.

Instapaper - Basic but incredibly useful, Instapaper is a simple bookmarking tool. Just put the "read later" button in your browser toolbar, and click on it each time you find something interesting that you just don't have time to process right now. Then, come back to it later. Free.

Moleskine notebook - truly the high class tool for doing it "the old fashioned way" with pen and paper.

Of course, whatever tools you use, the most important part is to find a way to keep track of the waves of brilliance you find crossing your path. As a busy business owner, the best way to surefire marketing is to have great ideas and share them with others. So, have at!

Plurkshop #4: Fractured Conversations and How to Manage Them

The internet - and social media in particular - has opened up vast arenas for conversation and feedback that can easily take on lives of their own. For small businesses, this kind of organic conversation can be especially valuable.

For instance, a post on your blog or website might prompt someone else to blog about you and then others to comment or share that via FriendFeed or StumbleUpon or Twitter and make commentary of their own. How to keep track? Tonight, our Plurkshop on the social community Plurk discussed the challenges and benefits of that reality, and uncovered a few tools to help listen to what’s being said about you, your company, and your brand on the web.

Challenges we cited:

• Conversations about you – your brand, your blog, your company – are happening everywhere, including in places you haven’t looked.
• Fragmented conversations across the web and so many tools for sharing information can make it difficult to keep track of what people are saying about you and your brand.
• Dispersed commentary makes us worry that we’re missing important feedback and opportunities to engage in conversation with people who are talking about us.
• The more a conversation fragments, the more it can lose context and relevance to the original topic. Comments without context can be less valuable to those who read them.
• As a business owner/brand manager/blogger, you need to go where the conversation is and respond to it there, which can be taxing if you have several brands and/or a lot of content that sparks discussion.
• Participating in discussions online can be intimidating for some people. How can you make it easy and welcoming for them to do so?

Some of the main takeaways from tonight:

• The spirit of community conversation is more important than trying to control it. And controlling it is futile, anyway, so it’s best to embrace it. Listen and engage as best you can.
• Fractured and organic discussion encourages new points of view. Different perspectives add value to the conversation. Actively encourage others to take the conversation to their own communities and build upon it or take it in a new direction.
• The community should be able to use whatever tools are helpful to them to engage the conversation and comment. Readers want and will embrace content portability so they can take the discussion wherever they want. It’s our job as those creating the content to do our best to follow it.
• Commenting and engaging others on their “turf” feels more natural, and demonstrates listening flexibility. It also gives businesses and brands opportunities to engage people they might not have otherwise found.
• Traveling conversation can expose new audiences to your content/brand/blog.
• Search Engine Optimization: Fractured conversations are good for search engine optimization so long as they link back the original source. Links that other people create to your content are gold, especially to bloggers and brands.
• The evolution of this kind of conversation is demonstrating the very essence – and power – of social media.
• Not all internet users find their information in the same manner, so the more avenues and options for them to participate, the better.

Some recommended tools to check out for listening/monitoring:

Google Alerts - Get email updates about search results for the terms you choose, including blogs
Technorati - Comprehensive blog search
Co.mments - track conversations related to sites you specify
Friendfeed comments plugin for WordPress users
Serph - A search engine tracking what's being said online about your specific search terms
Addictomatic - a search engine that populates results from other sites and search engines.
Disqus - a comment system for your blog that claims to make comments more interactive and easier to manage
Radian6 - a more robust social media monitoring solution that requires some $$ investment
SiteMeter - free site counter and statistics tracker
ClickTracks - web analytics tools starting at about $50/month
Google Analytics - free web analytics tools
PageFlakes - you can create a customized page to aggregate your monitoring tools and sites
Statcounter - free hit counter and web stats tools
LiJit - a search widget for your blog that provides stats on your visitors and what they're looking for
NetNewsWire - a Mac OS RSS feed reader
NetVibes - a personal page aggregator, like PageFlakes

Here’s the link to the full Plurkshop conversation. Take this back to your community and discuss how you're listening to conversations, and what challenges and triumphs you're having. What’s your take on the nomadic nature of conversation in today's hyperconnected world?

Promotions That Make People Smile

I went to Summerfest in Milwaukee yesterday - a great summer music festival here in the Midwest. Checked into my hotel, and hit the corner to catch the $3 shuttle to the park, concert tickets in hand. Then the fun began!

First, I get on the bus and I'm greeted by a bubbly woman that says "Hi! I'm Jane from Jane and Kidd In The Morning on 99.1 FM, and we're buying your bus ride to Summerfest!" Nice surprise!

Then Kidd hands me a package of Twizzlers (seriously, has candy ever NOT made you smile?), and proceeds to ask where we're from, chit chat a bit. He was super friendly and engaged the whole bus full of people during the 10-15 minute ride through downtown.

Then, as we're getting closer to the park, Kidd speaks up and says "Hey folks, now's the time during the ride where we say hi, and hope you'll tune in to our broadcast on weekday mornings on 99.1. If you're not from the area, we've got streaming audio online! And as a special thanks for hanging out with us today, we're buying your admission to Summerfest!" Then he hands out free festival tickets ($15 a piece at the door) to everyone on the full bus.

So, I don't live in Milwaukee anymore, but the promotion certainly got my attention. Why? The folks doing it were fun and personable, they made it perfectly relevant to me (by being on the bus on my way to Summerfest and starting my day at the fest out on a happy note), and gave me something to talk about like I'm doing now.

The moral of this story is that you can successfully launch a great promotion for your company by making it fun and engaging for the people you're talking to, and giving something away that they're sure to talk about. Kudos to the 99.1 team for making their promo fun and memorable.

What promotions have turned you on instead of off? Which do you remember fondly and why? Do you remember the brands/companies they were associated with, or was it just gimmicky? Share with us in the comments!

Small Business Marketing Unleashed: Columbus, OH

Today, I wanted to give all of you a heads up about a fantabulous event I'll be attending in Columbus, Ohio this September (the 22nd and 23rd to be exact) that's focused on small business owners and how they can make the most of their online marketing efforts.

It can be overwhelming to digest all the STUFF that's out there about online marketing, so Jennifer Laycock and the folks at Search Engine Guide have put together this tight knit forum with speakers breaking down the elements of search engine marketing, viral marketing, blogging and local search.

So what can you expect? The conference is limited to 100 attendees, and the workshops are limited to 25 people each to maximize opportunities to ask questions, interact, and learn. And it's not about just piling on the theory; these workshops are designed to give you real, usable ideas that you can take back to your company and put in play right away.

Some of the super duper speakers on the agenda:

Jennifer Laycock, Editor-In-Chief of Search Engine Guide
Matt Bailey, Founder and President of Site Logic Marketing
Matt McGee, Owner of SmallBusinessSEM.com
Debra Mastaler, Owner of AllianceLink
Stoney deGeyter, President of Pole Position Marketing
Heather Lloyd Martin, President and CEO of SuccessWorks Search Marketing Solutions
Mack Collier, Owner of The Viral Garden
Christine Churchill, President of KeyRelevance
Sage Lewis, Founder of SageRock
Christina "CK" Kerley, Founder of ckEpiphany Marketing
Michael Stebbins, President of Market Motive

With such an intimate group, the networking opportunities are second to none. I know I'm looking forward to putting faces to so many of the names I've known from Twitter and Plurk and the slew of blogs I read. Why not come join us so we can meet in person, too?

The $750 admission is a steal for a great conference (register by 8/29 for the early birdy deal). Head to the SBMU website and complete your registration today so you don't miss out on the fun. Hope to see you there!!

Disclosure: Nope, I don't work for SBMU or SEG, I'm not a sponsor, I'm not a speaker. I just happen to think that Jennifer and her work is pretty darn brilliant and think you will, too.

Make Your Presentation Suck in 5 Easy Steps

Conferences abound this time of year. Here, a few ways to ensure that your audience will fall asleep and that you’ll somehow miss the invitation list next year.

Read the slides.
Actually, less text is better. Use images, prominent text when needed, and don’t read the slides. Your speaking should supplement the presentation, not repeat it.

Adhere mercilessly to a script.
Sure, you need an agenda and a great topic. But encourage discussion and questions from the audience. They’ll find more value in your presentation if you allow them to help steer the topic and extract information that they’re looking for, but that you might not have planned to include. And allowing time for Q&A is a must - it opens the floor for others to contribute to the conversation.

Focus too much on tech.
Nowadays, everyone is live streaming their presentations with comments from Twitter and questions from Facebook and video and recording podcasts and and… take it easy. Focusing too much on engaging the tech stuff in your presentation can take the focus away from your content, and can distract (and annoy) your audience. If you're moderating a panel, encourage your panelists to keep their tech use to a minimum. If you want to monitor a live forum for questions, get some help from someone who isn't speaking or participating so it doesn't distract from the discussion.

Think that the folks came there for you, not the content.
True, I’ve done my share of going to conferences and attending sessions that had a notable speaker. But it’s a chicken-egg thing. A well-known name isn’t enough to carry a lousy presentation. But a great name can be built - and most of them are - by engaging your audience and giving a killer presentation that’s chock full of great content. Give your audience what they came there to get: great ideas that they can take back to work and put into play, right now.

Forget the follow-through.
The very best presentations are those that are the start to a dialogue and a relationship. If you’re speaking, don’t let your presentation end with the PowerPoint (or Keynote, for my fellow Mac users). Give your audience something great to take home with them, and if you can, get a list of those that attended and thank them for coming with a personal email. Point them to your blog or other places where they can find more information from you, and open the door for more conversation.

All cheeky sarcasm aside, presenting well is a skill that takes time and practice to master. The key is to remember that the people attending your workshop are anxious to find the golden nuggets that they can run back to work with and apply to what they're doing, right now. Focus on the value you're bringing to the discussion, and you'll be a step ahead.

What presentations have left you super excited, or super disappointed, and why? Share in the comments!