The Care and Feeding of Influencers and Advocates

Companies are spending a lot of money and time identifying people who are Influencers in their industries. They slice and dice their own data to see who their Advocates are in their Social spaces. But, what, exactly, do companies do with this data once the have it? Too often they attempt to hitch their cart to these people and let them do the heavy pulling for them.

The importance of Influencers on your business shouldn't be downplayed. Influencers in certain industries can make or break a company in early stages. The right kind of coverage on the right blog can be the difference between great success or relative obscurity. Influencers see you as someone they want their audience to know about.

Advocates are members of your market that spend their time praising you/your business, sharing information with other people in their own networks and generally expanding your ability to get the word out...because they like you, your product, your goals and your voice. Advocates see you as someone they want their friends to know about.

Many companies make the mistake of seeing Influencers and Advocates as people over there, not people who are right there by their side. Or as animals to harness and pull the company cart. Or numbers to be measured and used, rather than valuable members of the team, to be integrated into the business strategy.

So, how should one take care of Influencers and Advocates?

Influencers and Advocates are, first and foremost, relationships that need to be built up. Sending out well-written press releases is important, but actually taking time to meet, speak with, and build up a relationship with an Influencer is the difference between someone reporting your press release and someone writing a glowing post about the press release.

Listen to what is being said by your Influencers and Advocates. This is an easy point of contact for you to engage those people talking about you. When someone who links to you all over the webs says, "this new thing - it's not so great," stop what you're doing and ask why. That Advocate might have a personal beef, but they might very well put their finger on a weak point that you never saw. You won't know unless you listen to them. An Influencer in the space who calls attention to your new product could be the difference between an amazing launch, and something much less amazing. Know what has been said, know who says it. Listen to those comments and absorb the insight into your strategy and tactics.

Acknowledge contributions made by your Advocates - thanks Persons 1, 2 and 3 for a lot of insightful comments recently! And thank those who retweet and share, as well. Thank Influencers for their time in mentioning you. Every kind word from an Influencer in your field is another person out there who has their eye on you, waiting to be impressed.

Reward positive gain behavior. Don't offer reward for minimal efforts such as Liking, but do take time to notice the time and effort your Advocates put in for you. "Hey, we notice that you're really being awesome and we wanted to say thanks" goes a very long way. Influencers often can't legally take gifts, and in any case that is not the relationship or reputation you want to build, but taking a moment to thank someone for their Influence and promotion is never a moment wasted.

The more you listen to, and talk with your Influencers and Advocates, the more of a relationship you build.

Take good care of your Influencers and Advocates, don't try to harness them to do your dirty work. It's your cart - put in your best effort to pull it yourself and your Influencers and Advocates will pitch in right there next to you.

When Spam is on the Menu

How do you know if your email/social media marketing campaign will end up in people's spam filter or ignore list?

Let's separate the content from the technology. For the purposes of this discussion "gated platform" means any networking platform that requires a separate login, has groups, lists, or other sub-communities. In other words - all the major networking platforms you can think of and a lot of older platforms, such as IRC, Mailing Lists, Discussion Forums and Groups.

Here are three scenarios:

1) You are standing on the street and pass some random guy who turns to you and says - "Hi, how can I help you today?" What reaction are you likely to have?

2) Now, say you go to a friend's party where you know some, but not all, of the people there. Someone comes up and says, "Hi, how can I help you today?"

3) Lastly, you get a phone call from a colleague in the same company who you don't talk to often, and he asks, "Hi, how can I help you today?"

The first is the equivalent of an email, or message on a gated platform, from someone you don't know. This scenario is clearly spam - there is no context and feels kinda weird to the recipient. You don't really know them, their business, their needs - what makes you think you can help them or that they even need help in the first place? There needs to be more than just opportunity for contact - there has to be context for contact. Contact without any context at all is spam.

The second scenario is the equivalent of a Private Message from someone who is in the same group as you on a gated platform. It *might* be weird, if the person doesn't then explain, "I saw you ask if someone could help you with...." That establishes context and relevance, so it is not spam. However - there's still a great way to screw this up! If *you* ask a question and, when a person answers, respond with your elevator speech or email pitch, you have still managed to be a spammer. That person reached out in good faith to assist you. There was never any implicit or explicit request for your help. Be mindful of the atmosphere - not every contact is a sales opportunity. Knowing the direction of the relationship dynamic will be a key point in making your message meaningful.

The third scenario would be the equivalent of a Private Message from a contact/follower/friend on a gated platform. It also *might* be weird, but also might be useful,  presuming there was a conversation going on that the contact is responding to. Probably not spam, unless proven otherwise.

A random statement with no context provided, will always feel weird. Think about how awkward and annoying it is when you receive an email forward asking you to act on something, with a request to read a long email string between two other people. It takes double the work to figure out what you're being asked to act on and then what you're being asked to do regarding it. The same is true for every and any private communication - when you have the opportunity to contact someone, and context for doing so, you still are responsible for providing the relevance to that person.

Spam is in the intent. If your message feels like, "Hi, I can talk at you because I can," then you are spamming a person. Even if it makes perfect sense to you, it is your responsibility to make it make sense to the recipient.

Provide context, relevance, and awareness of the relationship dynamic between you and the other party, and your communication is much less likely to end up in the spam filter.

4 Messages for 4 Audiences Means 1 Great Social Media Plan

Social Media is not actually one thing. It is an umbrella term that covers a multitude of approaches to communicating with consumers.

Because Social Media is often seen by Marketing and Communications people as yet another channel through which to distribute corporate materials, many companies forget the basics of branding and marketing when it comes to Social Media.

Like Social Media, People are not one thing. They are not a demographic, or even a psychographic. There are 4 unique kinds of audiences, each of which has to be approached in a different fashion - with a different messaging strategy.

4 Unique Audiences of Online Consumers

1) Your Market

These people know who you are and what you do. They look for you, follow you on Twitter, check in on Foursquare, look for weekly specials on Facebook.

Your Market is already engaged with you. When you talk they, listen...and they respond. They promote your work, retweet, "like," participate in contests, etc. These folks are your bread and butter.

Your message to these people should be filled with rewards for loyalty, insider deals and specials. Talk to these people as if they are friends and comrades - give them information and encourage them to share it. Get to know these people by name and thank them publicly for their support. They are part of your team - treat them like it.


2) Your Audience

These people know who you are and what you do. They may follow/friend you, they may not. When you do something noteworthy in your industry and the news hits all the big trade sources, then these folks are likely to hear about it - you hope. Your audience may or may not be your market. Just because they know you, doesn't mean they buy from you.

Your message to these people should encourage conversion to market. These are folks who may be on the fence, or for whom a small discount can mean a sale. Don't beat them over the head with sales material - they may or may not care - but encourage with discounts, extras, and other incentives.

This is the group you can exhort to follow you, but you *have* to make it worth their time. Just shooting off press releases at them or forgetting to run that weekly special isn't going to make you any friends.


***

Most companies do all right targeting these two audiences. They know that they are being listened to, and are glad to see conversations on the Wall, or on their Twitter stream.

But the constant pressure to Friend/Follow/Like often goes nowhere, except to a Wall where only the customers talk, or a Twitter feed that offers nothing but links back to the company website.

There are many opportunities that engaging with these two audience offers. Don't miss your chance to dial up your engagement with them - or theirs with you!

Which brings us to the two Unique Audiences that are frequently left out of companies' Social Media Strategy entirely.

***

3) Your Potential Audience

These people may have heard of you, but they don't care. You're not on their top of mind and they have no reason to seek you out. They are not following you, liking what you have to say or checking in at your location. These people don't know where you are online, but if they did, they could very well be interested.

There's a huge gap here in many industries. Companies have their spaces and ask people to come to those spaces, but rarely do companies move out of their comfort zone to seek people out. There are multitudes of places online where people are asking questions that *you can answer.* They don't know about your forum, or your blog, or your "Ask An Expert Tool," even though that would be just what they are looking for.

It's your job to find these people. Look for them where they hang out, don't ask them to follow you to get help - just help them. Give them that answer, that link, that reference. And, when you have satisfied their immediate need, then you have an opening to suggest greater engagement.

This is your potential audience - wow them.

And finally there is...

4) The Rest of the World

They have no idea who you are, what you do and most importantly, why they should care. Companies rarely use Social Media to expand brand recognition into related or unrelated but relevant territory, yet Social Media is the best tool for that job.

Your message to people in related or unrelated but relevant spaces is "We're here - and here's why you should care," in a way that draws attention not to you, but to what you can offer them.

Perhaps you publish horror comics. You find a horror film community that has no idea your company exists, but you engage them with insight into creating horror stories. These people might not have reached out to you, but you reaching out to them could drive a lot of potential business your way...as long as you let them know that you are one of them.

It's critical to a long-term Social Media Strategy to account for all four of these audiences. It's not enough for a fast-food restaurant to only tell people already in the store about a new burger - it's important to use that news to bring new people into the restaurant.

Adapting you message allows you to reward your dedicated market, engage with your audience and your potential audience and make new people aware of what you can do for them.

Embrace The Negative to Understand Your Audience

Do you sell a Negative Commodity?

Negative Commodities are products and services that people have no choice but to buy, but probably would not chose to do so if they could avoid it. Negatives Commodities can include - but are not limited to - such things as medications, insurance, home security, financial services, funeral planning, feminine hygiene products.

Let's face it - if you didn't *have* to, you'd never spend your money on blood pressure medication, would you?

There's an element of pleasure in buying Positive Commodities. It's fun to get that new TV or car, dinner out every once in a while is a pleasure. A sense of relief at having your funeral planned for isn't quite the same thing as going on a vacation.

If your business is tied in with something people *have* to buy, then you have a unique set of stressors on your messaging.

Don't mistake the Negative for the Positive - your market is not an "audience." No one *wants* to have to buy medication, insurance or feminine hygeine products - we simply can't not have them. Your "audience" does not want to listen to you. They don't want to ever think about what you sell unless they absolutely can't avoid it.

When you connect with your market, you are talking to people who have no - or little - choice in the matter. They begin and end their search as quickly as possible, and want things to be as painless as they can manage. Don't pretend that these people are your pals, and that buying medication is fun, rewarding or pleasurable. Medication might extend a life, or enhance a lifestyle, but no one purchases diabetes medications because they want to.

As you reach out to your potential market with social media, avoid the glib, the hip, the pretension to being a partner or a friend. You might establish yourself as a trusted source of information, you might focus on the ways you lessen the pain of the process and speed it up, but always remember that no one reaches out to you for fun.

Embrace the Negative when communicating with your potential market.

The less delusion you have about your potential market's need (as opposed to desire) for your product or service, the more authentic you can be in your communications with them.

A Great Social Media Campaign in 5 "Easy" Steps

Our series on tactics has finally reached the point where you are right on the cusp of launching your promotional campaign.

Hopefully by now, you've been spending time with Social Media and feel comfortable with the basics of Finding, Engaging and Rewarding your audience.

Now you're taking your skills on the road with a program designed to promote something specific.

Tactics around this can be as simple as signing up for a social networking platform, or may be as complex as building an integrated community on your website. I can't tell you which platform to choose, or what media. Those decisions have to be made by you. Because there are a *zillion* sources already about how to build a great /fillintheblank/ I'm going to gloss over this step a little.

Chances are, you're making your decisions based on a number of constantly shifting criteria, so try to build in flexibility in whatever platform you choose. We all have great dreams, but if you look at your choices without delusion, you'll fare much better.

After you have you springboard platform, here's a few next steps to creating a great Social Media promotion:

1) Chose the media most likely to appeal to your audience

Promoting a Website? A DVD? A game? A book? Each media appeals to different people differently. Match the media to the product, so your audience is already in synch with your message before you even start.

2) Have (and communicate) a clear message. I.e., why should people care about your promotion?

It's great that you're launching a new product or company. If you don't tell people what they are looking at, why it's important to them and why they should tell other people - they won't know.

3) Brand your SM presences and your promotion in a consistent manner.

If your Youtube channel is yellow and blue, and your Facebook Fan Page is green and red, it's hard for your audience to see the connection. Using the same logos, the same taglines, the same URLS seems uncreative, but it's not. Consistency helps in SEO, in SEM, in Social Media and any other form of marketing communications.

4) Make it easy for people to communicate with you.

"Contact Us" your website says, but then requires registration, which requires getting a confirmation email, which then sends you back to the site where your customer can finally email you. It's a great idea - instant market research...on the 3% of people angry enough to bother to complete the process. The more layers you put between people and you, the less engagement you'll get.

5) Give people a reason to share your information. Your promotion is only viral if people share it.

This one seems to escape most companies almost entirely. How nice for you that a video of your promotion is online. People might watch it, but will they share it? Your promotional campaign can (and should) build in a reward for sharing your information, which will create at least a little traction. There's still no guarantee that your campaign will become viral, but at least you've given it a good push.

The title of today's post is at least a little facetious. None of these steps are easy, but they are all critical to a great Social Media promotional campaign.

Questions You Need To Ask Before Launching a Social Media Promotion

This series began with tactics to build, maintain and sustain a Social Media presence. In Developmental Tactics, we looked at some of the day-to-day tasks that would nourish a Social Media presence and bring it to maturity. For the purposes of today's discussion, we're going to assume that you are doing all those things as a matter of course and are now getting ready to launch something...something big. It might be a new website or your book, your band has a big gig, or your store is running a mid-winter sale...whatever it is, it's time to promote.

Before you create a promotional campaign, here's a few questions you must be able to answer in order to know what kind of campaign to run - and where to run it.

1) Who is this promotion for?

Is it for your established customers or are you trying to bring in new clients? Have you maxxed out the potential in one niche and want to focus on another? Is this promotion a way to bring old fans back into the fold?

Knowing who you are targeting in terms of where they are in their relationship with you, will help you craft a message that isn't obscure to newbies, or condescending to old friends.

One-size-fits-all releases makes sense if you are scattering your word widely across unfamiliar spaces and hoping someone there will be interested. In Social Media your network is made up of people and spaces that have a specific relationship with you and your business. Know who you're talking to to know what to say.


2) What's in it for them?

Once you know who you are talking to - and you may very well decide to have two or three different foci for you campaign, before you start choosing media, answer this - what is the benefit for the intended audience in what you are about to promote?

You know the benefit - the new website has more interactivity, or the collaborative tools will provide greater productivity, or the video or book is informative and/or entertaining. Can you make it interesting to your 12-year-old niece? (If you don't have a 12-year old niece, you can borrow mine. She has a finely tuned BS meter.) Look beyond the jargon and look honestly at whether you are selling snake oil or something solid. If you are working in a highly technical, specialized or professional field jargon is a requirement - but behind that, is there something real? If so, what? When you think about where to talk about your new project, think about what the benefit to your audience is, not the benefit to you. Sure - your new website looks nice, but if you have the same info as before, you'll keep getting the same bounce rate. Tell your audience what's in it for them, then deliver it to them.


3) What are the chances that they will watch/read/listen to/use what you are promoting?

Here's that moment that comes in every post here at SocialOptimized - the moment I ask you to step back and view your business without delusion.

Of course *you* are excited about the new book, site, sale or tool. You are happily trumpeting it everywhere you can think of. Take a deep breath and ask yourself "If it wasn't *my* business, would I care?" Be honest. In your enthusiasm, you may have slightly over-stated expectations for your ROI. Maybe your mailing list or FB page has 147 members, but you ordered 2400 t-shirts.

Engagement can't be forced - you have to offer your audience something of interest to them. A video-focused audience might not be as excited as you are about a whitepaper or a presentation.

Using your basic building and development tactics will ensure that your new endeavor reaches the ears of people who are interested - you've Found Your Audience. Ask yourself the above questions to help you create a promotion that will get them to to Engage with your business.

A Simple, Delusion-Free Guide to Monetizing Your Blog

You've got a blog.

You like blogging and you get a a nice number of readers every day. It seems like a natural choice to monetize your blog and get something back for your efforts.

There is a lot of press about people making a living from their blogs - and some people do, it's true. There are a small number of professional bloggers out there who can make reasonably significant money from their blog, part- or full-time wages.

In many of these cases, these people had a large following *before* they began to blog. In others, they focused on celebrity gossip and related topics. It's unfortunate, but celebrity is the easiest way onto the money train. Today's post is for the rest of us.

I'm writing this post with two assumptions - 1) That you enjoy blogging in and of itself and; 2) That you are not trying to game the system and create an income machine. If you want to know how to fake your way into fast money, this is definitely not the post for you. If you have a blog you love and want to understand what you can *reasonably* do, read on. :-)

Here are Four Methods for Monetizing your Blog:


Banner, Block and Interstitial Ads

It's probably safe to say that the biggest ad network used by bloggers is Google Adsense, but it is not the only ad network out there. Many ad networks, both big and small, allow for creation of ads that can be placed in a variety of locations on your blog.

Banner ads were very popular in the early days of blogging. Many free blogging spaces put their own top banners above your blog to pay for your use of the space. These days banners are less common on blogs, because they separate your content from the audience in what is a very crucial space in your blog - below your header and above the cut, where they have to scroll down in order to keep reading. Banners across the bottom of a blog are often ineffective, because people read what's above the cut on your page and may not read all the way down.

Today, ads in the sidebars and in between posts, known as interstitial ads, are quite common. Block ads can be placed just about anywhere on a blog and can be practically any size. Interstitial ads separate posts or separate the top of a post from the bottom - you see this quite often on news/magazine sites: "Continue reading below." Interstitial ads that separate posts add distance between one post an another, but can also appeal directly to an audience with properly targeted ads.

Strengths: These kinds of ads are very easy to set up and, with most ad networks, a certain amount of targeting to your audience and topic is available. You can manage size and location so that these ads are not *that* intrusive.

Weaknesses: Your audience may not respond all that kindly to obvious monetization of your blog. Non-intrusive ads might not receive any attention at all. Bury your ads in the bottom right hand corner of the blog and no one will click on them. Many experts recommend avoiding interstitial ads, because they say it looks cheap. The irony is that at least two of the experts I saw with that advice had an ad planted squarely in the middle of their copy. So take your expert advice with a grain of salt. :-)

Be Aware: All ad networks have rules against you clicking your own ads to drive up rates. They also have rules about you making a point in the blog to encourage your readers to click the ads. Furthermore, many smaller ad networks have rules about mixing and matching advertising networks on one blog. Be careful to read the Terms of Service and not get on the wrong side of an ad network, or you could find your earnings held hostage or revoked altogether.


Contextual Advertising

Should your blog reach a certain number of visitors per month, you may be able to add contextual ads to your copy. These are, once again, served by a number of advertising networks. These ads appear as double-underlined links in your text and usually provide a pop-up ad as the reader scrolls over them. There isn't that much targeting available to you through these networks, since the words in your copy provide the context. Sometimes, the ads are hilariously off-topic.

Strengths: These forms of advertising are small, reasonably non-intrusive at first glance and sometimes actually useful.

Weaknesses: Contextual Advertising is not as targetable as banner/block ads and the pop-ups can be both annoying and are often blocked by readers.

Be Aware: There's no legal way to point out to your readers that these are not some evil virus put there by your blog host, but are, in fact, a way for you to make money. You have to hope that your readers are sophisticated enough to get what you are doing - something you can't rely on, realistically.


Affiliate Marketing

This is probably the most tried-and-true method of blog monetization. If you have a strong, focused topic, there are probably folks out there selling related items. There are any number of affiliate marketing networks, a little time searching around will surely come up with the best one for your blog.

Affiliate marketing works best when the blog actually discusses the items being marketed. This draws the reader's attention to the item directly.

Strengths: Affiliate marketing works well for review blogs, subject-enthusiast blogs, blogs in niches where information about relevant products and services are hard to find.

Weaknesses: Bloggers that rely heavily on sponsorships and received items can appear biased. There's a fine line to walk between unbiased, honest reviews and making yourself either unpleasant or a stooge.

Be Aware: Reviews of featured products are now reportable to the FTC and to the IRS. Bloggers should be aware of the new regulations and disclaim properly when reviewing received items.


Your Products and Services

Ideally, you have a unique idea or, at least, a unique approach to an idea. Perhaps you've written a book about it, or have branded T-shirts and coffee mugs or...something. Don't be afraid to commoditize you. Book, shirts, your services - these can all be featured on your blog as a way for your readers to show that they are part of your "team."

Strengths: You are selling youself, your ideas, your creativity. These are (or should be) your areas of strength - what you do best.

Weaknesses: No one cares until you make them care. Have a book? How nice. Having a book does not mean anyone will buy it - until that book becomes the most relevant and interesting thing for them.

Be Aware: The more you put yourself out there, the more you will draw attention - both good and bad. Be ready for negative reviews of your book, bad client experiences and nasty commenters on your blog. Note that they exist, then move on.


None of these monetizing methods give you a bye from promoting your blog, expanding your network or doing the work to create good, relevant, compelling content. If you are already doing the work these methods still might not bring in $$$ while you have 100 readers. But, when you have 100,000 readers or 1,000,000 readers, you might be one of those few who can say they make a living at blogging.

Facebook FanPages Make You Lazy

Facebook is easy.

With one click people can show that they are a "Fan" of you, your business, your brand. That click allows their friends to see that they are a Fan of you, your business, your brand.

Facebook is too easy.

"That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only which gives everything its value." said Thomas Paine. And he was exactly right. Something given freely becomes a trifle, something fought for becomes a treasure. People are like that. We only value what we have strived - or paid - for.

Facebook Fan pages are easy to set up. They are easy to advertise and they are easy to join. If you already have a nice-sized following elsewhere, many of those people will be glad to click that button and Fan you on Facebook. Why not? It's easy...and it doesn't mean a darn thing. As I wrote in an essay for my other blog, there are only two real measurements of commitment, and therefore value - Time or Money. Facebook removes the strain of either from your audience leaving you with...what?

Take a look at the businesses you've become a Fan of on Facebook. How many of them have actual conversations with someone from the company? Chances are that many of the posts on the wall are news from the company (with some percentage of folks who "like" those) and the few and far between comments, mostly composed of "Fans" talking to one another.

A Facebook Fanpage encourages lazy, one-way, no-committment communications on the company's side, and no involvement at all on the "Fan's" side. The organization posts an article and Fans "like" it...or not.

Worse is when your Wall becomes a complaints board. It's unlikely that you have the plans or the resources to handle every complaint your see on the Wall, so the natural tendency is to either limit it to one-way communications, so the Wall becomes that tried-and-true press release service or close it altogether, so your Fan Page is now nothing more than an ad.

The ease of setup and use is actually a significant barrier to engagement - there's hardly any opt-in for your audience; just a single button click and then hiding that page is just as easy, effectively creating a dead mailing list with valueless numbers of "Fans.".

The other problem is that corporate communications are actually quite difficult on Facebook. It was designed to be about an individual. For a company, that presents multiple problems. It's not as cute as it sounds to create a mascot and have them update the status. Most small companies have very little to share and almost no exciting topics to talk about. Mid-size to large companies really can' talk about themselves, since "themselves" is a multitude of various people doing various things. What's left? Publicly released news.

Even on a topic that people have interest in, it takes a lot to move people to communicate about their interest on the page itself. Conversations on Mailing Lists, Forums and other communities may be lively, but the Facebook Fanpage will be moribund - because it's too easy.

When crafting your Social Media Strategy, be mindful that Facebook is the bottom of the river - water has fallen elsewhere, from Twitter, from your website, your other communities, and it's likely to settle into a calm pool of "likes" and "shares" on Facebook. Plan for the occasional ripple, and plan to offer something unique for your Facebook fans to stimulate them into action. Or, get used to a quiet page full of overexcited company hype and press releases that your Fans "like."

The Medium and the Message

"The medium is the message," Marshall McLuhan wrote in 1964.

Marketing departments understand this to mean that the media used affects the *power* of the message. This power is measured by such things as "reach," "impact," "click-through," and "virality." In other words, marketing people measure *how many* people see the message and from there, how many of them take action based upon that message. This is, obviously, why advertising during major TV events is more expensive - it is also why large companies seem to always be running after the most popular online space to "have a presence." More eyeballs = more possible action.

What McLuhan meant, however, is that the medium affects the meaning of the message - in effect, every medium changes the message and affects the society in which that medium plays a role.

Your choice of medium affects your message.

This seems simple on the surface. But think about companies that try to communicate the same message across several media platforms. How effective is that same message portrayed in the same way in several media? It's a rare campaign that can manage this.

So how does this apply to your business?

It means that for every Great Idea ^TM you come up with, there is likely to be only one or two really good media on which to execute that idea.

Let's start with a simple idea - a store is having a Holiday Sale. They develop a 30-second TV commercial and buy media space on a Holiday special on TV in primetime. It's straightforward, simple. Now here's the Great Idea ^TM - someone thinks, "well, we already have a 30-second video...why not put it on a site like Youtube, where people can see it?"

Except, the medium changes the message. On TV, you have a captive audience. If they want to watch this show - unless they actively opt out by muting the sound or changing the channel, they will see your commercial. Online, you have to entice them to want to watch that commercial. Of course, you could buy ad time on a online show of some kind, and still have the captive audience (who has fewer options to opt out) but if you put your commercial on your website, or on a video sharing site, that ad better be darn interesting or people won't bother watching. In fact, the message needs to be completely different. There needs to be some entertainment value intrinsic to the video or you run the risk of viewers parodying it to add entertainment value for themselves.

You might have great label copy on your product - whimsical, slightly offbeat. If your Twitter writer keeps that tone, without understanding that sometimes a question has to be answered, not parried cleverly, the message is going to disappear in the "look at us, we're so cool."

Every time you come up with a Great Idea ^TM, consider the media that that idea is truly suited for. Don't try to multipurpose what isn't meant to be multipurposed. A website contest might work really well for people already inclined to visit your website, but could fail horribly as an ad reaching a broad, not necessarily interested audience.

Choose your medium, choose your weapon; from branding to sales to contests. Target the medium to the message and the message to the audience. Or risk the message being changed the moment it leaves your mouth.

Don't Automate - Communicate

"Where can I find a one-click automated solution to all my social sites?"

I see this question constantly and, frankly, it sends up all sorts of warning sirens and flashing red lights in my opinion. The need to automate is a sign that a company is more interested in their time than mine.

Let's take a step back and look at the gap here.

Why do people use Social Media? They use Social Media to talk with friends, clients, professional and personal connections. In other words - they have conversations.

How do people use Social Media? They share pictures and videos, comment on each other's statuses, play games...in other words, they communicate with other people.

People do not join a Social Network to be advertised to. Yes, we're all aware that that pays the bills, and we're willing to tolerate it in return for a free experience, but - the moment you think the point of a Social Network is the advertising, you have fallen into delusion. This is why just having a "presence" in a Social Network has no real meaning and why people aren't jumping aboard your Fan page, or following you on Twitter.

The Keys to Great Social Media are Relevance and Authencity

How authentic are your communications? If you are automating one message across multiple platforms, the answer is - not at all. You're using a broadcast model, and not only are you not accomplishing what you hope to do, you're alienating the very people you hoped to engage. Essentially, you have turned your business communications into Spam.

How relevant are your communications? Do you post the same message over and over on Twitter? Do you "target" people by keyword, then reply to them out of context with a pitch for your site, product or service? Getting involved with a conversation about your area of expertise shows you can listen as well as talk. Communication is more than one-way.

Talking with people takes more time than talking at them. But it also provides your potential customer with the knowledge that you are more than just a faceless drone, spitting out press releases. And it assures them that you value their time as much as you do your own.

Be real - don't automate, communicate.

Why Companies Are Afraid To Talk To You

It was my sincere pleasure to be asked to write a guest blog post this week for Web Marketing Therapy. The topic is one I think about *every* day, as I try to find companies that treat me not as a "valued resource" but as a genuinely important part of their business. It's maddening to see companies treat clients, customers and consumers like animals in a cage, teasing us with bad sales tactics and beating us with terrible customer support.

Of course, after any bad experience we can't help but think, "Why?" And so, please join me on Web Marketing Therapy for Why Companies Are Afraid to Talk To You.

I'd love to hear your feedback - and your good and bad experiences with large companies and small!

Social Media Game for the Holidays

It's the eve of the amorphously named "Holiday Season" in the U.S., which means tons of parties (many obligatory,) excessive eating and rampant consumerism.

What the holidays also mean is that you will be, through any number of circumstances, in close contact with many people - family, friends, and complete strangers. Because I find these affairs excruciating, I've developed a game to amuse myself, and the people around me. I call it, simply, "The Social Media Game."

In Social Media, the first step is to find a point of commonality with a person. If they are a priori interested in your product, that's great, but if they've never heard of your, then you can't just jump into a conversation with "Hey, buy my book!" Relevance is the way to open up a conversation with someone who cares.

In Social Media, you want to engage people. The easiest way to do this is to get them talking about themselves. Asking open-ended questions is hit or miss. "How are you doing?" often gets unhelpful replies like, "Fine."

In Social Media, your consumers want you to listen to them, they don't want to hear the same old blather about you.

And, in Social Media, customers want to feel like they've been rewarded for engaging with you.

In the Social Media Game, you'll do all these things on a small scale, just for fun.

Here's the rules:

1) When you find yourself in proximity with a person, stranger, relative, friend, open up the conversation with an observation about them. Try to avoid hair or weight comments. Pick something with a brand, or a specific characteristic that you can relate to. "Oh, you like chestnuts in your stuffing too?" or "Where'd you get that Bill Blass coat? I've been looking for one" or a random semi-literate comment about a sports team they favor. Anything you can add a "me too" to. Now you've created a point of commonality.

2) Ask them questions first relating to the common point, then branch out. See how much you can get them to talk about themselves. when you don't need the questions anymore, you've got engagement.

3) Listen well. Repeat things they've said to you, showing that you agree and care.

4) Keep the conversation on a positive track, and leave them with a smile. (Reward!)

I was playing this on line at the food store (Find) and not only did I garner an invitation to dinner (Engage,) but the woman I was talking to thanked me for making her time on line fun (Reward.)

Is this social media? You bet. Is it also being a decent person? Absolutely. Which is exactly what good social media needs. This is a silly game that allows you to practice your basic social media skills in the most basic social environment, talking with another person.

Extra points for getting dates, dinner invites, clients or any other plus. :-)

When the holidays are over, sit back down at your desk and look at your social media strategy - are you really doing these things for your business? Playing the Social Media Game with individuals will not only make you more fun to be around at parties, it will help you look at your Social Media Strategy without delusion.

To all my American readers - have a very happy and healthy holiday!

Social Media in the Land of Oz

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her friends make a difficult and perilous trek to see the great and all-powerful Wizard. At the end of their journey, they find that the power they sought resided within themselves and that the Wizard wasn't really all that or a bag of chips.

How often have you contacted a company and thought, "Who on earth is handling their customer support?" or worse, "Is there anyone in charge of this at all?"

The truth is, for many companies, there is no one at all behind the contact curtain. Or the great and almighty Wizard is probably an intern.

As a customer, we'd like to think that a company's Social Media is being handled by their best and most powerful Wizards. After all, every company spends money and time telling you that *you* are their most important resource. What would the Wizard be, if Dorothy and the others hadn't bothered trying to see him? The truth was that the Wizard was a rather inadequate man, with less resources than the average Munchkin.

Then there is Dorothy. Although her goal is to get the hell out of Oz, along the way she makes a number of friends and allies. She does this by talking with them, telling them her story and her goal. She's totally real and human. Logically, you'd think the denizens of Oz would be a little offended at someone who so clearly wanted to be somewhere else but, like most of us, they start pulling for the little guy and support Dorothy.

Big companies look like the Wizard to us. They have giant towers and loud voices that bellow over broadcast media, telling us how great and beneficent they are.

But it's Dorothy who uses Social Media - not the Wizard - and, as a result, she's the one who leads the way.

Think this is a ridiculous parable? Just for fun, replace Dorothy in this post with "Apple" and see what happens in your head.

Blatant Self-Promotion or Awesome Social Media?

Hi, my name is Erica Friedman, I help small and niche businesses learn to use Social Media tools with a method I call Find-Engage-Reward, short for Find Your Audience - Engage Your Audience - Reward Your Market.

Get 10,000 Twitter followers with three easy steps!

Which one of these is Blatant Self-Promotion and which one is Awesome Social Media?

***

The line between Awesome Social Media and Blatant Self-Promotion is not *nearly* as simple to define as you'd imagine. Because this is a blog post and not a long conversation between us, I'm going to oversimplify horribly for convenience and readability.

Awesome Social Media is Descriptive

Is your statement as fully descriptive as possible, or do you hold back crucial information in order to get people to click a link? Awesome Social Media shares information freely. Sure, you have your own skills that you bring to the table and there's nothing wrong with saying "That's where I come in." But if you're relying on one-liners with no real content, it's probably Blatant Self-Promotion.

Awesome Social Media is Relevant

Take a look at your primary Social Media. Are you addressing client issues, answering questions, sharing information in a space where people want to know these things? Or does it basically look like a Press Release page on a website? Awesome Social Media talks to people who care. Blatant Self-Promotion stands on a box on a street corner and shouts at passers-by.

Awesome Social Media Interacts

When someone addresses you directly, do you respond meaningfully? That sounds simple, but fewer companies get this than you'd imagine. "Contact customer support" or "take a look at our FAQs" is not actually a helpful response. Awesome Social Media solicits feedback and interaction by setting up situations in which your audience feels welcome to weigh in on an issue - and then responds in a way that shows that you really care about what they have to say.

Awesome Social Media is Human

Real. Authentic. Human. Not a prepackaged set of party lines, but something that one person might say to another. A major telecommunications company made a splash reaching out of the customer service comfort zone and really addressing client issues. That's Awesome Social Media.

Blatant Self-Promotion is not actually a bad thing - every once in a while. It's smart to let folks know about sales, discounts, promotional offers and the like. Awesome Social Media is all the time. When you develop an Awesome Social Media strategy, your audience will be perfectly fine with the ocassional Blatant Self-Promotion, because they'll know that when it's about them, not you - you'll be there for them.

Now it's your turn - what are *your* key indicators that someone is using Awesome Social Media as opposed to Blatant Self-Promotion?

The Power of Appreciation

When I engage a new client, I explain my simple three-part process for Social Media, something I call - Find-Engage-Reward.

Today we're going to talk about Reward.

But first, a story. This week on Linkedin, I noticed someone asking about "Appreciation Marketing." Exactly as you might expect, this is a "new" marketing technique that makes customers feel appreciated. I choked on my coffee. New? Are they kidding us? It's the *oldest* technique in the world. You learn it first, too, when you're told to say "please" and "thank you."

It takes a marketer to take a basic social skill and turn it into a convoluted customer retention plan. Think of Customer Loyalty programs like air miles and point cards. These were meant to be a reward - a way of making you feel appreciated by the company you support. Take a moment to reflect on the difficulty of redeeming those points for that reward; how many different ways companies have of making *you* jump through hoops to get that reward.

How appreciated do you feel when you've just spent 45 minutes on the phone trying to get a flight?

I'm on a loyalty card for a major retailer than does nothing but send me coupons and discounts for things I never buy. That's a good way to make me feel rewarded don't you think? "We see you buy a lot of labels and mailing envelopes - here's a coupon for binders!" Gee, thanks.

Rewarding your customers should not be complex. Or expensive.

And, with Social Media you have exactly the right tool to do it, because the best reward in the world is someone noticing everything you've done for them.

Here's a few scenarios in which Rewards can be simple things that make all the difference in the world:

- You do a promotion to increase pre-orders of a new product. When the product comes out, send them a hand-written - not fake hand written, but real - note with their order thanking them for their support.

- Thank people for Sharing and Retweeting your links. If the same guy is always Digging your blog, shoot him off a note to say you noticed...and you really appreciate it.

- When you get an email asking about what a customer can do to support you more - have a plan. Make it easy. "Follow me on Twitter and Retweet my links, thanks!"

Your most devoted customers want to be part of your team

Make *that* the reward. Turn them into an affiliate branch, not through affiliate marketing, but with a sincere appreciation for what they've done. If you wear a baseball cap, give your heavy-hitters a baseball cap. Got a "team" t-shirt? When someone places a massive order, throw in one of those, just to say thanks. Make it easy and fun to be part of "the team."

Above all, remember to say thank you from time to time.

Reward your customers, your clients, your followers and your supporters by making them feel appreciated.

It will make all the difference in the world to your business.

The Three Rs of Online Marketing

The phrase the "Three Rs" represent the foundation of skills taught to young people in school - Reading, Writing and (a)Rithmetic.

In Online Marketing there are also three basic Rs:

Relevance

Referrals

Right Place/Right Time

The first of these, Relevance, is the most important. It is no longer possible to throw your message out into the wide world and hope that it will hit the right people, unless your business has such enormous funds and is so ubiquitous that it is quite impossible to go ten feet without seeing some sign of your existence. Think McDonald's.

People want what they want, where they want, how they want it. Search Engine Optimization is an online marketing tactic that addresses this through Search Engine use. If a person searches for New York Wedding Photographer, SEO is one tactic to drive you to the top of those results.

But Search Engines aren't the only way people find things. People also ask other people for advice.

As I've said here many times, knowing *where* your audience is, is as crucial to your business as your brand identity. If you are sinking time and money into a Facebook page and your audience is really talking on a specialty forum, you're missing your target.

You want to be where your audience is, giving them something relevant to their interests, needs and desires.

Which is where the second R comes in. Referrals are the lifeblood of online marketing.

Satisfied customers tell other people. Most people want their close friends and family to like what they like (and take it as a personal affront when they don't, which is why heated arguments about sports teams can make family gatherings hugely uncomfortable.) When you have a favorite restaurant, you want to share the experience with people you care about. It's mortifying when that restaurant has an off day when you bring your best friend and spouse for a meal there.

As Pete Blackshaw says, "Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000."

Social Media is the easiest way for you to engage those satisfied customers and give them an outlet and a method to tell the world how satisfied they are. Encourage them to share deals on Twitter or Facebook with available widgets, email friends with news, fan, friend, follow or connect with them online. Make the referral as easy as possible.

Another old adage that's truer now than ever before is "It's not what you know, it's who you know." The more people you know, the more likely it is that one of them will think of you when they need something you can give them. Which brings us to the third R: Right Place/Right Time.

A smart business owner leverages their social network to make as many opportunities as possible. Many of them will not work out, but some will - all because you were in the right place at the right time and knew the right people.

Social Media networking is an important strategy for business development. You have to be where your audience is, you need to make it easy for them to refer you and you want to be in the right place at the right time.

With these three Rs in your pocket, you're already steps ahead of your competition who are still throwing out messages into a wide world that doesn't know why it should care.

So, A Client Walks Into A Bar...

A client walks into a Bar, orders a beer and starts talking to the bartender.

"Man, it's so hard to figure out what's what these days. My business could really use some punch, and everyone's saying Facebook this and Twitter that.

I was at the cleaners, and his wife was talking about email marketing, about how she uses some company to send out coupons. But the guy at the pet store told me that Facebook was the way to go - Fan page, he said people love it.

My daughter keeps saying, 'Dad, you need a blog!' but I don't want to talk about what music I'm listening to or tell funny stories - who has time for that? And Twitter...I don't even understand what Twitter is! The Librarian was talking about how the Library twitters and is using that to build their user base, but I took a look at Twitter and it's crazy! People talking about what they ate, and acronyms I don't know and words with symbols - it's like some freaking code. I don't have time to learn that.

I wish I knew what to do. What do you think?"

The bartender replies...

Well, let's face it, the bartender probably replies, "Can I get you another?" because his job is selling drinks and listening to people gripe. And he's good at his job.

***

There are two separate things going on here.

The first thing: If you are a marketing professional, you may read this story smiling wryly, because you see the obvious problem. This guy, he's asking his dry cleaner, his librarian, his bartender for social media advice. What's missing on this list? Someone in social media, of course. You're probably thinking "People don't ask their babysitter about their car engine repair, and you shouldn't ask the tailor about advertising."

However, that that is *exactly* what people do. They ask their electrician about plumbing and their brother-in-law about that lump in their knee, even if he's not a doctor and the person who they think is smart about that new software/technology/restaurant, etc....

People ask about what they want to know *wherever they are at that moment.* I know this because nightly I hang out on an IRC channel dedicated to a particular genre of comics, and people ask about...everything. Guns, food, rules of comportment, good hotels, proper spellings of words and, of course, social media. Take a look at the questions on LinkedIn. Many of these questions can be better addressed on Tech forums, or be answered in two minutes on Google. People ask whatever wherever they hang out because they have learned to trust the people in that space.

Which brings us to the second issue, the one that is a little less obvious to those of us in the social media world, but really obvious to everyone else.

"Social Media" is the new black and everyone is saying they do it. Everyone is the cheapest, most effective, build your bottom line solution. Since most people have just heard of this social media thing, telling clients that you've done this since before there was a name for it really don't make things any clearer. And every third person is selling a get-rich quick scheme using Twitter or some other social media platform. That guy, staring at his beer in frustration, can't open a phone book and look for "social media specialist." These people do not know what SXSW is. They have never heard of Guy Kawasaki. They need your help but, don't know who, how, or even that they need to, ask.

When someone asks you what you do for a living, do you launch into the elevator speech about social media and what you do and what you've done for other people? Or do you ask them what they do, then tell them what you can do for them?

Another IRC story - One of the owners of that IRC channel that I am on, in the middle of a crazed, unfocused chat about twenty different topics said to me, "What the hell's the point of Twitter?" I replied cheerfully, "What's the point of IRC?" She said that it was a place to talk to people about stuff she cared about. The same is true for Twitter, I explained. I gave her a few basics about how to engage on Twitter and by the end, she actually conceded that it sounded not so dumb when I put it that way. No, she is not on Twitter yet but, hey..."not so dumb!" That's a victory, in my book. I'll get her on Twitter one day. Soon. :-)

To return to our bar story, the ideal situation would be that you're sitting right next to the guy in the bar and you say, "Hi, I'm /your name/. What do you do?"

You may not be able to be in that very bar at that very moment, but if you stop by that bar every once in a while and talk to the bartender, and the owner and anyone who will listen - you know, be social - one of them might remember you and mention you to the client at the bar. That's the second best situation. Even better if that person knows your work or best, hired you and thinks you're great.

Don't explain, train or educate. Talk with people - let them tell you about their business and what they need.

This way, the next time a client walks into a bar, you'll be sitting right there, ready to help.