Monetizing Your Blog in 2015: Getting Ready for the New Year

"How Do I Monetize My Blog?"

We've all seen this question a million times. And the people who answer it seem so confident - these easy steps are all they ever needed to monetize their blog.  It seems so easy, but why isn't it working for you?

Today's post include four steps, but each of these steps are pretty big ones. We're not talking fairytales - if you want to make money in 2015 with your blog, you need to do some real work on it right now. So let's get started!

Giving Your Blog a Winter Tune-Up

When cold weather comes around, you tune-up your car, recaulk the windows. When the weather warms up, you take to the garden to prettify your yard. Seasonally, you do maintenance on your house and yard.....

...so how long has that blog looked exactly the same?

As time changes, technology changes, and expected levels of technology use changes, as well. Layouts that were great in 1998 are embarrassingly painful now. It's time to shake that blog out and give it a look-over. Great big embedded files aren't important, what's important is that your blog is lithe enough to be shared and commented on. No wants dancing hamsters any more. What you want and need are a core audience of engaged, passionate readers.

Ask yourself,  Is My Blog Sociable?

Every corporate site has sharing links, but there's nothing sociable about them. You can share company news for years and no one from the company will thank you, unless you have a massive readership. If you have sharing tools on your blog, can you track the shares, know what people are saying and where they are saying it? Monitor who you top sharers are and be able to thank them where they spread the word. Being sociable will build a strong brand and a strong bond with your readers. Reward them with your time and attention when they engage and they'll be back for more.


Have Realistic Expectations

Whether you're writing about a niche topic or trends in technology, your audience size will be the key factor in what you can reasonably expect from monetization. The demographics of your audience will also be key. 250 readers everyday is significant to you, but even if each one clicks on those ads and affiliate links, it's not going to add up to much. The halcyon years of affiliate income is long gone, as retailers and ad networks are squeezing down hard on rates.

Audience size and readership demographics will affect potential income - but it's your readers engagement that will ultimately decide whether you succeed.  If your posts get high engagement - more than just a like, but actual conversation, people ready and willing to engage with your content by sharing their thoughts about it, you'll have a better chance to successfully monetize.


Don't Be Afraid to Talk About It

The very personal relationship you build with your audience is the real draw for your blog. Unless you're working with a major magazine site, readers are reading your blog because of you - your stories, your perspective.

When you launch your monetization campaign,don't slide it in when no one's looking, don't be subtle - tell folks about it! If you've done everything right, your readers will jump at the chance to be part of the team, and make your blog an income-generator for you. They want you to succeed, so help them to help you. 

Get your blog tuned up, ramp up on being Sociable, and come back next time for some good options for monetizing your blog in 2015!

Speaking Socially About Social Media

We've all seen those articles - 5 Tips to Pump up Your Social Media (heck, we've written those articles.)

We know what we need to do.

Well, we know what you should do to make your social media stronger, better, faster. So why is our own social media so lackluster?

Let's have a social chat about Social Media. Just you and me.  Because when we, you and I, have a chat, that is the core of social intercourse. And that is exactly what is missing from all those tips articles...social intercourse. It's the difference between being the MBA in the meeting room and the person behind the counter in the store. If I'm talking to you about Social Media and you're talking to me about the day-to-day realities of your schedule and energy, we're not having a conversation.

It's great that there's so much information out there about Social Media. New tools pop up every day and old tools change. What was the wild west five years ago, now has  End User Licensing Agreement three pages long. So before you and I sit down and talk about how to take your social media to the next level, let's make sure we're both talking about the same thing - you, your business and how you can delight and engage your customers.

So next time you click on an article about social media, check to see if it's talking about social media in a general sense, or really talking about you. The difference between the theoretical and personal is the difference between a successful social strategy and an expensive consultant whose plan you never use.

Doing Less - How to Unlock Amazing Customer Service

Can doing less satisfy customers more?

There have been many studies about how small rewards create less pressure and instill more creativity and receptiveness. The Candle Problem is the one I refer to the most. But for today, as I so often do, I'll resort to parable to answer this question.

 Parable 1: On my other blog, which deals with an extremely narrow niche of a niche, I created the "Hero program," in which people who buy an item off my Wish List for me to review get the least of all possible rewards - a jpeg image of a badge. This program took off so quickly that there are times I'm often pressed to keep items on my list...and I had to create a premium tier for people who wouldn't stop giving me things! The point here wasn't that I was giving them meaningful physical rewards, but that I was giving them recognition. I'll come back to that in a moment.

Parable 2: I recently called up an airline to request an upgrade for my upcoming trip. I am flying with my wife and while I have barely-elite status, she has none. The CSR said, "You'll be upgraded first, then she will, if there's room." I replied, very slowly and calmly, "But you're going to do *everything* in your power to make sure we both get upgraded, right?" And I kept on her until she actually said those words back to me.

Which brings me to my actual point.

Customer Service has two key components:

  What you do for people

and

  How you do it

What you give people is the actual reward. Whether it is a little gesture of thanks, or a new car, the reward itself is only as important as the feeling of "seriously, we appreciate you" that the customer gets from it.

Truly frequent fliers probably don't notice anymore when they get upgraded...they expect it, demand it, feel that they've earned it. It's their due, not a gesture of appreciation for their business. 

How you do a thing is 99% of the impact of excellent Customer Service. Is what you're giving a true expression of gratitude for the customer's business and support? Or is your loyalty program instead of a true expression of gratitude?

My Heroes know that I appreciate them...from the bottom of my heart. The badge is worthless, my sincere and heartfelt appreciation is priceless. And they know that. In Parable 2, had the CSR said those words - even if she was lying - to me the first time, I would have felt much more appreciated than when she responded with "Well,I don't know...there's not much I can do."

When I call a business that I've supported for years and say, hey, can I get a coupon or something, the wrong response is "Well, we don't have anything like that." The right response is to offer something, anything. "Of course, ma'am! If you come in today, we'll give you...." It absolutely doesn't matter how small the thing is, it's not the the thing I care about. It's the way the thing is presented. What I'm actually asking for is that you recognize and appreciate me and my business.
So, if an airline says, "We see that you've flown with us three times this month and we just wanted to say 'thanks,' so here's a free drink coupon for you." It's worth, what, $6? But it would make me feel good. Like someone noticed me. I feel that my contribution is recognized.

 Providing customers with a pleasant feeling of recognition for their business is the very least thing and the most effective thing you can and should do for good customer service.

Landing Pages, The Herpes of Social Media

You click on a link that interests you; an article or a whitepaper that seems interesting. As your eyes cross the title, the page blurs and your line of sight is obstructed. All you need to do to read this article is SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER! or give us all your contact info and we'll email you the whitepaper.What is this madness? Give up your name, email, address and phone number just to read an article? Click it away and seconds later it's back like a virus. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

You have encountered the herpes of Social Media - the Landing Page.

It is absolutely true that Landing Pages increase conversion. It is also true that they help qualify leads. They also annoy most of the people who will ever come across your site and drive them away instantly. "I like you, but you should know...I have a landing page."

Landing pages are pernicious. They break visitor concentration, they refocus their interest from content (or product or service) to the ugly business of buying and selling. How serious are you about getting subscribers? So serious that you will interrupt your own message to bring your reader this important message about you.

It's perfectly fine to ask for someone's phone number, but usually we do it after we've talked a bit. Landing Pages may be great for your business, but they are even better for letting people know you have no time or interest in anyone who isn't doing something for you.

Why People Unfollow/Unfriend/Disconnect Your Business and How to Re-Engage

When you're a small or medium business owner, there is both power and prestige in having a strong Social Media following. And it can hurt your bottom line if there's a mass exodus of those followers. There are any number of reasons why people stop following your business, and today we'll look at ehy people follow your business in the first place - and what keeps them engaged or drives them away.

Why People Like, Follow or Connect With Your Business

1) Immediate Need - the customer is looking for a product or service something your business offers.

2) Advocacy - The consumer could be a repeat customer looking to a) support a business they like or b) to get coupons/discounts for products or services they have enjoyed in the past and wish to get again.

3) Non-Business Loyalty - A friend owns, works for, or has some other allegiance to the business and the consumer is showing to public support.

Having gotten consumer interest in the first place, why do so few Businesses retain their interest? It's relatively easy to get someone to "Like" a page, and it is even easier to lose followers with a single misstep.

Why People Unlike, Unfollow or Disconnect With Your Business

Let's start with Non-business related Loyalty first. If a person's reason for following a business has no relation to the business itself, then their reasons for unfollowing/friending them are likely to to be the same. The friend has moved on, or gained enough traction, or they had a falling out.  Supporting their business is just not a high priority anymore. This is a problem mostly for extremely local-focus businesses, which rely heavily on word of mouth.

How to Re-engage: Turn your friends into valued customers and gain real loyalty for your business by reaching out with meaningful connection related to your business.

When Advocacy lapses, it is important to recognize interests and needs change over time. The company may no longer be relevant to me.  There's very little that can be done about this loss, except to be gracious and express a hope for future reconnection.

It's important to acknowledge that you company may have alienated the customer in some way with bad customer service or uncompetitive pricing, or poor product or services.  Consumers may become tired of self-promotion, poor response rate or dislike the fact that no one is curating the social accounts. At this level, there are *so* many reason a person might unfollow.


How to Re-engage: An advocate is almost always going to be a customer who wants relevant, authentic contact and content. Many companies seriously drop the ball with their customers at this level. Instead of thinking about what customers can do for you, consider how your business can make a difference for customers. Talk with them, as opposed to advertising at them, invite good customers and loyal customers to special events, offer "tell a friend deals." Invest time in your relationships and in your Social Media.

If the reason a person followed you was Immediate Need, thhey no longer need to be in contact with your company. Not every unfollow is a personal insult.

How to Re-engage: If you've done your job and created truly Social interaction, they'll be back when they need you. Acknowledge the Tare and move on, working with those people who want to stay connected.

Losing followers is inevitable. The best thing to do is make the trail back to you appealing and open. Build bridges, don't burn them and you'll find your following growing naturally.

How It All Went Wrong, A Social Media Love Story

You used to come home and find her so sexy, waiting by the door, her seductress self available for your every whim. Now, you find her to be work. Your experience on Social isn't giving you the same thrill it previously did. What changed?

Do you remember what she wore the first day you joined? She was gloriously nude, a blank page to be written on, then read. She took a little effort, needed a little pursuing, but it was worth it. Part of what made Social so exciting was the thrill of the chase - the hunt for followers and re-posts. Teasing her until she gave up those important things to you was a total rush.

She knows your likes and dislikes now, and anticipates your needs, brings you comfortable topics and people...but the thrill is gone. What changed? 

You changed. 

You're not trying any more. You're tired when you check your feed, disengaged when you read statuses. Your posts are memes and jokes. You're muting people - you don't listen to Social anymore. 

You're bored with Social and are treating her badly. She's as interesting as ever to those of us who spend a little time paying attention to and taking care of her.

Social is not a thrill ride, she's not a hussy, here for a roll in the hay, so long, see ya. Social is a fine lady with a salon full of fascinating people and objet, worth every moment you spend to cultivate her company. Don't blame her if you're not fun anymore. 

Originally posted on Quora

Wibbly-wobbly, Returny-wurny | Lessons on Social Media from Doctor Who

In 1963 a children's show was created in the UK. It was meant to be an educational show, a show that would transport its audience through time to the past to witness the Aztecs or Ancient Rome. It was marginally successful until someone decided that while the characters were traveling through Time, they could also be travelling through Space. The show, Doctor Who, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and is more popular than ever. But it wasn't a smooth ride at all.

For the first years of its life, the show was popular with children (and their adults) as a sci-fi show, with evil baddies, ambiguous morality lessons and a charismatic, mercurial lead, The Doctor. In the 1980s the BBC leadership was absolutely dedicated to killing the show, but fan pressure - now global through Public Television support for the show in America and Australia - brought it back from the grave, for a while, until the show was once again cancelled after the 7th Doctor played his last spoon....

...Only Doctor Who didn't die. Bizarrely, it was picked up by an American television network, which of course focused on all the wrong things, and annoyed the British fans no end ("The American Movie" is how the 8th Doctor's tenure is known among fans.) But it did something unheard of. 40 years old and the show hadn't died. Like a Monty Python character, it kept reassuring us "It wasn't dead yet." And fandom hadn't moved on. With a body of episodes in the hundreds, still showing on Public TV, then reluctantly released by the BBC on VHS, the DVD, fandom wasn't dead.

And neither was the show. In 2005 the famous blue box known as the TARDIS landed once again in the UK and it was alive, again. The "new" Doctor Who, which picked up with the 9th Doctor and has now made it to the 11th is more popular, more global  - and more financially lucrative than ever before.

So, what are the lessons we can learn from this story?

Return on Time - Perseverance isn't overrated

In the days before Venture Capital and Y Combinator, sometimes all you had to rely on was Time. Having a good idea five years too early can gut a company. But Apple proves the point - when a good idea takes time, perseverance, passion and a soupcon of delusional belief that you're right, playing the long game can lead to success.

Return on Investment - Throwing money at the problem works too

When the BBC demanded better ratings for the 7th Doctor, and they were competing with Star Trek: Next Generation for share of the TV Sci-fi watching audience, the creators of Doctor Who were in a bind. They scraped up more money and put on the most sophisticated show their budget would allow. In comparison with earlier seasons it was fantastic (despite that, the BBC was grumpy again, and they killed it anyway.) In 2005, the showrunners pulled out the stops and the re-launch of this iconic show was as good as anything else on TV. No plywood hallways, no two-set shows. Doctor Who was a big kid now. When you've strained to the edge of what you can do with Time, Investment pushes you to the next  level.

Return on Social is Wibbly-wobbly, Returny-wurny

The 10th Doctor famously stated, "Time is wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey." If there is a single lesson we can grok from The Doctor and his travels through our airspace and time, it's that Return on Social isn't a matter of simple eyeball formulas or likes or shares. In the days before the Internet, Doctor Who fandom created fanzines, wrote fiction, gathered together with friends on Saturday night to watch the show on Public Television, went to conventions to meet the actors. It has always been a social product. DW fandom were early adapters of online technology, expanding their contacts in fandom globally. When the new show launched, fandom was all ready for it. The network was built, ready and waiting. Virality wasn't an accident, it was 40 years in the making. And that is why the new show is popular. BBC and BBC America have made it more accessible, but the Internet does the rest.

Return on Social means a little push here, a nudge there, circle back and start again. When the formula doesn't work exactly as planned, passion and engagement can carry the project along. Superb execution pushes the boundaries and then back to the beginning yet again. Social is wibbly-wobbly, but if Doctor Who teaches us anything, it's that it can absolutely be returny-wurny.

Opinion is not Information - Why Social is Not the Answer You're Looking For

Lee Odden in his excellent presentation War of Words: Myth-Busting Social Media, SEO & Content Marketing has a slide that shows Pete Cashmore stating "Social is on the verge of solving all search problems". 

As a Information Professional with a quarter of a century of experience, I think my reaction to those words looked something like this:

And it came to me in one fell swoop WHY social is not the answer to search at all.


Opinion is not information - Social is not search. Information is nor knowledge - Search is not research.

Let's look at a common scenario to explore the difference.

You want to take a short vacation. You ask your friends for ideas. One suggests Las Vegas. Now, if you like spectacle, elaborate shows, gambling, theme hotels, this is a terrific idea. What if you hate those things? Not so good an idea. 

You asked for an opinion - you received an opinion. It may be relevant to you. It may be as irrelevant as possible, if your friends ideas are about their desires, as indeed, I have found with the above question. People tend to suggest the kinds of vacations that would appeal to them, whether or not they know your tastes.

Now you need to book that room, one friend went to one site, got a one price, another friend got a different price, one bought a package and has no idea about the cost of the hotel. You asked for information - you received data.

Social search can answer some, but not all the questions you have. When you need information, opinion and data points will only confuse the issue. 

Your friends are great when you need an opinion. Social Search will be great when you need an opinion. But when you're running a business, you don't need opinion, you need information. Information professionals take information and turn it into knowledge you need to make critical business decisions. 

Two Things You Can't Fake on Social Media

This week Social Media channels are abuzz with NBC's epic failure to recognize what Social Media is about...and what the Internet is, full stop. While Twitter blazes with reported failures of NBC's streaming channels and inability to access live coverage, NBC executives have taken to the airwaves to explain to the denizens of the Internet how the problems are all their fault.

The above debacle is a massive and public expression of the two things that cannot be faked in Social Media: Cluefulness and Relevance.

Being clueless is, unfortunately for many businesses, quite simple. All you need to do is have no idea of the needs of your audience, or any idea of what social media really is (hint: it's a lot of people talking...).

Being Clueful and Relevant means you know:

Who Your Audience Is (Where they are, When they are on)

What They Want

How They Intend to Get What They Want If You Don't Give It To Them

This last is where NBC really dropped the ball. By insisting on delayed coverage for the Opening Ceremonies, I guess they expected we'd all sit around staring at the clock. Instead, many of us simply found overseas streams and proxy servers, so we could watch the Ceremonies live. It took me, oh, about 15 minutes to find a working overseas stream. When that one cut out, it took me 10 more minutes to find another one.

But I'm not talking about NBC today. I'm talking about another failure to be Clueful or Relevant. A much, much smaller scale of failure, but just as annoying.

Yesterday I received a tweet: Hey @Yuricon! I followed you, you should follow me!

Okay, not the most skilled opening, but maybe sincere. So I popped over to their account and found something that only very tangentially intersected my interests and the interests of my audience. I tweeted back:

"Your topic isn't my topic, but if you say something interesting, I'll share it and follow."

Okay, so far, another day on Twitter. Bear in mind that I am outspoken about media's failure when it comes to women (hyper-sexualization, body image, unequal portrayals of men and women in power, dismissive and judgmental language in regards to women, etc.,). The next tweet showed a massive dose of Cluelessness.

The person/company in question assured me that they understood women, because he (he had identified himself) was publishing a book on self-improvement for women. My response was admittedly very sarcastic, something about how wonderful that was, because more women need more men to tell them how to improve themselves.

Here's my point. NBC execs are taking to Twitter to tell us to stop whining, that the problems are with our computers..., this shows clearly a complete lack of connection with their audience. It's obvious that to NBC and to the IOC, that we are merely a commodity to be bought and sold. NBC cannot fake having a clue, or understanding the least anything about Social Media. This guy was also unable to fake being Clueful or Relevant and instead, just opted to throw his one pitch with "something about women" at me.

The worst part about companies pretending to have a clue or to be relevant, is that it is horribly, painfully evident to anyone looking on.

NBC could have asked their interns, "Hey, if we do a time-delay on the Opening Ceremonies, what would you do?" This guy could have read some of my posts and seen what he does that would be relevant to me and my audience.

Have a clue who you're talking to - about what - and why - and you won't need to fake anything at all.

Sharing Content vs Sharing Activity

If you've been anywhere near a social platform, you've seen messages like this: "Friend A likes this update" or "Friend B" has read this article" (and, clicking on the article title seems to always require you to hand all your information to the publisher before you can see the content.)

Facebook, in particular is very keen on you seeing your friends' activity. LinkedIn, too, wants you to know that a connection has followed a company, connected with someone else, answered a question, joined a group.

The problem with that is exactly the same problem as talking to a friend who walks you through every step of their day, without degree or distinction; waking up, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, commute, meetings at work, home, etc... no one wants every single detail of your day. What we'd like to hear is the juicy bits, the good stuff. ^_^

Each social platform is a different conversation. Even when you have the same people talking about the same thing in the same place, there's subtle differences in audience, tone, attention, and acceptable length. Posting Twitter conversations on LI is meaningless to anyone not already in that conversation.

Be mindful of the difference between "activity" and "content." 


Facebook wants us to know all our friends' activities. What they read, what they commented on, what games they played, etc.

If your Twitter feed is automatically sent to LinkedIn, all your contacts are getting all of your activity, your RTs, your @s, your replies. The only thing that will be meaningful to many of those people in all of that is any content you share. And how patient do you think your contacts will be when they have to wade through 3 dozen chatty posts to get to a brilliant piece of content?

Quora, a platform I adore, yesterday launched a new feature that shared your Quora activity on your Facebook Timeline. I enabled it and ten minutes later, disabled it. I have no doubt my friends on FB would be interested in some of the answers I post to questions there, but equally, I have no doubt at all that no one not already on Quora cares which other answers I upvote. While the content I generate there may be of interest, my activity on Quora is entirely irrelevant to the folks on FB.

Small and medium sized businesses on Twitter, and individuals whose expertise is their business, often have only one Twitter account. To be authentic and real, these people tend to chat as well as share good content from this same account. This works really well on Twitter, where each tweet is viewed individually but, when it becomes a stream of half the conversation on a Twitter feed embedded on a web page, it simply makes no sense at all. Like sitting next to a person on the train who talks loudly enough that you can't not listen, you're getting an intrusive half a conversation you don't really want to hear.

Worse, when companies keep their Twitter account for purely professional contacts, that embedded stream becomes an obsessively narcissistic stream of "me me me." Again - it works fine on Twitter, but watch where else it gets shared or you can seem like you are incapable of listening to others.

So, by all means, share content! Just be mindful that your not drowning it out with all of your activity.

Three Common Mistakes on LinkedIn and How to Fix Them

LinkedIn, because of its placement as the most populous professional networking site, can significantly boost your presence online, even if you don't have any other social presence. Maximing your LinkedIn presence is merely a matter of simple steps, and building a Business page is straightforward. From that point on, all that is required is participation and maintenance of your profile.

Because use of LinkedIn is so relatively simple, and because there are no moderating features, LinkedIn frequently has examples of behaviors that more sophisticated users of social platforms eschew. Here are three behaviors that can completely capsize you on LinkedIn and you may never know why.

This morning, I checked LinkedIn and ran into three very common mistakes right away in my inbox:


Request for Recommendation (From Someone You Don't Know)

I'm pretty generous with recommendations. If we've worked together directly and you've shown yourself to be professional (at the very least) I'll probably find something nice to write about you. Today I received an obvious generic email sent to all of the person's connections - asking for "glowing praise."

Well, you know, I don't know this person. We have never worked together. LinkedIn is a professional networking site, but despite their limited (and pointless) security against connecting with people you don't know, many folks there do connect with people they do not know. That is, in fact, the point of professional networking. However, if he feels that a mass mailing is the most appropriate way to gather recommendations, he's missing the point of "social media." The conclusion? I unconnected with him.

Do it Right: If you're looking for recommendations to bulk up your profile, be as authentic as possible. Don't spam your connections - take a moment to find people you've done business with, who you respect and who are likely to feel the same way about you. Those recommendations are much more likely to be meaningful.


Contentious Replies to Answers

You asked a question on LinkedIn Answers, but aren't getting the response you wanted. Instead of thanking people who are trying to help - or, at the minimum, saying nothing - you are replying by telling everyone how wrong or unhelpful they are.

Do It Right: LinkedIn makes editing impossible. so before you post a question, sit on it for a while and think how you can make it better. What clarifications will make the criteria more useful? Consider too, whether you're looking for validation of your already-decided opinion, or are looking for feedback that gives you a different perspective.  Lastly, consider if the "advice" you're looking for is really something you should be paying for. Many people use LinkedIn Answers to ask a question for which they should really be hiring a professional to do the work. Once you've decided your question can elicit useful answers - thank everyone. It took them time to answer. Even if you hate the answer, or don't find it useful, thank them for their time. Don't forget to assign Good and Best answers when you close the question. Those markers are the only form of reward on LinkedIn, it is critical that you assign them, so that people will want to answer your next question.

These first two mistakes fall under the category of self-delusion, mistakes made when people are using a tool and not really considering how it makes them look. This third mistake is often because of naivete or inexperience.


Joining a Group with Incomplete Profile or Credentials

I run a group on LinkedIn. Because it is a group focused on the Industry of a field of Entertainment, I receive a lot of requests to join that are wildly inappropriate. They usually boil down to one of three kinds of applications.

 - No Connections

 - No Experience in the Industry (Job hunting)

 - No Note to express *why* they would be a good candidate

Do It Right: Yes, you might want a job as a Marketer, but if the group rules state that the group is only for people who are members of a specific Marketing Association, and you are not, don't apply. It makes you look sloppy, at best. Spend time working on your profile, so you've got connections that make sense to the industry. If you genuinely think you'd be great for a group, but you're new on LinkedIn, don't yet have a job in that industry, but you know you can bring value to the group, write a note to the Group leader and explain that cogently. Avoid "I should be in this group, because I run a website devoted to that topic," unless the topic is technical. There are a million fan pages for everything in the universe, running a fan page doesn't make you a professional. Have a full, relevant profile, strong connections and the note will be the icing on the cake.


These mistakes are common - but they are also easy to fix. Don't let them hold you back on LinkedIn or anywhere else on line. Do it right - be professional, courteous and relevant and your reputation will be as solid on LinkedIn as it is everywhere else in your industry.

Connect with Erica on LinkedIn.

You Got Your Twitter in My Facebook! When Merging Social Media Platforms Makes Sense (or Not)

It's hard to know when it's a good decision to merge Social Media platforms. Will it make you look more accessible to have a Twitter feed streaming on your website, or will it backfire and open you to situations like McDonald's encountered in their recent #McDStories campaign?

On the positive side, merging one platform with another (Adding your Facebook feed to the bottom of your internal pages, as Klout does, for instance) will let folks know that wherever they are, you are there, too. They won't have to hunt you down and leave emails through generic contact forms.

On the negative side, the more out there you are, the more you have to be willing to remember that "Social" media is based on the idea that people are talking to you - and they expect a response.

Before you mix and match your social media, you need to create a strategy to be able to Let Go, Listen (and Respond), develop Consistency and, just in case, a Plan for a Crisis.



- Let Go

Social Media is a confusing mixture of Customer Service, Marketing, Communications, Public Relations and Sales. Companies often forget that in order to have the most effective communications, they need to focus not on themselves, but on their consumers. "Tell us why we are so great and get a prize" can work once or twice, but "Our customers are great!" will work forever.

"What if someone says something bad about us?" asks Matt Hames of Colgate University.
This question tends to constrict company's Social Media use - the fear of a negative comment. But, as Matt goes on to point out, "What is possible is engagement. If you get 10 comments and one of them is bad, it is hard to focus on the 9 good ones. The bad one takes all the energy."

Let Go of the idea that Social Media is about you. Embrace the idea that wherever you are, you cannot control the message. Not one second after you tweet, someone might have an ax to grind, or worse, someone might have a genuine problem. You need to Let Go of the concept of controlling the message. Develop a model for communications with positive and negative commenters. Learn everything you can about where a person is coming from, find a way to make the experience of communicating as satisfying and positive as possible.


 - Listen (and Respond)


Emma Haller, Marketing Manager at iFactory "If and when you receive a negative comment, don't delete it - deal with it. Your reply can add credibility to your company."

Merging Social Media might be opening a window on the parts of the Internet you pretend don't really exists, as Skittles found out when they put their Twitter feed on their new Facebook page. You can't set Social media up and walk away. It has to be managed and monitored in a meaningful way. Listen to what is being said to you. If it's acting out, you can have your creatives come up with a boilerplate that handles that, but you also need to listen to the noise for serious issues. How you handle each negative situation is twice as important as how you handle the positive ones.


 - Consistency

People have a lot to say about consistency between platforms.

Matthew Dominy Social Media Consultant points out that "by integrating your social media into your website you allow for sharing to increase your exposure and create a viral loop for your audience to easily see the social proof of your product/service."

On the other hand, Bridie Jenner of Bridie's Typing Services warns, "the mediums are very different, so something I would share on LinkedIn wouldn't necessary be right for my twitter followers, and vice versa."

Steven Lowell Community Manager at Voice123.com reminds us that "For example, a platform may auto-post your blog with a look you did not expect, or give credit to the wrong author of the article. In addition, the usage of hashtags may appear strange on the platform you are using."

Creating consistency between your social platforms is way more than just having the same brand logo. Each interaction establishes a "voice" for your company. Coming off as clueless, or disinterested sets a tone that can lead quickly to customer frustration. The more in control your "voice" is, the less likely a situation spirals into crazy.

Daniel Godin, Founder of Triton PR reminds us that, "With or without you, people are using social media to talk about your brand." So, we need to be vigilant and be aware of what is being said - and by whom. One really influential person trashing your brand can be as bad as many average people who are unhappy with your SM efforts.


 - Crisis Planning

Sometimes, despite the best plans, a social situation explodes. Be prepared. In the best of worlds, your crisis plan sits, unused, in a file.

Before anything else, add in "Apologize Sincerely" to the top of that plan. People using Social Media are not children, they know - and share - when they are getting insincere responses. Admit to doing something wrong, THEN proceed to fix the problem. Either one without the other sends a message of uncaring, or at worst, manipulation.

Whether or not you actively embrace Social Media, Social Media is discussing you and your business. So, while you decide if you want your company blog on your LinkedIn page, or your Twitter feed embedded in your blog, it's worth the time to consider the worst possible outcomes to your choice and develop appropriate responses. Failures of over-enthusiasm are seen as more benign than failures of denial.

You may be mixing your Social Media to create a delicious new idea, or you may end up with a franken-flavor - either way, you'll want to be prepared for the best and the worst.

What is Blogging and How Does it Work?

It's 1770. You have a printing press. You write a broadside, full of insightful political commentary, some pithy sayings and admonishments for good behavior. Slap it up on the common walls in town - especially outside taverns - and let people read it. Then do that every week, until people are waiting to read what you have to say. They start making a detour past that wall to read that broadside...and they start talking about it in the town square or in the tavern.

That's what blogging is.

Your broadside is printed electronically and you need to make sure you post it outside your locals with links.

Now, once you have an audience for that broadside, you maybe suggest a thing or two - hey, the town gate needs shoring up, or we could use a new bridge. Then people talk about that - and maybe someone proposes to actually build that bridge in town hall. Everyone knows about the broadside, it's been talked about for a while. So, a resolution is passed that a new bridge will be built.

That's a suggestion to action.

Now, let's say war is building and the town hasn't shored up that gate. You write a smart, witty and passionate plea for a new gate NOW and all people to take up arms and...people do it. They get that gate repaired and start making ammo, because the enemy is not far away.

That's action language.

When your town wins against the enemy, other towns ask how they did it, someone says, "We have this writer...he got us focused" and the next town over asks for copies of the broadside too.

That's advocacy.

That's how blogging works.

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It seems that everywhere you go these days, someone is shaking a can for Social Media recognition. In a desperate attempt to be seen as Influencers and Taste Makers, every company - and many individuals - are making it so easy for you to share their wisdom, that websites and social media profiles are practically covered with widgets, toolbars, and sharing icons.

At what cost?

Are you missing the forest for the trees in your pursuit of a piece of the Social Media pie? Take a honest look at your content. Is it fresh? Is it interesting? Is it yours?  But...who cares if that information is yours originally? A retweet or a share might get your audience acting...that's good enough right?

It's all well and good to aggregate, share and inform, but what people really want is information they haven't seen before, information they can use. They want information that entertains and informs and, in some cases, enrages.

Experts that aren't creating their own content, but are asking for recognition from their audience, have become Social Media hobos. They aren't contributing. It may be the easy way to a higher Peerindex, but there's nothing authentic about it.

You can make a difference in your field. You do have time to write an insightful post on your blog, or create a simple, meaningful infographic.

You are the expert in your area, there's no need to be riding someone else's train.

Put down the can and stand up from the stoop - don't beg for follows, likes or shares. No one respects a Social Media hobo.

Be the expert you are in your field and you'll get the respect you deserve.

The Truth About Consumers' Role in Innovation

Innovation is a buzzword that never dies. Every company, no matter how risk-averse, fearing that control of their brand has been ceded to their consumers, flogs employees and consumers alike with their innovative-ness, if not with actual innovation.


In the entertainment sector, innovators have quite literally cut out all the layers between themselves and getting the material almost immediately - for free. Creators are disfranchised from their own work and distribution companies have been marginalized, forced to run after new technology like a dogcatcher chasing an errant mutt. The only people who gain from this are the innovators...but this is not sustainable. This kind of innovation is choking the industries it feeds upon.

In thinking about how this innovation has not only not helped, but has negatively impacted some industries, it dawned on me that the idea of innovation by consumers is backwards. Innovators are rarely consumers. They drive consumption by their innovation, but they are rarely buying the products themselves. Why? Because they can do it better - that is what drives them.

A strong company breaks its own toys and rebuilds them differently. If you're waiting to see what your consumers come up with, you've already fallen behind the curve...and while you're playing catch up, the innovators have moved on to break the toy 6 different ways, run rings around your security/DRM/ and have provided people 3 different ways to use your product for free.

I've never really understood Apple's closed community before, but my own explanation makes it make sense to me now - they break their own toys.

If you're letting consumers drive your brand innovation by breaking your toys, you've already lost the market.

The Difference Between Buzz and Sustainable Growth Strategies

You may have see a headline that looked like this recently:

10,000 Free Round-Trip Tickets to Japan

Articles go on to say that the Japan Tourist Bureau is planning to (possibly) give away tickets to (possibly) influencers and mega-bloggers to come to Japan, and (possibly) write about their experiences there.

This is a fine short-term strategy, but it's not what JTB should do.

Here's what's wrong with this plan:

1) JTB is (planning on) giving free tickets to people who are already highly likely to travel.

2) It's a short-term boost that might create a minor bump in tourism, but has no sustainability.


***

I love Japan. I love visiting it as often as possible and I write about my experience there for people to enjoy. There's a pretty good chance that I'd get one of those free tickets. But that's relatively pointless, because I go there anyway.  The people who are pro or semi-pro travel writers, or have compelling Japanese business interests, are not avoiding Japan because of a high yen or fears of radiation. And, people who are worried about radiation are unlikely to go to Japan just because a travel writer says it's safe.

I might motivate one or two people a year to really get over there - I did motivate a whole crowd to come in 2005 for an event I ran in Tokyo. And, if those people liked it, then they might go back. If 10,000 people motivate one or two people to go, it's a nice little blip on the tourism radar.

But.

This is not sustainable. This is buzz.

JTB can't afford to give away 10,000 free round-trip tickets every year and not all of the people who get those tickets will go again, bring a friend, or instill desire in readers to visit Japan.

For a short-term campaign, they'd be better off giving free tickets to people who have never been there, have a compelling reason to visit and who are likely to bring spouses and children with them.

There's still no sustainability, but then their campaign would also express some goodwill and get people who might not otherwise visit Japan over there.The problem is...

Buzz is not a Growth Strategy

To create a sustainable way to increase tourism, JTB ought first to look at cost. Airfare to get to Japan from my part of the country is ridiculous and is heading higher in the next few months. This presents a tremendous hurdle for anyone who might want to go there, especially if they have a family. A trip to Japan now costs what you might pay for a used car, or a year's tuition for a community college. This seems like the most obvious pain point in the world to me.

JTB - you want more people to come to Japan? Make it cheaper to get there.

13 hours in the air is a long time, but it takes me that to get to just about anywhere outside North America. The cost is the problem, not the time. Work with airlines to bring airfare to something a normal human with a spouse and kids can handle.

There was a time when airlines sold cheap overseas travel fares. I remember a coworker going to Japan for 3 nights, 4 days with hotel for $400 as an airline special. If I could get that deal, I'd go there every month for a long weekend and to pick up manga and magazines. I'd eat out, too. And not just ramen on the street.

Work with airlines to bring back airfares that don't take being a millionaire to afford. I have no doubt that tourism rates will rise right back up.

Confession Time: I Don't Take Google+ Seriously

Okay, I know it's all the rage to heap praise upon praise for Google's new Mom-free social media sharing space, Google+. But being the trend-bucker and sooth-sayer I am, I'm going to make a public confession here:

I don't take Google+ seriously.

I've been using "Social Media" since the days of Bulletin Board Systems, when I had a Panasonic Senior "portable" computer (that weighed 18 pounds and had a thermal printer on the ass end) and had to take my phone offline to pretend to have a drink and a chat online with a friend who lived ten minutes away. So, whenever a new social platform opens up, I'm glad to take it for a spin, click the buttons and kick the tires. And, after serious consideration, I just cannot take Google+ seriously.

Circles Aren't All That (much less a bag of chips)

Circles seem like an exciting and revolutionary idea, but if you have ever created a mailing list, it's really not. Even on Facebook, you could always just message a few friends and share something with them. It wasn't hard. Circles are useful, if you have passion around three or four separate areas and don't want them mixing. I'm not a big fan of segmenting my conversations. Segmentation isn't privacy, either.

When Circles first showed up, there was a lot of conversation about good Circle taxonomy. I thought about it at length and came up with the following Circle names:

• People Who Think They Are My Friends

• People Who Want Me To Listen To Them Talk

• People Who Want To Hear Me Talk

• People I Follow on Google+
  

In reality, I have only one Circle, called "Following." Because that is what I do - I follow you because I want to read what you have to say...it doesn't matter to me which of the many topics I'm interested in that you write or share info about. In fact - I'd prefer to get a nicely varied mix of different kinds of information on different things, because otherwise, it'll all start to sound the same. I like variety. If you want to follow me and put me in a bucket, fine. I post and share on multiple topics, so you're as likely to get Social Media articles mixed in with Comic/Manga news, British Archaeology and Physics.


The Main Topic Discussed on Google+ is...Google+

This morning I open my feed and no less than half of the conversation is about how good, bad, indifferent, useful, useless, growing, dying Google+ is. At least Facebook is mature enough as a platform to only have this kind of navel-staring happen with particularly obnoxious updates. This morning's headline was trumpeting Google+'s failure to retain users. I wasn't surprised because the true power of a new social platform is access to a new audience. Google+ lacks this because:


The Audience on Google+ is People You Already Know

The early adopters of Google+ were Social Media wonks, who naturally want to poke and prod any new system...and folks fleeing from Facebook because their Mom was on it. These people were likely to be in your network already, if you were on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Quora or any number of platforms. I know of exactly one person who found a whole new community there - and it wasn't organically grown on Google+, it migrated there from...you guessed it, Facebook.


Last, and quite possibly the biggest factor I have in not taking Google+ seriously is...

It's Google. They have long ago shown that "Don't Be Evil" has no meaning to them, and they track, trace, follow and measure our behavior. This is better than Facebook why? Google sells our information and stares back at us, unblinkingly, completely unable to see any irony.

Why am I confessing this all of a sudden? Because this morning I came to a sudden, shocking conclusion.

Here is the avatar I use for almost every single social media platform I'm on:



This painting was done by talented artist Mari Kurisato based on a photo of me. She takes commissions and her art makes great site avatars. If you're looking for an exciting, unique way to make an impression, I recommend her work highly.



And here is the avatar I have on Google+:

This is the avatar I've had on my Gmail account since I began using it. These are my two favorite anime characters.



And, that's about how seriously I take Google+.

Facebook's Social Media Makeover - The Good and the Bad and the Not So Ugly

How often do you redecorate your living room? Once a decade? Maybe a little more? The reasons why you don't are self-evident - makeovers cost money, they are a pain, they take up time.

It's not hard to imagine, although we are not those people, that there are people who constantly tweak and move their furniture to give the room a new look, to keep it fresh and exciting.

Now imagine if those people were your parents. Every time you drop by, they seem to have moved stuff around. Sometimes you like the changes better than others, but it does make things hard to find - and it unsetttles you. This is the real problem of course - it's not that you don't like the new furniture, it's just that these are your parents and they aren't supposed to change!

Welcome to Facebook, the comfy chair of Social Media. Facebook is Social Media your Mom can use. You smile at it, you use it, but you don't respect it because, well, your Mom can use it. Even so, when Facebook switches the furniture around, it's unsettling.

Today we'll cover a very few points of some good and bad things Facebook did with their site switcheroo and the one or two things that are most up for debate as "that goddamn" feature.

The BAD

1) They changed our settings, again.

This is tantamount to your parents changing the lock, leaving the new key under the mat with a note that they've given a bunch of other people the keys, too, so if you're in the shower and hear noise, it's probably just one of those other people.  Wait, what?

Facebook has an appalling habit of "helping" you with your notifications and privacy settings. This time they turned all notifications OFF, except the ones that they turned ON.

How to Handle This: Don't wait for Facebook to change - make it a habit of visiting your Notifications, Privacy and App settings every three months. Clean out Apps you don't know, don't use, don't want. Make sure the Privacy is set the way you want it, that you can share with the people you want. Turn off or on notifications. Do this as a regular course of matter, so you remain in as much control of your account as possible.


2) They rolled all the changes out all at once.

Go back to the your parent's house metaphor. When they get a new chair, it's a nice change. If they had the entire house stripped and redecorated, it would be jarring. And, yes, the Facebook makeover was jarring.

How to Handle This: Don't Panic. Take a look at the popups and read them, so you know what you're looking at. Find a Social Media person on Facebook such as myself, (yes, I know I don't have an account name, all the sensible versions of my name were taken and I would just rather have a random character set that EricaFriedman1897. That sounds horribly AOL to me) or Christine Pilch who can talk you through fixing and changing settings.


The last and worst Bad thing is an ongoing problem with Facebook.

3) They made changes to our accounts without our permission.


Facebook does this continually and for me, it's the single biggest problem with Facebook security and privacy. I did not want to make Lists, so they made them for me! Um, no, see, I did not want to make any Lists. (See Below for more Lists comments.)

How to Handle This: Tell Facebook. We all must make it clear that, while we understand change is inevitable, we would very much prefer to be asked if we want a new feature, rather than having it thrust upon us. Some parents never change their living rooms, ever. And that's really all right. Our Mom's Facebook and ours don't have to look the same.


The Good

Now for the one really Good thing they did.

1) The biggest and best new thing they did was force Business Pages to let people post on their Wall, even if they have not "Liked" the page. There truly was nothing more galling than having to "like" a page before telling them they suck.


The (Not-So) Ugly

This leaves us with some of the new features, which are liked and disliked in equal measure.

Lists

Lists are an attempt to be more like Google+. This is misguided thinking. Facebook's market is you and your Mom. Not immersed Social Media users who are going to have a number of profiles on sites around the Internet. For most Facebook users, sharing with friends and family is one and the same.

I also call into question the premise that Segmentation = Privacy. Keeping your Friends in separate rooms is not the same thing as Privacy.

Worse, they did a terrible job of it. (^_^); My Family List had my wife's niece on it, but not my wife. Or any of my immediate family.

How to Handle This: Luckily Lists are easily removable. Scroll to the left of the List name until you see the pencil icon. Click "Hide." (I find, however, that my Lists have reappeared this AM, despite removing them yesterday. That could be very annoying.) Once Lists were removed, I found my Feed returning to a format I was more comfortable with.


The Update Ticker

I like this, although this wins as the number one "Turn this damn thing off!" that I see in comments. In the right sidebar, the top now is a ticker of comments by friends or on friends' posts.

How to Handle This: Lifehacker has posted an article on how to kill the Update ticker.

Scrolling Top Toolbar

A colleague of mine and long-time friend, Bonnie Wasilewski, pointed out the neat new feature of the top Toolbar scrolling down the page with you. Now you don't have to scroll back to the top to see notifications or get back to your home. I hadn't even noticed this, until she pointed it out, but dang! it's useful!

How to Handle This: Use it. No matter where you are on the site, you'll see what's going on in your world, without having to jump up and down the page.


Subscribe Button

For those of us with public lives, this is a welcome feature. Now people can read our posts, without us having to "Friend" them.

You can read status updates, see links and feel part of the life of your favorite celebrities and thinkiner, without having the right to communicate with them. Think of Subscribe like reading a newspaper in your home used to be. You get to read, but there's no real way to comment in real-time.

How to Handle This: Each post you make can be marked Friends, Public or Custom. You default to Friends, but if you don't mind your Subscribers reading something, mark it Public.


Conclusion 

The biggest problem in all these changes is Facebook's misunderstanding of their audience. In their desperate attempt to stay relevant and cutting edge, they are losing people from both edges of their usage curve.

People who wanted Google+-like features are already on Google+. I see many comments to the effect that people are "done" with Facebook and can be found exclusively at G+ now. (This is an issue I want to write about at length later, because in Social Media, you can't take your ball and go home.)

On the other end of the curve, are Mom and Pop users who really only wanted to see their kids and grandkids and share some pictures. The new changes will alienate and confuse these people, and over-complicate the site needlessly for them.

In the end, when the kerfuffle has settled, and everyone has gotten used to the Good, Bad and Ugly of the new format, Facebook will change it all around again. (Update: Facebook has already announced more changes to come, starting off with Facebook Timelines. Stay tuned!)

This is what happens when Facebook changes its layout - The Oatmeal

The Fallacy of Social Timing and the Wisdom of the Crowdbooster

If you read any smart Social Media guidelines available, one of the absolute most common pieces of advice you'll see is to be mindful of the timing of your statuses and tweets. "Put them out there when they are most likely to be seen!" is the seemingly obvious advice from all quarters. There's a science of social timing that is both absolutely correct....and completely, utterly worthless.

I've been using Crowdbooster.com to get a clean visual image of the impact my Tweets and Facebook posts have in their spaces. Here's an example:

This chart shows me which tweets were most replied to, retweeted and which got the most impressions. Crowdbooster also will suggest new influencers that have followed me, and suggest I interact with them, or which Tweets I should share on Facebook, since they were popular on Twitter (not always the best advice, either, but that's another post.)

Overall, I'm really happy with Crowdbooster, more so than many other measuring tools I've used. If you'd like an invite, ask in the comments and I'd be glad to share what I can.

But the wisdom of the Crowd fails in regards to timing. Not because it's wrong - but because it misses the point. And so do most articles that discuss the importance of timing in Social Media.

This seems like a very reasonable suggestion  - and it is, honestly, I get great feedback when I post on Twitter around 7AM, 10AM and 2PM. So where's the fallacy? The fallacy is in thinking that this time is important for me to post. The reality is - this is when I spend time interacting, posting and replying almost every single day. So, of *course* that is when I will have developed an audience, who will read, retweet, reply, share, etc.

The fallacy is in assuming that the times you should post are being driven by some external wind that you have no control of, and all you can do is hang on and get your posts out there. This is obviously not true. If you run a branding workshop every Monday at 9AM Pacific Time (as @Brandingexpert Rob Frankel does every week,) then after a few weeks, you can imagine that Crowdbooster would tell you that running that workshop at 9AM Pacific Time every week is the best time to do it.

Forget Social Timing, Create your own schedule. Create your audience and your market. Take control of your time and don't let the wisdom of the crowd - or the Crowdbooster - tell you when you "should" be on social media.

Three Things I Won't Share On Social Media (Unless I Want To)

It's pretty obvious to anyone on any Social Media platform that advertising is still the main business model. And it's pretty obvious to advertisers that the more they know about me, the better a job they can do at predicting what I might want to buy next.

To that end, most Social Media networks ask me to share a lot of my personal information with them. Of course they want me to find people like myself, past work colleagues, alumuni of my college, people with similar interests - and so they tell me how much easier it would be to find these people if only I were part of that network.

In fact, when I first joined Facebook, you had to pick a geographic network. Whether you liked it or not, you were lumped in with people in your relative geographic location. As soon as I was able to remove a geographic network from my FB account, I did.

There are many reasons I might want to share a piece of information with a Social Media platform and there are even more reasons why I might not. When you're asking for personal information, contact information and other market research data, consider that what is best for you, is not always best for your customer.

Here are three things I won't share with you, unless you make me...or unless I want to.

1) My Past Locations
This includes former addresses, places of employment and education.

Maybe it's just me, but I really have very little incentive to speak with the folks I knew in high school. Or college. Or grad school. We were in the same place at the same time, and we did share some experiences but that doesn't mean we're "friends." And if we are, there's a good chance I'll know how to find them without your help. The same is true for former colleagues and neighbors. These are situational relationships and once we're no longer dealing with the same boss, we may in fact have nothing in common.

Before you ask us where we went to school, consider that, for many people, school was *not* the greatest time of their lives and that things that happened in that (perhaps distant) past are not really worth revisiting. And what, really, value is that to you as a social platform or as a business? Consider the analogue version of this question, "Oh, you're from Ohio? My nephew lives there....do you know him?" When you ask me where I went to school, so I can "connect" with other people who went to that school, that's exactly what I hear in my head.

2) My Present Location
I'm not going to propose a scenario here about women, and the consequences of telling perfect strangers where to find them, but let's be realistic here - for ages, companies have asked us to provide our names, addresses, phone numbers and emails if we so much as want to mention that their coupon had a spelling mistake.  WHY? You are not going to call us - we don't want you to call us, it would be intrusive and weird.

Foursquare is a system designed around the idea that reporting our location could be of benefit to us. Check in and get a discount. Check in a lot and get a bigger discount. But...take a step back and tell me that this wouldn't be the most useful tool for a stalker in the known universe. Because it would. And if you have ever written an article, blog post, book or done an interview and had a mailbox full of hate, there is no way this tool is going to look like something you want to participate in.

3) My Future Location
I might be planning a trip. I might even want to share it with my Twitter pals. Does that mean that I want ads telling me about great deals in that location? Maybe...but not unless you ask me first.

Again, imagine an analogue scenario. You're talking to friends on the phone about a trip. Then your local travel agency calls, "We hear you're going to Las Vegas. Call us about a special deal on hotels!" "Targeted advertising" feels remarkably similar to "creepy eavesdropping" for the average person. The fact that you're parsing my status updates doesn't make your business clever....it makes your business a stalker.

Before you ask questions about your consumers, consider the possibility that being intrusive has less value than you think in a building a relationship with them.