I am writing you today to deliver some sad and unfortunate news. After 15 years in business, my wife Gretchen and I have made a decision to close our firm, Renaissance Creative.

Roxie Lute, PR Specialist

Who says internships don’t pay?! Raquel “Roxie” Lute is the perfect example of an intern who joins a company on a part-time basis, then proceeds to make themselves so valuable, the firm can’t afford to lose them upon graduation! After interning for 3 months prior to her graduation from the University of North Florida, Roxie accepted a full-time position as Public Relations Specialist at Renaissance Creative. Nice work, Roxie! Just the way your professors drew it up.

Roxie earned her Bachelor of Science in Communications at UNF, with concentration in Public Relations. A social-savvy digital native, Roxie brings youth, energy and an ever-flowing number of new ideas to the Renaissance team, not to mention a “roaming gnome” that seems to have to have begun randomly appearing in different areas of our offices the day Roxie moved in (No one knows why… No one asks why… We just inherently know to stay calm and not touch it, or look at it directly in the eyes.)

At UNF, Roxie was a strong contributor to the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), serving as Vice President. She also served as Account Executive for the University of North Florida’s student-run public relations firm, giving her the real-world skills and leadership qualities needed for her professional career. Roxie also brings practical experience from the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network and the Children’s Home Society of Florida. She is continuing to pursue her Masters in Business Administration at the University of North Florida, while helping with accounts like III Forks, Cantina Laredo and Nemours BrightStart! to name a few, here at Renaissance.

Last night I moderated a panel discussion at the University of North Florida called Strictly Social. The purpose of the event was to bring together professionals in Northeast Florida who use social media every day in their jobs, but who each do very different jobs.

By doing so, I hoped to bring together people with different enough backgrounds, and diverse enough expertise, to facilitate a quality conversation about a range of topics. Now that the event is over, I believe that I was successful.

I’d like to thank both UNF’s PRSSA chapter, and UNF, for both inviting me to speak, and for hosting the event. Without them, it would not have been nearly as successful!

Panelists who appeared on the panel were:

Jason Sadler, Founder of IWearYourShirt.com

Aliera Peterson, Social Media Manager at Dalton Agency

Lauren Teague, Fan Outreach and Social Media Manager at PGA TOUR

Jason Pratt, Public Affairs Consultant at Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media

The panel tackled the following topics:

• What does the shifting age demographics within social media mean, both for individuals and for brands?
• What does a successful online community look like? How can one be built?
• The state of the “Check-In”. What is the long-term viability of this? In your view, is it here to stay? How will it evolve over the next few years?
• What role will niche/topic-specific social networks fulfill over the next few years?
• How will social media’s role in customer service change over the next few years?
• What is the future of of q&a sites in social, both for personal web use, and for brands?

Almost 50 people were in attendance for discussion, and lots of tweeting was happening. To see all that was said, follow the hash tag #strictlysocial on Twitter.

Here are some of the more interesting quotes/tweets from the evening:

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We’d again like to thank everyone who came out to the event last night!

Since this event went well, we hope to put together another one in the near future. When that happens, we will write about it here.

I’m very excited about this event, and have some hope that it could become a recurring event. I’ve been thinking about putting together an event like this for a little while. So when I was approached by two representatives from UNF’s chapter of PRSSA, I jumped at the chance.

The plan, initially, was that I would speak to the chapter members about social media. However, once I got to thinking about it, I saw how this event could potentially be something much bigger.

Here in North Florida, we have a considerable amount of talent and smarts relating to social media marketing and online communities. I know a lot of people who do this professionally, across numerous industries.

Knowing that, I decided to approach a few of those people about the idea of appearing on a panel discussion. Instead of having me up there talking, I would serve as a moderator for a discussion amongst a few other professionals who work in the industry locally.

Every person I approached about appearing said yes. Here’s the list of who will be appearing on the panel:

Who: Aliera Peterson

What: Social Media Manager

Where: Dalton Agency

Who: Jason Pratt

What: Public Affairs Consultant

Where: Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media

Who: Jason Sadler

What: T-Shirt Wearer/Founder

Where: IWearYourShirt.com

Who: Lauren Teague

What: Social Media & Fan Outreach Coordinator

Where: PGA TOUR

The event is free to attend. If you’re interested in social media/online communities, this is a can’t-miss event!

There’s a disturbing trend currently taking hold in social media marketing and community management. Businesses are hiring firms to develop their social profiles, but aren’t asking anything else. They aren’t asking what the progress is, aren’t asking for data points, referral information or engagement stats.

Businesses aren’t asking for a return on their investment. They’re just ticking off the “social media” box on their media plans and moving forward. While I’m sure plenty of agencies are getting away with this, boosting their revenue because they aren’t being asked to provide anything resembling proof, I’m confident that this will do more harm than good to the industry, and indeed social media as a whole. It makes me glad that that, unlike many others, Renaissance Creative does not take that path.

I came across this disturbing trend while reading Econsultancy’s Social Media and Online PR Report 2010 yesterday. Here’s the bit about ROI that shocked me:

That’s just stunning. So many companies are putting money into social media marketing and online communities, don’t have even a vague ROI figure in mind. They’re throwing money at something without any real direction. When has that ever worked?

A true social media and online community strategy involves both a content strategy and an outline for desired outcomes. Even a vague outline of desired outcomes would be better than nothing and hoping for the best.

Social media should not be treated as some experimental strain of quasi-marketing, exempt from being results-driven. While social media for business and commerce is in its infancy, the person at the wheel should be capable of reporting back with what is working, what is not, and where the campaign should go next.

Instead a lot of agencies are operating under a veil of secrecy, because clients are letting them “work their magic”, not wanting to meddle in something that they have little understanding of. Not us.

Sooner or later, clients will wake up to what’s been going on and they will demand accountability from whomever is running and developing their social media presence.

If you’re an agency that is guilty of that, my recommendation is to open up, become more transparent and become more honest with your process. Educate your clients on what you’re doing. Operating under a veil does everyone a disservice, including yourself and your agency.

Image credit: Geek and Poke

As social media gained a foothold in the world of ecommerce, more buttons and widgets began appearing on web sites. The thing is, they were appearing in worthless places on the sites.

It became something of a web development standard to stick links to your company’s social media profiles at the bottom of the web site, where almost no-one will see them. That doesn’t work.

You’ve got a widget or a link that says “We’re On Facebook” or “Follow Us on Twitter!”, which then clicks-thru to your brand’s Facebook or Twitter page. You want people to find these pages and join your company’s online community.

Thing is, you haven’t given them a good reason why they should.

The first step to rehabbing this problem is moving your social links from the bottom of the page, to the top, or somewhere near the top.

Next, once you’ve got your widget in place , you need a call to action. You need to give them a reason to join your online community. Just liking your brand won’t be enough for most people.

Your call to action should explain, in a few words, what they stand to gain from joining your Twitter or Facebook communities. For example: “Like us on Facebook & get exclusive discounts.” Even that’s a bit wordy — but something like that would do the trick.

It’s time to move your brand’s social profile buttons from way below the fold, to front and center. Make sure your customers know why they should join your communities online, and spell it out clearly what’s in it for them.

If you don’t do that, all you’re doing is hurting your own social media efforts.

While having a dynamic web site is something most businesses should have, if you’re a small company just starting out, it might look more like an additional expense than a genuine resource.

For companies facing that decision, let me remind you that while Facebook is at its heart a social platform, it also serves all of the same functions as a very basic web site.

If your company trying to develop a web presence in the most cost-effective way possible, consider taking the amount you would have spent on a web site and apply it towards developing your business’s Facebook profile.

Here’s why:

The Basics

• On a Facebook page, you will have listed your company’s name, contact details, opening hours and more. This would appear on your web site, too.

• Every Facebook page comes with a built in CMS (content management system). You can upload links, images, photos and more. There is also a “notes” section that doubles as a blog, if you aren’t already running one off of one of the many blogging platforms.

• On a web site you’re likely to have a calendar of upcoming events, or in-store specials. While it’s not as pretty or customizable as what you would get on a custom web site, the basic function exists. An added plus, however, is that you can create an event and invite customers to attend.

The Perks

• Using Facebook as your company’s main online hub brings with it a few added perks that using a standard web site does not offer. At its core, Facbeook is a social platform. This allows your company to connect with customers in more direct ways.

• Having a content schedule means that the conversation is always ongoing. Each day you have a new topic that you’ll post about, and get comments from your customers.

• Company Facebook pages offer solutions for developing, promoting and implementing sales and special offers, directly to your customers, without the need for circulars.

• Facebook offers hundreds of applications that can be applied to your page, that create more dynamic, website-like experiences for customers.

There are more perks than just these, but you get the picture.

Dynamic web sites are useful to have for businesses. But for those just starting out, Facebook offers another option that should be considered.

Image credit: Kris Krug/Flickr

You’ve got a Facebook profile, claimed your business on Google Maps and Foursquare, and you may even have a Twitter account. So far, your businesses is well situated to use the internet and social platforms to generate business and raise awareness of your brand.

But there is one other platform where your business is absent: Blogs.

The natural inclination of businesses is that blogs are time-consuming and labor-intensive. I won’t dispute that — blog posts require time and effort to write and publish.

But the benefits to maintaining a company blog are considerable. Consider the following:

1. Distribute content. Having presences on social media platforms is great. In addition to communication platforms, social media are also distribution platforms. Post your blogs to Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else you are active.
2. Improve SEO. The more of your content that search engines have to crawl, the better your search engine results will be when someone searches for your company
3. Advertise products. Blogs offer businesses a place to advertise and discuss their products.
4. Build reputation. Use a company blog to cement your company’s and your own status as an expert in a field, via informative posts.
5. Create community. Use your company blog as a gathering place for customers. Stick to a content schedule so that customers are waiting for your next post.

There are more reasons to do it than just the five above, but that’s a good start.

In the rush for businesses to get on Facebook and Twitter, some are forgetting about the value of blogs to their business. When developing an online and social media strategy, don’t forget to include a company blog in the planning.

When used correctly, company blogs can become an asset to the company’s presence online.

Talking about how great new innovations in social media are, is fun and easy. You can do this and you can do that. Isn’t it great?

More often, however, the difficulty comes in when trying to explain in clear terms what the benefit of these new social platforms is to business. Businesses want to know: What’s in it for me, how can we use it and how long will it take to see results.

Each of those questions is tough to answer definitively, because a certain amount of trail-and-error is required to know for sure.

Then I came across this simple four-step process for explaining the business value of Foursquare, developed by Ogilvy PR Worldwide. What’s interesting about it isn’t what they’re saying — any social media marketer worth their salt already know this — but rather how they are saying it

Take a look at the image below. Click here to see it in full-size.

Every strategy needs to be unique to an individual company’s needs. So trying to use the above figure as your company’s plan for geolocation/Foursquare would be a mistake.

Instead, use the above figure to start the conversation on the right track. Determine what you want to get out of the services, how your customers might already be using it, and set some goals for what you’d like the outcome to be.

Geolocation services such as Foursquare, Gowalla, loopt and now Facebook Places, offer businesses a lot of great tools to engage both current and potential customers. But each services is different, as is each business. In order to get the most out of them, it’s important to have developed a clear strategic approach.

Photo source: Team Sticker Giant/flickr

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduces Facebook Places

Last week Facebook debuted their latest product, a geolocation feature called Facebook Places. In the months leading up to the formal announcement, there was a lot of talk that Facebook was developing it, just no-one from the company would say so in any official capacity.

At the moment it is only available to Facebook users who have the iPhone application. Users had to download the latest update in order to get the new Places feature, which now appears directly in the middle of the menu screen on the application.

I had the opportunity to begin using the new feature on Thursday last week, while out with friends. We visited a few different locations, so I was able to try a few things out.

Facebook Places works two ways: You can check yourself into a location, or your friends can check you in. The latter is causing some uproar, because of the privacy implications. When someone checks in on Facebook Places, they are given the option to “tag” whomever else is with them. The problem is that discretion is entirely up to the friend, who can check you into a location without you even *being* there.

Early on, I ran into this problem. I was at a pizza place with one friend, waiting for another. I went to “check-in” on Facebook Places and tagged her as being there with me. I didn’t think much of it, but in fact she hadn’t arrived yet. She saw the tag and then untagged herself. She did not like other people checking her into places, which then shows up in her personal timeline on Facebook.

Count this as a “lesson learned the hard way” for Facebook after past privacy slip-ups. When they launched Facebook Places, they included an opt-out for letting other people tag you. It’s somewhat buried in the privacy settings, but it is there. Over at ValleyWag they’ve published a “how-to” for ensuring that friends don’t check you in places.

Once it launched, talk soon turned to whether Places would kill other geolocation services like Foursquare, Gowalla and loopt. My opinion is that it will not. Places is an interesting service, and I’m sure it will create greater interest in geolocation as a whole, but it’s a one-trick-pony as geolocation applications go. Plus on the day that Places launched, Foursquare recorded record one-day new user sign-ups.

It seems that the one-dimensional nature of Facebook Places was intended. Here’s an interesting quote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg about that very thing:

When asked about checking-in to watching television shows or the like, Zuckerberg joked, “there’s a lot of stuff we’re not doing.”

Like with Foursquare, businesses can claim their spot on Facebook Places. However, unlike Foursquare, businesses using Facebook Places aren’t shown any meaningful analytics. You are shown how many people have “checked in”, but you aren’t able to see who they are. This could be an instance of Facebook being gun-shy when it comes to potential privacy flare-ups; however in this case it’s something that is needed.

Since Places is only available to Facebook users who access the site via iPhone, it is difficult to determine the overall success rate with any accuracy. Only a fraction of my friends are using it — most of whom are already Foursquare users — so the case for “mass acceptance” is not there right now. And since Facebook hasn’t released any usage statistics yet, we’re all left to guess.

Places could go on to be a major player in geolocation. But before that happens, they will need to build the service out and add more features and functionality.

In sum: Reports of Foursquare’s death at the hands of Facebook Places are greatly exaggerated.

Back in June I wrote about how restaurants can use social media on a daily basis to drive customers in, and generate conversation online. My example breaks the day down into different parts, and offers an explanation of what could be done for each.

Today I came across a broader explanation, in the form for a flowchart.

It was developed by Spork Media, a New York-based consultancy that caters (no pun intended) to the restaurant industry, to help restaurant owners develop their business’s digital and social media footprint.

Check out the flowchart here:

The reason this works so well is that it looks at the big picture. Successful social media and online community strategies are built around outposts that each direct users/customers back to the business’s digital HQ, which in this case is the official web site.

In March of this year, Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas-Nelson, wrote a great post about what he calls a “Social Media Framework” on his blog, which I encourage you to read.

When it is done right, restaurants can use social media, online communities and even content in a way that encourages online buzz and brings in new customers.

While each business and restaurant requires its own individual strategy, the above flowchart is a good starting point for any restaurant looking to dabble in social media for the first time.

Photo credit: Cedric Leclere/Flickr

Today Pace Communications released a breakdown of where most of the major grocery store chains in the U.S. stand with regard to total number of followers on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

The results were surprising in part because it painted a clear picture of how little this industry has invested in social, outside of major players such as WalMart and Target.

While the retail and food service industries have been quick to jump into social media, food retail (grocery stores, etc) appear to be more hesitant.

Grocery stores advertise their in-store deals to drive foot-fall via newspapers and magazines. That will continue for years to come, however social media offers another platform that should not be ignored.

Services such as Groupon and Living Social offer great opportunities to drive customers with discounts, traditional social media offers an added bonus of enabling engagement between customers and stores.

Over the next year or two, I believe that more grocery stores will begin to put greater emphasis on their social profiles, both for reputation purposes, and to drive customers into the stores.

Photo credit: Doug Wilson/Flickr

One of the side benefits of businesses using social media is that it requires some maintenance by actual human beings. For every business, this presents an opportunity. Whomever is managing your company’s social media efforts could become the face of your brand or company online.

The above screen grab is of Scott Monty’s Twitter account. Scott is the head of social media engagement for Ford Motor Company. Other than CEO Allan Mullaly, Scott is the the most recognizable “face” of Ford, because that’s how Ford positioned him to be.

Corporations and brands tend to be faceless organizations: The only humans that customers interact with are the ones they meet in brick-and-mortar locations, or via customer service. Social media presents an opportunity for companies and brands to humanize themselves. It goes towards perception, trust and ultimately, comfort.

In a recent Ad Age column, Chris Malone, chief advisory officer of Relational Capital Group, discussed this at length. Here are some of the key points that he made:

Social media are simply the most obvious place to apply insights about warmth and competence. This universal model of human perception has the potential to significantly reshape almost every aspect of the way companies build, manage, service and advertise their brands.

Because social media are ultimately a platform for conversations, brands can have actually discussions with customers, answer questions and more. This is the warmth that Chris is talking about. If you feel like someone is listening to you, then you’re likely to feel positively towards them.

Putting service-related honesty and selfless intentions on display for consumers to comment on and share with others will surprise, impress and inspire them.

This is all about transparency. Previously, all customer questions to a brand happened behind closed doors, on the phone, in the call centers. While a lot of that still happens today, some of it is shifting online, to social media platforms. Customers cannot be brushed aside when they leave pertinent comments and time-sensitive questions on a brand’s Facebook page.

In an article appearing today on Mashable, the author touches on this as one of the different “engagement styles” that can be used by businesses using Twitter:

With one friendly “individual” voice. This engagement style calls for a business to officially anoint someone or selected people from within the company to be the official Tweet-voice. Their personality is allowed to come through on some level within company boundaries. Customers need to feel as if they are being handled by an actual human being who is personable, but not too edgy

Businesses considering a social media presence should also consider having an employee as the “face” of the company or brand on social networks. It will lend to the credibility of the business, because customers feel like they are interacting with a person, not a nameless/faceless entity.

Instead of banging on about them all, I will talk about two of my favorites.

The first is TrendsMap.com, which imports “trending topics” via geographic location. We’re in Jacksonville, so this is what Jacksonville is talking about on Twitter:

What we see are the topics that are mentioned most frequently by Twitter users who are in Jacksonville, Florida. You will notice that there are not a lot of topics. It’s not because there aren’t enough users; it’s because not everyone is talking about the same thing.

This service is most useful when a large event is happening, such as a sporting event or award show. When that is happening, the map lights up and you get a real sense for what the sentiment is among Twitter users nationwide.

My other favorite is a new one, called WeePlaces.com. This services collects your FourSquare check-in statistics and displays them on a map. Click “play” and you are shown a a time-lapse of your checkins over time. Here are my checkins in Jacksonville:

As social media services evolve, there will be more sites like this cropping up, scraping the raw data created by using the web sites and turning it into something that is easy to understand and actually see.

The implications for marketing and business are hazy right now. One application that I can think of is similar to what The Hard Rock Cafe currently does. When you visit some HRC locations, there’s a video feed piped into the building showing visitors at HRC locations all over the world.

Retailers could use this to show who is checking in at their locations all over, as a way to show customers that they are popular and well-liked nationally. Just a thought.

Now that businesses are taking notice of social media and using it to engage with customers, there exists a need to look forward and understand what the next level looks like. The above image is taken from the 1991 book “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey A. Moore.

In a fascinating blog post, Axel Schultze, CEO of Xeesm, founder of the Social Media Academy writes in CustomerThink that social business is about to cross “The Chasm” as illustrated above:

Larger corporations demand a very different social media engagement. A 5,000 people enterprise won’t just throw a fan page at the market, build an online community and hope it sticks. Strategic engagements require teams and consultants who know enterprises and even SMBs inside out. Social Media Consultants need to cross the chasm in order to finally get to the much larger part of the industry. The past 6 years of social media was just a warm up round. The real race is starting now.

The idea that the past 6 years was a “warm up round” is equal parts scary and exciting. For agencies that offer social media solutions to clients, it means that there will be much greater investment in social media and online community talent. And for businesses, it means that the time for sitting around on the sidelines is official over.

First there was Facebook, leading the way and ultimately becoming the focus of marketers and businesses. Then Twitter came around. Now there is Foursquare. Both Facebook and Twitter are still major players — it’s just that now Foursquare must be considered when developing strategies.

In the next six months, there will be another site. That’s just how this industry seems to work. Being passive is not an option. Businesses need to either hire someone to stay on top of these trends internally, or ask an agency to lead them through it. Either way, standing still is not an option.

But those are not the only platforms that you should plan for. There are may other second-tier, niche social platforms that are worth considering when devising a social media strategy, whether for your agency or for a client. I recently wrote about one, called Take Me Fishing, meant for outdoors and fishing enthusiasts.

Here are a few more that are worth considering:

DailyMile.com

DailyMile touts itself as a “social training log.” In a lot of ways it can be explained more easily as “Facebook for people who like to work out.” Each time you work out, doing anything from running to rock climbing (there are actually 18 different exercise options), you post it on your page, including distance traveled and time spent doing it.

The social element comes in when you add “friends”, who can then view your exercise progress in their own feeds, similar to Facebook’s NewsFeed. Friends can leave comments, “like” posts, and even send you inspiration. Users can also post status updates and photos or videos.

Users can track their running and cycling routes, sign up for races/competitions, and participate in challenges with DailyMile users all over the world.

DailyMile could be useful for an individual, whether it’s a CEO’s attempts to be more transparent and public, or a politician running for office and seeking to fully engage social media across more than just Facebook and Twitter.

Dopplr.com

Dopplr calls itself a “a service for smart international travelers.” It has been around for a few years, but despite that, it has not found itself cemented into the public’s conscious as a major social network, even after being bought by Nokia. Geolocation social platforms are all the rage right now. But Dopplr was around before Foursquare or Gowalla.

Dopplr isn’t interested so much in where you are, as it is in where you’re going and where you’ve been. Its users tend to be professionals who use the site to track their business travel, whether it’s to meetings or conferences.

That being said, Dopplr is a great tool to integrate into a professional’s social media presence. It’s also great for people whose job requires quite a bit of travel, and a bit of transparency – such as athletes, authors, CEOs and more.

Dopplr becomes more social by allowing users to follow each-other, to see what their travel plans are. Users can also leave comments and suggestions for fellow travelers, such as recommendations for restaurants and hotels.

GoodReads.com

This one is for the book readers out there. Calling itself “the largest social network for readers in the world,” Goodreads sets out to let users share their reading lists with others, including reviews of books read and even recommend books to others.

Its core users are the kinds of people who buy multiple books at bookstores, or from online stores for their portable devices, which has them updating frequently. It’s also useful for more passive users, who want to find out what others are reading, and what they think of it.

One great feature is the ability to create and update a To-Read list. There is an iPhone app, so while you’re in a book store, you can add books to your To-Read list very easily.

Using a social platform such as this would be useful for authors and public figures. There are ways to pipe activity on Goodreads onto a website, so visitors can see what books that person is reading, and what they thought of them.

A platform like this can act as support, to broaden out a social media strategy, because it focuses on something more specific.

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There are many more second-tier/niche social networking platforms out there, but these are three that I believe are interesting. When developing a social strategy each has something different that Twitter and Facebook can’t really offer in the same way.

The above can also add something to the Facebook and Twitter experience, since each offer the option to post activity straight to Twitter and Facebook from the sites.

]]> http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/2010/07/finding-value-in-niche-social-networks/feed/ 1 http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/2010/07/opening-up-unsocial-brands-5-tips/ http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/2010/07/opening-up-unsocial-brands-5-tips/#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:54:58 +0000 Ben LaMothe http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/?p=557

For some companies, the rise of social media has brought with it some hard truths, namely that their brand or company risks being left behind because it doesn’t lend itself well to traditional commercial uses of social media.

There is a hint of truth to that — not every brand has social built into their DNA. But with a little help, most unsocial brands can be made at least a little social by using targeted strategies.

The key is not to take a defeatist attitude. Just because it isn’t obvious, does not mean it’s impossible. Check out what your competitors are doing in social media, if they are using it, and determine how to make something work.

Here are five easy steps to turn an un-social brand more social:

1. Be creative: Some brands don’t have a long social media shelf life, and as a result, interactions come in waves. Devise creative ways to encourage more continuous interactions.
2. Define your target: Early on your user group will consist mostly of past customers. Find ways to engage them by asking for photos, video, comments and reviews. Then take this growth and begin targeting new customers.
3. Focus on content: If your customers won’t come together over a love for your brand or company, instead bring them together over content. Create blog posts, videos, audio and photo slideshows. Post them on your social profiles and use it as a basis for interaction.
4. Use as a backchannel: Social media offers a great platform for customer service. While many are still more comfortable calling with a question, some customers have converted to using Facebook and Twitter as a way to work out customer service issues.
5. Use to organize events: As many already know, Facebook has a great Events section, which it recently upgraded. Use Facebook Events to schedule in-store events and other company-related happenings. Twitter also has third-party websites for organizing events.

It’s important to remember that just because a company or brand is not obviously social, that there are no ways to make it work. It might require a more bespoke approach to engaging customers past, present and future, but it can be done.

Photo credit: Colin / Flickr

This afternoon eMarketer published a fascinating article based on research in ExactTarget’s “Subscribers, Fans and Followers” report.

The report highlights what many already know: That customers are listening to brands on multiple platforms. Knowing that, it’s important to present a united front in your brand’s communication and marketing strategies.

Most Internet users studied in April 2010 engaged with brands only via marketing emails, but nearly a third subscribed to emails in addition to being fans of brands on Facebook. The vast majority of social media fans or followers were also email subscribers.

Very interesting findings, no doubt. What this means, ultimately, is that there is less room for fragmentation in messaging. Your customers are getting your e-mail marketing messages, but they’re also a fan on Facebook.

This also means that there are greater opportunities to tailor offers and engagement efforts to individual platforms, knowing that your customers are on both. If you are looking to boost engagement on your Facebook page, tailor your efforts to put the spotlight on the Facebook page and incentivize customers to use it in the way that the company would like it to be used.

As always, eMarketer has condensed their findings into an easy-to-read infographic:

Looking specifically at social media, the report found that Twitter plays a specific role in how customers use social media to interact with brands:

Twitter appeals most to consumers who want to feel up to date and in the know, suggesting information about new products and services or other brand initiatives would be of interest.

I’m inclined to agree. Just look at Twitter’s latest eCommerce venture, EarlyBird (@EarlyBird) which brings “exclusive offers from Twitter’s select advertising partners” to more than 87,000 Twitter users, a number that is growing by 2,900+ every day.

Measurement tools exist to help companies determine the success/failure rate of their e-mail marketing efforts. This new information should help companies better tailor their messaging, and ensure that all of its social channels are singing the same tune.

Photo credit: Mohammad Jangda/Flickr

Social media has quickly become commercially viable over the past year and a half as companies large and small have recognized its value. While today you’d be hard pressed to find a major company not involved in social media, occasionally one does pop up.

I happened upon one a few weeks ago. My first reaction was surprise, and perhaps a little disbelief. I thought, perhaps I’ve missed their official profile. So I did more digging and realized that I had not: Profiles for them exist on Facebook, some with more than 100k followers, but none of them are “official.”

For companies like this, all is not lost. While they do have hundreds of thousands of customers talking about their brand in the social space every day, often without an official voice to be found, that does not mean that the company should sit back and observe. They should seize the opportunity that is before them.

In some ways a big brand waiting to formally enter the social media fray can be a good thing. There is already a large number of customers using these platforms, so the biggest challenge right away becomes directing them to the official channel.

When a company is entering the social media space later than they perhaps should have, here are 3 things to consider when developing a strategy

1. What platform should you use? Facebook, Twitter and Youtube/Vimeo are not the same. Each serves a different purpose. Brainstorm what function you want each platform to serve before delving into specifics of a strategy.
2. How are your customers already interacting with your company in social media? Do a search of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to determine who is saying what, how often it’s being said, and how an official company voice could benefit the conversation, the company and the customer.
3. What should your content strategy be? Should you be writing blog posts? Or should your social sites link back to in-store deals/offers? When using Facebook, do you want people to interact, or do you just want to push content? All of these questions and more should be answered when developing a strategy.

Getting into social media late has advantages and drawbacks for a large company. But the important thing is that the company eventually does get involved and become part of the conversations that its customers are already having about their brand.

Photo credit: Stephen Mackenzie/Flickr

This is a primary barrier for many businesses that are considering becoming more active in social media: We use social media, but our customers don’t — so what’s the point?

My advice to businesses confronted with this dilemma: See it as an opportunity, not a barrier.

Your current customers may not be using social media so much that it makes sense to spend money to market to them — but your potential customers certainly are.

Social media engagement offers your company an opportunity to do a minor re-brand. You don’t need to change your identity, or your logo.

Instead re-focus and use social media to raise brand awareness amongst people who are not already customers. You should ensure that your current customers are aware of your social profiles and the benefits that come with being involved with them, but your focus should be on using social media to bring new customers.

It won’t happen over night, but over time you will see results.

Assess the social media plan after six months. Look for successes and failures. If possible, find a way to track new customers who came in as a direct result of social media engagement. This could be done by offering a discount, or other kinds of value.

Have realistic goals for new customer acquisition and be prepared to change course quickly, if an element of the strategy does not appear to be working well.

Also don’t forget to check back with your current customers — have any past customers joined? Are any past customers using your company’s social media channels frequently? If so, how are they using them?

Analytics are crucial, especially in new customer acquisition. Social media can enable that, so long as it’s done right.

Photo credit: Beck Tench/Flickr

But the post I read this morning by Richard Millington, an online community consultant, made me realize that while some companies can make due with just one community manager, larger companies will need a team.

Richard breaks it down into five roles: The Friend, The Recruiter, The Enforcer, The Editor, and The Entrepreneur.

If your community is growing and you need to recruit more people, it makes sense to split these roles. Let the editors focus on content, the entrepreneurs focus on business development and the recruiter recruit.

While you likely don’t need to hire five people to cover these roles, you will need more than one person in order for your community (or communities) to be effective. Some of these roles will become larger than others — your brand or company may need a more active Enforcer.

Each company is different, and so, each company’s online community is different. It’s hugely important to understand what your community is like, what makes your community members tick and ultimately what makes them react.

Once you know this, you can make more informed choices about how to develop your online community management support team.

Even though his face was really made for TV, Renaissance Creative’s Social Media Strategist, Ben Lamothe will be working out his vocal chords this coming Monday. Ben will be joining host, Melissa Ross, on our local NPR / PBS affiliate, 89.9FM’s “First Coast Connect” at 9am (7/12/10), to discuss the Crisis in the Gulf. Ben will specifically be addressing BP’s social media response to the crisis. After a fumbling start, BP now has substantial social media strategy in place- but is it working, or being upstaged by Twitter’s satirical BPGlobalPR? Ben will let us know his thoughts. This is educational stuff, so tell your boss to “Back off!” (…or “Tune in!”).

Here’s a good example of that from ZDNet’s Enterprise 2.0 blog about community management:

In this infographic is a fairly in-depth breakdown of the various functions of an online community manager. It’s a position that is still being understood by businesses that don’t expressly work within the technology field. But as social tools and blogging becomes more widespread, more companies are understanding the value that an online community manager can offer their company and their customers.

So, does your company need one?

The entire article is fascinating, but I found this part the most insightful:

As more in-store shoppers—especially millennials, who are used to turning to their mobile phone to stay connected anytime, anywhere—become mobile web users, demand for an in-store experience that takes advantage of web capabilities will only grow.

Developing and executing an in-store mobile marketing strategy can be expensive, which is why it will mostly be done by larger companies with numerous brick and mortar stores. However, opportunities exist for small and medium-sized businesses to develop a more cost-effective strategy for developing an in-store mobile marketing strategy.

Here are four possibilities:

1. In-store web coupons: Have the coupon URL of a coupon posted in-store. A customer can visit the coupon’s site on their mobile phone, load it and show it to the cashier at check-out
2. Get an app.: This is a more expensive option, but it has the potential to pay off in the longer term. Have a mobile app. developed that gives back automatic discounts for in-store use, such as price scanning and more.
3. Partner with a geolocation service: Earlier this week I wrote about how SMBs can use geolocation. In this instance, when a customer checks in at your store, they are presented with a coupon to be used during that visit.
4. Text message discount codes: Give your customers a number that, when they text it, they are sent a coupon code that can be used in-store. Each day (week/month) the code and discount is different.

Mobile marketing is an emerging field, but the opportunities today are great and diverse. Some are more expensive than others, but all promise to engage customers who shop in-store, in a more direct and meaningful way.

The latest evolution in social media, geolocation, has dealt with the same withering criticism by non-users. The difference is that the commercial applications of geolocation are much clearer than they are with Facebook or Twitter. There are many companies and services vying for geolocation users’ hearts, but right now that crown belongs to Foursquare.

Geolocation’s early adopters who saw the commercial appeal included Starbucks, who signed a deal with Foursquare to promote their Frappuccino Beverage by offering a discount to the “Mayors” of individual Starbucks locations.

Now it has begun to trickle down to SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses), who are also beginning to offer discounts and benefits to customers who “check-in” at their store.

Here are some tips that SMBs can use to engage their customers, encourage them to check-in and get them to tell their friends:

1. Keep it simple: If you’re going to offer a special via Foursquare or another geolocation application, it’s critically important that the steps a customer needs to take to receive the discount are as few as possible — ideally no more than two.
2. Don’t be cheap: If you’re going to offer customers discounts for checking in at your business, make it worth their while. The better the offer, the more likely customers are to tell their friends.
3. Track your stats: Foursquare offers businesses an analytics dashboard if you register with them. This allows businesses to track the activity at their store, including who checks-in most often, who last checked in and what the busiest check-in day is.
4. Keep it fresh: Mix up your offers to correspond with specific events or products. This encourages repeat check-ins, new customers and raises product awareness.
5. Move offline: When your business gets a new “mayor”, offer to recognize them in-store by having their name on a board, or posting their photo.

Every business is different, and as such, each strategy for using geolocation will differ. But the above five tips is a good jumping-off point for creating an individualized strategy for a small or medium-sized business.

In Wednesday’s post I made reference to our client III Forks — Jacksonville. I’m going to reference them again, because they’re a good example of the opportunities that exist in ensuring that your employees are working to nurture the company’s online communities.

In a restaurant setting, the opportunities for using social media are great and applicable across almost every area of the restaurant operations. III Forks is a dinner-only restaurant, which changes things a bit. Here are some examples of how social media can be implemented across the restaurant operation:

Pre-opening

Post to the Facebook Fan Page what that day’s specials will be, whether there are any changes to the dinner menu, and if there are any changes elsewhere in the restaurant that night.

Write about the night’s drink specials at the bar and any speciality wines that are available.

Opening

Write on Facebook about how busy the restaurant is that night. If there are holes in the reservation schedule that night, let people know: “We’ve got reservation openings tonight for 8 and 9 p.m., if anyone is interested!” This won’t always work, but it will cause people to think about making a spontaneous decision to go out to III Forks for a nice dinner.

Mid-Evening

Write about the dishes that are most popular that evening and whether there are any birthdays happening that evening. If you have an opportunity, take a few photos of the “behind the scenes” action in the kitchen, and post them to the Facebook page.

Ensure that waiters are asking diners to visit your Facebook page and leave a review. Not everyone will do it, but it’s all part of raising awareness of the page and encouraging interaction.

If you’ve got photos from the Happy Hour, post them to the Facebook page.

Closing

Post some stats from the evening, such as which dish and desert was most popular. Also, post any other photos that you might have from the evening. Also take this time to answer any questions or responses that fans/customers may have left on your posts from the evening.

It’s important that your employees are trained on how they should be using these mediums, and what they should be doing to direct attention to these online communities. In situations like this, awareness is often driven online from an offline position, such as in-store.

It may seem like a lot, but after a few days of doing it, it will become more natural. After all, it’s only about five posts per day. With everyone working in tandem, you will create a much more active online community that will deliver value back to the company sooner, and ensure that customers are getting  value out of the company’s online community.

During a meeting this afternoon with our client, III Forks — Jacksonville, we discussed their Facebook Fan Page, which has attracted 670+ local fans. We discussed ways to create a greater sense of community for its fans, and ways to deliver more value to them.

Because III Forks is a fine dining restaurant, and thus offers a fine dining experience, the community that it has online is a blend of different types of customers.

Despite that, these clusters of customer type share something in common: They’re all a part of III Forks — Jacksonville’s online community. They must be interacted with as one, not as groups.

III Forks has a great opportunity to offer tons of value to its online community in a variety of ways. The online community makes up a part of their core customer base — they’re the ones who will spread the brand by word-of-mouth and invite others to join the community.

If your brand does not have a community around it, one can be built. You’ve got to understand what platforms your customers are using online, and how they are using them. It’s also important to understand what you can offer this community to keep them engaged, and to ensure its continued growth.

With a restaurant, try offering exclusive discount opportunities. Facebook ads work well to raise awareness about specials. Or, if your restaurant offers something unique, use the ad as a way to raise awareness and distinguish yourself. Ensure that your ad also gives users the opportunity to “Like” your page.

Restaurants can also host exclusive tasting sessions. Creating an air of exclusivity for your brand’s online community is critical to ensuring that the community members feel appreciated and engaged. It also increases the likelihood that they will want to tell others about you.

When your online community starts working for you, then you know you’re doing something right.

]]> http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/2010/06/why-building-community-around-your-brand-is-important/feed/ 2 http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/2010/06/social-media-as-customer-service/ http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/2010/06/social-media-as-customer-service/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:40:56 +0000 Ben LaMothe http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/?p=447 If you own an iPhone and have a Twitter account, chances are good that you’ve used Twitter to complain publicly about something AT&T has done, or in some cases, has not done. It may have seemed like no-one from AT&T was listening. We now know that is not the case.

Today Ad Age published an article detailing AT&T’s new social media plan, aimed at helping customers and ultimately turn negatives into positives. From the article:

On a normal day, AT&T has 10,000 mentions on social networks, but during stressful moments like these they rise precipitously. The marketer is out to calm those twit storms by staffing up its social-media customer-care corps. The team, led by its first-ever social-media strategist for customer care Shawn McPike, has been building steam since August of last year and is now poised for full-scale launch.

AT&T has the opportunity to duplicate the success that Comcast has experienced with @ComcastCares, and in the UK, BT (British Telecom) with @BTCare. With a company the size of AT&T, there will always be upset customers. But when you add social media to the equation, customer discontent is amplified and spread very quickly.

The timing also could not be better for AT&T, as a parody Twitter account has popped up recently, called @ATT_Wireless_PR. It appears to be attempting to do what @BPGlobalPR is currently doing against BP.

Chris Brogan, of New Marketing Labs, and social media marketing expert, had this to say about the move by AT&T:

“I’m glad they [AT&T] are going to push forward,” said Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs. “They are a bit behind, like Comcast was. They’ve really let the media run the story for the longest time.”

Chris is right. Up to this point, AT&T has been content to let customers determine the company’s image in social media. As a result, complaining about AT&T’s service on Twitter has almost become cliche.

If you’re a big company, it’s likely that your customers are already talking about you on various social media platforms. Sitting on the sidelines is increasingly less of an option, especially in times of crisis or bad publicity. Get off the bench and start talking with your customers.

You can turn passive customers into brand evangelists and former-customers back into current-customers, all by getting involved with them on social media.

Over at mobile marketing blog Mobile Marketing Watch, they have a breakdown of what Sarah Rotman Epps of Forrester laid out at the Untethered conference:

She expects 3.5 million tablets — including the iPad and other tablets — to be sold this year, growing to 20.4 million in 2015.  In addition, she expects desktop sales to drop from 18.7 million units in 2010 to 15.7 million units in 2015.

Take into account that Apple is selling about 1.2 million iPads per month, according to Apple Insider, and you soon realize that tablet computing is here to stay and its impact on web and digital marketing will be significant.

Because of the hype surrounding both the iPad and tablet computing in general, it is likely that digital agencies are being approached by their clients about whether they should take the plunge and develop their own iPad application.

If a client asks about developing an iPad app for their product or brand, first ask them these three questions:

1. The most basic iPad costs $500, and the 3G-enabled iPad costs $650. Are your core customers buying them?
2. The most successful applications on iPhone and iPad are games, so if your app is not a game, are you OK with not ranking highly in the app store?
3. Do you have an iPhone app, and if so, how successful was it? What would be different on the iPad app?

Having an iPad application means offering content all of the time. It is a media consumption device more than a media creation device. You can send e-mails and do most everything that you can do on a laptop or desktop computer, but with the iPad, the experience is different. The screen is large, so design and user experience is much more important.

The iPad offers brands a way to interact with its customers in a new way. But it also requires brands to be more open to these changes, as they are happening rapidly.

First, I want to clear a few things up. No two social media platforms are alike, and each requires its own strategy for engagement and ROI. It’s important to go into any social media strategy session with that in mind.

But when the time does come to develop strategies, use this handy five-point checklist as a guide:

— Facebook is nothing like Twitter

— Some brands are not Twitter-friendly (i.e. the user base either isn’t there, or it’s not the appropriate channel)

— Some brands are not Facebook-friendly (i.e. people don’t feel connected to the brand in such a way to leave messages on a large message board)

— If your Facebook fan page does not offer value to users and customers, it will not deliver value to the company

— Deleting negative comments on Facebook left by fans or users will ultimately do more harm than good. Do the leg work to turn a negative into a positive

For this post, I’d like to address the fourth point, about creating value for users and customers. While there are many examples of companies that do this poorly, there are a number that do it well. One great example of this is Ford Motor Company. Over at the Inside Facebook blog, they’ve got a breakdown of what Ford is doing with its Fan Page:

The Ford Motor Company has chosen the Ford Explorer Facebook page to give the public a first glimpse of the totally redesigned 2011 model. This breaks from the usual debut of a new model, which traditionally is made at large auto shows, and shows the auto company’s commitment to its social media marketing efforts. There is no set date for a full unveil, but teaser photos are already up on the site, as well as video of a cloaked 2011 Explorer in action.

This strategy is being characterized as a success, and rightfully so. Ford is offering tangible value to its fans on Facebook. The company isn’t giving its fans money, or even discounts. Rather, they’re treating the fans with respect and status: Become a fan on Facebook and get the first look at the new model of Ford Explorer. It’s a highly targeted campaign, and because of that, the engagement levels are high.

Before your company launches a Facebook fan page for itself, first think about why you are launching it. As yourself these questions:

— What do you want your customers to get out of being your Fan on Facebook?

— What will you offer your brand’s Fans on Facebook, that will make them want to stick around, and tell others about it?

— What do you want to get out of having a Facebook Fan Page for your brand?

Answer the above three questions and then decide if a Facebook Fan Page is right for you. Launching a Fan Page just to have one has the potential to cause more harm than good. Leaving it unattended opens the brand up to fans taking it over and thus diluting your brand’s messaging.

But if you have someone at the helm, monitoring and, at times, controlling the conversation, then the brand and company will be much better off.

Among them is wealth.

Spend time using Twitter or Facebook and you’ll soon realize that the only “rich people” who use it regularly are celebrities or entertainers, who are trying to communicate with the masses. The area between middle class and celebrity, in terms of personal wealth, has become a robust audience for social networks. They might have a  Twitter or Facebook profile, but that won’t be the place they do most of their social networking. Many have decided to join ultra-exclusive social networks exclusively for people like themselves — the rich and famous.

How affluent people use traditional social media platforms has been the subject of numerous studies. Specifically, what is their relationship with brands on these platforms?  Brian Solis wrote about one of those recent studies it in a recent blog post:

The Unity study to the contrary, shows that affluent consumer, for the moment, maintain a different relationship with brands within social networks. They visit brand pages, but do not always take the next step of “liking” the brand in Facebook. Of those well-off consumers, only 25% of brand page visitors actually liked the page.

This has numerous implications for social media campaigns that target affluent people. In short, unless your goals are small, you are better off not launching a campaign for affluent people on Facebook or Twitter. It’s not because they’re not there. Rather, it’s because they’re not engaged.

Another hurdle is with how affluent people identify themselves on mainstream social networks. In 2007, the Wall Street Journal published an interesting article on this topic.

The first problem is getting the rich to label themselves as rich online, given their concerns over privacy and scams. Wealth peering groups such as Tiger 21 and CCC Alliance both have successful online components. But they are more like listservs than open public networks — online extensions of groups that meet in person every month or quarter.

To find affluent social media users, you’ve got to work on their turf. Over the years, niche social networks such as Diamond Lounge, A Small World and Spire have sprouted up.

Marketing to this user base is difficult, because these communities are effectively closed. In order to gain admission, you’ve got to be evaluated. And in some cases, admission is conditional upon the recommendation of a current member.

Getting accepted to these communities could be done with a bit of creative, long-term guerilla marketing. The returns will not be instant, and it will require relationship building. But if you can become a part of this community and passively-promote whatever you’re seeking to promote, then you could see success over time.

Ben has been a guest blogger for such prestigious online communities as Media140.org, Econsultancy.com and FreshNetworks.com. His areas of expertise include developing and implementing unique strategies in Social Media Marketing; Multimedia Content Creation, Distribution and Aggregation; Blogging; Online Community Development (internal and external); Customer Relationship Management (CRM); and Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM). Ben has worked in industries ranging from non-profits, to farming, IT, luxury marketing, academia, news media, textiles and destination resorts.

I met Ben through a brief Twitter exchange one evening (surprise) while we were both up late working on marketing plans. He quickly showed himself to be a very creative, intelligent and knowledgeable online marketer and journalist, the kind of professional that’s hard to find, that you can’t have too many of these days.

While Ben is the kind of person who may operate his own full-time consultancy one day, our plans are to slowly, get him addicted to the high-octane, double-caffeinated coffee we brew around here, then “convince” him its best not to leave. At any rate, as long as he’s working on his thesis, Ben will be ours! Look for Ben to be contributing to “Make Belief”, the official blog of Renaissance Creative with a focus on new and social media; web marketing trends; branding and community building.

He’ll also be taking a look at the online presences of businesses throughout North Florida, so don’t be surprised if you get a phone call from him one day, or if walks in and introduces himself and offers to show you how we might be able to help your business in this challenging and ever-changing new economy.

Welcome Ben!

The 2010 Winter Olympics are behind us and I for one am sad to see them go. There were so many compelling moments that defined the Vancouver Games for me, from snowboarder Shaun White’s incredible Double McTwist 1260 in the half-pipe (a trick only he can perform); to Apolo Ohno passing the Chinese team in the anchor lap of the 5000 meter short track relay to become the most decorated American in Winter Olympic history; to the final frantic seconds of regulation and overtime in the US–Canada gold medal hockey game. But nothing brought me to edge of my seat like Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller’s exhilarating performances in the men’s and women’s downhill.

What I love so much about all of our Olympic Athletes and find so well-exemplified in these two, in this event, is their absolute understanding and embracement of a simple, but profound principle. One I believe creatives should never forget: That distinguishing achievement often requires more than talent and training; more than skill and desire; more than preparation or luck. It most often requires exceptional courage and a willingness to take extraordinary risks. And that’s not easy or natural, for anyone.

Consider that when Vonn raced, in addition to a badly bruised leg, she also faced the pressures of a spectacular run by teammate Julia Mancuso, just moments earlier. Vonn was rattled. But rather than downplay the challenge, Lindsey’s husband and coach, Thomas, radioed his wife specifically to confirm for Lindsey that Mancuso had a “special run” and to relate, “You’re going to have to be perfect to win.” Vonn would later state that this strategic message from her husband allowed her to “let go” of her fears and instead, “focus on that challenge”. She subsequently took the most aggressive lines all the way down the mountain, coming perilously close to wiping out at nearly every turn. The result– she beat Mancuso’s “sepcial run” by over a full half-second.

Likewise, ignoring treacherous course conditions resulting from warm weather and light snow, Bode Miller attacked the downhill course with reckless abandon to become the first American men’s skier to stand on the podium for that event since Tommy Moe, sixteen years ago. His bronze medal time was 1:54.40, only nine hundredths of a second behind gold medalist, Didier Defago, the smallest differential between gold and bronze in Olympic history. Said Miller of his performance and his American team, “We went after it. We weren’t scared. We were always aggressive.”

Of course, while a willingness to lay it all on the line can pay huge dividends as it did in both of these instances, it never guarantees success and often sets the stage for spectacular failure. Later, attempting to go 5 for 5 in Olympic events in the slalom –the one event for which he had not won an Olympic medal– on a difficult course on sticky, wet snow that was proving difficult for many of the racers, Miller did not change his approach. The consequence: he ran into trouble almost right out of the gate. Said Miller,  “It’s unfortunate to go out so early, but you have to take risks… and I did.”

I believe creatives, from designers, to copywriters to marketing strategists should take the same approach as Miller, Vonn and others and not allow themselves to be constrained by fear. I appreciate creatives who are willing to explore their most conceptual ideas, even if it results in more misses than hits. I know that by doing so, this will give them the best chance to come up with something great, which is the only thing I ever want to present to a client.

Great creative work must always take a point of view. It has to “say something” to be memorable. Remember that people respond to “different” and “unpredictable”. In this sense, “safe” is risky. The real problems begin when fear- the fear of mistakes, the fear of looking foolish, the fear that someone won’t “get” your idea, prevents you from saying anything at all. I once heard Jeff Kling, ECD of Euro RSCG put it this way: “Screw-ups are tools of evolution. They help us survive.” There’s a lot of wisdom in that statement. Remember also, that in the business of marketing and advertising, we’re not looking to connect with the 80% of people who may not “get”, or like, or even care at all about our creative, but rather the 20% who do, and are inspired to act upon it. 

So the next time you’re faced with a daunting creative challenge (or business challenge, or life challenge), don’t allow yourself to become compromised by fear. Rather, recognize that most of life’s rewards are not without risk; that we all fall sometimes; and that even those instants leave us better prepared to make some truly extraordinary runs in the future. If nothing else, we’ll put people on the edge of their seats. At least for marketers, that’s our job.

Related videos (Note: Viewing videos from nbcolympics.com may require a quick, free upload of Microsoft Silverlight)
• How to Stomach Fear in the Downhill
• Lindsey Vonn’s 2010 Olympic Downhill Gold Medal Run
• Bode Miller’s 2010 Olympic Downhill Bronze Medal Run

Thanks to Matt Earley, an Arkansas-based creative, musician, minister, ad man and achiever for his inspiration. During a recent Twitter exchange in which I commented how much I loved the, “put-everything-on-line” spirit of the Olympic athletes, it was Matt who came back with the question, “a great parallel for life”? Yes Matt, it is. Keep attacking! Join us on Twitter: @mattearley; @thamby

1. Instead of “LifeLock.com”, someone will create “LifeHock.com”, the first web portal where you can go to freely surrender your non-identity theft personal data– name, age, profession, income, hobbies/interests and contact information, in exchange for commissions based on how many times your information is re-sold to marketers, and how desirable your demographics. They’re going to get it eventually– why not get a fair cut and receive only high-quality, targeted spam?

2. Traditional media — In a last ditch effort to survive, newspapers will give up trying to marginalize bloggers as non-journalists and begin aggressively recruiting and hiring the most influential among them, in an effort to capture those bloggers’ audiences for their own benefit (cable has already thrown in the towel). Print will continue to shrivel under the heat of digital media.

3. The science of networks, not just social and MLM, but physical, virtual, biological, mathematical, online, offline, proven and theoretical will grow into a huge topic of conversation.

4. Ashton Kutcher will demonstrate the Klout of 5,000,000 Twitter followers, when he announces his bid for Governor of the State of California. At the height of the media frenzy surrounding his massive fundraising potential, Kutcher will show up unannounced on Larry King, revealing to scheduled guest and prior leading candidate, Jerry Brown that he has just been Punk’d!

5. The cult of celebrity won’t die no matter how hard stars themselves (Charlie Sheen, Tiger, Paris, etc.,) seemingly try to extinguish it. Celebrity is only enhanced by controversy.

6. Television also won’t be going anywhere (except to our mobile phones). And lo- I can envision a time when more brands will skip product placement and go straight into the cable network business. Consider: The Walmart Home Shopping Network; Coca-Cola “Happiness” Channel; IKEA Home & Design or Pfizer Health Sciences Networks.

7. Augmented Reality and 3D TV is (virtually) upon us. Get ready to hear a lot of, “But, ‘Fill in the Blank’ has a 3D TV!!!” from your kids.

8. “Crowds” will begin turning into angry mobs, once they realize that they are actually working inside “virtual” sweatshops.

9. The social media pendulum will begin to experience the full effects of gravity as nay-sayers, never-tryers and contrarians increasingly question its effectiveness as a legitimate marketing tool. There are already websites where people are going to commit “social media suicide”.

10. …However, I believe social media is an undeniably valuable tool for SEO (still one of today’s marketing cornerstones), and that it can be used very effectively for branding and marketing when integrated strategically, naturally, creatively and consistently. Those who give up on it too soon will be sorry down the road because networks by their nature, grow exponentially over time.

11. Aggregation and digital distribution will continue to make a lot more people rich.

12. Collaboration, a “new” old concept in work/business models, will also result in growing partnerships between brands as effective sales & product extension strategies. While Apple and Google won’t be hooking up any time soon, Ford recently announced it will use Best Buy’s sales force to demonstrate their new Sync voice controlled communications and entertainment technology.
Old concept: Collaboration. New Buzzword: Symbiotic Marketing.

13. Advertising won’t “go away”, as it is part and parcel of capitalism and free market economies. We can only hope that it will be more thoughtfully “imposed” upon us. Concepts, ideas and overall creativity will become more valued than high-quality executions in digital or traditional media, except to those inside the industry, who understand the critical importance of both.

14. Top agencies will increasingly be looked to as high-level strategic partners, contributing more significant ideas for creation of new markets, product development and broader corporate sales and marketing initiatives. In so doing, simple pay-per-service fees may be supplemented or replaced with equity partnerships and return-on-performance financial models.

15. The stigma associated with asking creative agencies for spec work will finally begin to resonate outside of the industry and into the collective consciousness of the corporate mainstream. Clients will eventually quit asking, out of concern for their own ethical reputations.

16. Giving back is going to become fundamental, and “givewashers” will be “outed”. Corporations and uber-wealthy individuals have it in their power to affect serious change in the world, while also inspiring an army of brand loyalists and imitators. Critical will be approaching it earnestly, creatively and in a way careful not to suggest self-appointed elites pushing Marxism as “progressive”.

17. “Honesty, transparency and authenticity.” Aren’t you sick of hearing those words? Me too, and I’ve blogged about them a lot. But the fact that these themes aren’t going away is a wonderful thing. If you’re something other than what you purport to be, someone will discover it; share it with ten friends; and you’ll be left to watch relevance slip through your fingers like sand.

…And my final prediction:

18. It’s nothing specific I see coming, just a feeling I can’t escape. It’s difficult to describe, and even harder to define. But, from tidal waves to earthquakes; from global warming to global recession; from fractured governments to failing banks; from falling idols to faltering families; from tea parties, to housing hangovers, to “reality” that is created and still largely controlled by the media– something over the past decade has left us feeling seriously “undone”. But, I predict that as this sentiment continues to emerge, that we’ll all respond in positive ways… By giving more to others than we expect back in return. By collaborating, sharing resources and ideas. By putting our children’s interests before our own. Listening to one another. And most of all, by seeking guidance, not from our celebrities, politicians or even our Facebook friends– but from above.

Have a great 2010.

P.S. Did I mention that I thought Leno at 10 PM was going to be a brilliant move?…

No sooner than I had thought this, than another group member, posted this reply: “This approach assumes that design is to be judged on some standard of design, independent of anything else. First comes an objective in regard to marketing materials. Marketing establishes an objective (or objectives) and develops a strategy to realize those objectives. Design not only does not perform independent of these things, but to be successful, it must assume that marketing did their job correctly and visually enable the strategy to effectively work, to realize the objectives. Good commercial design (i.e. graphic design) when done well is a measurement of how well marketing did their job.”

This designer’s thoughts were similar to mine, but I believe there’s a little more to it. Criteria is the foundation of effective design and includes more than just objectives and strategy. It includes things like a thorough understanding of who your audience is, how they are unique, where they are, what they do and what their passions are. It includes understanding attributes, benefits, strengths and weaknesses of the brand. A study of competition, how to stand out… and much more. The designer should help contribute and synthesize all this in the design process.

I think more thought leaders (CEO’s, CMO’s, CTO’s), are recognizing the rich benefits of seamless collaboration between disciplines and “departments”. I believe it is critically important that marketers understand design methodology and that designers be actively engaged in criteria development from the start- not sitting and waiting for the next “order”. How can you achieve full creative potential with an assembly-line mentality? You can’t.

The same holds true for interaction between web designers, programmers, PR, strategists, media planners, writers, etc. Here at Renaissance we are about seamless collaboration. Our designers are intelligent, strategic thinkers who have a broad range of individual capabilities. And we use all of them to achieve the best results for our clients.

Many years ago, legendary ad man, William Bernbach had the vision to combine copywriters and art directors into two-person teams—they had commonly been in separate departments. So, why did we ever stop there? Fragmenting the brand internally will inherently, weaken it externally. The bottom line is that the more diversified skill sets you put on a problem from the onset, the better your chance of arriving at an effective solution. In my opinion, this is one “general” principle of design that if utilized uniformly, would allow us to say with conviction, “Here’s what all great pieces really have in common”.

1. Provide Valuable Content – For successful search engine optimization (SEO), content is king. Provide information on your site that your target audience will appreciate. Make yourself a resource. COST: FREE

2. Write Effective Meta Tags – The three most important are your Title, Description and Keyword tags. Titles are the text seen at the top of browser windows on all pages. These are the most important to search engines. They indicate what each individual page is about. They should be succinct (not exceeding 75 characters), include high traffic keywords and for most businesses, be geographically specific.
Description tags are the descriptive copy web-surfers see when organic search results pop up. This information helps people determine if they want to visit your site, so make them strategic (use keywords), informative and compelling (250 characters or so).
Keywords are a list of words and phrases relevant to the content of your site. They are not as important as Titles and Descriptions, but still help. COST: Once written, an hour or two of coding time

3. Secure Inbound Links – Incoming links into your website increase traffic. Also, when Google and other search engines see multiple incoming links into your site, they assume it’s important and rank it higher. Encourage as many relevant links into your site as you can. This can include strategic “partners”; satellite offices; Chambers; subs, etc. One-way links are considered the most natural and desirable, though “reciprocal links” are fine, if they are logical. COST: FREE

4. Submit Your Website to Directories – Submit your site to key directories, providing as much information as possible. Then scouting the numerous other business and specialized industry directories. The important ones include: Google Local Listings (aka Google Maps); Yahoo Local; MSN Live Search; and the Open Directory Project (dmoz.com). COST: FREE

5. Blog – Want links? Become a resource; encourage inbound traffic; publicize new content; and encourage others to pick up your stories, all in one step! The secret to blogging: Don’t worry about being a journalist; keep it short, conversational and dedicate a set period of time to it (an hour or two a week). COST: FREE

6. Pinging Services – If you’re going to put in the time to blog, make sure people know. Each time you make a new entry, visit Google Blog Search Ping Utility at http://blogsearch.google.com/ping and type in your blog address. Pingomatic.com is another good one. COST: FREE

7. Write & Submit Articles – See #5 Above. Submit content to article directories for abundant backlinks. Go to www.ezinearticles.com to begin. COST: FREE

8. Write and Distribute Press Releases – Yes, you can do it yourself for only the cost of your time. Distribution is free at PRlog.com COST: FREE

9. Leverage Social Networks – Linkedin for professionals; Facebook for friends and family. Both provide invaluable exposure for your website and your content and there are many more. COST: FREE

10. Promote Yourself In Online Forums & Blogs – Participate in online groups. Get started by investigating Google Groups (groups.google.com) COST: FREE

Well over half (57%) of American households have broadband and they spend more than 30% of their media time, online. According to a 2008 NAR survey of Home Buyers and Sellers, 87% of homebuyers said they used the internet as a resource when researching residential real estate. That’s 2% more than those who said they consulted a real estate agent! Does this mean that Realtors are no longer relevant and/or that traditional advertising is dead? Not by a long shot!

The survey also reported that a healthy 47% of searchers looked at newspapers or other print ads (5th place, behind Internet- 87%, real estate agents-85%, yard signs-62% and open houses-48%). And that of the 87% percent of home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home—well, 87% of those folks eventually purchased through a real estate agent! These statistics tell us that real estate marketing (still) relies on strategic, integrated marketing utilizing both on- and offline media to deliver targeted messages to various audiences; and on the expertise of trained professionals to help homebuyers navigate the market and assist them with these large, life-changing transactions.

But, what about those third graders?

I suppose the critical point is that they’re in third grade– and still growing and evolving. And unless you are in denial about the Internet’s importance to marketing, you should be continuing to evolve, as well! Your media mix —whatever it includes—will ultimately run through or revolve around your website. It is, or at least it should be– the hub of your marketing wheel. And while it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the seemingly unlimited creative possibilities of Web 2.0 with its streaming media (web video), mobile media, blogs, widgets, podcasts and syndication technologies like RSS (really simple syndication), there’s no excuse not to understand the basics of online marketing. If you are not getting the desired results from your website, here are some helpful hints and best practices to consider before investing in a potentially under-performing site.

1. Avoid 100% Flash websites. My creative brain loves the slick, dynamic look and seamless experience all-flash sites can provide, but search engine traffic is an important part of our clients’ business models and search engines can parse little content from Flash-based sites relative to HTML and CSS. In addition, if you have a lot of site content, or think it will need to be updated more than 3-4 times a year, then it makes sense to stay away from 100% Flash for budget reasons. I prefer balancing usability with creativity by combining HTML and CSS with some Flash, as a little Flash can go a long way to enhance user experience when used creatively and intelligently.
2. Mission Critical: Content – For successful search engine optimization (SEO), content is king. Your site should provide valuable information that references specific terms and concepts unique to your site with text on as many pages as possible, weaving keywords into compelling copy. Often, it’s not the broad keywords you might have imagined people are using to find you, but very specific ones. Search engines typically index the first 500 words of copy on each page. Site maps (outlines of your site) help search engines, as well.
3. Always use title tags, or page titles, that are relevant to the content of specific pages. Title tags define page titles, which are seen at the top of the browser window. Search engines place significant emphasis on this text when conducting searches and returning results. In most cases, your titles should describe what you sell and where your business is located. They should be succinct (usually not exceeding 75 characters), strategic and compelling since this is the link text in search engine results. Besides a good title tag, you should have a good description tag, which is hidden text that search engines use for page summaries. These should also be concise (1-2 sentences), informative (tell me what I can do here) and clear (what is the content of the page).
4. Avoid title tags with too much competition. A Google search for “Jacksonville real estate” puts you in competition with a universe of 3,050,000 other pages with the same links. “St. Johns County real estate” reduces it to 411,000. “Ponte Vedra Beach real estate” drops it 244,000. Try to be specific and localize.
5. Remember that conversion is your ultimate goal. Top placement may be a by-product of successful online marketing, but conversion is king. SEO is just one part of the process. To be effective, your online marketing should convert visitors into customers. This means considering such factors as your own unique selling points, calls to action, site navigation, conversion and conversion path.

By simply keeping these few principles in mind, you should at least be on equal footing in the competitive online marketplace. More likely, you’ll find yourself ahead of many and might even be able to teach your third grader a thing or two!

The story applies beautifully to all of those who become too comfortable with any aspect of life, not anticipating change and innovation, nor planning appropriately for the future.

We believe in this principle with such conviction at Renaissance Creative that we use the phrase, “Think Forward” in conjunction with our logo and brand identity. It’s how we help our clients think about their own products and services and the mindset that we apply to all of our creative work. Because failing to do so can have serious consequences, as Kendrick and Orthlip’s history lesson shows:

“Colonel Mastalerz was one of the most prestigious men in all of Europe- a decorated soldier and leader of the Pomeranian Calvary Brigade. As head of the 18th Lancer division, he was in charge of defending the Pomeranian Corridor. Built around the strength of its 84 infantry regiments, the Polish military had reigned supreme for two decades, turning back numerous assaults and defending their borders victoriously.

Tactically, they were superior. Their training and horsemanship were unsurpassed. Their determination and bravery had earned them an international reputation as one of the fiercest fighting units the world over. But on the morning of September 1, 1939, even Col. Mastalerz knew that Poland’s string of victories was about to end.

The horses of the Polish calvary grew skittish and reared up restlessly. A deep rumbling sound shook the earth, growing louder by the minute. In the distance, Mastalerz could hear the sound of trees cracking and falling to the ground. Through the morning mist, the 2nd and 20th Motorized Divisions of the Third Reich made their way toward Masterlerz and the small hamlet of Krojanty. The invasion of Poland had begun.

In the hours that followed, Polish soldiers on horseback fought a war of attrition against a German unit of tanks and armored cars. It was one of history’s great juxtapositions. The unthinkable was happening. It was a contrast equal to the Wright Brothers observing a space shuttle launch, or Alexander Graham Bell witnessing an Internet Videoconference. Residents from two different worlds met in an iconic exchange of ideologies, as one bygone era surrendered indefensibly to the next. Time and technology had marched by unnoticed. And that changed everything”.

Just like the Polish army, we as marketers must continue our push to evolve. Enduring success will be enjoyed not by those looking to leverage the tried and true, nor those satisfied with remaining in lockstep with their peers; but rather, by those willing and committed to thinking forward and considering: What’s next? How can I do this differently? How can it be improved? What changes can I anticipate (cultural, media, technological)? How can I leverage these trends?

Our industry today (integrated marketing, advertising, public relations and brand communications) is characterized by profound change– extreme shifts in technology and fragmentation of media, all occurring at unbelievable speed. Is there really any question that the ways we deliver messages must always continue to evolve?

As the Pomeranian Calvary Brigade proved, if you’re not committed to the process and looking far enough ahead; you’ll one day find yourself at the unwelcome crossroads of time and technology; of the past and the future; of foresight and hindsight. And you’ll have no choice but to surrender to those who eyes were fixed on a point on the horizon, much farther than your own.

As Kendrick and Ortlip so eloquently put it, “the advance of time has a great way of correcting nearsightedness”.

Note: The Blueprint for Life Study from which the story of the Pomeranian Calvary is referenced, is a truly enlightening (and exceptionally well-developed and designed), multi-media resource that takes valuable, secular-styled lessons for intentional living and goal-setting and applies them to Christian principles. I highly recommend this $59 study for groups or individuals. You’ll find many more brilliant illustrations you can apply to every area of your life. www.blueprintforlife.com.

Some people assume that the best paths to visibility are through such methods as listing your information in online business directories; using paid advertising strategies such as pay-per-click (PPC) and/or banner advertising on niche portals; or leveraging social media, by doing things like blogging and/or creating pages within sites like Facebook, MySpace or Linkedin.

It is my experience that while each of these elements has the potential to contribute to a well-rounded online marketing campaign, none, alone or in tandem are as important as focusing on the intrinsic content, structure and overall quality of your own website to achieve high page rank in “organic” (non-paid) search results.

Paying for visibility on niche portals (think, Realtor.com, for Realtors), offer the value of targeted marketing, but nowhere near the power of simply being found via organic search on major search engines like Google, MSN, Yahoo or AOL. And while I hesitate to confer even more importance on these internet moguls- the fact is that most consumers today conduct searches by going straight to their homepages and using their browser bars to look for, well… everything!

Understanding this, one might mistakenly assume that utilizing PPC programs offered by the major Search Engines themselves (such as Google Adwords), might well be the Holy Grail for search visibility. But, not so fast– there are other factors to consider: 1) Once again, you’re paying for search results. When you quit paying, you quit getting results. 2) Despite the fact that you’re paying to appear on the first page of results, you are also clearly identified as an advertiser, separated physically (via position on the page), from organic search results. Organic results are universally perceived as more credible, thus making them more likely to be clicked on. 3) Paid results through one search engine won’t necessarily help you with another, whereas a well-built, optimized site will provide increased visibility across all search engines; and oh, by the way—cost you less in the long run.

Finally, social networking is terrific if you’ve got all day to blog and upload videos, but most do not. And while blogging can be a powerful tool to increase search visibility, beware: If you start a blog and let it go stagnant, it can hurt your search rankings, as search engines will ultimately treat your site the way you treat your blog— by ignoring it, based on the assumption that it just isn’t as relevant as it once was. And advertising on social sites? Hey, you might as well interrupt my neighborhood pool party to show me your ad and risk getting pelted with onion dip. Get out of my social space, already! (Think Facebook’s recent revolt).

So, what’s a website to do, to get a look? Focus on “organics”!

1. The most important elements to consider when building a site are that it be well-organized, easy-to-absorb and simple-to-navigate. You want to establish a unique selling point, call to action and focused conversion path. A visitor landing on your home page should know within 3-5 seconds where to go next to purchase your product, register for information, or perform a desired action. Last year, Google announced that their Page Rank system was beginning to factor in landing pages’ load times. People want information quickly and Google was responding to this. So should you. If your conversion path has multiple steps, such as adding products to a shopping cart then checking out, make sure each step is clear and intuitive.
2. Focus on quality content! Provide valuable information relevant to your business that references specific terms and concepts unique to your site with text on as many pages as possible, weaving keywords into compelling copy. Often, it’s not the broad keywords you might have imagined that people are using to find you, but very specific ones. Search engines typically index the first 500 words of copy on each page.
3. Pay CLOSE attention to title tags! Nothing is more important than these single lines of code that define page titles, seen at the top of your browser window. These are the link text for search engine results. Ideally, they succinctly describe what your business sells and where you are located.
4. Avoid tags with too much competition and be geographically specific (i.e. instead of “Doctors”, “Florida Doctors” or “Jacksonville Doctors”, think, “Jacksonville Beach Pediatricians”).
5. Keep content fresh and updated. New content to existing sites is automatically indexed when added. If new information is added frequently, it indicates that your site is current and relevant!
6. Avoid 100% Flash websites. While search engines are getting better at it, they can still parse very little content from Flash-based sites. Balance usability with creativity by combining HTML and CSS with some Flash in contained areas, or transitions.
7. Try to cultivate as many relevant incoming links into your site as possible. These is a powerful strategy for achieving great search results, but manipulation can lead to penalization. For more on this topic, refer to the, “Link Your Way to Better Search Results…” entry in this blog.
8. Add a “site index” (an “outline” of your site). This can help search engines, as well.
9. Make sure your web address is present and highly visible on all other marketing materials.
10. Understand that search optimization is a process. Search algorithms and methodologies are constantly being refined by Search Engines to suit public demand. If you don’t have time to deal with it, find someone who does. Think of your website as one of your most valuable employees and dedicate the same time, effort and resources to keeping them “happy”.

By just following these few simple rules, you’ll have your website well on its way to “going green” and visitors flocking to your online environment!

Back fat wasn’t the only thing occupying enquiring minds.

People also clicked to find out:
• How to tie a tie
• How to avoid tan lines
• How to save money
• How to write a resume
• How to lose weight
• How to make money
• How to improve your marriage
• How to save on home heating bills
• How to cook a turkey
• How to brine a turkey
• How to argue with your spouse
• How to choose a pediatrician
• How to reduce stress in your life
• How to be happy at work
• How to make gravy
• How to recycle cell phones
• How to pronounce “Palahniuk”
And to answer your question, it’s “Paula Nick”, and he’s the guy who wrote Fight Club, which was turned into a Brad Pitt movie about a brawl-picking sociopath.

And I found all that out by doing a Quick Search.

One of the fascinating things about this list—and a great lesson for marketing types—is how very personal and sweetly neurotic it is. Look behind the questions asked and you’ll see a host of concerns:
• “Am I doing this right?”
• “Am I pronouncing this correctly?”
• “Will I be warm enough?”
• “Am I loved?
• “Will I be successful?”
and
• “Why are you staring at my back?”

As you may recall, 2008 was an election year. So how come questions like, “How to pick a presidential candidate” or “How to understand Electoral College Votes? or “How to spell “Wasilla?” didn’t make it to the top?

You see, human concerns are vitally personal. That’s why marketing messages, however rational and well-thought out, have to connect with deeper emotions. They need to touch the brain stem, not just the brain cells. The personal is primal.

As we search for ways to engage the people who are our target markets, we have to keep in mind that what they’re searching for comes from the heart and make sure that we speak to those deeply-felt desires.

Now, I have to go. I’ve got to work on my Lats.