The Caffeinated Blog

Whole Lotta Link Love Friday, April 23

It's been a while since my last edition of Whole Lotta Link Love, so it's high time I brought it back and shared some love with all of you. Are you ready for some link lovin'? Here are some of my favorite posts this week:

1. Mitch Arnowitz of Tuvel Communications (where I'm Social Media & Community Outreach Manager) talks about how tweetups can be used by trade show exhibitors to drive booth traffic and help build relationships with current and prospective customers. 
2. Jesse Stanchak offers some pointers on pitching to influencers over at the SmartBlog on Social Media.
3. I fully believe basic HTML is a skill every online marketer should have (no, I'm not talking about mad skillz, just knowledge of the low-level basics). HubSpot goes through some basic HTML for marketers here - read it, learn it and bookmark it for later reference, people.
4. Chris Rauschnot, who was a panelist recently at the 2010 NAB Show discussing "Twitter and the Entertainment Industry", offers his advice for defining a corporate social media policy in an NAB Show Blog guest post.
5. Social media marketing ain't easy. If done right, it takes TIME and EFFORT; but somehow this has escaped many marketers or business owners who think it's a "set it and forget it" marketing tactic. This is not the case, as Jay Baer explains at the Convince & Convert blog.

Have a great weekend, and I'll leave you with the latest episode of "Foursquare Cops" from the bright (but clearly crazy) minds at HubSpot. Enjoy!

7 Social Media Tools I'm Using RIGHT NOW

For the last 2 months, I've been joyfully toiling away, working on a couple of social media and blogger outreach projects for large conferences. I'd like to quickly share with you the tools I use on a daily basis that have been immeasurably useful to me on these projects (and I'm sure will continue to be on future projects as well). They help me track, monitor, communicate, engage and organize social media and outreach campaigns.

Google Alerts: where would I be without my precious Google Alerts. I set up RSS feeds of each of my alerts in Google Reader and organize them by project. Simple and incredibly useful.

SocialMention Alerts: like Google Alerts, except I can track mentions across a variety of social media outlets (including blogs, microblogs, forums and videos). All alerts are sent directly to me via email (alas, no RSS option yet).

Hootsuite: My new favorite Twitter social networking client. I can set up tabs for Twitter, Facebook (pages and profiles) and LinkedIn and post to all 3 at one time, plus I can set up multiple columns within a tab for keyword searches.

Ow.ly: Used in conjunction with Hootsuite, I'm able to track clicks on URLs shortened using Ow.ly.

Futuretweets: I use this to pre-schedule tweets for sessions and other big happenings at the conferences I'm working on, allowing me to focus on monitoring the conversations going on and engaging attendees. The best part about Futuretweets? You can schedule down to the second.

Twapper Keeper: Most conferences have hashtags, whether they're official or not (people just kinda create them if they don't already exist). Twapper Keeper is a great tool for aggregating all those tweets tagged with a specific hashtag and exporting them for later use (like for reporting).

Tweetwally: Create your own Tweetwall and follow tweets from a specific account on your own screen, or use their nifty "View for Projection" feature to display your Tweetwall on a large projection screen for an audience. Tweets update automatically in real time.

Getting Businesses On Board with Local Social Media Marketing

I’ve had a growing interest in how small, local businesses can use social media to grow their local customer base, and with geo-local social networks like Foursquare on the scene, I see the social media marketing game as changing for local businesses. It's becoming more and more important for these businesses to get on board with a social media marketing plan that allows them to become more active within the local community and engage patrons and prospects alike online.

I recently read a very interesting post from Don Powers at his blog entitled “Going Local – How do You Use Social Media to Boost Local Business?”  He talks about a large contingency of individuals and businesses who are not online  - and that probably the largest segment of this group of people are local businesses. This certainly does not surprise me.

 
The unfortunate truth is many local businesses are inherently resistant to marketing themselves through online channels. They may be accustomed to more traditional means of advertising and believe that it’s “doing just fine” for them, they may not have the time or resources to devote to it, or they just don’t understand it (which we all know is one of the biggest reasons people tend to resist change of any kind – lack of understanding or knowledge. It’s human nature.)

Don listed some common objections that a local business owner might have to implementing a social media campaign into their marketing mix and asked, “How would you answer these objections from a local business owner?”

1. How many people in my town, and more importantly in my target audience are actually using social media?  
2. I don’t have time to tweet, blog and Facebook - I’m running a business!
3. I’ve tried it and it doesn’t work – we have not seen any increase in customers through our doors since we stared tweeting.
4.  I already advertise in the local paper and radio and that seems to be doing just fine for us.

These are all valid objections, but as savvy marketers we should be prepared with valid answers. Here are mine:

1. There are loads of market research tools out there that will help you identify local prospective customers who are themselves using social media. Now, it may turn out that social media is not the right channel for you to reach out to your target audience – and that, as Stuart Smalley would say, is OK. Social media is not for all businesses – but it’s certainly worth taking a hard look at to make sure you’re reaching your customers where they are and not leaving additional revenue on the table.
2. Social media marketing does take time – and if you’re willing to put time and hard work into growing your business, you should also be willing to put time into building your social media presence. The work doesn’t have to fall on your shoulders – you can hire people who can help, or even involve a current employee who has an interest in and knowledge of social media.
3. What kind of plan did you have in place for using social media before you started using it? Planning your social media strategy is a major factor in its overall success and should include who, what, when, why and how you will be engaging in social media. Also, are you talking with people or broadcasting at them? Is the conversation one-way or two-way?
4. Doing just fine in what regard? Bringing in just enough customers to keep you busy and profitable? As I mentioned before, social media is not for all businesses (see #1); but the fact of the matter is social media will cost you much less than traditional media channels like print, radio and TV. Plus, when executed properly, social media is a way to generate inbound leads – customers who are finding you rather than you finding them.

Your turn: If you had a local business client or worked for one, how would you answer these objections?

More Must-Read Books: Email Marketing

After I posted 31 Must-Read Online Marketing and Social Media Books, which was cultivated from recommendations made to me through LinkedIn groups, I kept receiving more recommendations.  I couldn't not write about those, because there are so many different books out there that work for different folks.

Today I have 4 more books about email marketing that were recommended to me - and perhaps they'll work for you:

Permission Based Email Marketing that Works by Kim MacPherson

Email Marketing By the Numbers: How to Use the World's Greatest Marketing Tool to Take Any Organization to the Next Level by Chris Baggott

The Complete Guide to E-mail Marketing: How to Create Successful, Spam-free Campaigns to Reach Your Target Audience and Increase Sales by Bruce Brown

The Practical Guide to Email Marketing: Strategies and Tactics for Inbox Success by Jordan Ayan

What email marketing books do you recommend?

 

31 Must-Read Online Marketing and Social Media Books

One of my resolutions for 2009 was to read more.  Not that I don't read enough online, with my 40+ blog subscriptions; but I wanted to start reading more interesting books and then sharing the information I learned with all of you.  So, I've recently started reading Get Content. Get Customers by Newt Barrett and Joe Pulizzi, and I added the Reading List app to my LinkedIn profile in order to start the sharing my reading list with my network.

This got me to thinking about books that other online marketers, PR/communications specialists, and business owners have read and would recommend - so I asked them.  I posted the following question in various marketing and social media groups of which I'm a member on LinkedIn:

What marketing, communications, and social media books are you reading or do you recommend?

I've seen lots of books come out about online marketing and communications in a web 2.0 world, and I just wanted to get your recommendations. What books about this subject are you currently reading, or what would you recommend (for new or experienced marketers, or small business owners)?

The response was great - we're not talking hundreds of responses; but there were about 30 different people who recommended a total of 31 books that they deem must-read for marketers.

So, in no particular order (and grouped for your convenience), here are those 31 books:

General Online Marketing and Communications

Tribes by Seth Godin
Tuned In by Craig Stull, Phil Myers and David Meerman Scott
Rules to Break and Laws to Follow by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers
Join the Conversation by Joseph Jaffe
How to Say It: Marketing with New Media by Lena Claxton and Alison Woo
Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore
Click Here to Order by Joel Comm
Web 2.0 and beyond: Understanding the new online business models, trends, and technologies by Tom Funk
Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz
Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions by Tim Ash
Web Analytics: An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik
Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online by Andy Beal and Judy Strauss
BUY-OLOGY by Martin Lindstrom

Email Marketing

Sign Me Up: A Marketer's Guide to Email Newlsetters that Build Relationships and Boost Sales by by Matt Blumberg, Tami Forman, and Stephanie A. Miller
Email Marketing: An Hour a Day by Jeanniey Mullen, David Daniels, and David Gilmour
Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers by Seth Godin

Social Media

The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott (this one was a particularly popular recommendation)
Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations by Clay Shirky
Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why it Matters by Bill Tancer
Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide by Amy Shuen
The New Influencers: A Marketer's Guide to the New Social Media by Paul Gillin
Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel
Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business by Jeff Howe
Marketing to the Social Web by Larry Weber
Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams
Social Media Marketing: An Hour A Day by Dave Evans

Content Marketing

Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand by Gerry McGovern
Get Content. Get Customers. by Newt Barrett and Joe Pulizzi

What books are on your must-read list?

Are You Cross-Promoting Your Social Media Pages?

So, you've started posting on your blog (or have been posting for some time), and you've set up the Twitter account, the Facebook profile (and fan page), the LinkedIn profile, the Slideshare page, and even started a Squidoo lens.  Time to start watching the reader, followers, and connections start rolling in.

Not quite.  Do people even know you're on all of these sites?  Further more, do your various network friends know you have a blog?

A social media strategy consisting of all these pages set up on all of these sites is a fragmented strategy - and cross-promotion is the glue with which you can put all the pieces together. 

Cross-promotion in social media is not difficult at all.  Many social media sites have developed easy ways for you to promote your presence on other sites through links, apps, and plugins.  They've provided you with the tools - all you have to do is use them.

Here are a few social media cross-promotion ideas to help you get started:

• Promotion on your blog.  This should be a no-brainer.  Make it easy for your blog readers to connect with you on other social media sites by providing visible links directly to your various profiles (Follow Me on Twitter, Connect With Me on LinkedIn, etc.).  Many sites have ready-made badges you can use for this purpose.
• Promotion on Facebook.  Facebook has a variety of apps so you can plug in your blog feed, Twitter stream, Slideshare presentations, and Flickr photos to your profile or business page.  Even easier than that, you can add a Posted Items box to your profile page with links to your blog and other social media pages (like your Twitter page and your Squidoo lens).
• Promotion on LinkedIn.  Again, apps save the day!  Add your blog feed, Twitter feed, and Slideshare presentations to your LinkedIn profile using LinkedIn applications.
• Promotion on Squidoo.  If you have a Squidoo lens, there are endless ways you can add links to your website, blog, and other social media profiles.  You can also add modules for your videos, photos, and Slideshare presentations.  Soon (according to Squidoo), you'll be able to connect your lens with your Facebook page via Facebook Connect.

I'm sure there are a hundred different ways to cross-promote your social media pages, especially from other sites not mentioned here (FriendFeed, Plaxo, Ning communities).  These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg - and I'm sure you'll come up with way more!

All I Want for Christmas: Cool Books for the Online Marketer in Your Life

Do you have an online marketer or "web 2.0-head" in your life, and no clue what to get that person for Christmas?  Have you been sitting up nights agonizing over what to buy for your favorite blogger (who may or may not be me...hey, just sayin')? 

Have no fear, Caffeinated readers, I've done the wishlisting for you!  Here are 7 books on my holiday wishlist, guaranteed to be perfect gifts for your social media geek, blogger, or online marketer.  And all are under $20 too!

Whole Lotta Link Love Friday, October 24

Lots of great stuff to post in this week's edition of Whole Lotta Link Love, so I'll get right to it:

• First and foremost, today is my mom's birthday (happy birthday, Mom!).  My parents run an antique business selling a variety of unique collectibles. If you love antiques, check out their store on Ruby Lane called The Antique Chasers (and tell 'em Kari sent you - I don't know if you'll get a discount, but they'll get a kick out of you mentioning that!).
• When developing content, too many companies focus solely on higher search rankings without looking at the bigger customer engagement picture.  The result: unreadable, "ground chuck" copy.  Kim Cornwall Malseed at MarCom Ink talks about how ground chuck cannot be made into filet mignon when it comes to content.
• How would you teach someone about social media and how to use it?  Shannon Paul offers some great ideas.
• Matt Ambrose at The Copywriter's Crucible asks the important question: Are you a copywriter, PR writer or brand journalist?
• I read this blog post at Micro Persuasion about how RSS adoption is at 11%. It discussed how the key to RSS adoption is education - and I agree wholeheartedly.  Then I read this post at Jim's Marketing Blog that did just that - provide education about the benefits of RSS for companies to pass on to customers.
• Check out this great list of Twitter PR tools, courtesy of Brian Solis.
• Blog "ghosting" - not just a Halloween trick.  Mayra Ruiz-McPherson discusses the trend where companies hire "ghost bloggers" to write their blog posts.  What's your opinion on this phenomenon?
• Finally, AC/DC is distributing their latest music video embedded in an Excel spreadsheet to get past corporate firewalls.  Very clever from both a technical and viral marketing standpoint.

Dealing with Negative Feedback in a Positive Way

Photo credit: kortini

You know that saying "You can please all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time"?  It couldn't be truer than when it comes to your business.  It's pretty much an inevitability that someone out there in the social webosphere will post negative feedback about your products or brand on a blog, review site, or online forum. 

It's challenging (to say the least) to read that negative stuff about the business you've worked so hard to grow; but that doesn't mean there aren't positive ways to deal with it.  If you've found yourself in this situation, here are some steps to take:

• Acknowledge the issues and decide to tackle them:  Ignoring the feedback will not make it disappear.  You have to realize that there will be detractors of your products or brand, and even negativity can present you with the best opportunity to change and improve.  
• Listen to the feedback: It can be all too easy to read negative feedback and just dismiss it as wrong or irrelevant.  You have to really listen to what is being said in an objective fashion.  Look at it from all sides and get a feel for what the customer wants.
• Don’t go on the offensive/defensive:  Of course you want to defend your company against negative allegations; but getting defensive is not the way to go.  If a customer has a problem with a product or policy, defending it is not going to solve their problem.  Going on the offensive and launching attacks at the customer is not going to work either – that will only make things worse.
• Present solutions:  This is what the customer wants – a solution to their problem.  Once you have listened to what they have to say, think of ways that you can actually help them – whether it’s to give them a refund, discount, or simply escalate their issue so they can get a quicker resolution.  They just want to know that you’re trying to help them.
• Ask for suggestions:  I once got a call from a customer service director at Constant Contact after I posted a question in LinkedIn Answers.  In the question, I was basically asking for recommendations for email marketing vendors because I was having an issue with Constant Contact.  The customer service director found the question, called me, and asked me for suggestions on what I would change to make Constant Contact better.  By taking a similar approach with customers, you're involving them and gaining valuable insight into how you can improve. 

I recommend regularly monitoring your online reputation and scoping out negative feedback.  Many companies have dedicated "brand ambassadors" on staff to manage this task; but most small business owners do not have the resources for this.  While you or your marketing manager could handle this, there are reputation monitoring services you could enlist as well, such as Trackur.

Facebook Offers New "Action Links" for Feed Stories

On the heels of a case study I'm writing about a small business that uses Facebook as a major component of its marketing strategy (which I hope to post tomorrow), Facebook has announced that it's now offering a new feature called "action links". 

Action links are just like they sound: links added to feed stories posted on a profile that call the reader to some kind of action.

This has huge developer potential, as action links can be used for external site promotion.  Imagine if you had a coffee business, and you posted a review of a new varietal your store is carrying along with an action link to buy the coffee on your site.

One question though: will all of these new advertising opportunities Facebook is offering ultimately turn off Facebook users?  Will these action links simply be ignored, or will they actually receive clicks based on the context of the link (a feed story rather than an ad)?