For a little while, I sat back and watched many a tweet and Facebook post stream by saying things like "I'm at Bob's BBQ" or "I just became mayor of Mattress Emporium" as people jubilantly posted their whereabouts using location-based social network Foursquare. I admit, I was slightly envious. Then, I got my first smartphone - a Droid Eris - and I got to join the ranks of mayors and playas (OK, so not really the latter) playing on Foursquare as well.
The first time I used Foursquare, I was out on a "Date Night" with my husband. We arrived at our restaurant of choice, where I proudly pulled out my phone for my inaugural check-in.
"What are you doing?" he asked in a rather annoyed tone.
"I'm checking in on Foursquare," I replied. "It's my first one - I gotta know how this stuff works, ya know."
"OK."
The second time I checked in was the same evening at the movie theater after dinner. I again pulled out my phone, and this time my husband was not quite as understanding.
"Are you gonna put that away?" he barked. "I'm going inside."
And that's the first time I realized how anti-social I was being...by checking in on a social network, of all things!
One thing I've noticed with location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla is checking in is actually kind of an awkward thing to do. You have to:
Find the app on your phone, wait for it to load up, then wait for your location to be found.
If it's not found right away, you have to refresh the list of places.
If the specific place you're looking for isn't on the list, you have to search for it.
If you still can't find it, you have to add it. Which is a bit of a pain, especially if you're unsure of the exact address.
No wonder my husband gets exasperated! All the poor dear wants to do is spend time and talk with me, and here I am fiddling with my phone obsessively!
So now, I only use Foursquare in these two situations:
When I'm around others who also use it (so it's deemed more of a "socially acceptable" thing to do).
When I'm by myself.
Your turn - what do you think? Is Foursquare the anti-social social network? Do you have your own etiquette rules for checking in?
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:
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.
Jesse Stanchak offers some pointers on pitching to influencers over at the SmartBlog on Social Media.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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?”
How many people in my town, and more importantly in my target audience are actually using social media?
I don’t have time to tweet, blog and Facebook - I’m running a business!
I’ve tried it and it doesn’t work – we have not seen any increase in customers through our doors since we stared tweeting.
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:
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.
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.
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?
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?
The Social Media Club of Charlottesville had an open forum last night where attendees split into discussion groups and brainstormed various ideas for using social media and engaging customers. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend myself, but they posted photos from one of their brainstorming sessions, listing ways to encourage engagement through social media channels. There are 20 great ideas listed, which you'll also find listed below the photos.
Ask for feedback and/or ask questions at the end of a post.
Comment on other's blogs.
Barrier to comments BAD (in other words, don't make it difficult for people to leave comments).
Get someone to be the first commenter.
Mix in some company info (i.e. birthdays, successes, etc.) on your Facebook page.
Do a series of blog posts on a sub-topic.
Create a Facebook sharing app.
Use "list" posts (and lay it out in a simplified format).
Mixing it up (video, audio, text).
Guest posts (meaning asking people to guest post on your blog, or you guest posting on other related blogs).
Be extremely opinionated (or extreme).
Go against the grain.
Run Twitter searches for people with questions; answer with a link to your blog post (same could be done on LinkedIn).
This is a post I originally wrote for my Tumblr blog, My (Social) Life.
Earlier this week, I posted my response to an article on Econsultancy.com enititled “How Small Newspapers Can Make Money on Twitter.” The core of my response was that newspapers needed to connect with their readers on Twitter first before attempting to make money from it - and I intended to offer my own advice regarding this.
Really good timing for all of this, because I attended a panel discussion this week put on by the Social Media Club of Charlottesville, which centered on social media vs. traditional media and how 3 local media organizations - Charlottesville’s Daily Progress newspaper, the Charlottesville Newsplex (comprising of local TV affiliates) and Black Enterprise Magazine - use social media. I brought up the monetization topic to our three esteemed panelists, and the general response was that social media already held value and didn’t need to be monetized. These are three people who are already well-versed in the use of Twitter and know how it fits into their traditional media structure. They all understand the value of connecting with their community through social media and that it shouldn’t have to be directly monetized in order deliver any value.
My husband is an IT project manager, and he doesn't think a whole heckuva lot about Twitter (to put it simply and mildly). So when he forwarded an article to me entitled Helping the Terrorists and written by author and BT's Chief Security Technology Officer Bruce Schneier, I rolled my eyes thinking it was going to be yet another one of those dire articles from IT security specialists about how social media sites like Twitter aren't secure and cyber-terrorists could use it against us.
I was wrong.
It was exactly the opposite. As one of the world's foremost information security experts, Bruce was actually taking a stand against all those doomsdayers who want to scare us back into the Stone Age because every piece of technology we use every day is helping the terrorists (including Google Earth, Skype, cell phones, open wi-fi, chat room, library computers, and cars), so by using these things we're in turn helping the terrorists. The purpose of his article was not to warn us against the dangers of technology; but to make us all take a step back and look at the big picture. We can't stop using Twitter, Google Earth, and wi-fi just because terrorists are using it, and I think he put it best by saying "Terrorist attacks are very rare, and it is almost always a bad
trade-off to deny society the benefits of a communications technology
just because the bad guys might use it too."
So, all I have to say is thank goodness we have this voice of reason to let us know that yes, it is OK to use Twitter, and no, you're not helping the terrorists by using it. You're helping them by not using it.
With more than half of blog readers saying that blogs influence
their purchase decisions, it's no wonder that many companies are eager
to generate some buzz about their products on blogs. Unfortunately, it
doesn't happen magically. In order to get the attention of these
influential bloggers, companies have to reach out to them and make
themselves known - but in a meaningful way.
This is not easy.
It takes time and effort to put together a blogger outreach campaign;
but if you do it right, your efforts will reap rewards in the form of
increased exposure, positive recognition, and more sales.
Here are 10 tips that I've put together based on my own experience conducting blogger outreach campaigns:
Identify the right blogs: You obviously want to find blogs that are the right fit for what you’re offering in terms of content and target audience. Use blog directories and search engines, as well as conversation monitoring tools, to find these blogs. Compile a list with the blog names, URLs, where you found the blog, name of the blogger, and their email address.
Read the blog: The blogger wants to see that you’re paying attention to what their blog is about. Read a few of their posts to get a feel for their subject matter. Participate in discussions by commenting on posts, if you can. Get to know them before sending your pitch, as this will be the foundation of your relationship.
Make it personal: It’s OK to come up with a boilerplate message to send out, but make sure to personalize it as much as possible. Of course, you’ll want to integrate the name of the blog and the blogger; however, take it a step further by mentioning where you found the blog and/or a specific post that caught your interest. I also recommend AGAINST using an email marketing platform to broadcast your message to a list. No matter how many personalization parameters you insert, it just won't work as well. I know sending individual messages takes a lot of time; but it will be well worth it in the end.
Explain the benefits: Why should this blogger promote your offering for you? Why would his audience be interested? What makes your offering valuable? These are all questions you should be answering in your pitch. This is where all the homework you do beforehand by reading the blog will come in handy.
Be transparent: Don’t be dishonest in representing yourself. Tell them who you are, including your title. If you’re with a PR firm or marketing agency, make brief mention of it at the beginning (i.e. “[Company name] is a client of our agency, and I’m reaching out to you today…”) and include in your signature the name of the company and the name of the agency.
Make yourself available: Let the blogger know that you’re available to answer their questions, and include your email address. Respond to any questions they have in a timely matter or schedule phone conversations, if necessary. It’s also a good idea to include links to your social media profiles (like Twitter), either for yourself (if you are representing your own company) or for the company.
Be ready for negative feedback: You may get some less-than-positive responses to your emails. Because of this, have a response plan in place if this should occur. Here are some tips for dealing with negative feedback.
Keep track of responses: As you receive replies from bloggers, make sure to keep track of everything on a spreadsheet (how they responded, if they published a post, questions they had, bounced messages, etc). Not only will this help you track results of your outreach campaign; but it will also give you something to work from for future campaigns.
Don’t spam: I recommend sending one email, and maybe a second one to those who don’t respond (but make the second message different from the first). If you find that certain bloggers just aren’t responding, then leave them alone.
Thank them for posting: Make sure to thank any bloggers that do publish a post about your offering – with an email and/or a comment on their post.
So am I missing anything here? What are your experiences with blogger outreach and what tips would you offer?
Ever since the election of Barack Obama back in November, and subsequently his inauguration, there's been a lot of chatter (and twittering) about our government becoming more transparent. After all, President Obama's use of social media during his campaign seemed to make him more accessible and made us feel like we could actually help him to shape policy in Washington.
Now, even though we haven't heard from him on Twitter since January 19th, he and members of his administration have posted weekly addresses and messages on YouTube on the White House Channel. In my opinion, I think this is great. I wouldn't necessarily call it transparency (we're never going to get that - it's US government); but he's making use of a popular medium outside of television to spread a message. So, the executive branch is on YouTube, so what about the legislative branch.
Um, yeah.
The official YouTube channel of the US House of Representatives is called HouseHub. I checked it out, and I did find some interesting stuff on there. Different representives (and senators) have their own channels, and in their videos they talk about issues that matter to them and what they plan to do. Some of these videos stir up some good discussion and debate in the comments (check out "Meet Senator Sanders" on Vermont senator Bernie Sanders' channel). But others, well, don't give me too much hope. Here's a prime example:
Was I just rickrolled by Nancy Pelosi? And her cats?
So, what do you think? Are congress's YouTube efforts a big step forward, or a big waste of time (for them and us)?
Danny Brown recently published a great post that compared a social media team to a soccer team, going through each of the 4 positions, their tasks, and drafting his lineup of players. This got me thinking about a different kind of team that's more up my alley - a rock band.
I don't hide the fact that I'm a big classic rock fan (I call my Friday link roundup "Whole Lotta Link Love" as my homage to Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love"). So, how about forming a social media rock band?
I've been researching various music blogs that talk about starting a rock band, and I've found some very interesting comparisons that can be drawn:
If you want to start a band, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort to make it successful.
Band members should show a high level of enthusiasm by contributing ideas, putting in extra time to get the notes right, showing up to rehearsal on time, etc.
It's important that your band members not only know their instruments well, but are all on the same page as you when it comes to the kind of music you want to play.
Being open-minded to other music styles could prove important if the band decides to integrate them into their music or change direction completely.
"If you feel that you're not getting enough out of a song, change the instrument" (I found this great piece of advice on the Musician's Notebook blog as part of a post about Mark Knopfler, frontman for Dire Straits)
The brand of your band comes down to each of it's members - what they like, dislike, their abilities and styles, etc.
Sound familiar? Now let's go through the 4 basic roles in a rock band:
Singer: The frontperson of the band and one of the strongest (if not THE strongest) parts of its identity. They know how to establish a rapport with the audience and get them singing along with every song. The singer conveys the message of the songs, and therefore must make it clear so the audience can understand it. They also need to know when to plug some power into the vocals, and when to lower the volume. According to the Musician's Notebook blog, "A lot of singers think 'louder is better' — they'd rather growl or shout than sing. But is that gonna get you over with the audience (whom you're tryin' to get as fans)?" Which rock star is this on your social media team? The Community Manager.
Guitarist: They're technically adept at what they do, provide both rhythm and melody, and also give songs that color and flash to really stand out and get the audience on their feet. The guitarist lends that signature style which is such a huge part of the band's brand. They work in tandem with all the other band members – the drummer for rhythm, the bassist for harmony, and the singer for melody.Which rock star is this on your social media team? The Designer and/or Developer.
Drummer: The drummer may be sitting in the back, but they lay down the rhythm that drives the rock 'n roll train forward. Without them, no one would know how quickly, slowly, strongly, or softly to take the song. That said, they also know not to make the drums louder than the rest of the instruments, when to use "fills" and when not to, and to work in tandem with the rest of their bandmates to make sure the tempo is right. Which rock star is this on your social media team? The Strategist.
Bassist: You may not hear everything they're playing, but you'd notice if they weren't playing at all. Steady and reliable, the bassist plays those crucial foundation notes of every chord of the song, lending depth to the music. Which rock star is this on your social media team? The Content Creator.
I'll leave you with a video of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love". How would you form your social media rock band?
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