This morning I had the opportunity to attend a breakfast panel on social media strategies, hosted by Women in Film Chicago, at theWit Hotel.
First of all, I'd like to kick off this blog post by making a recommendation to anyone looking to organize a panel of this kind: I would suggest marketing to either a ‘beginner’ or an ‘advanced’ audience to make your life a little easier. This way, panelists know whether they need to cover the big buzz words, like 'conversation' and 'authenticity,' etc. Social media is such a popular topic these days that discussions draw attendees from a wide spectrum of topical knowledge, so in order to compensate adequately for your audience it's best to clarify who you're speaking to and go from there.
/Soapbox.
The WIFC Breakfast was fun and informative, and indeed drew from a wide range of women and men all looking to leverage social media for their production companies, independent films, and other projects and businesses. The panelists were Brook Jay, President and CMO of All Terrain; Stuart Hemmings, Technology Director at Agency.com; Heidi Skinner, Influence Marketing Director for Critical Mass; Andy Swindler, President of Astek Consulting; and Danielle Uhlarik, Youtube Ad Programs Manager for Google. The discussion was moderated by Barbara Govednik of 423 Communications.
The panelists started off the discussion simply, more or less stating the case for utilizing not just social media but social behavior. If you're wondering about the distinction, just look to your Twitter account. I guarantee you that you have at least one follower who is exhibiting "anti-social" media, spamming you with whatever message (or link) they're trying to get you to read and not listening at all to what anyone else has to say. This was a pretty natural place to begin the discussion, and I think everyone in the room took this to heart.
Soon, the moderator tossed it to the audience for Q&A. Naturally some common questions arose, such as how one is to measure ROI and what’s the next up and coming social network. The panelists offered a number of free tools for tracking the effectiveness of your social media campaign (such as Addictomatic, Tweetscan, and Tweetscore). It was interesting to hear the panelists’ take on building your own social network around a brand, because the impression that I got is that they think it does not work. In other words, you’re better off joining other people’s conversations than expecting them to join yours. This is probably true in general, but there are some very noteworthy examples – Threadless comes to mind – where building a community is the heart and soul of the company’s success. My mental jury is still on this one.
I spoke briefly with Brook Jay from All Terrain after the panel was over about my feelings on this, and she (a personal friend of Harper Reed of Threadless, as it turns out) seemed to agree with me. I told her that I would have loved to have learned more about how we can take the lessons that we learn from these successes and apply them to building other branded communities, where participants actually take ownership of the space.
This strategy, of course, was probably a little unrealistic for many of the audience members who were there, some of whom were still struggling with getting the idea of social marketing accepted in their office and many of whom are in the infancy of learning what strategies exist and which are best for their company. But all in all it was a really valuable experience, and honestly it was really affirming to hear these expert panelists say so many of the things I already know, and am already trying to do for Flashpoint.
On a lighter note, one really extremely hilarious (and pretty uncomfortable) part of the morning was when one audience member asked of the panel how much they charge, say, Skittles and Jay Cutler for their social media expertise (these are two of the high profile clients that were discussed by the panelists). The panelists of course did not disclose in front of this entire room of women – all of whom with Facebook and Twitter accounts – the amount that they’re charging their clients, but it was interesting to see the way they handled that question. They basically recommended that everyone hire one of me, because we’re cheaper than consultants who run around $150-$200 an hour. (If Flashpoint ever ceases to need me, I know what career path I’ll be looking into!)
Showing posts with label social marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social marketing. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Marketing on Twitter - How NOT to Lose Friends and Alienate People.
Last night I attended the TiE Trends in Social Media forum at Google.
As one might expect from any event in Social Media, especially one after a week of utter social media frenzy in the press, the word chirping across everyone's lips was "Twitter."
It seemed from talking to people before and after the event that the attendees spanned a great spectrum of knowledgeability when it comes to Twitter. While a raise-your-hand-if-you're-on-Twitter poll showed that about 90% of the people there did already have an account, it seemed like a good portion of the people there, or at least the people who cared to be vocal, were still somewhat mystified about what it is that Twitter can do for them or their business.
Now, I'm definitely not one to try to put rules on how to use Twitter, or try artificially to police the way people behave in the Twittersphere. But if you're going to use it for business, I do think there are some "Oh Duh" marketing practices you need to apply if you're going to appeal to the members of the general Twublic. To me, and I think the panelists from last night might agree, everything one can learn from great examples of marketing on Twitter boils down to basically these three best practices:
1) Host a conversation, not a lecture
2) Be enthusiastic, but above all, be human
3) Don't be afraid to branch out from business
To my first point, Ron May asked the question early in the evening: Why should Twitter need to be viewed as a marketing tool? Why not just a tool for conversations? In my humble Web Evangelist opinion, I would propose that in order for Twitter to be successful as a marketing too, "marketing tool" is exactly the sort of image it needs to avoid.
I've been saying since I started tweeting months ago that it won't be long before people realize their self-indulgent, largely masturbatory tweets equate to random shouts into the darkness with the hope that someone is listening. I think people will be able to stomach this for a long time, but if they start to think that the only people who read their random musings are trying to sell them something, they'll sign off in a heart beat. People want to be heard, not talked to.
For me, this means that in my daily Tweeting I look for conversations that I can contribute to, not derail. This brings me to my second point which is to be enthusiastic, but also be human. No one wants to feel like they're being randomly targeted for marketing. This is the reason people make a large loop around people handing things out on street corners, or go out of their way to avoid the kiosk people in malls. No one wants to listen to a robot on autopilot just spouting off marketing BS. That's obnoxious. Use your human skills of discernment to identify the people who will want to talk to you. It's not that hard. People wear their hearts on their sleeves on Twitter.
If I may digress for a minute, on my personal Twitter account I continually wonder why people select me, of all the hundreds of thousands of Twitterers out there, to sell me their ring tones or their marketing services or whatever. I don't want that stuff. I don't tweet about that stuff. And when I login to my webspace, I don't want to feel like I'm wandering through a crowded bazaar avoiding all of their crap. It's a stupid and pointless marketing tactic to hope the people you follow will care so little about what comes through their feed that they won't bother to read your profile before following back. I stand against this on a personal level, and I won't contribute to it on a professional level.
Therefore, I don't follow aggressively. I don't have a pool of 125 character responses that I send to people. If someone is looking for information that I have, I provide it. If someone is having a conversation that I want to listen to, I follow them. And when I @ or DM people, I do it with the intent of starting a conversation. Personal tweets aren't like brochures that you just throw at people. They're your gateway to have a meaningful talk about what you can do for someone. With a DM especially, you're essentially walking into a potential customer's home. Show some respect. Tweet others as you would be tweeted.
Finally, don't be afraid to meander off of the topic of business. As one of the panelists put it last night, you don't have a business discussion in real life without talking about other topics, too. By now everyone's heard the famous Zappos Pizza story (Thanks @Zappos_Service for helping find the link). The lesson? When you're selling shoes, but they're buying pizza, they can still walk away with your name and something to talk about.
In other words, be relevant as much as possible, but when the flow of conversation is taking you to a different subject, go with it. Best case scenario: you get people buzzing about your amazing customer service. Worse case: you go back to talking business. Either way it does not hurt to show that you care about things other than simply getting sales. Display your personality. If it's a good one, people will respond. Remember, it's hard enough for a sales person or a customer service rep to cultivate a relationship with the benefit of eye contact. Being expressive, approachable, and friendly online, especially in 140 characters, is hard to do. But the rewards are immeasurable.
I don't know if this was my $.02, or my $15, but for whatever it's worth this is my philosophy. It's working for me so far.
As one might expect from any event in Social Media, especially one after a week of utter social media frenzy in the press, the word chirping across everyone's lips was "Twitter."
It seemed from talking to people before and after the event that the attendees spanned a great spectrum of knowledgeability when it comes to Twitter. While a raise-your-hand-if-you're-on-Twitter poll showed that about 90% of the people there did already have an account, it seemed like a good portion of the people there, or at least the people who cared to be vocal, were still somewhat mystified about what it is that Twitter can do for them or their business.
Now, I'm definitely not one to try to put rules on how to use Twitter, or try artificially to police the way people behave in the Twittersphere. But if you're going to use it for business, I do think there are some "Oh Duh" marketing practices you need to apply if you're going to appeal to the members of the general Twublic. To me, and I think the panelists from last night might agree, everything one can learn from great examples of marketing on Twitter boils down to basically these three best practices:
1) Host a conversation, not a lecture
2) Be enthusiastic, but above all, be human
3) Don't be afraid to branch out from business
To my first point, Ron May asked the question early in the evening: Why should Twitter need to be viewed as a marketing tool? Why not just a tool for conversations? In my humble Web Evangelist opinion, I would propose that in order for Twitter to be successful as a marketing too, "marketing tool" is exactly the sort of image it needs to avoid.
I've been saying since I started tweeting months ago that it won't be long before people realize their self-indulgent, largely masturbatory tweets equate to random shouts into the darkness with the hope that someone is listening. I think people will be able to stomach this for a long time, but if they start to think that the only people who read their random musings are trying to sell them something, they'll sign off in a heart beat. People want to be heard, not talked to.For me, this means that in my daily Tweeting I look for conversations that I can contribute to, not derail. This brings me to my second point which is to be enthusiastic, but also be human. No one wants to feel like they're being randomly targeted for marketing. This is the reason people make a large loop around people handing things out on street corners, or go out of their way to avoid the kiosk people in malls. No one wants to listen to a robot on autopilot just spouting off marketing BS. That's obnoxious. Use your human skills of discernment to identify the people who will want to talk to you. It's not that hard. People wear their hearts on their sleeves on Twitter.
If I may digress for a minute, on my personal Twitter account I continually wonder why people select me, of all the hundreds of thousands of Twitterers out there, to sell me their ring tones or their marketing services or whatever. I don't want that stuff. I don't tweet about that stuff. And when I login to my webspace, I don't want to feel like I'm wandering through a crowded bazaar avoiding all of their crap. It's a stupid and pointless marketing tactic to hope the people you follow will care so little about what comes through their feed that they won't bother to read your profile before following back. I stand against this on a personal level, and I won't contribute to it on a professional level.
Therefore, I don't follow aggressively. I don't have a pool of 125 character responses that I send to people. If someone is looking for information that I have, I provide it. If someone is having a conversation that I want to listen to, I follow them. And when I @ or DM people, I do it with the intent of starting a conversation. Personal tweets aren't like brochures that you just throw at people. They're your gateway to have a meaningful talk about what you can do for someone. With a DM especially, you're essentially walking into a potential customer's home. Show some respect. Tweet others as you would be tweeted.
Finally, don't be afraid to meander off of the topic of business. As one of the panelists put it last night, you don't have a business discussion in real life without talking about other topics, too. By now everyone's heard the famous Zappos Pizza story (Thanks @Zappos_Service for helping find the link). The lesson? When you're selling shoes, but they're buying pizza, they can still walk away with your name and something to talk about.
In other words, be relevant as much as possible, but when the flow of conversation is taking you to a different subject, go with it. Best case scenario: you get people buzzing about your amazing customer service. Worse case: you go back to talking business. Either way it does not hurt to show that you care about things other than simply getting sales. Display your personality. If it's a good one, people will respond. Remember, it's hard enough for a sales person or a customer service rep to cultivate a relationship with the benefit of eye contact. Being expressive, approachable, and friendly online, especially in 140 characters, is hard to do. But the rewards are immeasurable.
I don't know if this was my $.02, or my $15, but for whatever it's worth this is my philosophy. It's working for me so far.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Vimeo
For those of you who haven't see it yet, check out Flashpoint Academy's page on Vimeo. Vimeo offers a really cool product. See below for an example of their really easy media widgets. This took about 15 seconds to create.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Social Marketing Pointers from Howard Tullman
I received this note in my inbox this morning from Howard Tullman, CEO of Flashpoint Academy, with some really helpful tips on understanding how Web 2.0 will affect your business.
***
***
Social networks, for better or worse, are in the process of changing branding, marketing, interpersonal and B2B communication and even the nature of what we used to think of as conversations around the water cooler at the office. Increasingly, we will all tell our stories thru our customers rather than to our customers. I recently spoke to a group of direct marketers and I included 10 critical considerations to keep in mind as we all approach this new and very challenging area.
- Your Brand No Longer Belongs Just to You.
- If You Don’t Control the Conversation, Someone Else Will.
- You Can’t Control the Conversation, but You Must be A Constant and Authentic Part of It.
- A Little Bad Pushes Out Tons of Good.
- Talking to Yourself is Like Wetting Your Pants in a Dark Suit. (You Get a Warm Feeling, but No One Notices)
- Talking to Existing Customers is Much More Valuable than Trying to Solicit New Ones.
- Deeper Connection is Always Better than Wider. (Commitment and Spend.)
- Value Exchange is Critical for Engagement.
- Additive and Empowering – not Interruptive and Trivial.
- Build Up from Bite Sized…Start Small, then Scale.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
CADM Event Feat. Howard Tullman
Today I had the pleasure of attending a CADM luncheon featuring a discussion of Flashpoint Academy's marketing and branding strategies by Howard Tullman, president and CEO. Now, I know he's my boss, and it's not exactly fashionable to be so impressed by the guy who's signing your paycheck, but I'm telling you... 
If you ever get the opportunity to hear him give a talk, you need to go. He's always so engaging and very well-spoken.
Howard touched on many points this afternoon, including the role of print media and social marketing in creating Flashpoint's image, and then answered a good number of audience questions. I'm sure anyone interested will have another opportunity to see his slideshow or listen to him present (and when you do, I'll be sure to post about it in advance), but I thought I'd share some of the audience questions here.
(All questions and answers are paraphrased from notes taken at the event. Please, do not consider anything below this line a quote.)
Where does Flashpoint plan to see its students go after graduation?
Flashpoint intends to forge relationships with the elite employers in all our courses of study. Pixar, Dreamworks, etc. Our target market is small and tightly focused with an emphasis on return business. That said, we expect one half of our students to go directly into corporate America, filling the growing number of positions for digital media experts at every company trying to expand its digital/online presence.
How big is enrollment, and how big is the target?
Enrollment at Flashpoint is currently at 400. Our target enrollment, which we expect to hit in 2 years, is 900.
What percentage of students go directly to Flashpoint from high school?
In Flashpoint's first year, none of the students came directly out of high school. Guidance counselors were unwilling to bet their careers on an untested college. All of the initial enrollees had varying amounts of collegiate experience, some having left their first college after just a few weeks, others with a Bachelor's degree from a 4-year institution. Our second group of enrollees is about 38% straight out of high school.
How does Flashpoint reach out to High School Students?
Flashpoint will be running a summer institute for high school students 16+ beginning this year to give them a taste of what Flashpoint has to offer. The school doesn't typically reach out to students under 16 because so few of them are truly serious about their career paths. Our focus is primarily on high school juniors and seniors.
What will the average salary be of students who graduate from Flashpoint Academy?
Between 35k and 75k per year.
How does Flashpoint measure the effectiveness of Social Media?
For one thing, we do have extensive lead tracking systems in place [utilizing Google Analytics and other means]; however, one way to be sure you're maximizing the potential of your social media is to create media that can be used in multiple places. We'll have a camera crew at events that we heost or speak at, and then load the video and disperse the content over multiple channels.
If you ever get the opportunity to hear him give a talk, you need to go. He's always so engaging and very well-spoken.Howard touched on many points this afternoon, including the role of print media and social marketing in creating Flashpoint's image, and then answered a good number of audience questions. I'm sure anyone interested will have another opportunity to see his slideshow or listen to him present (and when you do, I'll be sure to post about it in advance), but I thought I'd share some of the audience questions here.
(All questions and answers are paraphrased from notes taken at the event. Please, do not consider anything below this line a quote.)
Where does Flashpoint plan to see its students go after graduation?
Flashpoint intends to forge relationships with the elite employers in all our courses of study. Pixar, Dreamworks, etc. Our target market is small and tightly focused with an emphasis on return business. That said, we expect one half of our students to go directly into corporate America, filling the growing number of positions for digital media experts at every company trying to expand its digital/online presence.
How big is enrollment, and how big is the target?
Enrollment at Flashpoint is currently at 400. Our target enrollment, which we expect to hit in 2 years, is 900.
What percentage of students go directly to Flashpoint from high school?
In Flashpoint's first year, none of the students came directly out of high school. Guidance counselors were unwilling to bet their careers on an untested college. All of the initial enrollees had varying amounts of collegiate experience, some having left their first college after just a few weeks, others with a Bachelor's degree from a 4-year institution. Our second group of enrollees is about 38% straight out of high school.
How does Flashpoint reach out to High School Students?
Flashpoint will be running a summer institute for high school students 16+ beginning this year to give them a taste of what Flashpoint has to offer. The school doesn't typically reach out to students under 16 because so few of them are truly serious about their career paths. Our focus is primarily on high school juniors and seniors.
What will the average salary be of students who graduate from Flashpoint Academy?
Between 35k and 75k per year.
How does Flashpoint measure the effectiveness of Social Media?
For one thing, we do have extensive lead tracking systems in place [utilizing Google Analytics and other means]; however, one way to be sure you're maximizing the potential of your social media is to create media that can be used in multiple places. We'll have a camera crew at events that we heost or speak at, and then load the video and disperse the content over multiple channels.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Bare Naked Social Marketing
Ever since I attended the MIT Enterprise Forum (click for Vimeo) 2 weeks ago, I've been spending a lot of time on Threadless.Those of you who are fans of funny t-shirts and indie-style fashions have probably encountered Threadless designs, even if you didn't know it. In Chicago especially and across the nation, Threadless tees are to Indie culture what the over-sized flannel was to Grunge in the 90's: the quintessential wardrobe item of creative, quirky, and culturally-literate youth.
But what you may not know is how much time, effort, and consideration goes into each design, not as much by the employees of Threadless as by the designers and customers (who are, in fact, largely one and the same).
The business model of Threadless is genius, plain and simple. Before a product is even manufactured, it is painstakingly selected via rigorous voting from a pool of registered users, the majority of whom fall into one of three categories:
1) Artist
2) Buyer
3) Fan
...and each of these people is utterly invested in the vetting process.
The artist votes in order to gain votes for himself. The more visible he is within the community, the more community support and credibility he'll receive in return.
The buyer votes in order to mold the site's offerings to his tastes; the more he votes, the better then chances he'll find a shirt that speaks his language.
The fan votes because the artist wants them to; these are family, friends, and other non-members of the community who join the community in order to support a particular artist.
Because of all of this invested, organic, self-motivated voting, by the time a design even hits the presses it has a following, and the artist has a following, and the shirt sells like hotcakes.
For anyone interested in promoting their business online, Threadless is a must-see. Don't just look at the site; sign up. Score some designs. Create a slogan. Participate in the blog forum. See what it's like to be part of a real online social community that's quite literally unlike any other. This is where every business should strive to go.
Tons of thanks to Flashpoint Academy for giving me the opportunity to attend.
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