Social Media Etiquette: Use What Your Mama Taught Ya
posted by Jeanannv on April 21st, 2009Warning: the following will contain episodic ranting and complaining about the poor manners of people communicating via social media.
Something has been nagging me, way at the back of my thoughts…sort of popping up every now and then. I usually 
just brush it off or push it back down and ignore it. But today, I am going to offer up a serving of Emily Post-style tsk-tsk ranting about poor social media manners. And while you may initially think this is insignificant, by the end, I hope to have convinced you that these types of actions are precisely what jeopardizes online brand positioning and believability.
Complaint #1: People who do not return emails, IM’s or even Twitter replies drive me nuts. Yes, there is a point to which this can become overkill…but when someone goes out of there way to contact you, the least you can do is acknowledge it. Hello? Customer service 101, people…
Complaint #2: People who ask for feedback or response or input of some type and don’t acknowledge reciept. Did they get your message, or is Twitter Fail Whaling again? Who knows??
Complaint #3: Dude, don’t act like a spammer and then complain when someone blocks, drops or otherwise unenrolls in your service. For that matter, even if you aren’t a spammer, people have the right to change the channel…let it go…
Complaint #4: No sneaky following…don’t misrepresent yourself as someone who has a lot in common with me, then send me information about male enhancements. Seriously, I don’t need them. No, really…
Complaint #5: Say thanks and make a public acknowledgement…it’s the quickest way to let people know you are a collaborator. Don’t post their work with your name pasted on it…this really seems to bother people…
Complaint #6: Lighten up…relax, people, this is social media, not life and death…lately, it seems like this has become a game of he said she said. If we can all agree to use the manners our mama gave us, then I think we can make this thing work.
Finally, Complaint #7: Share the love…social media is not about being divisive, but about making connections, and building relationships. If this doesn’t appeal to you, you may be in the wrong place.
Failure to follow these basic principles can at best irritate people and at worst jeapardize your company and brand image. Invest the small amount of time necessary to connect with people in a way that would make Emily Post proud. Your readers and customers will be glad you did.
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Pluck On Demand: Adding Social Content
posted by Jeanannv on April 17th, 2009Today I stumbled across a new service called Pluck On Demand. This is a very cool platform for building your brand online offers a couple of benefits to the user, additional content and a level of social media interaction. Some heavy hitters are already using their services to build depth and interaction, companies like McGraw Hill, NPR, Reuters, Sun Times, Whole Foods…the list is very long. And the basic package is easy to install and easy to use.
Pluck has partnered with Blog Burst for content generation. I have been a member of Blog Burst for quite a while. If 
your submitted content is approved, they syndicate your posts across the web. They are often picked up by people who are in need of content (newspapers, other media sources) and published via their publishing channel. The syndicated content is always linked back to the source. This has led to some serious blog traffic for me.
Pluck on Demand is their free level of service…a sort of DIY kit. I found it incredibly easy to install. If you are capable of copying code, creating widgets and creating pages, you can easily use their services. I added it to my site in about 15 minutes. And I was taking my time…
Will this really be a value add for my readers? We will see…I would like to think that they will enjoy more on site social media, but I am not sure. In order to participate in these services, users have to sign up. This may upset some long time members of the community who are used to just entering their info and leaving a comment. Still, I think this is headed in the right direction. People want sites to come alive, not to be flat and lacking interaction. I will report back on how these changes are received.
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The Future of Blogging
posted by Jeanannv on April 7th, 2009With the exception of this blog, I have become a real blogging slacker. I force myself to post at least twice a month, shooting for once a week, on my other sites. It’s not that I don’t publish content, it’s just that blog sites are starting to feel a whole lot like static websites, compared to all of the other social media platforms out there.
Don’t get me wrong, blogs are still one of the most valuable branding tools in an online marketing campaign. And their 
SEO benefits are really unbeatable…but this father of the social media revolution feels a bit archaic when it comes to interactivity.
And why wouldn’t it? Compared to Twitter and the new Facebook design, a traditional blog is like standing still. Regardless of the number of plug-ins we try to add or the number of comments we respond to, a blog is still very low on the interactivity scale. Think email as compared to texting or IM…whole different world…and if you are used to IM’ing, email seems like an absolutely archaic method of communication.
So much of our blog content is syndicated to our social media sites that blog numbers no longer really reflect our impact and readership. And though I have a Google Reader full of blogs, I rarely read through it. I find that the information I need is syndicated in my social media communities, eliminating the need for leaving my current site to read content. I do use Google Reader to keep track of all the blogs I want to remember, though. It is a helpful Delicious-type service for blogs.
Traditional blogs may stay around for branding and SEO purposes, but I expect we will continue to move away from using them as our mainstay of communication. Though for me to do that, Twitter and Facebook would have to stop with the nofollow/closed system business. Really, it is this proprietary rigidity that prevents people from making this shift now. Other sites like Posterous and Chi.mp are exploring eliminating these boundaries and returning control to the content generators.
Some reports estimate that by the end of the year, 84% of internet users will be using some form of social media. As more and more people start getting up to speed with various platforms, I think we will see a big jump forward in the evolution of usage patterns.
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Knol: Tell Google All About It
posted by Jeanannv on April 3rd, 2009The Holy Grail of all online marketing and search engine optimization efforts is direct conversation with the king of all search engines, Google. We spend hours researching keywords, building messages, posting articles on various sites, all to get the attention of those fickle search spiders. But, what if there was a way to just tell Google directly what you want them to know? Such a thing would be worth its weight in gold, no?
Enter the Knol…Google’s quasi-wiki, Squidoo-like pages. The definition of the word knol is “a unit of knowledge”, and Google wants you to contribute your wisdom to the world wide web. Pages can be about any subject, written in any format. There are some guidelines, but they are broad. As you would expect, you can’t use them to spam Google, but you can use them to promote your business. The key is ensuring that you are actually adding valuable content, not just posting an advertisement.
There are a few quirks, but overall it is extremely easy to publish content. Authors can add text, links, images, slideshows, and videos. They can also add categories and tags to their knol and link it to similar knols. Each page can be reviewed, voted or commented on by readers. And an author can leave it open to edit (in true wiki fashion), invite specific people to edit or moderate edits.
I created a knol last night about growing food. It took me about 30-45 minutes to get the first draft finished. I decided to publish it and ask for authors to collaborate. I went to Twitter and asked for interested parties, found a couple and sent them an invite. I am looking forward to seeing what they add to the page.
What I can’t understand is WHY no one mentions Knols as a valuable SEO or online marketing tool. Google specifically says they are indexed by the major search engines…so it seems like a big “duh”. An opportunity to tell Google who you are and what you do, with a link to your site? Seems like this should be the first stop for everyone.
Are you using Knol? If so, I would love to hear more about it.
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Building Brand Visibility via Online Publishing I
posted by Jeanannv on March 30th, 2009Building online brand visibility is likely a major part of your online marketing campaign. There are many tactics that can be used to ensure you are easily found by your customers. One of the best is one of the oldest, online publishing. Chances are good that you are familiar with some form of it, whether it be writing articles, blogging, creating slides…not to mention video and podcasting options. This two part series will focus on written content and its distribution.
There are so many different platforms on which to publish. Some are more effective than others, dependent upon your type of business and your customer base. But essentially, there are two over arching purposes for this type of content creation and distribution.
- Search Engine Optimization: Creating and distributing content based on company brand and keywords continues to be an effective method of teaching search engines who you are and what you do.
- Educating Potential Customers: Content that is informative and helpful informs your customers…in essence giving them a preview what it would be like to be connected to your brand.
Though there are many different vehicles for distribution of this information, they are the latter half of a two part process. The first being the creation of quality, brand-centric content. Here are some guidelines to help you get started:
- Use brand language and logos on all created documents/profiles
- Start by developing a “parent” document that contains key points and critical messaging. Your marketing plan should serve as a guide for this process.
- On a regular basis create a shorter version of this document, modifying it to include current events and different angles.
- Use that shorter version as a base to write 3-4 different versions and different formats. Shoot for no less than 300 word articles.
- Publish that content on a variety of sites that are relevant to your business/industry.
- Content that is well thought out and helpful has a greater likelihood of being read than a bunch of fluff. Create these documents with the end user in mind.
- Separate yourself from the thousands of other content publishers by using content that is consistently connected to your brand and is of excellent quality. You actually want people to read your content and use your information as a resource.
- It almost goes without saying that spelling and grammar are very important.
It may seem daunting at first, but once you start publishing your work on a regular basis, it will become second nature. Tomorrow, we will talk about finding the best channels for message distribution.
Building Your Brand Through Bios
posted by Jeanannv on March 23rd, 2009If you are like me, you have filled out countless profiles on countless sites. You may even have software that autofills basic information for you. I mean, who has time to say the same things over and over and over? But profiles are actually a great way to build brand recognition and SEO at the same time. Think of it as your opportunity to pitch the world your elevator speech.
Not only that, unless the bio is in a closed system, links that you post will likely be contextual. And Google will love 
seeing your link with the same descriptors in multiple places. And, even if the system is closed (read: Facebook) , there are still applications to search within that system. And if the platform is open, but has poor profile search abilities (read: Twitter, Plurk), you want to make it very easy for people to find you. Which means that building a framework for a basic profile is key in brand consistency and visibility.
I recommend some fairly basic steps in order to get this accomplished.
- Keyword review: Take a look at your keywords and see which are social media friendly. Now, check out some of the relevant conversations that are happening in social spaces. Is the language the same? Highlight those that are most important and add others that are unique to social media.
- Build a basic profile: Create a basic bio that contains your elevator speech optimized with the above keywords. Identify 4-5 highly relevant keywords for use in profiles that allow tags. I also use tags as my Twitter bio. It makes it easier for other people to find my profile, given Twitter’s limited search abilities.
- Get your links ready: If you have multiple sites, assign specific links to your bio and use them consistently. In addition to your profile link, many sites offer the opportunity to link back within posts. When that is an option, still use only one or two sites, but vary with links to different pages in the site.
- Use your words: Use your newly created online brand lingo in conversations across platforms. Not only does this benefit SEO, but it builds brand awareness in social circles.
- Add a snappy pic: Yes, profile pics are important…they can be funny, serious, candid, professional…but they must represent Brand You. I suggest having several of these on hand so you can change them up a bit.
And that’s all it takes to have an outstanding profile. If you build it out ahead of time, you will save yourself the hassle of coming up with content every time you add a platform. By using consistent language and links, you build SEO and brand with very little effort. Bios may seem like a waste of time, but they really are a great opportunity to raise brand awareness and create community around your business.
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Top Ten Efficiency Hacks for Social Media
posted by Jeanannv on March 13th, 2009So many social media sites, so little time…In order to maximize the effectiveness of your online marketing campaign, you must find ways to reduce administrative actions. Tasks like logging in and out of sites, switching page views constantly, searching and searching for information; all sap time away from building relationships and community.
By identifying methods and tools to manage these annoying inconveniences, you can spend more time working on the heart of the campaign. I have accumulated a whole host of these efficiency workarounds, most of which I use on a daily basis.
Here’s my list for the Top Ten Efficiency Hacks for Social Media:
- Multiple Platform Updates: Of the few options for multiple platform updaters, Ping.fm tops my list as the most
user friendly, having the broadest scope. - Multiple Tabs: I am sure many of you keep multiple tabs open in order to switch between sites. Chrome and Flock have start pages with lists of most frequently visited sites. Most browsers will also save your tabs for the next session.
- Multiple Browsers: I often have more than one browser running at a time. If I am working on multiple accounts or multiple divergent tasks, this is a great way to reduce confusion over which tab goes with what activity. Firefox is always my primary, and I alternate between Chrome, Flock, Opera and Safari for different purposes.
- Browser Plugins: Firefox has thousands of plugins that increase efficiency and effectiveness. There are so many that listing them would take forever. Suffice it to say, finding and using these plugins can result in big time savings.
- Password/Profile Autofill: There are a number of ways to collect and manage profile and password information for the multitude of sites that require logins. Most browsers offer to save passwords for you, which I always use. And, you can also download tools like Roboform. This app stores logins and information needed to autofill forms.
- Aggregators: I am a huge fan of aggregators. I have extolled the virtues of Yahoo Pipes, particularly for its ability to collect and filter data and deliver it to your iGoogle desktop. Other aggregators like Chi.mp and FriendFeed collect your activities from across the web and package it in one stream.
- Feeds: RSS feeds are big search time savers. Whether it is subscribing to specific blogs or search results, setting up a feed that is delivered right to your reader prevents you from repeatedly going to multiple platforms.
- Command Central: I love sites like iGoogle and Netvibes. These start pages offer easily customizable formats for building a cockpit from which to navigate the vast expanse of the web.
- Scheduled Posts: Almost all blogging sites have an option for scheduling posts to publish at a later time. And some social media sites do as well. For example, TweetLater is a post scheduler for Twitter. Recently, I came across PostLater, which allows for scheduled posting to multiple blogs and multiple social media sites. And while I can immediately see its value, the price tag of $19.95 a month is too steep for me. Unfortunately, Ping.fm doesn’t have a post scheduling option, but I am hoping this is in the works.
- Cannibalizing Content: Building out one strong post, then borrowing chunks of information to populate various social media sites is a huge time saver. Face it, no one has the time to write all original content on every site. And even if you did, that would not be of value to your branding or SEO efforts. Use your content to build internet buzz around keywords on multiple sites, but limit the number of times you republish the entire post or article.
These are my Top Ten Efficiency Hacks…it is likely that you have heard of many of these before. But knowing about them is just the beginning…building a consistent strategy for use is critical to maximize your effectiveness.
Branding Strategies: You Have to Give it Away
posted by Jeanannv on March 9th, 2009As we have discussed before, branding strategies for social media is a whole different ball game than traditional campaigns. Social media is about creating an authentic connection that provides value, not just marketing messages. It’s about consistency and genuine interaction, not slick ads and flashy tactics.
And even if you understand and embrace this shift, there is still one major hurdle that follows. Yet, I see very few business owners who understand this one thing: you have to give it away for free. There it is, the dreaded “f-word”, the word that counters the instincts of business people everywhere. The idea of giving our incredibly brilliant {insert product or service} for free is more than we can stand!
But that is what social media spaces expect from you. They expect to benefit from your knowledge and wisdom before they buy anything. And I am not talking some “get this one whitepaper for free and then buy our services” thing. I am talking about ongoing value, the kind that positions you as an expert and builds brand loyalty like nobody’s business.
In case you are about to have a panic attack, let me say that I know you can’t give it all away for free. The idea here is to actually make enough money to survive, right? Striking a balance is important, and somewhat dependent upon what you do. Giving advice is no cost except your time, giving away products can be devastating to your bottom line.
It takes a bit of time to adjust to the idea that you don’t have to hoard all of your knowledge to be successful. But it is truly a fundamental tenet of online marketing. Over time, you will find the right balance…the one that brings in business and shares with the community. Until then, starting your mornings with this question will get you on the right path. Ask yourself, “how can I contribute real value to my networks today?”
Skittles Social Media Case Study
posted by Laurenc on March 9th, 2009Branding Strategies: Skittles Social Media Case Study
Skittles tried an interesting new approach to online marketing and social media when they launched their new company website, on a wikipedia portal, featuring a live Twitter feed alongside Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube content. BusinessWeek continues, “Instead of the usual corporate propaganda, the home page and “chatter” section became the brand’s Twitter page, the video media and images pages became the brand’s YouTube page and Flickr stream, respectively. Meanwhile, the “friends” section morphed into a Skittles Facebook fan page. According to Andy Hobsbawm, European chairman of online ad firm agency.com , which came up with the idea, the site received so many hits the first day it brought down Twitter.”
Sounds innovative, right? It may have been, and I applaud Skittles for their creativity, but the brand has had to battle some tough issues since the site’s launch on March 2nd. The biggest issue that Skittles has been facing is having users bombard the site with inane and often profane “tweets.” When the site launched, the Twitter feed was at first prominently displayed as the home page, now, due to the abuse, the twiter feed is now harder to find—just a small link in the corner of the screen.
In my opinion, I appreciate that Skittles really stepped outside of the box to market themselves online, but I find myself asking, where is the REAL value? I am a woman in my late twenties, what is the value to me (obviously aside from sparking conversation in my industry). I find the “connection” value dangerously low for the Skittles team, and wonder about the ROI calculated at the beginning of the campaign, after all, how many people are going to run out to the store and buy skittles, because they are a FB Skittles Fan?
I would also like to hear from Mars (owner of Skittles brand) on their goals behind the campaign. Maybe it was simply a publicity stunt to get people talking about their brand. It worked, didn’t it?
Online & social media marketers seem to be torn as to the success of Skittle’s new online strategy. I gathered some opinions below, and I look forward to you adding yours to a comment!
“Agency.com got a bunch of marketing and social media wonks (yours truly included) to talk about Skittles. If that was the goal of the work, mission accomplished. But if the goal was to genuinely connect Skittles more closely to their community, stunts don’t cut it.” – Bart Vickers from VML
“I’ve heard nothing about Skittles and Twits outside of my reading of marketing and advertising publications. Nothing on the news. Nothing in the paper. Nobody I know talking about it (and I teach at a city college infested with young people). The only people this appears to have affected at all are those already connected to advertising, social media, or rampant Skittles fans. That means its major effect has been on people in the industry, people who obsessively browse Twitter for something to follow, and people who already consume Twitters. A good ad campaign would have produced far greater effects. Yes, it would have been more expensive, but it would have actually accomplished something.” – Holman Tibbett from Ad Nauseam
“I think people are missing the point here. The Twitter feed was a short-term stunt — designed to get us all talking. And now they’ve made the switch to Facebook at the perfect time — while we were all still paying attention. If they had waited more than another day, this buzz would have been over. Instead, they get an entire second news cycle out of this. And that translates to new “friends” on their Facebook page, which is monetizeable in a very real way.” – Zach Goodwin from ZBGoodwin
“With everything that is going on in our world- you would think that Skittles and their agency would be more sensitive to what PEOPLE REALLY CARE ABOUT…(sorry, it’s NOT Skittles)….I realize they have a product to market, but if current examples in the world don’t make it obvious that you need to exert a LOT of sensitivity in your marketing messages (offer SOLUTIONS, not HYPE), I’m not sure what you need to know to wake up and be MORE IN TOUCH with your audience. They got trashed on Twitter because Twitters are about REAL, organic, testimonials and truth in real time. Spending the time, and $$$ with an agency that didn’t understand nor grasp that from the get go, shows that someone at the top of this, should have done more homework, or solicited better advice about using Twitter. Every agency in the world wants to jump on the bandwagon and utilize Social Media. If you don’t understand how to properly “engage” consumers using Web 2.0 technology, you need to be careful, for it’ll blow up it you face.” – Greg Lee from IMAGINE NATION
“The closest thing I can equate this to is the increases in search for Rihanna and Chris Brown being a good thing. Ask yourself, who are the people who eat the most skittles? 18 and up? I think people are being praised for poor execution, this could have been done in a much much better way. And I am pretty sure the FB fan increase is mostly a viral thing on facebook, i didn’t fan the skittles page on the website, i saw it as the network of social peeps started becoming Fans as i am sure most did, so the dumb luck of the Facebook after effects are the good part of this you are right.. then again so is the example of what NOT to do in social media or to Rihanna if you are Chris Brown.” – steve plunkett from M/C/C
“I’ve said this umpteen times by now, but I think the real value is less about the execution and more about the philosophy that drove it. If it means anything at all, it’s that this campaign is a recognition of the importance of the role social media plays in brand-building. The game has changed. It’s not 1999 anymore.” – Paul Chaney from Bizzuka Inc.
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Need Help? Customer Service and LivePerson.com
posted by Jeanannv on March 6th, 2009A couple of days ago, I came across LivePerson, an experts-type site. I hadn’t seen it before…which was surprising since they have been around since 1995. As I dug a bit deeper, I found that one of their main services is providing interactive web solutions for customer service interactions. In fact, Forrester recently gave them high marks for excellence in industry business process support and high scores in time-to-value.
In the past couple of years, LivePerson has expanded this notion of live customer support to include non-corporate clients. This decentralized model aggregates experts of all kinds in one location. Marketing partnerships (including Ask.com) are designed to connect those with questions to those with answers. These connections can be made via chat, email or phone.
Their monthly traffic is upwards of 450k each month, with demographics skewed towards African Amercian women, 35 and older. Users of this site also tend to have a high affinity for online psychics and coupon and gaming sites.
LivePerson’s revenue model is partially based on commission. Their schedule of fees has a series of percentages that go to the house, dependent upon type of expertise and type of response. Some of these fees are reinvested in the company with marketing campaigns and partnerships.
I decided to sign up and see what the process was like. It is very easy to create a profile and submit it for expert status consideration. After researching the demographics further, I am somewhat dubious that traffic to that site will be seeking my type of expertise. But, I have installed their chat software and will see what happens.
The jury is still out on whether this is a valuable resource for the average small business owner. Current users seem to be rather narrowly focused on a couple of topic areas. Of course, I could promote this site as a way for readers to access my services on a limited basis…but social media users are notorious for wanting free information. Will they pay for answers? Chances are good that if they are willing to spend money, they would also be willing to contract services…cutting out the need for a middle man.
This might be a good option for you if this is your target market. Using an “expert” type site can be a key component of your positioning strategy. It takes little time to set up a profile and it is of no cost. If you decide to try it, I would love to hear about it.
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