This will be a quick post, but I want to reiterate the importance of the social part in Social Media. Just because you are on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Digg, etc. doesn't mean you will automatically transform your business into an Internet sensation. If you think by simply tweeting "buy our product" that millions of people will follow you, you will be set up for disappointment and failure.
Social Media isn't that much different than traditional marketing in some aspects. Your end goal is to increase brand awareness and keep your business "top of mind" with the appropriate demographic (aka your core customers). So why then do companies still expect to get a million followers on Twitter and a million fans on Facebook by simply signing up and sending some general, boring messages? If you run a TV commercial / print ad that simply says "Hi we're company X, buy our product" it won't succeed. However if you make yourself stand out from the crowd (like Geico does with their Cavemen commercials or how Budweiser did with the frogs) you are likely to see more success. The same applies to Social Media. You can't just throw something to the wall and see if it sticks. You need to communicate properly and make yourself stand out in order to succeed. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Digg, LinkedIn, etc. are only successful if you use them properly.
Again, by having a "I need to be on Twitter so let make as much noise as possible" mentality, you will fail. Focus on the Social more than the Media.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Reddit Reiterates the Importance of Transparency
Reddit.com's, my favorite Social Media website, hottest submission as of this morning reiterates one of the most important rules of Social Media. Transparency is key. To get an idea of how big of a deal this is, Reddit.com has hundreds of thousands of submissions on a daily basis. A front page story can get you anywhere between 2,000 to 50,000 uniques (maybe more) in a 24 hour period.
You can view the submission and comments here: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/bfbjx/saydrah_still_spamming_pic/. I put a screenshot of the submission below:
To get an understanding of how big of a deal this is. Saydrah has been a Reddit member for over two years. During these two years, she has significantly built up her link karma and comment karma by frequently interacting with other users and submitting interesting (apparently) content to the site. She has earned trust among fellow Redditors and has received many Reddit trophies outlining the respect the community has for her.
Then she was outed.
Saydrah is a marketer. Reddit doesn't necessarily care about this (although you'll find people who will automatically hate her because of it). However, in a recent submission, she made a comment saying "this site is good", began explaining the site, and discussed the site as though she just stumbled across it and never heard of it in her life. Somebody did a little digging, found that the same website she claimed she never heard of was featured on AssociatedContent.com where she works. Now, AssociatedContent.com is pretty big so it could be just a coincidence, but the commenter went on to out her strategy behind spamming.
What has happened is that the Reddit is now gunning for her and demanding she leave. Think about this. She has spent over two years building relationships and trust within Reddit to achieve success for herself and her clients. Now she will forever lose that trust because of her lack of transparency.
What could she have done? Well, she could have promoted the site, but she should have said her affiliation to it. People want great information, regardless of the source. If she was marketing a website and it was appropriate to the conversation, there is nothing wrong with saying "here's my website, here's how it's pertinent to your specific question, let me know if you have any questions". As long as the website is actually relevant to whoever you are responding to, it's ok. As long as you are transparent.
Lying and deceiving people worked a couple of years ago because Social Media was still a fairly new concept. People didn't realize that when somebody on Yahoo Answers went "buy Nike Shoes, they are the best" that it could have been a Nike representative. Now that strategy has been overdone to a point where most Internet users are weary about recommendations. The more they get exposed to the bullshit, the more angry they get. That is why when you spam a forum, website, social network, etc. you immediately lose your credibility and can never gain it back.
Marketing through Social Media is okay, you just need to be honest and open about who you are. If you have a great product or service to offer and are communicating properly to other individuals, you'll rarely run into an issue.
You can view the submission and comments here: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/bfbjx/saydrah_still_spamming_pic/. I put a screenshot of the submission below:
To get an understanding of how big of a deal this is. Saydrah has been a Reddit member for over two years. During these two years, she has significantly built up her link karma and comment karma by frequently interacting with other users and submitting interesting (apparently) content to the site. She has earned trust among fellow Redditors and has received many Reddit trophies outlining the respect the community has for her.
Then she was outed.
Saydrah is a marketer. Reddit doesn't necessarily care about this (although you'll find people who will automatically hate her because of it). However, in a recent submission, she made a comment saying "this site is good", began explaining the site, and discussed the site as though she just stumbled across it and never heard of it in her life. Somebody did a little digging, found that the same website she claimed she never heard of was featured on AssociatedContent.com where she works. Now, AssociatedContent.com is pretty big so it could be just a coincidence, but the commenter went on to out her strategy behind spamming.
What has happened is that the Reddit is now gunning for her and demanding she leave. Think about this. She has spent over two years building relationships and trust within Reddit to achieve success for herself and her clients. Now she will forever lose that trust because of her lack of transparency.
What could she have done? Well, she could have promoted the site, but she should have said her affiliation to it. People want great information, regardless of the source. If she was marketing a website and it was appropriate to the conversation, there is nothing wrong with saying "here's my website, here's how it's pertinent to your specific question, let me know if you have any questions". As long as the website is actually relevant to whoever you are responding to, it's ok. As long as you are transparent.
Lying and deceiving people worked a couple of years ago because Social Media was still a fairly new concept. People didn't realize that when somebody on Yahoo Answers went "buy Nike Shoes, they are the best" that it could have been a Nike representative. Now that strategy has been overdone to a point where most Internet users are weary about recommendations. The more they get exposed to the bullshit, the more angry they get. That is why when you spam a forum, website, social network, etc. you immediately lose your credibility and can never gain it back.
Marketing through Social Media is okay, you just need to be honest and open about who you are. If you have a great product or service to offer and are communicating properly to other individuals, you'll rarely run into an issue.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Whoa Hiatus
I know it's been a while. My computer screen broke and it took me a couple of weeks to get a new one. I'll be posting regularly starting in a couple of days.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Listen Before You Join the Conversation
It's been a while since I posted (approximately 3 weeks almost). I was serious when I said I wanted to update this blog once / week, but my laptop decided to crap out. Basically the LCD screen burnt out and while the laptop is still functioning fully, I can't see anything on it. Makes sense considering it's a 6 and a half year old machine. I haven't fixed the issue yet, but I probably will end up getting a new laptop.
Anyway, onto the topic at hand. Forum marketing is often an important, but neglected Social Media strategy considering that a wide variety of them cater to a very specific demographic. Those businesses who do use forums in their marketing efforts tend to not promote properly (aka spamming) and end up killing all of their credibility. You must get a feel of the forum that you're looking to get a presence in before you promote your business.
Let's stat off with selecting the proper forums. Finding forums are easy enough. Google "industry or target market forum" or replace "forum" with "message boards". Simple enough. The ones that rank the highest tend to be the most relevant / popular. When narrowing down which forums you'd like to use for your marketing efforts, make sure you follow the below criteria (in no order of importance):
Before you start participating or even registering an account, read the forum's terms of service, speficially what IS and IS NOT allowed. Yes most forums tend to let things slide somewhat that go against their TOS, but why risk it? You can't get in trouble from following the rules. Once you have a firm grasp on the site's TOS, monitor conversations. See the tone of each post. Is it professional? casual? humurous? How are people communicating with each other? It's always best to be yourself in a forum, but if people are acting in a professional manner and you drop the F bomb in your first post, users won't take you seriously.
While you're listening, identify the influencers. Influencers are people who post frequently, have been a member for a long time, and get a ton of replies every time they start a new thread. By identifying these individuals, you'll know whose radar you want to be on (positively of course). A forum is a community, and this type of community almost always trusts their leader (aka the influencer). Keep them on your radar and when it comes time to post in the forum make sure you reply to their threads, send them a private message asking more about a particular topic, or do what you can to positively get in their mind set.
So you have the ideal forum website, identified the influencer, now how do you promote your business? Best practices indicate that dropping a link in your signature along with a description of what you're selling is your safest and best bet. It doesn't force your product to the consumer, but let's people in the community know who you are and what you have to offer. Answer topics that you are an expert on to show people that you are knowledge in the industry. If people come to understand you as an expert, it will make that signature link all the more valuable. The question of "do I ever promote my product or service in a forum topic?" I often like to respond with very rarely if at all. I only recommend doing this after you have a ton of posts already and you've built up a sense of trust within the community. Also, I'd only do this if the person has a problem that your product / service has a solution for or if they specifically ask for a product / service that you offer.
Anyway, onto the topic at hand. Forum marketing is often an important, but neglected Social Media strategy considering that a wide variety of them cater to a very specific demographic. Those businesses who do use forums in their marketing efforts tend to not promote properly (aka spamming) and end up killing all of their credibility. You must get a feel of the forum that you're looking to get a presence in before you promote your business.
Let's stat off with selecting the proper forums. Finding forums are easy enough. Google "industry or target market forum" or replace "forum" with "message boards". Simple enough. The ones that rank the highest tend to be the most relevant / popular. When narrowing down which forums you'd like to use for your marketing efforts, make sure you follow the below criteria (in no order of importance):
- Are there new posts DAILY?
- Do they have a large number of members?
- Do forum posts typically get a decent number of responses
- Are you able to drop a link in either the post or your forum signature?
- Is it a competitor site? (make sure the forum is not owned and operated by a competitor)
- Is your target audience there?
Before you start participating or even registering an account, read the forum's terms of service, speficially what IS and IS NOT allowed. Yes most forums tend to let things slide somewhat that go against their TOS, but why risk it? You can't get in trouble from following the rules. Once you have a firm grasp on the site's TOS, monitor conversations. See the tone of each post. Is it professional? casual? humurous? How are people communicating with each other? It's always best to be yourself in a forum, but if people are acting in a professional manner and you drop the F bomb in your first post, users won't take you seriously.
While you're listening, identify the influencers. Influencers are people who post frequently, have been a member for a long time, and get a ton of replies every time they start a new thread. By identifying these individuals, you'll know whose radar you want to be on (positively of course). A forum is a community, and this type of community almost always trusts their leader (aka the influencer). Keep them on your radar and when it comes time to post in the forum make sure you reply to their threads, send them a private message asking more about a particular topic, or do what you can to positively get in their mind set.
So you have the ideal forum website, identified the influencer, now how do you promote your business? Best practices indicate that dropping a link in your signature along with a description of what you're selling is your safest and best bet. It doesn't force your product to the consumer, but let's people in the community know who you are and what you have to offer. Answer topics that you are an expert on to show people that you are knowledge in the industry. If people come to understand you as an expert, it will make that signature link all the more valuable. The question of "do I ever promote my product or service in a forum topic?" I often like to respond with very rarely if at all. I only recommend doing this after you have a ton of posts already and you've built up a sense of trust within the community. Also, I'd only do this if the person has a problem that your product / service has a solution for or if they specifically ask for a product / service that you offer.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Dlvr.it from Spam to Love
Just to set the record straight, I hate automated Twitter tools. Services like Twitter Hawk , in my opinion, compromise the true meaning of Twitter. Sure these automated tools were cool a year ago when Twitter was starting to grow rapidly, but if you don't manually communicate with your followers, you'll set yourself up for failure.
That being said, if part of your Twitter stream contains links to your blog (or other RSS feed), then there is a huge benefit in using Twitter feed software. I'm against self-promoting on a massive / aggressive level so this should never make up the majority of your tweets, but there's really nothing wrong with throwing a link to your blog into the mix every now and then. Twitter feeds are huge time savers in this regard. Instead of manually submitting your blog posts to Twitter every time you update, Twitter feed software will automatically update your Twitter account for you everytime you post a new blog.
Why did I bring up automated Twitter tools in the beginning? Because people often mix up the Twitter feed tools with automated Twitter tools when the two are entire different. Automated Twitter tools are generally responders that will automatically message users who meet a keyword criteria. I also consider Social Oomph (formally Tweet Later) where you can schedule future tweets as an automated twitter tool. Twitter feed tools are different because it follows the "real time" approach as it updates your Twitter account as soon as you update your blog. Plus, it doesn't generate a random message to a random user that might be intrusive and spammy (think Twitter Hawk).
So what's with my blog post title then? Well, originially I was using Twitter Feed. It did it's job. Every time I the RSS feed I provided updated, so would my Twitter account. Plus, I was able to populate the tweet with a message before or after the feed (I did this in a form of hashtags usually). What was the issue then? Well, Twitter Feed posts are messy as hell. If a New York Times article called "Taxes Rise 5%" is part of my RSS that I submitted my Twitter post will look something like "Taxes Rise 5% - New York TimesTaxes Rise 5% - New York timesTaxes: http://bit.ly/whatever". Ugly right? Exactly. Plus, remembering passwords is not my forte. I lost my password to one of my Twitterfeed accounts, requested a new one about 5 times, but to no avail. So now there are Twitterfeeds populating Twitter accounts that I can't freakin' stop.
Then came Dlvr.it and my life changed forever. Well not really...I actually just discovered them Monday (two days ago), but I already am giving them high praise. I originally heard about them because they spammed me. I hate spam so naturally I was turned off. However they reached out to me at a time where I had enough of Twitterfeed and their lack of giving me my password. I can't show the tweet because it's gone from Dlvr.it's stream and my @'s, but it was something along the lines of "if you use twitterfeed try our brand new dlvr.it tool". I was this close to not clicking on it because again, I hate spam, but figured I'd at least check it out.
I went to the website and it says it's in beta mode, which I expected. What I didn't expect is that it said I needed an invite to try it out. You spam ME and then tell me I need an invite?? Screw you! Oh wait..there's an option to "request an invite". I guess it's just a way to make them look a lot more exclusive than they are. Anyway, finally joined the program and I love it so far. I have a feeling this thing will explode over the next couple of months, but here are numerous reasons why this kicks Twitterfeed's ass:
I'm curious to see if this takes off. I don't expect this to ever be on par with a tool like Hootsuite, but this should easily surpass Twitterfeed. Stay tuned.
That being said, if part of your Twitter stream contains links to your blog (or other RSS feed), then there is a huge benefit in using Twitter feed software. I'm against self-promoting on a massive / aggressive level so this should never make up the majority of your tweets, but there's really nothing wrong with throwing a link to your blog into the mix every now and then. Twitter feeds are huge time savers in this regard. Instead of manually submitting your blog posts to Twitter every time you update, Twitter feed software will automatically update your Twitter account for you everytime you post a new blog.
Why did I bring up automated Twitter tools in the beginning? Because people often mix up the Twitter feed tools with automated Twitter tools when the two are entire different. Automated Twitter tools are generally responders that will automatically message users who meet a keyword criteria. I also consider Social Oomph (formally Tweet Later) where you can schedule future tweets as an automated twitter tool. Twitter feed tools are different because it follows the "real time" approach as it updates your Twitter account as soon as you update your blog. Plus, it doesn't generate a random message to a random user that might be intrusive and spammy (think Twitter Hawk).
So what's with my blog post title then? Well, originially I was using Twitter Feed. It did it's job. Every time I the RSS feed I provided updated, so would my Twitter account. Plus, I was able to populate the tweet with a message before or after the feed (I did this in a form of hashtags usually). What was the issue then? Well, Twitter Feed posts are messy as hell. If a New York Times article called "Taxes Rise 5%" is part of my RSS that I submitted my Twitter post will look something like "Taxes Rise 5% - New York TimesTaxes Rise 5% - New York timesTaxes: http://bit.ly/whatever". Ugly right? Exactly. Plus, remembering passwords is not my forte. I lost my password to one of my Twitterfeed accounts, requested a new one about 5 times, but to no avail. So now there are Twitterfeeds populating Twitter accounts that I can't freakin' stop.
Then came Dlvr.it and my life changed forever. Well not really...I actually just discovered them Monday (two days ago), but I already am giving them high praise. I originally heard about them because they spammed me. I hate spam so naturally I was turned off. However they reached out to me at a time where I had enough of Twitterfeed and their lack of giving me my password. I can't show the tweet because it's gone from Dlvr.it's stream and my @'s, but it was something along the lines of "if you use twitterfeed try our brand new dlvr.it tool". I was this close to not clicking on it because again, I hate spam, but figured I'd at least check it out.
I went to the website and it says it's in beta mode, which I expected. What I didn't expect is that it said I needed an invite to try it out. You spam ME and then tell me I need an invite?? Screw you! Oh wait..there's an option to "request an invite". I guess it's just a way to make them look a lot more exclusive than they are. Anyway, finally joined the program and I love it so far. I have a feeling this thing will explode over the next couple of months, but here are numerous reasons why this kicks Twitterfeed's ass:
- Cleaner Twitter Posts - Already I'm in love. Just the title and URL of the post (no repition!). Plus I can still populate it with hashtags before or after the tweet.
- Analytics - I can check the number of clicks for each of individual tweets. Plus I can break it down by the Twitter account as a whole! (I can see how many people clicked on my dlvr.it links over the past day, week, or month). Sweet.
- Even More Analytics - Get this...not only will it tell you how many people clicked on your links, but it will tell you how many of those people were your followers. Awesome. So if I'm getting 400 clicks / week and that only 20 of them were my followers, I don't have an engaged group of Twitter followers and also I'm apparently opitmizing my tweets well considering I'm getting great expsoure elsewhere. Another cool feature is that it will tell you where the users who are clicking on your tweets are coming from.
- Facebok - You can also do all of this through Facebook as well.
I'm curious to see if this takes off. I don't expect this to ever be on par with a tool like Hootsuite, but this should easily surpass Twitterfeed. Stay tuned.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Twitter Clout Tools
I HATE Twitter Clout tools. Especially after today (save that for another story). Twitter graders, rankers, clout tools, or whatever you want to call them don't mean jack. All these tools provide are fake bragging rites. "Twitter Grader says I'm a 95 out of 100, while your account is only an 82 out of 100 so that means I'm better than you". Check a dozen other tools and compare the same two Twitter accounts and you are highly unlikely to see all twelve rank one account higher than the other (unless of course you are comparing Oprah's account with Bob Smith's two day old account).
Please remember that the success of Twitter is based on your own goals / objectives and can't be measured using a Twitter Grader. If Twitter is increasing revenue, driving traffic, and helping to increase brand awareness to your target demographic, then it is successful. You don't need a Twitter tool telling you otherwise. If you want to analyze the success of your Twitter campaign use tools like Google Analytics to see total referring traffic from Twitter, Bit.ly or Ow.ly to see how many users are clicking on links when you post them, retweets to your account (or replies), sales from Twitter (also can be tracked through Google Analytics), total followers, number of Twitter lists being included on, and other meaningful metrics.
What's going to sound better at the end of the day. "Hey boss, Twitter Grader said our score went up 5 points from last week" or "Hey boss, over the past week we received $100 in sales from Twitter, traffic has doubled because of Twitter, and 20 people replied saying how much they loved our new product".
Please remember that the success of Twitter is based on your own goals / objectives and can't be measured using a Twitter Grader. If Twitter is increasing revenue, driving traffic, and helping to increase brand awareness to your target demographic, then it is successful. You don't need a Twitter tool telling you otherwise. If you want to analyze the success of your Twitter campaign use tools like Google Analytics to see total referring traffic from Twitter, Bit.ly or Ow.ly to see how many users are clicking on links when you post them, retweets to your account (or replies), sales from Twitter (also can be tracked through Google Analytics), total followers, number of Twitter lists being included on, and other meaningful metrics.
What's going to sound better at the end of the day. "Hey boss, Twitter Grader said our score went up 5 points from last week" or "Hey boss, over the past week we received $100 in sales from Twitter, traffic has doubled because of Twitter, and 20 people replied saying how much they loved our new product".
Is Web 3.0 Here?
For the past year (and maybe longer) I've heard a lot of people discussing "Web 3.0" and that they have discovered and perfected it. Bullshit, to say the least. Everyone can form their own opinion on the subject, but the fact is that Web 3.0 hasn't been established yet. Any website or person who tells you otherwise is trying to scam you out of money. Period.
Now, I have a prediction in what Web 3.0 will entail of. Again, a prediction..not a fact. Web 2.0 really focused on using the Internet as a communication / social vehicle. Tools / site like IM, twitter, and Facebook all fall under the Web 2.0 umbrella. I think Web 3.0 will be more focused on augmented reality and geotargeting. The Internet is already shifting towards this (hence FourSquare, the fact that Twitter is now geotargeting their trending topics, and the Yelp iPhone app) and I can only see it expanding further into this direction.
The reason why I see this being so successful and the new "hot" web trend is that it captures the demand of the Internet user demographic. Mapquest as Web 2.0 tells me how to get to point A to point B by following a series of directions, but with Yelp's augmented reality I can visually see where I'm going and even get recommendations on places in my area that suit my needs. It's more targeted, it better meets demands, therefore it has to work.
Everybody likes deals / discounts. Business have been using Web 2.0 to push incentives "Facebook fans receive 20% off product A when you purchase by February 1st". Cool..a lot simpler than clipping coupons and having to drive your way to the store. Now there's foursquare, "hey you are 5 minutse away from location A, why not check in and receive 20% off". Even better..even more convenient.
I haven't had my coffee so this is more of a rambling of my ideas than a coherent thought, but really the direction I see the Internet going in. The term "web 3.0" might never exist, but if it does I really see it being a combo of augemented reality and geotargeting. Thoughts?
Now, I have a prediction in what Web 3.0 will entail of. Again, a prediction..not a fact. Web 2.0 really focused on using the Internet as a communication / social vehicle. Tools / site like IM, twitter, and Facebook all fall under the Web 2.0 umbrella. I think Web 3.0 will be more focused on augmented reality and geotargeting. The Internet is already shifting towards this (hence FourSquare, the fact that Twitter is now geotargeting their trending topics, and the Yelp iPhone app) and I can only see it expanding further into this direction.
The reason why I see this being so successful and the new "hot" web trend is that it captures the demand of the Internet user demographic. Mapquest as Web 2.0 tells me how to get to point A to point B by following a series of directions, but with Yelp's augmented reality I can visually see where I'm going and even get recommendations on places in my area that suit my needs. It's more targeted, it better meets demands, therefore it has to work.
Everybody likes deals / discounts. Business have been using Web 2.0 to push incentives "Facebook fans receive 20% off product A when you purchase by February 1st". Cool..a lot simpler than clipping coupons and having to drive your way to the store. Now there's foursquare, "hey you are 5 minutse away from location A, why not check in and receive 20% off". Even better..even more convenient.
I haven't had my coffee so this is more of a rambling of my ideas than a coherent thought, but really the direction I see the Internet going in. The term "web 3.0" might never exist, but if it does I really see it being a combo of augemented reality and geotargeting. Thoughts?
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