Today’s question: When is social media so pervasive that it starts to impact our lives in a negative way?
I admit it. I was dragged kicking and screaming to the social media world. While I’ve been on Linked In since it launched in the early 2000’s and I have blogged for quite some time, I did not use Facebook and Twitter until a project in 2009 forced me to do so. And I’m not even touching Foursquare, which totally creeps me out.
Truly, I do love the connection, interactivity and dialogue. I really do. Please don’t judge me a Luddite. Once I learned to manage the time spent on social media, I found myself benefitting from the connection, community, content – and building my business presence successfully through it. And I love my Red Slice Nation peeps on Facebook and finding interesting articles via Twitter that I never would have found on my own.
And we can all agree that social media has changed the flow of global information, political reform and even disaster warnings.
But everyone needs to just settle down, y’all. I know there are people who are 24/7 on social media. Yes, I can access my accounts on my smartphone, especially when stuck in line for a latte or waiting for the Fremont Drawbridge to come down. But I am not one of those “always-on” people. I never want to be one of those people. I don’t even check my mobile phone before breakfast.
Some of my Facebook peeps chimed in and said their pet peeves are the pressure to respond to everything and the barrage of marketing messages that the floodgates have unleashed upon us.
This point was driven home recently when a class was cancelled and when I showed up, the instructor asked, “Didn’t you get the note?”
No, I did not. It’s Saturday freaking morning at 9 am and I didn’t check my Twitter account, Facebook page or phone between Friday night and this morning. I was LIVING MY LIFE! I was walking my dog, having breakfast with my husband, sipping coffee while reading the paper. So stop asking me “Didn’t you get the Tweet?” or “Did you get my invite on Facebook?” If I did, you’ll know. But if it’s something important or something you’re expecting me to attend, don’t just assume that I did if I didn’t respond.
Social media is great. But it has made us become extremely non-committal in making firm plans because we feel we can contact everyone instantly to change said plans. Which is good in some situations. But it’s not to be abused!
Photo credit: Pet Life Radio
What are your biggest social media pet peeves that drive you mad? Please share in the Comments and get some Link Love back to your site!
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Here I am, preaching about building a strong brand so you can choose the right marketing tactics in which to invest. I talk about measuring progress and success so you always know your ROI. But, as is often the case with doctors and consultants, we are our own worst patients/clients.
Let me share with you my faux pas so that you can learn what not to do – and give you a review of a unique marketing tactic that may actually be a good investment for you, depending on your product or service.
AnyLuckyDay.com is a unique and simple marketing concept. The founder, Giancarlo, will create a 24 Hour advertising campaign, Custom Sponsor Video. Multiple Insertions into their Twitter and Facebook Streams and Search Engine Optimized post on AnyLuckyDay.com. You can also purchase optional items such as an email sponsorship and Publishing Rights to your video. All you do is pay him to “sponsor” a specific day for $150 and offer something for the contest winner.
Visitors are encouraged to visit your website and then post a comment on AnyLuckyDay.com to officially enter the contest. I’m always eager to learn how innovative marketing tactics work, so I gave it a shot and bought January 20 as my day to promote my book. I offered three free books as the giveaway.
The process was fairly easy. Once they got in touch with me (which took a while, because I think they are understaffed), I sent them some information, photos, website links and a copy of the book. They then created the video and allowed me to review it before posting. I would say the hard part is their customer service is not that great, meaning they went a while after I paid without getting in touch with me, and it seemed like I was just being put into “the machine.” Granted, we had some email glitches where some of their emails to me seemed to have been lost or never got to me, but let’s just say that I tolerated it because the price was really not that high. Sometimes price can be an indication of the level of hand-holding you will get.
So the video looked good, the promotion ran, and I was delighted that many of the Commenters were actually small business owners. I had no idea what his database or follower profile looked like so I went in blind just to try it. Giancarlo even invited me to comment back and created a Disqus account for me in case I didn’t have one.
Results? Here’s the lessons I learned and where I fell down:
1) Failure to set concrete goals: I really didn’t give this promotion any real time or attention because I’ve been so slammed and because it was so cheap. I should have set a few metrics of what I wanted to see increase: Twitter followers, FB fans, Newsletter signups, etc. and determined pre- and post benchmarks. But I never took the time. Qualitatively, I think my follwers and fans did increase on that day, but since I failed to take a snapshot of Jan 19, I can’t be sure.
LESSON: Set clear goals and capture a “before” benchmark so you can compare your “after” numbers to it.
2) Failure to put a tracking mechanism in place: Because I don’t sell my book directly, I will need to rely on Amazon figures or my publisher telling me if there was a spike in sales. There was a noticeable ranking increase on that day, but how Amazon decides rankings are not from pure sales – it’s a wonky rating system based on sales in your categories. I also don’t have visibility into all my book sales data overall. And on AnyLuckyDay’s end, they told me they could not provide any clickthrough metrics, and did not provide me with a post-promotion list of “Number of Tweets, Number of Comments, Number of FB Posts” etc., which would have been nice.
LESSON: Create trackable response mechanisms. I should have created a custom URL through Bit.ly so I could at least track clickthroughs and exposure, if not sales. But I also should not have invested in an advertiser that could not provide any tracking info to me from their side.
3) Failure to determine audience fit: OK, I knew upfront I was taking a risk on this one. To be fair, I am not sure if I ever asked them to provide some sort of breakdown of who their audience and followers are (again, lack of time and attention on managing this campaign on my part). I was lucky that many of them were indeed business owners, but what if they were not?
LESSON: Always ask for a audience segment breakdown and try to get any info you can. If the vehicle will not provide it, you should invest somewhere that can.
4) Failure to take time: All of my problems stemmed from just paying for this tactic and not ensuring I thought through it all. If I was too busy to properly leverage this tactic, I should never have done it.
LESSON: Make sure that if you invest in marketing, you have the bandwidth or help to leverage it to its fullest and don’t just throw money away.
AnyLuckyDay.com is a great idea for a variety of products and services just to get a blitz effect. My verdict is still out on whether it’s better for higher-end or lower-end items, as I still don’t know who is in their “tribe” but I would assume something too high-end might not work for more than a one-time sales blip. You need to remember you’ll get noise because you are giving some items away, but will it lead to any sales in the future? This is such a unique contest/advertising concept that I can’t say with certainty that people with higher incomes are not in the tribe. Case in point: there were small business owners in the bunch. But if you have a fairly general consumer product, this would be an excellent – and inexpensive – way to get some some buzz going. I know I got the word out about my book to many who may not have heard of it, got some new followers, fans and signups – so to me, that is worth $150.
Have you tried any other unique advertising tactics like this? What was your experience? Please share in the comments.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Loved this WSJ article by Suzanne Vranica on Monday about the 2011 trends in advertising. Not surprisingly, interactivity, personalization and new technologies lead the pack in what’s hot for 2011. But just as with fashion, there are a few interesting themes emerging (or re-emerging, as the case may be) that might look good on the catwalk this year, but frighten us the next. The trend that made me squeal with delight is revealed at the end of this post.
So what’s the deal in 2011?
Mobile ads are getting hotter and hotter. Between location-based services and the rise in smart phones, mobile has shown us how “sexy” it can be – now it’s time to up the game. Look out for more ads that enable you to bypass the store completely and purchase directly from the brand ad on your phone. And you know how brand apps followed quickly on the heels of game apps for your phone, enabling you to compare prices, find stores or even find clean restrooms (courtesy of Charmin)? Same will hold true this year for your TV. With cable set-top boxes and gaming systems, look for more brands to bring apps to your TV set.
Suzanne also cites that longer brand ads will be the norm, as we try to cut through the clutter and offer more engaging, deeper experiences. Such “films” may also encourage the trend of an interactive virtual product demo, like the one that Mitsubishi did with its Online Test Drive for the 2011 Outlander Sport last year.
Sports marketing will expand in the sponsorship area but more for the “everyday” athlete and not just the Super Bowl. The trend in health, wellness and lifestyle activities will see more and more companies sponsoring lifestyle sports events, like marathons, triathlons and yoga.
Transparency and authenticity – things that Red Slice has mentioned more than a few times – has finally caught up to larger companies. As we saw with Domino’s recent campaign for changing it’s tasteless formula, the trend will be more and more companies doing the equivalent of “checking themselves into rehab” and writing a tell-all about their recovery. Look for more honesty, confession and “warts and all” advertising to be the norm to engender trust and loyalty. This one should be an interesting one to watch unfold!
Other trends involve government regulations on internet privacy and food regulation (please, please, set a standard for what a brand can call “organic" and “natural”!). And in case you haven’t noticed, as my husband and I have recently, commercial jungles are making a comeback. Remember “Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz” or the old McDonald’s jingle that still haunts me (“Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame-seed bun.")? The article quotes Susan Credle of Leo Burnett saying, “Coming out of the depression in the 30’s, happy music became very important.” Oh my.
And the one I’m most psyched about, probably from being a teen who grew up with John Hughes’ films? The Return of the 1980’s! The article states The Brat Pack may be pitching more products as we enjoy an 80’s renaissance. Por que? Well, the country may be trying to recapture the confidence and swagger of the Reagan years to get back on our feet again. Oh boy. Not only will I get to enjoy Rob Lowe in his hilarious role on Parks and Rec(that casting was pure genius) but he might be pushing Audi’s or Snuggies?! Sign. Me. Up.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Lynn Baldwin-Rhoades is a community maven. She founded a grassroots community of women business owners called Power Chicks and shares how she nurtured a thriving presence on Facebook. In early 2011, Lynn will launch Power Chicks International, LLC, allowing her to offer even more connections, resources and inspiration to help women reach their big, bold goals. Lynn is also the founder of Marketing Shebang, a company focused on helping small businesses connect with their female customers.
RS: Welcome Lynn! So, give us the dirt: you have more than 2,000 Facebook followers for Power Chicks. How the heck did you get that going and what advice do you have for others who want to build a following on Facebook?
LBR: Building a community on Facebook requires patience. Lots of it! Every one of us starts with a single follower.
I launched the Power Chicks Facebook page over a year ago by inviting my personal friends. Now, granted, they weren’t my ideal peeps, who are women in business, entrepreneurs and professionals looking for community, resources and inspiration. Joining the page were my father-in-law, my sister who’s in school – well, you get the picture. Nonetheless, it gave me a base of around 70 people.
So, my advice would be, start with who you have. Invite friends – but don’t stop there. Talk up your Facebook page everywhere. Put your link in your email signature, on your website, your newsletter, your brochures – anywhere your ideal customers might be. I’m a huge believer in radical visibility. If people don’t know your business or Facebook page exists, how will they know what good stuff you have to offer?
Give your followers a reason to “stop by” every single day. I imagine the Power Chicks as a community gathering place – an actual location. Maybe that’s goofy, but it does have a good, relaxed vibe. On the page, I offer tips and tools for growing businesses, inspirational quotes, and conversational prompts about what works and doesn’t work for folks. These can be quite engaging chats, and it’s cool to see women from allover come together in a collaborative way. I also offer opportunities for Power Chicks to network with one another on Twitter Tuesday and Thursday Facebook Fan Day.
What you post on your page will revolve around your own business, of course. If you’re really stumped for ideas, begin to follow others in your industry. Use their ideas as a jumping off point for your own original thoughts.
Be casual in your posts – and whatever you do, don’t engage in heavy-handed selling! Facebook is a platform to build relationships with others that will, over time, enhance your business’ bottom line. But it’s a slow process and requires lots of TLC. Hardcore marketing message really turn people off on Facebook.
RS: Wise advice. How active is your community in terms of commenting and interacting? What tips do you have for getting more out of your community so your page does not feel like crickets are chirping and everyone is asleep?
LBR: I confess: I’m a stat watcher and I track how many Power Chicks are interacting on Facebook, Twitter, and emailing me about stuff. Why? Because if there’s no conversation, no connecting, no sharing of resources or cheering each other on – there’s no community, right? There’s just a number.
When I do social media consulting, I always say, “Don’t be eager to build up some sort of empire. Better to have a few red-hot fans than a lot of tepid ones.” It’s like this: You want raving followers who wake up each morning and think, “Hey, what’s Red Slice Nation got going today?” rather than a bunch of people who really don’t give a rip.
As far as tips for getting more out of your community, that’s easy. Give more. And if you’re not sure what to give, ask! The beauty of social media platforms is that you really can say, “Hey, what would you like? How can I best help you?” A following, even a small one, can offer fantastic feedback.
RS: I’ve always been a fan of quality over quantity! Do you think that the actual community topic is a factor to interaction? For instance, do you have an advantage in that your community is full of women talking about inspiration and motivation? What advice would you have for those of us with B2B topics or a less vocal community? What gets the most conversation going within your community?
LBR: Well, I think my advantage is less that we talk about inspiration and motivation and more that I understand what truly brings Power Chicks together – a sense of belonging and camaraderie. There’s a “We’re in this together” feeling. Having this advantage isn’t a calculated thing but sort of an intuitive knowing. Anyone else can have that same advantage.
See, what drives our decisions – whether to join a group, hire a web designer, make a purchase – arises from some need inside of us. We might hire a financial planner and think we’re paying for number-crunching but our deeper need is for safety and security. Identifying the deeper need in your community and addressing it, even obliquely, skyrockets your ability to develop a solid community.
For those with less vocal communities, evaluate what you’re doing and see if you can winnow out what’s not working. Again, ask people. Pick five reasonably active people, email or call each separately, and request specific feedback. You might be surprised at what you hear!
To get the most engagement, you also need to play with the days you post, and even the times of the day. Also, did you know posting a picture along with your updates statistically pushes up your response rate? So does posting a video. I love marketing and these little factoids, because I’m just that nerdy – and knowing stuff like this does come in handy.
Bottom line? Facebook is a fantastic venue for people to increase their business’ visibility, gain credibility, gently (did I mention gently?) sell, and more. But it takes time, patience, lots of trial and error. But stick with it! It’s worth it.
RS: Wise words, Lynn. Thanks so much for giving our community such great advice.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Wow! A writer for Gnosis Arts Microtank assessed the Red Slice brand recently in a very complimentary piece called The Science of Branding. You should check out all parts of this series, as it’s very interesting in terms of how branding works in the human brain. This Part 2 talks about 6 modern branding approaches:
individual branding
attitude branding
emotional branding
iconic branding
no-brand branding
mindshare branding.
How do others interpret your brand? Is it the image you want them to have or not? Brand lives in the minds of customers and all we can do is try to influence that perception visually, verbally and experientially – across everything they do. But they have the final say. Someone I worked with recently has a very feminine logo and website look and feel, and I was shocked to find out that ideally, she’d like to work with executive males. Talk about delivering the wrong message to the wrong audience! Her ideal clients may have visited her site only to be turned away by what what they saw, or to decide that she wasn’t for them.
Red Slice was listed as an example of both emotional and iconic branding. The writer of the article got it right when he talked about me going for that emotional connection with Red Slice. He correctly interpreted the red apple standing out from the sea of green apples as something to be desired (differentiation). I help clients create a brand and messaging that will stand out from the crowd, connect with customers and delight them. Working with my design team at Karo on this site, I wanted to convey “fresh, juicy, irresistible” and the writer assessed this accurately based on the imagery of all the different pages. However, he also saw some “sexiness” and “forbidden fruit” in some of the imagery and experience that I never saw before. Being so close to my own brand, I had not seen this and it was unintentional. But that aspect of “attracting” your audience still works for my business, in my opinion. Businesses want brands that people can’t resist and that they talk about. While I don’t believe a “sexy” brand is the answer for every client, I do try to find some aspect of sizzle in what they do for their target audience!
They also talked about the importance of this consistent experience carrying over to my well-designed Facebook page. That was, again, by design. You want to convey the same brand message in everything you do. Thanks to Socialbees for a great job translating my brand and design to Facebook. Love them.
It’s worth it to get some objective opinions about your branding and what it is saying. But do this carefully, as to many opinions can really muddy the waters. You want to make sure you are asking people who are close to your target audience or who know how to give objective brand opinions. As I mention in my book, asking your 21 year-old nephew what he think of a your brand, which is designed to appeal to 50+ year old women might not yield the best insights for you. Miley Cyrus is a branding phenom for her target demo, but I can’t stand her. And I’m not supposed to – she’s not meant for me.
Seek out an objective brand audit from a prospective target customer, a loyal current customer, a trusted partner or a branding expert. You may be surprised that you are saying something you don’t mean to say – or not saying something that you think is coming through loudly and clearly.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Yes, I know. We normally ask for people, places and things to turn us on, ignite our creativity, spark our inner muse. But good friend of Red Slice and Guru of New Sarah Browne just unplugged and regained some sanity on her recent trip to Alaska. I loved what she had to say in this interview at The Big Turn Off and how she views the whole world of social media as a branding mechanism. As a branding strategist, I 100% concur with her opinions: just because you can brand doesn’t mean you should.
I’m especially torn about the whole personal branding movement we’re experiencing. From Gary Vaynerchuk’s call to arms for following your passion and monetizing it to smaller players in a niche space, millions are flocking to their own platform. Part of me loves the freedom of self-expression that we are experiencing. As an actress, I’m all about telling stories and not letting old fuddy-duddy gatekeepers, networks or publishers prevent someone with an important message from getting it heard in the world (and especially when said-gatekeepers give wretched people like The Real Housewives and the cast of The Hills a voice). I love the niche interest sites, the recipe blogs, the wine sites, the inspirational communities that have been birthed in recent years.
But…
With any freedom, there is a quality-control price to be paid. People out there claiming to be experts who will “gladly share their secrets of success with you if you become a member, pay $5000 and attend my boondoggle conference in the desert every spring.” Exploitation comes in many forms and while there are those out there offering true value, many others are the digital age’s new used car salesmen or snake oil peddlers. Just because I can self-publish a guide at Kinko’s and spin it out via social media to the masses does not mean it’s high value or useful to anyone.
I’ve been skeptical now for a while of anyone whose personal brand comes off” infomercially.” If I see a web page with lots of exclamation points, testimonials, different size fonts, random use of color, and lots of words in BOLD, I tend to put my guard up. Again, some of this is very useful information to be shared and enjoyed but…..how can we tell the good from the bad? I don’t necessarily believe all content should be free either (that is for another blog rant). After all, someone has worked hard to research, filter and write useful content and I believe it’s not our God-given right to get everything in this world for free. But it’s a blurry line, isn’t it?
What are your thoughts? How do you feel about personal branding in the digital age? Are things getting our of hand? Do you need a break> Any platforms or gurus out there you really like who are bringing good stuff to the party? Share in the comments.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Many of you out there promoting your businesses or serving as spokespeople will hopefully be doing more and more press and informational interviews. PR is a core tactic in your brand building strategy and you want to ensure you are further conveying your brand messages when you are on camera, on the radio or in print.
The best advice I can share is whether you are a beginner or have been at this a while is to get media trained. We featured top tips in our Ask the Expert interview with Bronwyn Saglimbeni a while back from her work in media and presence coaching. Even if you just do a refresher every year, this is a great idea to ensure your messages are coming across in the media exactly as you desire. Interviewers can be wily and time is short so you need to know about presence, polish and soundbites – and how to avoid getting dragged down a rathole – in order to get the most bang for your PR buck. You may never get that kind of audience again, so leverage it well.
Many of you reading this also have blogs or radio shows that you use to promote your business, so you need to be wise to the ways of effective interviewing. It may not be your core business or competency, but if you have a listening or viewing audience, you need to serve them to the best of your ability or risk tarnishing your own brand in the process.
Katie Couric gave some great advice applicable to both interviewer and interviewee in this video. Check it out and ensure you are on point no matter which side of the mic you are on.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Want more brand “oomph” on your website but don’t have lots of time or money to create elaborate videos or podcasts? The unstoppable forces known as the Sisters of Sizzle, Elise and Jill, will be hosting a Create Your Sizzling Spotlight Event coming up this Sunday from 10-4pm in Seattle called "Be the Star of your Own Interview"
At this special event, you’ll spend a half hour in the Contact Talk Radio professional recording studios, where Elise and Jill will help you create your custom audio interviews to add some pizzazz to your website and enhance your brand. There are 3 packages available.
All Packages Include: • A half hour in studio, professional produced and recorded with equipment providing outstanding sound quality. • Professionally recorded interview wrapped with personal introduction and Sisters Of Sizzle bumper music. • 3-minute and 10-minute interview on topics/services of your choice. • Free tele-class and handouts outlining Elise and Jill’s signature exercises to help prepare your questions and answers.
If you’ve been looking for a cost-effective, easy way to connect with customers and grow your brand, don’t miss this. These gals are even featured as a case study in my branding book, which by the way, launched yesterday!
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
I’ve long admired Apple for its branding prowess, it’s ability to connect with customers, to innovate, to “think different.” But the recent fight they are having with Adobe over Flash on the iPhone and iPod has got me seeing their brand in a whole new light – and not a very flattering one.
Today’s WSJ had an article about Apple winning new ground in their very public war with Adobe about the decision Apple made to not accept Adobe’s Flash programming – the programming many websites already use for video and animation – on its devices. Apple has shut out Adobe from its own devices to promote its own tools and its “under development” HTML 5. Steve Jobs has lashed out with technical reasons why Flash isn’t good for its own devices, and Adobe retaliated with full page ads trying to get Apple on its side and garner public support.
I admit to not even knowing these technical reasons. I’m more interested in the perception and brand impact. I’ve never seen such brand hypocrisy in blatant black and white in the same article. Out of one side of their mouth, Apple claims it believes in open standards “like HTML 5” (hmmm….interesting, their own product) and says Flash is proprietary to Adobe. It may well be, but from a customer point of view (and developers are their customers too) Flash is what most folks out there are already using and what most websites and apps already use. Now, Apple is forcing customers back to the drawing board, or worse, forcing them to maintain separate apps and websites for different devices. The whole point of “open standards” is that apps can be used on any device and if many companies have already invested in using Flash to date, why not just also allow Flash on the Apple devices as people move over to using HTML 5, if it truly is an open standard?
Out of the other side, the article states that Apple wants to protect its competitive advantage (which I totally get and respect) by preventing developers from creating apps for the iPhone or iPad that could be used on other devices. If memory serves, when Microsoft got slammed for bundling their Internet Explorer browser with their operating system, wasn’t this action labeled “monopoly activity” and an anti-competitive practice? One customer in the WSJ article, Venveo, a web-design firm, says it has to build apps and websites for Apple devices separately because it has little choice due to iPhone’s popularity. Sounds like a monopolistic chokehold to me.
When did Apple turn into “the man”? I guess it was inevitable. Smart, friendly and fighting the “big dogs” can only work as a brand as long as you’re the small dog. Then when you get to the other side, you start to act just like the companies you used to condemn because you can see the upside. And other companies are taking their cue: I read yesterday that the new UrbanSpoon dining reservation system that is rolling out into full launch can only work for restaurants on an IPad, not on the restaurant’s existing reservations system.
Again, I don’t claim to understand the technical reasons for these decisions- but I wasn’t born yesterday: I doubt it has nothing to do with market dominance and freezing out the competition just because you can. My main issue is that Apple is doing something that forces customers to react a certain way, gives them more work, more expense and less options – and tarnishes their well-established brand promise in the process.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Facebook rocks. It really does. And it can be great for your business and building your community. But as I talk about in my upcoming book, Facebook – and social media in general – is just one tool in the branding arsenal. It is not THE tool, nor should you embark on delving into these tactics until you have your brand strategy in place first. Then you will be clear on what you want to communicate via these vehicles.
Lisa Barone from Outspoken Media wrote a killer article about why you shouldn’t abandon your own blog completely to jump on the Facebook Express. You need to use a balanced mix of communication vehicles to communicate and extend your brand. One great piece of advice I once got was that if you ever write a contributed article for another site (or post things in other social media arenas), ensure you also have a record of it on your own site or company blog. This is the best place for you to own your content and police your brand effectively.
How are you using Facebook for your business and how do you balance your own blog with making updates on your Fan Page?
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