7 Ways to Change Attention to ACTION in Social Media
We spend oodles of time talking about increased exposure for your company or personal brand while using social media. We spend countless hours reading about tips to gain attention and pull users into our content. Personally. I spend quite a bit on Google Reader trying to stay ahead of the curve and consume the next big idea.
Many small business owners concentrate on one aspect of social media: the attention of the users. It is mainly the increased exposure to potential clients that starts the interest wheel turning. This is the old marketing strategy of… the more content you share the more eyes you will hit. We need to take it a bit further than just building brand recognition. It is hard to measure brand recognition in terms of return on investment.
Initially when entering into a social media marketing strategy companies need to think about the attention gaining concepts for the plan. Whether you are doing a contest, being productive on social networks, or launching a new blog it is important to initially focus on the attention aspect of social media.
What is truly important (in a business sense) is the action the user takes to buy and/or become interested in your product. You have all the attention you can muster! How do you turn the user’s attention into action.
7 Ways to Change Attention to Action
1. Free eBook:
Write a short book about your expertise. Are you an accountant? A business coach? Maybe you are a plumber who is just getting involved online? Write a quick page turner on some topics that will be beneficial to your readers. Offer it for a free download and capture their email address. This will allow you to build your database while already zeroing in on interested prospects. Chris Brogan has done an excellent job at this.
2. Blog or Email Subscription
In everything you do in social media it is extremely important to always have a subscription box for users to subscribe to your thoughts and offerings. A great email tool for wordpress is FeedBurner Email Subscription.
3. Promotional Banners or Links to your Profile
Always have a link present (image or text) that offers a discount on your services. You can also have a link directed to your company website that allows users to invest more time in learning about your services. This is a huge example of way to drive your attention users to your website and sell them on your services.
4. Gain Their Trust
You need to become involved in the communities that potentially may be a revenue source for your company. Take the time to respond to questions, ask questions, invest in writing great content, and helping people out. This is a huge aspect of changeing attention to action. The steps towards the buying pattern of a user has a lot to do with trust in the social media environment. Gain their trust and offer them something to hard to put down.
Gaining the trust of a user is the more important of the four steps listed above. User’s attention is not a bad thing but in order to measure your ROI you must take some of them to the action steps.
5. Use Intense Debate to Encourage Further Conversation.
Intense Debate is an AWESOME comment plugin that allows for intense comment functionality for your blog. The features include: comment threading, reply-by-email, email notifications, commenter profiles, moderation/blacklisting, reputation points, widgets, and Twitter integration (to new a few).
6. Email Capture Page on Facebook.
Facebook Fan Pages (of Like Pages) have been increasing in terms of functionality for the everyday user. With sites like Wildfire Apps and TabSite leading the way in making Fan page functionality easier to manage… it is easier to build a capture system using Facebook Fan Pages. I recommend building an email capture page that will encourage both fans and non-fans of your page to submit their email to subscribe to your “information.” This information could be anything from company newsletter to promotions/sales jargon.
7. Video Blog
I could be better at this… believe me. The response I get off of videos is pretty overwhelming in the long haul. Videos create a sense of connection between a viewer and the content. If you create a video… be very sure you care creating something of substance. Try making a video per week to enhance the quality of your blog… driving the user to submit information in order to know you…. more.
Social Media 101 in 60 Minutes: The Web’s Best Crash Course
You’ve probably heard of how social media is disrupting various industries. For example, some PR folks are adjusting the way they work and are now pitching blogs along with the New York Times. Social media is here to stay, and it’s changing the way we do business.
I’m guilty. I work with a company that’s developing social software which is disrupting the “learning” industry‚Äîfrom small business entrepreneurs, consultants, and thought leaders to corporate training and development departments.
If you’re on Twitter and you follow Kyle, you’ve tasted the future. Oftentimes, Kyle uses Twitter to point his followers to awesome articles‚Äîa form of peer-to-peer learning facilitated by social technologies.
At Bloomfire, we’re taking that concept to the next level, and you can check that out for yourself on our website. The current generation of our platform is already available, and you can Test Drive that for free. If you’re an early adopter and want to test out the alpha version of our next generation platform, you can join our Alpha Program by clicking here. Be quick though‚Äîhundreds have already signed up, and we’ve got limited spots.
So in the spirit of peer-to-peer learning, I’m going to share a list of resources that has helped me (and many others) get up to speed in social media, fast. Think of this piece as a makeshift syllabus for a social media course. I’ve created each lesson from the most popular resources on the Internet (according to retweets, social bookmarks, YouTube views, etc.).
Here we go‚Äîlet’s begin your crash course on social media! If you watch the videos and do the readings, you should be done in less than an hour.
If you find this useful, feel free to share this with clients/partners/friends who are constantly asking you social-media-related questions.
Introduction: What’s in it for me?
If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably interested in how social media can build your business. Here’s the business case for social media: it generates revenue. Really.
It generates revenue for small- and medium-sized businesses—this TechCrunch article tells the story of several SMBs, including a Korean restaurant, dentist, and hotelier, who found tremendous success.
It also generates revenue for big brands. Did you know that Twitter generated $1 million for Dell? Did you know that YouTube helped Old Spice double their sales?
So if you’re interested in generating more revenue, then this course is for you. Onward!
What is Social Media?
Here’s the definition from Wikipedia: social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.
If you’re the kind of person that enjoys textbooks, then you should read the entire Wikipedia article.
Don’t like that textbook? Here are nine more, courtesy of Google’s built-in dictionary.
But if you’re like me, then you don’t like textbooks. You like videos. So here’s the best one out there, courtesy of Common Craft. It’s called Social Media in Plain English, and it’s been viewed over half a million times on YouTube. It’s fun!
Bonus assignment: read Twitter 101 and LinkedIn 101, then submit a warm chocolate chip cookie to your nearest neighbor to earn yourself a pat on the back.
Quick Start: How to Get Setup with Social Media
There are a lot of social media sites out there, so I’m going to focus on what I think are The Big Three. Here are some great step-by-step videos for getting yourself setup on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Understanding Social Media Culture: Best Practices
In some ways, entering the world of social media is like moving to a foreign country. When I moved from Hong Kong to the United States several years ago, I needed several months to adjust to the new culture.
Which hands should I use to hold my knife and fork? When I’m having a conversation, should I look into my partner’s eyes, or avoid the eyes? Should I ask people, “How are you?” even when they’re complete strangers and I don’t really care how they’re doing?
It’s the same with social media.
How often should I retweet? Are auto-DMs rude? What should be on my LinkedIn profile?
There are ways to overcome culture shock quickly:
- Find a tour guide
- Carefully observe and take in your surroundings
- Read a textbook
I can’t help you with points one & two, but I can recommend a great “textbook.”
When I read textbooks in college, I always preferred looking at the pictures instead of reading the text. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
If a picture-book could be a textbook, then this would be it. It’s free, but it’s not a physical book‚Äîit’s a great blog post featuring 35 infographics on almost every facet of social media.
Final Exam: How Well Do You Understand Social Media?
What’s a course without an exam? Alright, I know I can’t test you, but I can give you a fun way to test yourself.
Julian Smith is a comedian who created a killer standup routine about Facebook, and it’s been viewed over 2.5 million times on YouTube. For your final exam, watch his video, titled 25 Things I Hate About Facebook.
You see, jokes often rely on cultural context. That’s why Chinese jokes translated into English don’t always work. So if you’re laughing at the jokes, then you also have a working understanding of the culture.
Want to Learn More?
Congratulations! You’ve just completed Social Media 101.
If you want to learn more, here’s a calendar of over 75 upcoming social media events. If you can’t find anything there, try searching “social media” on Meetup.com.
Nehemiah “Nemo” Chu is the Ambassador for Bloomfire, a social learning platform where employees, customers, or fans teach each other. Test Drive our software today, or join Bloomfire’s Alpha Program to test our next-generation platform (launching late September 2010). For fun, he inhales TED Talks in Kalamazoo, Michigan. You can find him tweeting @bloomfire, blogging at Bloomfire’s ePublication, and speaking at DevLearn 2010, an eLearning conference in San Francisco.
5 Tips to Connecting With The Boomer Social Boom
Randy Clark is the Director of Communications at TKO Graphix, where he blogs for TKO Graphix Brandwire. Prior to TKO, he spent 13 years with Unique Home Solutions as Marketing Director and VP of Operations. He is an avid flower gardener, beer geek, and he fronts a rock & Roll band on the weekends. And yes, he is a Boomer.
I am a Boomer. I was born between 1946 and 1964, and I have Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and You Tube accounts. According to USA Today, Facebook has 16.5 million users, 55 or older, while MySpace has 6.9 million users. Sarah Perez of ReadWriteWeb, states, “More than 60 percent of those in this generational group actively consume socially created content like blogs, videos, podcasts, and forums. What’s more, the percentage of those participating is on the rise.”
So why is this important to social marketers? AARP Global Network claims, “Boomers should be just as desirable to marketers as millennial and gen-xers in the coming years.” AARP quoted Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, “Boomers are the mainstream of the country now, when you attract a mainstream audience, you’re going to attract a lot more commercial interests. Boomers validate that this is a big market, and that this is a place where commercial interests can make money.” Since Boomers are increasing their involvement in social networking, it is important to consider how to connect with them. We are here, but we may not hear. You… may… have… to… speak… slower… and LOUDER!
Five Tips On How To Connect With Boomers
Keep it simple. If you want to engage Boomers, make it easy. Remember we hadn’t seen a computer until we were older than most of you are now! If we have to jump through too many hoops, we might become frustrated and give up.
Explain boundaries. Imagine George Carlin or Richard Prior on your Facebook account. Upon receiving a Facebook friend request from his father, Will Smith (not the actor) explained to his father what was not acceptable (PCWorld.com). “Politics, sex, jokes, things you find funny but offend me, comments about family members, any combination of the aforementioned items, and pretty much every email you’ve ever sent me.”
Grammar does matter. We have watched the language devolve, u no? Understandably, many Boomers think the rules have been thrown out the window. Take the time to explain that poor grammar, misspelling, and bad writing do influence readers on social networks. It is not okay to call it “the ‘puter.”
Teach us social network netiquette. Sometimes we are so excited when we learn how to do something, we overlook what is next. Should I have mentioned them in the RT? Oh, was I supposed to thank someone for friending me? These simple netiquette cues need to be explained to Boomers.
Speak our language. Boomers may not keep up with the latest and greatest APPadohickie. We are more excited just to be in the game! If we stare at you with a glazed, distant look, be patient and explain it to us.
According to Wikipedia, “Baby Boomers control over 80% of personal financial assets and more than 50% of discretionary spending power. They are responsible for more than half of all consumer spending, buy 77% of all prescription drugs, 61% of OTC medication, and spend $500 million on vacations per year and 80% of all leisure travel.”([24])
When creating your next social media plan, do not overlook the Boomer market segment. Do a little research and find out where the Boomers hang in your neighborhood. Sites catering to boomers, such as www.eons.com, with over 800,000 members, continue to grow.
And remember, like they always say… what was it they say? There was something I wanted to share…now what was it? It was just on the tip of my tongue. Oh well…make yourself a great day! Peace.
You Can’t Afford Not to Afford PR
BohlsenPR is, at its core, a traditional PR firm. Collectively, we’ve got more than a hundred years of experience among us. Some of us are even—gasp!— in our 40s. So when we talk about PR, a lot of “I remember when” and “It’s just amazing how” conversations take place. (Some of us remember copying, folding and stuffing press releases to mail them bulk rate from the post office.)
Some of us might be near-dinosaurs, but at BohlsenPR, we practice the philosophy that social media is more about sociology and psychology than technology. We need to understand what makes our clients and their audience(s) tick so we can create and conduct integrated communication plans.
Rarely do we tell clients that social media is not for them, but sometimes we do. Never do we tell clients that social media is the only way to success; we might as well put them in a chaise lounge and ask, “How do you feel?” Even though they may say, “But everyone is doing social media!” or “We don’t have the resources to do it,” we don’t always respond with a nod and an empathetic “We understand.” We tell it like it is.
More and more, we’re finding that so much of our success with traditional media outreach plays into the success of a social media campaign, and vice versa. And you don’t need expensive tools anymore. Today, you can’t afford not to afford PR.
Consider the following:
• In “the old days,” we might have suggested a Video News Release (VNR) to a client. Now, anything video-related can be cross-collateralized over traditional and social media. You can spread a message in any video quality among a gazillion broadcast possibilities and, at the same time, across many social media networks. Cost savings—check.
• Sometimes we’d recommend a client maximize the VNR by also investing in a Satellite Media Tour. No need for this anymore. All that’s needed now is YouTube, Vimeo, and some links to here, there and everywhere. Cost savings—check.
• You say subscriptions are down at local newspapers and you’re not sure who reads them anymore? No problem—go ahead and foster the story, and then post the link on Twitter and Facebook. Reaching your audience—priceless.
We always ask ourselves these same basic questions of our clients:
What kind of grassroots connectedness can we help create with a social media presence?
How can we influence their audience through a social media presence?
Do they have a slogan, concept or identity that has a high retention and repeatability factor?
What kind of tools do they have available or are willing to invest in to cross-collateralize across both traditional and social media platforms?
Can they afford to delve into social media?
Or rather, can they afford not to afford PR?
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Today’s guest post was written by President and Founder of BohlsenPR, Vicki Bohlsen
Social Media Arguments Get Old
I happened across a blog post this morning by a good friend of mine, Daniel Herndon, who owns an Indianapolis marketing company. Daniel’s post entitled, Indianapolis Marketing vs Indianapolis Social Media, talks about the importance of understanding social media as part of a tool kit instead of a stand alone system.
“Buyer beware – If marketing is not one of the core services than social media is just a buzz word. No single tactic is useful without coming from the approach of marketing a product based on a targeted demographic and good messaging.”
I encourage you to read the post because it gets straight to the point and is short and sweet. This is what I am struggling with…
When are we going to quit arguing what social media actually is…. and start implementing the greatness of what social media has become… ? Social media can be used for internal communication, recruiting, public relations, loyalty programs, and even… yes… targeted demographic marketing. At the core… social media is about story telling and communication. I think that is what Daniel was trying to get across in his post.
Planning, development, building goals, and delivering on promises is fundamental to every aspect of business. This is nothing new. People have been struggling with the implementation of ideas since “marketing” was defined as a concept. If an individual (or company) has a hard time implementing an idea, Facebook Page, or direct mail campaign… either help them… or move on.
The core of your business is about delivering on what you promise. If you are developing a marketing plan… you best be sure social media is part of an overall campaign. If you are actually developing a multiple touch point marketing campaign that delivers (try HotBed Creative)… remember that it is about the numbers and not about the flair.
If a company cannot show return from case studies, with numbers, or by past clients… find some else.
Who cares how the tool (social media) is defined…
LinkedIn Offers New Promotional Tab
The other reason to use the Promotions Tab is the control and rules you can create for you group. You groups rules are totally definable by you, the creator of the group. Now…what kind of rules or guidelines will you impose. You want to lay out some guidelines so that you group becomes a place to discuss and network not a place to self promote, or speak negatively about others. So if a member wants to promote something…anything…unless otherwise determined inappropriate by you..have them post in the Promotional Tab. Viola! Organization.
Another “rule” to keep in mind (use the word rule loosely as you don’t want your group to be a place full of dos and don’ts) Encourage your users to post in the appropriate sections and give reasons why content was removed and in return compliment good content to encourage similar behavior.
Now you can let out a sigh of relief and regain more control of your group. Once again LinkedIn is empowering its users to make the most out of their time on the site.
Hospitality Industry Changing with Social Media
Hotels and the Hospitality industry as a whole has undergone some changes due to the rise and growth of social media. The industry has largely been changing because of social media with the advantage and disadvantage of unfiltered feedback. If a customer experienced a bad stay…watch out. We live in a world where an individual could make a large problem for an industry who aims to please.
People now go straight to various social sites to find good deals, customer reviews and more. Hotels have no choice but to go full speed ahead with integrating social media into their marketing efforts. Customers use their “voice” (more like a bull horn) when dealing with this industry and can be brutally honest. There are thousands of reviews to be read and hotels must listen… in order to provide the best service possible. If there are reviews out there… it is safe to say that other customers are probably reading them. Through the use of social media hotels can now focus their efforts by reading online reviews through Facebook and Twitter versus searching all over the web.
Facebook and Twitter are also great ways to drive users to the hotel’s website. Usually potential customers are new to your brand name and can be beneficial when measuring social media success. Also, hotels can set themselves apart by showing expertise (knowledge capital). Consider setting up a blog that details trips and activities to do near or at the hotel. Customers go where they feel secure.
When it comes to the dreaded negative comment… Social Media allows hotels to act quickly and be responsive. Instead of deleting negative reviews… highlight the positive ones. After reading the first 10 positive reviews people tend to quit reading the rest anyway. Another benefit for hotels is the ability to keep tabs on what their competitor is doing. Essentially, social media has given the Hospitality industry more value when marketing their services. Instead of people questioning where to stay, hotels can now market effectively with its other sites backing up its claims.
4 Tips on Writing Great Stories for Your Brand
When telling a story how do you make it a worthwhile read? How do you captivate your audience? Reflect on your daily activities to look for life experiences to help reach and engage with your audience. How do your use your life experiences to shape your story?
One thing to keep in mind when writing your story is the focus. As storytellers we can easily go off on tangents and get distracted. Stay on track by sticking to the focus of your story. If your having trouble finding your focus then stop and think….
and think…
It’s easy to forget a fundamental key in storytelling…thinking.
After some reflection and thought the focus may come to you once the story’s been told. The focus is what the story is about…why it was told.
Ask yourself four questions when preparing your story:
1. Why does my story matter? Why are you telling your story? You think it matters but who else does? This goes hand and hand with understanding your audience and telling them a story they’d connect with… emotionally.
2.What’s the point? What’s the purpose of the story. To teach something? To share an experience that changed you? This is your focus. You should be able to define what that is with only a few words.
3.Why am I telling the story? Original content comes from people who are simply willing to tell their story not attention seekers. So what’s your motivation behind the story?
4.What does this story say about me? Does it reflect you in a good light? Does it tell you audience who you are? Does the story flow? Is there a clear understanding? You want to make your story understandable and relatable. You want to be liked but you want to leave them with something to chew on.
By answering the four basic questions… your audience may be able to make a real connection with your story and ultimately you (your brand).
Why is it important to focus? Because we want to know what the story was about.
We want to know why that story was shared.
We want to take something away from it… connect with it.
Stories are Life. Marketers are Failing.
Stories are life. Stories are built off of every day occurences and the little things that happen in life. Where did we… as marketers… go wrong when telling the story? All businesses and products are built off of a story. What is the main point of marketing… Is it fulfilling a need? Is it creating a product that actually helps an individual? Is it selling your wares… period?
A story is something that creates a safe haven for an individual. You are building a message that should be involved in the story of your customer’s life. It should (and must be) the connection that brings in additional customer and evangelists for your brand.
You want your customer to get to a place… a place where they agree with your terms and conditions. A place where they say, “Yes. I do need, want, or should have that product or service.”
A place where they approve your service and believe/know it will work for them… in any capacity.
What is the series of events that drive a person to a specific point: buying your product. What are you telling your customers? Is your story bland… Boring… Normal?
I see normal marketing everywhere. Brochures… Smiling billboards… Postcards… Facebook updates…It is normal and plain. There are no new story lines. There is nothing to pull me into the brand. The stock photography you bought in 1980 is not going to sell me on buying a house. The telemarketer that just left a message on my cell phone is not going to trick me into buying your magazine subscription.
And… the direct mail piece you just sent me asking me about my retirement plans… is definitely not going to pull me into your luncheon.
My friends and MY preferences are going to sell me on your product. I want to pull your information at MY will… at MY discretion. Notice a trend here?
It is about me… how are you speaking to me? Nay… how are you listening? Do you know what I want as an individual… are you allowing me to interact?
If you are not…
You have a long way to go… shift that paradigm and interact.
3 Rules for Twitter Growth and Safety!
We need you to be safe and courteous when using Twitter… period. It is important for all of us to remember three important rules when jumping into the world of tweeting.
1. Don’t Drive and Tweet
We should all know by now not to text and drive. Come on people! When Oprah says it… it’s LAW!
Yet we’ve still managed to find a loophole and (much to our grandmother’s horror) we’ve taken social networking to the streets. Although it should be common sense to not tweet and drive… sometimes you have a tweet that can’t wait. However fast you are at tweeting the consequences can be dire… like your car wrapped around a tree. This was the case for plastic surgeon, Dr. Frank Ryan, who was tweeting before his fatal car crash on Monday,August 16. This is an issue that has received a ton of attention but not much has been done to prevent these texting/tweeting related accidents.
Unfortunately, teenage drivers are not the only offenders. Texting while driving is a serious issue for ALL drivers.A recent report from Pew’s Internet and American Life Project found on Mashable… reported that 47% of adult drivers admitted to sending or reading text messages while driving. Legislation has tried to create a ban on texting by implementing fines for doing so. Yet the threat doesn’t outweigh the urgency behind getting tweets out or answering a text. So in a situation where you get the itch to tweet and just can’t wait, don’t scratch….pull over. The other drivers on the road, greatly appreciate it, as would your grandmother.
2. Personal Information
There’s such a thing as TMI: too much information. I don’t’ need to know certain things… as your follower… don’t get too graphic here so keep your personal business to yourself. Be careful when sharing information that could be potentially be embarrassing or even dangerous.
3.Give Props When Due
Tweeting can be a great way to share the love. That being said… give shout outs and retweets to others that have helped you out in the past. This will create good “Twitter Karma”… and we all want good Twitter Karma. Also when blogging about something you read be sure to give that author the credit for their post. Don’t claim ideas as your own. A retweet is intended to give proper ownership so follow suit and give props to rightful creators.
What do you think about this? Is it a soon to be epidemic?
