The Brains Behind Social Influence Marketing

If you are running a social media company or  thinking about implementing some type of social media strategy into your business… there is no better company to track than Razorfish. They recently released a report called Fluent which examines the possibilites of using social media influencers (like Chris Brogan and Douglas Karr) to market a product or service. The definition of social influence marketing is as follows:

Social influence marketing is about employing social media as part of the entire lifecycle of a marketing campaign, even beyond the campaign.

There is also a deeper understanding to the concept of social influence marketing (SIM). The idea that marketing has turned away from the company and now is in control of the customer (or at least soon will be) is the basis of SIM. How do you create a market when in reality… in the not-to-distant future… marketing campaigns may not exist. How do you empower certain evangelists to spread the word about your product or service and seem absolutely genuine at the same time?

Razorfish is leading the way in deciding the right form to tackle social media as part of a marketing process. I would encourage you to read the report and experience the world of social influence marketing.

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Should You Use Social Media? Ask Your Customers.

There is one common thread that holds  the worlds of customer management and marketing together. There is one common practice that drives every live event, direct mail campaign, email marketing push, and billboard ad. It is pretty simple in the world of business communication… you go where your customer goes… you (try) to speak how you customer speaks… you live where you customer lives… you are on their turf.. you want to be in their living rooms… you want to be in their thoughts.. you want to be first thing they think of when the pain point arises.

How do you decide which avenue to use when you are developing a strategy campaign to reach your customers? Chances are… you are going to decide based on market reach and campaign costs… Your organization is going to ask itself: How do I reach the largest amount of people for the least amount of dollars? Period.

Is social media right for every business? No. However, you need to ask yourself… Are my customers on social media? Do not take advice from your own personal experiences. You may be a baby boomer business owner who has never used social media tools but you are in the minority. Baby boomers are the fastest growing demographic using social media.

The best way to find out? Ask you customer. Engage in a conversation. Do they think it would be helpful to communicate one-on-one with your employees or maybe even you?

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The 3 E’s of Social Media: Embrace Educate and Empower

I had the pleasure of talking to the Indianapolis Public Relations Society yesterday about the evolution of technology. The concept of the presentation is to shed light on the ever-changing landscape of communication. How is technology changing the way we communicate? How are WE (as communication experts) transitioning into the new age? Are we allowing for a paradigm shift?

The people attending the presentation are stoic figures in the public relations community in Indianapolis and while talking with them I realized three important principles to implementing social media into your organization.

Embracing. Educating. Empowering.

Embracing: The first step in implementing a social media strategy for your business is to embrace the concept of communication in the online environment. It is simple. It means you recognize the change that is transforming the way millions of people communicate on a daily basis. As a brand, you are embracing social media as a way to create a marketing message and tell a story to thousands of potential clients. You do not need to be particulary comfortable with the notion of open communication but you DO need to understand the concept of implement a strategy into your business.

Educating: Once you have embraced the concept of using social media as a communication platform.. it is important to educate yourself and your staff in the philosophy and practical use of the platforms. Whether you are debating on using tools like Twitter or Facebook it is important to educate yourself in the simple and complex workings of the social media world.

The first step in education? Listening. Listen to what people are saying on the Internet about your company, product, or industry. By listening to the masses you will be able to adapt yourself to the world of online communication.  There are also great seminars and learning environments to immerse yourself into.. every city has them… search and you will find.

Empowering: After embracing the tool and educating yourself (and your team) on strategy and usage it is time to empower the actual implementation of a social media strategy. This could mean with money, time, and other resources. Use the strategy plan you have written (or had written from an outside firm) and empower your team to use the tools.

Remeber that pig headed discipline always wins out in the long run. Empower yourself to have the discipline to stick with the strategy you have crated whether it surrounds blogging or a use of a social network.

This is just the start to great journey that is unfolding in front of us. Use the Internet to communicate (both internally and externally). I think you could be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

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15 Ways to Promote Your Blog Offline

The website is changing. The simple fact that individuals are wanting, craving, and needing updated content is generating a ton of traffic to one thing on your website : your blog. We know of multiple ways to promote your individual or company blog online but what about offline? The following is a list of 15 ways to promote your blog in a “traditional” sense. Some of the tips are a little outrageous but ya know what… we are all outrageous in some way… That is business, baby!

1. Put your blog address on your business card. If you have a personal bog (like mine: www.kylelacy.com) or even if you have a business blog off of your current website (example: getbrandswag.com/blog). Single out your blog on your business card.

2. Talk about you blog with every breath you take.. every move you make. This does not mean you overpower and drown people with your blog thought and opinions. This DOES mean that you talk about your blog when the time presents itself. If somebody is asking your opinion on a certain topic… give them your ideas and point them towards your blog.

3. Stick em up! Stickers for promotion. I have seen multiple bloggers and Internet-preneurs have stickers designed and printed that promoted their blog. If you have a catchy URL or tagline (example: Sometimes it is better to be socially creative) it might be a good idea to produce some stickers and hand them out.

4. Traditional Networking Rocks. Find a Chamber or a Rainmakers. If you are a small business owner, sales manager, or account manager… you are more than likely already involved in a traditional networking event. Hand out your business cards, pass out your stickers, and talk your blog up! People want to read content that helps them with a pain point in their lives. Help them out and they will be forever grateful!

5. Hire a Dominos or Liberty Tax Guy/Girl. We have all seen them holding a promotion sign and dancing on the side of the road. I have had my fair share of almost running them off the road by accident but out of all honesty, it could be a great way to promote your blog. There is one benefit to hiring a roadside promotional person… they are hardcore!

6. Ninja Attack on Display Computers. This idea comes from Future of Blog. If you find yourself in a Best Buy or any store that may have display computers… jump on the computer and surf to your blog and walk away. Now, this is not going to push any valuable traffic to your blog (who knows) but it was a funny idea.

7. Write an article for a magazine. There are plenty of local magazines around your area. Find the magazine that caters to your demographic and write articles for submission. This will help in your ability to gain traction with a knowledge hungry public.

8. Expensive Traditional Marketing. It pains me to write this portion of the tips but the ideas can still be used to promote a blog. Buy traditional marketing. Traditional marketing could be anything from radio, TV, billboard, or yellow page advertisements. I wouldn’t mind seeing my blog on a billboard but honestly, you have to REALLY justify the cost.

9. Sponsor a fund raising event. Find an event or not-for-profit that you can sponsor as a writer or blogger. This will help in your promotion to the community. One tip: Make sure you believe in the community based sponsorship before you buy.

10. Attend Conferences and Conventions. This idea could be delegated to an individual inside the company or yourself… it is all dependent on your time and ability to commit to different conferences. The same concept applies to offline networking groups applies to attending the conferences and conventions in your industry. Your online relationships are SO much stronger if you connect in the offline environment.

11. Get a vehicle wrap going on your car. We have all seen the massive car wraps. If you are wanting to REALLY promote your blog… get a car wrap but to be honest… I wouldn’t recommend it.

12. Write a Press Release and Include Your Blog. There are individuals better at writing about promotion through the use of public relation tactics but it is still a viable option to promoting your blog.

13. Attend a TweetUp. You are probably already using Twitter and if you are not… you probably should be. Twitter users usually have different networking events where different users can meet each other in a specific geographic location. Attend a TweetUP and give more face time with the people you communicate with online.

14. T-shirt It Up. This tip comes directly from @baldeagle on Twitter. Put quotes from your blog on a t-shirt. Make sure that you wear them around as much as possible. This may seem a little egotistical but come on… most of us are… at least a little bit.

15. Create a brochure with your top post. Many of us are in agreement when we talk about the power of an integrated marketing approach when it comes to promotion. Create a brochure that is catered directly to your blog. Take the best and top read post from your blog and transfer it to the print material. Be sure that you hand your blog-chure out whenever you have the chance. This could be extremely valuable at speaking engagement. I have printed blog posts out in order to hand them to event attendees.

Who Are You Targeting on Social Media?

This is an old post but has been adjusted based on conversations over the past 6 months.

Jason Baer has a great post over at Convince and Convert called the 7 Critical Elements of Your Social Media Strategy. The post is brilliant for the small business owner wanting to get more involved in social media.

Why is his post brilliant?

It talks more about the internal business development than what TOOLS you should be using.

I am all for using Twitter, Plaxo, Myspace, Facebook, and LinkedIN but if you don’t have the traditional elements of your company connected… you are going to fail.

In the post he lists the third step in the seven step process as: Where is the Audience Cyclically? This explains that there are four different relationship patterns inherent in the promotion of your company.

Awareness: Maybe heard of you. (The-Lost)

Interest: Heard of you. Visited your Site. No Purchases (Stumbler)

Action: Made a single purchase (One-Time Charm)

Advocacy: Raving Brand Lunatics. (Jackpot) (Lunatic)

I decided to re-name them and go over how they fit into the overall social media marketing strategy.

Jason suggested that you should only pick two of the 4 Customer Profiles listed above when you are planning your social media strategy. I can agree with the fact that two is more than enough but I would suggest picking only one for your social media marketing strategy.

Why Pick Only One?

If you have planned your SM strategy correctly it is a part of your overall marketing strategy. You only have a limited amount of time and resources to fully promote your business. If you can use SM marketing to only target ONE of the groups… the strategy will be stronger and more effective.

This is especially true for beginners in the world of social media. One is enough for now.

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Should a CEO Use Social Media?

Well.. this is an important question to ask. This is even more important to consider if you are a CEO. There has been quite a bit of chatter in the social media world pertaining to a CEO’s use of social media. Should the overall leader in a company be involved in the online communication strategy being implemented by employees or an outside firm? There are many cases when the answer is YES and a few where the answer can be a resounding no.

The answer should be yes if you are a CEO of a company that is developing a unique (trust based) relationship with the customers or your product or service. This concept can be contained in the B2B and B2C world.

If you are running a small business where you (as the CEO) are the main source of business development it is important for your prescence to be known in the world of the Internet. The best start for a small business CEO? Blogging, of course. As a small business, you are building a reputation based on YOUR interactions with individuals. If you are not implementing (at the very least) a blog.. you may be missing out on a huge opportunity to influence potential buyers.

Now, there could be a case where social media should not be implemented by a CEO. I have been debating with myself on the abilities of a Fortune 500 to 100 CEO implementing such social strategies… and frankly… sometimes there is way to much on the plate of a corporate leader to implement personal social media. Blogs can be excused from this topic because there are plenty of corporate CEOs using blogs to communicate but there is only so much time in the day.

In the long run, as a CEO, you should evaluate where you can best represent the company. If you have a VP of Communications that is much better suited to run the social media of a company… by all means.. let the best lead.

However, you will find an increase in the trust behind your brand on behalf of your customers when you are communicating to them on a daily basis.

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Your Website is Your Social Media Hub

Our web-developer extraordinaire and overall genius at Brandswag, Stephen Coley, wrote in his post yesterday about the importance of centralizing your overall social media communication strategy. Stephen is a genius at php and has been building websites  for the company since March and I couldn’t agree with him more.

When you are building your online strategy.. please.. make sure that you are driving traffic to one source. We are developing content to reach a wider audience than ever deemed possible in the world of marketing and public relations. For this very reason it is important to have a centralized hub. This pertains to B2B and B2C strategies. Great content develops readers and followers.. which in turn.. develops trust and thought-leadership.

Now, this may not deem necessary for some early adopters. There may come a time when the entire social media world will be decentralized and a new form of strategy will develop… but until then.. spend time developing your hub (your website). Put deep thought into the content you are creating and then setup the necessary tools to drive readers to your connection point.

I welcome disagreement on this topic but this is what I have seen from multiple sources, our own work, and current clients.

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The One Place You Should Focus ALL Marketing

Many times we (marketing professionals) talk about the concepts of an integrated marketing approach. “You should be doing email marketing, billboards, radio ads, blah blah blah blah. ” Sometimes it gets a little heavy… Sometimes it gets a little burdensome.

Business owners want to know one thing: How do you drive brand awareness or revenue. As a small business owner there is one form of marketing/communication strategy that should be the MAIN focus of all of your endeavours: word-of-mouth marketing or referral marketing. We are a small business economy built off of referrals.

When building out your marketing plan or talking with a marketing company… make very sure they are discussing the leveraging power of referrals. There is no better way to build your business.

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Giving More than You Get and Living the Dream

We have a half-day planning session at Brandswag today. You know how strategic planning goes… you go through values, vision and mission statements, marketing initiatives, and the like… However this is not why I am excited to attend the planning session. I am excited to see the power of six creative minds joined together to brainstorm around the future of a company… a company that we all love.

It has been two years since Brandon Coon (my partner) and I have opened the doors at Brandswag and now we have the most talented team a person could ask for..

I consider myself blessed to be running an organization who has a mission/vision statement that isn’t lengthy and boring it is simply:

To help companies incorporate creative tools that build strong relationships with their clients.

There is one other statement that we try to live by at Brandswag:

By creating ideas that infect business, we move beyond thoughts, ideas &  theory.
It is about producing intentional campaigns and dialogue that move customers to buy.

In the words of Mike Lantz, one of my mentors and owner of LQ Strategies: I am living the dream.

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The Failing Marketing and PR World

I am becoming increasingly concerned with the lack of blog writing by public relations, marketing, and advertising firms in the city of Indianapolis and abroad. The simple fact that a communications company is not in-tune with the changing landscape of the consumer driven world is troubling… to say the least.

If there are any industries that should be on the forefront of social media and blogging it is the public relations and marketing worlds. YOU are the communications arm for major brands both large and small. YOU are driving them out of business because of your lack of knowledge pertaining to the changing world.

If you do not believe in social media as a valuable device for communication (two-way communication)… I am concerned for your company health and your clients bottom line. You may be riding the fair wave of strictly using traditional marketing and media buys… Don’t get me wrong… it is still extremely valuable to use and implement but only when integrated with new techniques.

But what happens when 6 to 12 months down the road… when you realize that you did not change in the right direction… What happens when you are surpassed by smaller, more agile firms and your market share is ripped away because of one thing..

THEY realized it was important to talk to single consumers instead of a HUGE demographic mix. They realized it was important to communicate instead of blasting messages over the airwaves.

It is important to understand that social media will be new medium of communication. It may be a new concept but in the next year it is going to revolutionize the way we communicate. Are you searching for the truth? Are you watching the trends?

Most are not.

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