Digitalia | Indianapolis Social Media Marketing

15 ways to practice what you preach: psst PR,marketing, brand, & some social media people

Chris Brogan talks about the importance of practicing what you preach

I had a chance to chat with my new friend, Chris Brogan, at Blog Indiana (a killer event btw) a couple of weeks ago. I've been frustrated with many of my colleagues in marketing broadly as they preach to clients, but don't practice what they preach. Its a different world. You didn't need to make ads for yourself 30 years ago - your client work sold your work. With PR, you don't need to get placements or stories for yourself. But social is different, you've got walk the walk. "Eating your own dog food", as Chris says, is critical. Watch the video or read the list to get the gems from our conversation on how to practice what you preach.

1. You've got to embed it in your lifestyle
2. The response time is minutes
3. Personal interactions can teach you how to use the tools
4. Get in deep - don't skim the surface - it wont work
5. Use it in the appropriate place
6. Social world people - get out with the humans - you can't do it from a laptop
7. Have a process in place
8. Convergence works - traditional and social media
9. You have to understand how humans interact
10. Listen to the people who support you, to the people who you compete with, everybody around you.
11. Show love to the people that love you - social media karma
12. Integrate your approach - SMS, email, social, and more
13. Remember to build trust
14. Collect your conversations where your business is happening
15. Be there before the sale - let people get to know your company in a human way

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz | Blip.fm

Social Media Marketing

Practice what you preach: the Philly perspective

Practice what you preach views from Philadelphia

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about the importance of practicing what preach, and why its so hard for so many agencies, PR firms, and social media people to get with "eating their own dog food". Here's the view from Philly, recorded while I was speaking at SMC Philly on "the corporate mullet".

The first interview was with Beth Harte, The Harte of Marketing, about her views on the importance of practicing what you preach. It's easy to give other people advice but the old saying "the cobler's kid has no shoes" doesn't work. If you're in the biz. You better practice what you preach.

Next, I interviewed Eileen O'Brien, BIll Lublin and Gloria Bell (also in Philadelphia) - all of whom have impressive experience sets with Social Media/PR and more - on the importance of practicing what you preach.

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz | Blip.fm

5 reasons to use email marketing plus its 2nd highest sharing tool

An interview with Neil Berman, President, Delivra

Neil Berman, President of Delivra, says there are lots of reasons to use email as part of your marketing mix. 5 to be precise. They're instant, affordable, dynamic, measurable, and best of all, its easy!

I started thinking more about this the other day when I saw this on chart of the day:

According to AddToAny, a company that provides Web publishers tools to let their users share content, more people use Facebook to share links than any other service -- including, to our surprise, email.

Now, if you read the original article closely:

Interestingly, if you combine all of Yahoo’s properties – Delicious, Yahoo Bookmarks, Yahoo Buzz, and Yahoo Messenger – it accounts for 14.4 percent of sharing, making it second on the list. Less surprising, MySpace has fallen well down the ranks with just 5 percent of shares. Other notables include Digg at 4.4 percent, Bebo at 3.1 percent, and LinkedIn at a mere 0.4 percent.

Either way, the way I look at it - email is still accounting for 11% of the way that content/information is being shared. This raises an important question for some of you that insist that social is king. Isn't email the original social? Shouldn't you be using email?

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz | Blip.fm

Practice what you preach: why is it so hard?

Why aren't more agencies, PR firms, social media people/agencies practicing what they preach?

Let's start this locally.

Kyle Lacy posed this question in recent post entitled "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."

Rodger Johnson, on the Hooiser PRSA blog in this post entitled, "How are you using social media for your clients"

While there are a few agencies experimenting with social media, I've talked with one agency owner about his effort, I don't see many of us embracing social media as tools of engagement. I wonder why that is?

In her characteristic candid style, Elizabeth Friedland responded:

Our clients are paying us to make their brands better but utilizing EVERY strategic tool at our disposal -- not just social media. They're not paying us to try to launch ourselves into the social media "digiratti."

To which, Gus Pearcy, said (wow Gus - I'm not even going to start with those loaded remarks)

PR is not about the method; it's about the results. Why is Lacy so sure that PR firms are not using social media? Firms work for a client. The strategy is not something to brag about. It's like revealing the secret behind sawing the lady in half. It's clever, but it's no longer magic.

My man, Chuck Ghose jumps in with the answer I find most appealing:

The best way to learn a game is to play it. If I were hiring an agency, I'd like to see how they are using it to grow their own business. I think it would provide insight into their potential strategy for clients.

And, in his own poignant style, Robby Slaughter says:
As for Kyle Lacy's original post, I think his concern is that if you look around, many---if not most---people who wear the PR hat are not really leveraging social media. In fact most of the people in this thread seem to think social media is just another tool in the PR toolbox.

But again, from the outside, it looks like a sea change. Social media appears to be a fundamental shift to re-engage individual empowerment over the conversation

Great conversation, everybody. But, frankly I'm disappointed in the lack of answers to the real question: Why aren't you practicing what you preach?

Some questions about all the random commentary around why more firms aren't practicing what they preach?

Does transparency prevent you from doing your job? When did keeping clients thinking you perform magic ever result in sustainable relationships. Smart clients know how you do it. They work with you because you add value and you have a relationship. Sure keep a few tricks up your sleeve. Ken Honeywell, Well Done Marketing founder and overall bad ass, said it best "clients and agencies deserve each other". There are people that do it well - clearly. Hetrick Communications, Trendy Minds, Brainstorm, and many more do a great job practicing what they preach. Clearly, if anyone should specialize in social media - its PR firms. I'd love to see more discussion and some real answers.

Last point: Say you want to get in shape at your gym and you decide to get a personal trainer. Would you hire the over-weight (yes I said it), unhealthy, chain smokin' personal trainer because he or she's got a lot of great clients and awards? Sorry, maybe I'm not that open minded. Credibility matters. EAT YOUR OWN DOG FOOD (Thanks Brad Ward for clueing me into this Chris Brogan quote).

Bring it. It's a discussion. Keep it focused ;). The question is why you aren't practicing what you preach.

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz | Blip.fm

Client bendin' you over?

Indianapolis' Scofield Editorial captures vendor client relationship dark side

If you live in the marketing, PR, social media, website, or any related field - you can feel this Youtube video. The metaphors are spot on. The virality was presumably driven purely by word of mouth - I'd say email, facebook, and twitter. Its very clever. Here's a quick look at some of the results:

• Comments: 1,079
• Favourites: 7718
• Ratings: 3.053
• Average rating: 4.91

Consider that this video is B to B, and the 1,013,255 views are more impressive. Also interesting is that the most popular demographic is male 35-64 broadly. Nice job, Scofield Editorial - I'd say they deserve an award for great Indianapolis social media usage! Content is king! I'd be interested to see how they've used the virality to generate additional business.

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz | Blip.fm

Michael Jackson Tribute "Eternal moonwalk" has global participation

MJ Fans upload moonwalking videos

I saw Pete Cashmore's tweet and followed the link. Transfixed I watched videos of people on this site moonwalk in one direction almost seamlessly for hundreds of meters. So what's the story - Studio Brussel aka Stu Bru, a Belgian readi station has created this website called the "Eternal Moonwalk". Fans from all across the globe - of all ages, both genders, a variety of age groups - have filmed themselves and uploaded videos of themselves (in some cases animations - home made, videos from Second Life, and more - all in honor of the "the king of Pop". To keep the flow, all videos are in the same direction and hands and feet are visible. All kinds of moonwalkers you have to see it to believe it. You'd think that the fact that people have plan something, execute it, shoot video and upload it would be a barrier to entry - but obvioulsy not!

Note: 697 m of moonwalking at the time of this screenshot!!

My friend Mark Juleen has been saying this for months - "social media ain't new" - whether its websites or email or itunes - its been around for a while. This site is about shared values - a love for Michael Jackson's dancing. I can remember being 15 years old - wearing a glove, white socks and jacket and shades - and moonwalking at a party on Woodland Terrace with my pals from La Martiniere for Boys.

As Pete says and I paraphrase - come on baby - ain't you gonna moonwalk for the whole world to see! BTW there are some MJ remixes on my profile at Blip.fm

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz | Blip.fm

The time has come

Yes, everyone. It's time. Time for this little intern to spread her wings and fly from Firebelly (or be pushed out of the next unexpectedly by Duncan. You choose the visual you prefer!) and venture back into the world where commoners don't understand social media and all of the opportunities it presents; back into the world where aren't thinking about what they need to Tweet or how they can update their status every second of every day; back to a world where I must defend my social media obsession and repeatedly explain why it's so important to thrive as a functioning human being in this computer-driven day-in-age. I have been so spoiled here at Firebelly and learned so much. 

What have I learned? Can I write a novel to answer this question? No? Well, then I'll summarize a few of the major things:

Social media is a conversation, not a lecture: As I've written in a previous blog, social media can't work as a marketing tool if there's no response. You can tweet or update your status all you want about what's coming up next or something new going on at your company, but if you don't respond to comments/advice/feedback from your followers/friends, they'll lose interest. They won't feel connected to you or your company, which is a major purpose of social media marketing. So respond. Be interactive. Take the time to reply to at least one response each day. It will pay off in loyal followers and more personal communication between producer and consumer.

Video is an extremely effective marketing tool: People read and comprehend. They see and comprehend. If they can do both at one time, that's most effective for the company marketing to people. Studies show that people remember 10 percent of what they see, 20 percent of what they hear and 50 percent of what they see and hear. Utilize that statistic by registering for a Youtube page and updating it frequently. Furthermore, people recall 80 percent of what they see, hear and do. So if you can make your videos interactive (i.e. instructing them to click links, get up and do this, anything at all interactive), your videos will be the most effective they can be towards your marketing goal.

Twitter is a legit obsession: Yeah, yeah, I know everyone said this about Facebook, Myspace and every other social media networking Web site that's out there and will be out there in the future. However, Twitter is a rare breed. When you learn how to use it properly, you can't live without it. My TweetDeck is my best friend. As a news junkie, I visit at least 10 news-based Web sites daily. Because I follow them on Twitter, TweetDeck allows me to collect all of those sites' updates in one place and have them fed to me as they are updated. It's pure heaven! I also RT people consistently as a way of giving mad props to someone's thought or Internet find. On the marketing side, #hashtags make searching for what your customers are talking about extremely simple. Learn how to use Twitter to your marketing advantage. You won't regret the time (and/or money, since time is money, as smart business people say) spent on the effort.

Lastly, and most importantly, I learned I love social media and wish to continue working with it in the future. Based on how popular it is now, I don't think that wish will be difficult to grant. I will be continuing my interning life in New York City this summer at an organization that is in the rookie stages of incorporating social media into its marketing strategy. I know I will take the lessons I learned at Firebelly to help that currently small component of the organization to grow into a driving force (like a heard of cattle, right Duncan?)

I send so many thanks to Duncan and the rest of the Firebelly team for allowing me so many opportunities and being so willing to teach me everything they know in the short time I was here. I hope to continue writing/editing/blogging/social media'ing for them in the future.

Alyson (@ Twitter)

Social media is a conversation, not a lecture

During my last couple months at Firebelly, one of the major things Duncan has taught me about social media marketing is that it is a conversation. No matter what network you’re using, if someone responds to a tweet, writes on your wall or sends you a message, the key to gaining loyal followers is to respond.

Social media is a conversation, not a lecture.

Because I am in my early 20s, I’m going to use Jimmy Fallon as support for my point. On his new talk show on NBC, Fallon is all about using social media to connect to fans (See my past post on his social networking chops for more details). 

Although Fallon uses Facebook, vlogs, blogs and everything in between, Twitter is definitely his most popular social media site.  On the day this blog was written, Fallon had around 598,000 followers. (I’m estimating the number because during the 30 minutes it took me to write this blog, his followers jumped by 500). Comparatively, NBC’s “The Office” Rainn Wilson, who has the same target market of 18 to 25-year-olds as Fallon, has roughly 398,700 followers.

Although their follower numbers aren’t too far apart, the activity of both gentleman is vastly different. Both men @ reply. Both men retweet (@RT). Both of these activities make conversation with fans, so both men are doing as Duncan instructs. They help fans feel engaged. Knowing your favorite celebrity is reading your comments and taking the time to respond builds loyalty unlike simply tweeting without responding (aka using your Twitter as a diary rather than an instant messaging system) ever could or will.

But Wilson could kick it up a notch. Let’s take a look at the numbers on Tweetstats.com for both gentlemen’s Twitters to demonstrate why in facts and figures.

Jimmy Fallon

Tweets last month (March): 349

Tweets per day last month (March): 7.5

Replies To: 58.23% of total tweets (more than half of his tweeting is @s!)

Rainn Wilson

Tweets last month (March): 179

Tweets per day last month (March): 4.8

Replies To: 14.12% of total tweets

See the difference? It can be inferred from this information that if Wilson stepped up the tweeting, @s and @RTs, he could also increase his followers to hit Fallon’s following number in no time.

So if you’re trying to market yourself or your business, get @ing to your followers! Answer their questions, respond to their direct messages, be engaged. Your fans will feel connected to you and, therefore, be loyal. And loyalty is the key to any good marketing strategy, whether personal or for your company.

~ Alyson ~ @ Twitter

Time to call it quits?

Earlier this week, Facebook CFO Gideon Yu parted ways with the popular online networking Web site. Why? Facebook headquarters claimed it was because the company needed someone with more public-company experience (Keep in mind this is the man who previously held the CFO spot at Youtube and negotiated the video sharing Web site’s $1.65 billion acquisition with Google). But that must only be part of the reason. A later memo Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg sent out says the reason involved family: “Gideon’s family is his highest priority and it’s certainly not the usual cliché to say that he plans to take some time off to be with his wife and son.”

Yu’s not the only one who has jumped ship since the company’s beginnings. It started with five founders. Now Zuckerberg’s flying solo.

The question is, what’s going wrong? What is so bad at Facebook that money-minded business moguls are leaving one of the most potentially profitable companies in the world.

Many blogs blame it on Zuckerberg himself. Gawker was so bold to suggest Zuckerberg should resign (or at least back off the leading role for a while) and let someone else take the reins to bring the company back on track and train Zuckerberg to get back in the saddle.

 In case you’ve been out of the social media network, here are some slipups Zuckerberg has made recently:

The Terms of Service Debacle: The Terms of Service was changed to suggest Facebook would keep users’ information forever, even after they’ve deactivated their account. Facebookers were not cool with this. It resulted in Zuckerberg instituting a policy where users can have a say in future changes execution.

The Recent Redesign: Facebook is a following Twitter…literally. The company that had always been praised for being unique and visionary instituted a message delivery system freakishly similar to Twitter’s tweet stream. Facebook asks the question, “What’s on your mind?” rather than “What are you doing?” Again, users were outraged. But did Zuckerberg listen to user feedback as promised after the Terms of Service catastrophe? Just the opposite, actually. He told his staff to ignore user feedback, and Zuckerberg personally deleted any employee concerns from his news feed. And that brings us to...

The Executive Exodus: They’re all jumping ship, as we mentioned earlier. It’s apparently because Zuckerberg is becoming a total tyrant. According to sources quoted in a recent “The Business Insider” article, the Harvard dropout no longer allows open disagreement or discussion of his ideas in meetings. But that was a major contributor to his success in the first place. Now, employees say the company is completely image-focused.. And apparently so is Zuckerberg. The article quotes a source saying he’s “unbearable,” letting all the media hype about his technology genius go to his head.

What do you think? Is it time for Zuckerberg to call it quits for a while so he doesn’t run his business empire into the ground before its even reached its full potential?

~ Alyson ~ @ Twitter

6 things to make your SMS/text club program work better

An interview with Adam Small, Connective Mobile

Adam Small, Connective Mobile, and I have worked together for almost a year and a half, and this guy knows his stuff. Text messaging based marketing a.k.a. - SMS or text clubs - are starting to increase in popularity. The mobile phone is getting smarter and its definitely the most ubiquitous personal device we've ever seen. Its based on a permission based approach which is intrusive, easy to add to your marketing approach, and measurable.

Here are some of the highlights of our discussion:

1. Integrate mobile marketing into your overall marketing plan, and definitely to follow up on social media and email marketing. Of course you've got to promote the club so that people opt-in. This is pretty key. The work we do for YATS right here in Indianapolis is proof that a text club can grow organically, but they're an anomaly. Most text clubs need to be promoted to grow. If you'd like to read more - here is an article by Cindy Krum, who we've interviewed before.

2. Speak to your audience in the lingo that they're used to them. Its not about you. If you don't know this yet, fire yourself. It'll save who ever you work for a night of sleep. OR make your message about the audience and what you're prepared to do for them, how you live in their world. If you're marketing to professionals in a niche, use the jargon, and definitely (yes I know it seems obvious) don't use caps please.

3. Provide value. Nobody loves you that much to opt-in just because they love you. Even Britney Spears (who obviously has a marketing machine behind her) provides access and occasional personal messages as part of her value equation. When you or your client accomplish that level of success - you'll still find that your audience demands value, in fact, even more so.

4. Content is king. Not sure why so many PR folks still miss this in their marketing extensions outside of mainstream PR. By the way, I love PR people. I've been involved with PR for the better part of my career. Ad agencies. Hmm thats a different question for a different post. But, good content, is what works best. Exclusive, relevant and fresh content works best by the way.

5. Be concise. You've got 160 characters. Use abbreviations and get to the point quickly. Again learn the lingo and its essential to prioritize your messages. Don't try to cram it all in.

6. Innovate. There's all sorts of applications for this medium. You're only restricted by your own imagination and budget. We've used this in the waste management industry, retail and hospitality, and our own business to name a few.

Happy Texting Baby! BTW - here's a breaking piece on Nokia's plan to change the mobile game.

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

Social marketing boosts book sales

Move over Harry and Hermione. Edward and Bella are the star couple in the young-adult section of bookstores now. 

The “Twilight” series has sold more than 22 million books. It spent 19 weeks at No. 1 on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list in 2008. It has helped author Stephenie Meyer step into the shoes of J.K. Rowling . But Meyer’s success can’t be completely attributed to her detailed imagination for vampire romance. (Vampires are old hat for the novel world.) A large portion of her success is due to her use of online social media to generate hype for her stories. 

Photo courtesy of hstoutzenberger/Flickr.com

While using the Internet to boost sales is nothing new in the book industry, Meyer took it beyond the traditional videos and Web site to get fans as involved in sharing news surrounding the book as her marketing team. When advertising for the original novel, “Twilight,” began in 2005, Meyer did the usual interviews with bloggers and her publisher, Little Brown, created, in true vampire fashion, a dark and spooky Web site. But Meyer wasn’t satisfied, so she started a more cheerful and personal site of her own and filled it with personal pictures of her family and stories of her own teenage years — that are strangely opposite to the teenage angst reflected in her novels, by the way. Most importantly, Meyer engaged with online readers by providing her personal e-mail to create a detailed Q&A session about Edward Cullen, Bella Swan and their eerie romance. 

After the release of “Eclipse” in 2007, the popularity of the series forced Meyer to remove her personal e-mail address from her Web site. But the conversation didn’t end. Instead, Meyer used the several popular blogs dedicated to her writing to connect with readers. On TwilightMOMS she wrote, “Hi, my fellow moms. It’s just so cool that I’m not the only 30+ mom and wife in love with fictional underage vampires and werewolves.” 

Book publishers are following Meyer’s lead in the hopes of garnering the same epic response. “Her success has inspired other authors,” Jennifer Northcutt, fiction buy at Borders Group, told BusinessWeek. “They’ve learned you have to be active online.” But as they say, success comes with sacrifice. Prior to the release of “Breaking Dawn” in the summer of 2008, Meyer was ending the very online conversations that sparked her success. She asked her top fan sites to close their forums three weeks prior to the book’s release date so that none of the juicy details were released. Extreme fame caused the once open author to close her forum door (or leave it ajar instead of wide open). 

What do you think Meyer can do to balance the interactive social media tactics she pioneered in the publishing world and her extreme fame?

Alyson (@ Twitter)

Sherwin-Williams Names Zig.marketing Digital Agency for Three Brands

Zig.marketing has been named the digital agency of record for three Sherwin-Williams brands, Dutch Boy®, Krylon® and Pratt & Lambert®. Zig is helping Sherwin-Williams make a commitment in the digital space to stay ahead of a changing media landscape, and do an even better job of talking to and inspiring new and current customers.

I must commend Sherwin-Williams for this move. While I don’t know the work of Zig.marketing, I applaud Sherwin-Williams for recognizing that standard advertising doesn’t work, and for understanding the value of reaching and engaging their customers. This is another major brand that has axed a significant amount of traditional media to move into a space where purchase decisions are being made.

And yet, so many mid-market brands, continue to resist the benefits of internet marketing. Of course, the marketing director who doesn’t understand it is afraid of it – but the advice I have for you is simple: Adapt or you will become redundant anyway. Its just a matter of time. Your internet marketing strategy should include micro-sites, landing pages, banners, organic and paid search, blogging and micro-blogging, and email.

The truth is mid-market firms are more mobile, should take more risks to compete with larger brands, and should use every advantage they can. What do you think?

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

Quotes for a Brave New Digital World

thought-provoking quotes on the future of marketing

"In five years, the idea of broadcast will be gone"

TIm Kring, Creator and Executive Producer

NBC's Emmy nominated show, "Heroes"

"I suspect the near total meltdown of capitalism as we know it might just pose a pose a couple of interesting challenges to marketers. When we've cracked that one, we can get back to the fascinating task of how companies like ours...are going to prosper in an era where people are not prepared to be interrupted by uninvited messages."

Simon Clift

Chief Marketing Officer

Unilever

"Before they figure out where to put their money, your marketer clients will hire and fire agency after agency, seeking someone, anyone,

who can tell them where they might go next."

John Stratton

Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

Verizon Communications

Got your own predictions? Think you know what's next? Give us your opinions? We'll share them in a separate blog post with a credit to you and your website/blog. Bring it!

Source: Ad Age

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz