Time Is Precious

I considered leaving IMC alone as a not-for-profit free standing publication, and launching a separate brand blog for my business. I never blogged to generate leads or sales and I don’t want that to be the primary motivation for blogging now. Quality content that brings value to your audience has to come from an unselfish place. I have witnessed that approach working in favor of businesses and individuals. However, I am one little person (and yes, I’m little in real life) and I do not have the time or resources to write articles for yet one more publication. After considering what I’d write about, it would be the same stuff, so creating the other blog just didn’t make sense.

SEO Matters

When it comes to matters of search engine optimization, there’s nothing better you can do for a brand website than to fill it with fresh, keyword rich content from a blog. It was a no-brainer to determine early on that SEO will be in my arsenal of marketing tactics. But, moving the IMC blog to my Fandom Marketing brand website would have meant losing my blog theme/design as well as losing that feeling of being an independent publication with an untainted community. Plus, I’d just redesigned IMC in 2011 and was quite satisfied with it. To cover my bases, I asked my SEO friends about the best way to structure a blog to bring SEO benefits to my brand website. The answer lies between using a subdomain vs. a subdirectory. The experts agree that the best approach is to put your blog under a subdirectory of your brand domain, e.g. yourdomain.com/yourblog. I opted for the second best option, using a subdomain yourblog.yourdomain.com instead. Our new URL is brandswithfansblog.fandommarketing.com. I set up a short domain brandswithfansblog.com that redirects to the homepage to make it easier for you to remember. The subdomain will still provide some SEO juice to the brand website while keeping the independent publication intact (no need to change my design for business blogging).

Branding the Community

Another big decision that needed to be made was branding. IMC presented both a blog title and design issue with respect to the Fandom Marketing brand. It was shiny, slick, green, and did not scream social media marketing. Fandom is friendly, people oriented, red, and crisp. It took me down a path of seriously considering what I want my company to stand for and the values that a community could be built upon. This reached into decisions about our Facebook page where I had built a small following for IMC. I came to the conclusion that the community is not really about the brand at all but a shared belief with others that people build brands. It’s the ideology behind “social marketing” which I view as a unique perspective on business. Not media. To capture our values, in hopes of connecting with others who share the same belief, I rebranded the IMC blog and Facebook page to Brands With Fans. The blog and Facebook page logo, look and feel are a spinoff of Fandom Marketing. Our brand hashtag is #brandfans which we use in our Twitter feed display (see right sidebar) and Twitter chat.

What You Can Expect Moving Forward

Brands With Fans blog be back on the regular schedule of posting weekly social marketing strategy, tips and advice. I will be incorporating new contributors from my team of talented social marketing specialists at Fandom as well as guest bloggers from the community. There will be improved content with new topic tracks and series of articles. Most importantly, here is our promise; we will keep it pure with no hard selling or over promotion. Sure, you will find a Fandom Marketing banner in the sidebar or mentioned occasionally but, it will not trump the reason we’re all here. To have a meeting of minds and to reach our potential for awesomeness through the support of a community.

A Zillion Ways to Connect

• Subscribe to upcoming blog articles by RSS or by email
• Interested in guest blogging? Email andy at fandommarketing.com
• “Like” the Brands With Fans Facebook page
• Join my Dirty Little Social Media Questions Facebook group
• Follow @melonie or @fandommarketing on Twitter
• Join the #brandfans Twitter chat
• Subscribe to Fandom’s monthly newsletter for free social marketing resources, events, offers and company updates
• Follow Fandom Marketing on LinkedIn or connect with me personally
• Join my Social Media Questions LinkedIn Group
• Circle up with me on G+
• Learn more about my social marketing company or me by visiting my bio
• Leave a comment and let me know what you think

As the New Year approaches, we must plan a new annual marketing budget without repeating this year’s mistakes. This could mean launching in January with a big bang, a rebrand, or simply refreshing an old approach. It can be a lot of pressure. But, if you have the right metrics in place, you are looking back over the year with data in hand to determine what was working and not. My hope for everyone is that you have the sense to let go of bad habits and low performing tactics, and the gumption to take on new ones. Like, social media marketing.

My article, A social media planner’s guide to pleasing your boss (iMedia Connection) addresses the challenge in crafting a social strategy that will win the approval of company executives. Without buy in, we aren’t going anywhere with our big ideas. Without innovation, your company will be left behind in this fast, technology driven environment. It’s time to innovate or die. You have the power to lead change. Here is a list of ten do’s to get you through the planning process.

#10  Think strategically

An executive sees the world in the big picture, a do-er sees details of the task at hand. A strategist must be both a big picture and little picture thinker.

#9  Educate

Part of the challenge of selling in a new idea is communication. If you have a great strategy and others can’t picture your vision, you will get a resounding no to your effort due to simple lack of understanding. Consider their learning style. Are they visual, respond to story telling, or prefer spreadsheets? Educate them accordingly to bring them into the 21st century along with you.

#8  Start with a proof of concept

Is your company weary of stepping foot into social media, or anything else for that matter? Build confidence by dipping their toes in the water with a low commitment quick-win “test”. Make it short, use a single metric to determine success and make it achievable.

#7  Plan beyond the campaign

Put your long term and short term strategies in a marketing roadmap to give executives a vision for where the brand is heading by stepping into this new territory. Social marketing doesn’t end with a campaign; it’s an ongoing relationship that reaps big picture rewards.

#6  Make it measurable

Create a measurement plan to back up your big idea. If your plan works, it will be hard to argue with numbers and you will have a better chance of grabbing more marketing budget moving forward. Try not to get hung up on social media ROI right away.

#5  Execution is everything

The best strategy will fall flat without good execution. Find people smarter than you to do it right. In social marketing that means trained talent to manage a community or hiring a social strategist to help hone your marketing ideas into a feasible action plan.

#4  Build for your audience

Today’s marketing environment is all about providing value, not only through your products, but through content and interactions. Always think like a customer and consider if what the brand is doing makes sense to human beings.

#3  Step out of your comfort zone

Do not be boring because this will result in nobody wanting to participate or share what your brand has to offer. What ever your comfort level is, take it a step further.

#2  Create brand value

Consider the long term business impact. Social marketing can help to shape your brand and products. An important goal to keep in mind is to build audience. Then, keep the conversation going beyond the campaign to gain brand value (such as insights, customer retention, remarketing to an attentive audience, etc.).

#1  Make it their idea

It works in all relationships including that with management or employees. You know what needs to happen, but keep in mind people in your company want to be part of the creative process too. People tend to buy into ideas, when it’s their own.

How do you see companies innovating to thrive and survive in your industry?

• Leave a comment
• Twitter chat @melonie hashtag #innovateORdie
• Join my professional group on Facebook or LinkedIn to crowdsource with social media practitioners

Uncover Your Hidden Audience

If you are one of those marketers whose head is beginning to nod in disagreement then you understand what I’m about to tell you. Making money doesn’t make you profitable. Other stakeholders such as employees or a supply chain partner also contribute to profitability either directly or indirectly. They are as impactful to your business as your customers; in some instances without them your business wouldn’t exist.

Broaden Your Content Strategy

Have you neglected key audience segments in your brand communications? As a new year approaches it’s a good time to consider who your audiences are and how you can connect with them. Whether through social media or email marketing, or a special section tailored just for them on your website; there’s a place for all of your brand stakeholders in your next content strategy.

Now, that’s big business.

Is Your Brand Neglecting A Hidden Audience?

That being said, here are three easy ways you can eliminate the gap between social media and your other marketing activities. In turn you will leverage social technologies to make your “other” marketing activities much more effective in driving reach and interest.

1.  Email Marketing Integration

Social Sharing  in Email

Benefit: Reach and Referral

Depending on which ESP (email service provider) you use, you can integrate social sharing to your next email newsletter or promotion. It works just like it does on website pages; the sharing buttons are displayed in the email template and upon “tweeting this newsletter” the recipient shares a link to the Web version of your email. Your ESP will need to have two features to accomplish this: 1. View HTML/Web version of the email, 2. Social sharing. If they do then implementation is as simple as a setting on your email template. Silverpop, and other services like ConstantContact and Exact Target offer these settings. Check with your ESP to find if they do and which buttons to flip on to make it happen.

2.  Website Integration

Every website should have a social component to it or you can consider it outdated. I know, that’s an ugly word that will make any marketer (and believe me, their visitors) cringe. In lieu of a redesign or having to overhaul your technology, here are two fairly simple things you can add to your web pages without breaking bank or your developer’s back.

Social Sharing Buttons

Benefit: Reach and Referral

Example Sharing Buttons

People share content, not pages. Keep this in mind when considering where to place a social sharing button. You know the little icons added for your convenience to share this content with your network at the top and bottom of this blog post. They come in many shapes and forms, and you can customize them to a large degree. Essentially it’s a snippet of code that you copy and paste into your website template. Ideally at the top or bottom, or near the content that is deserving of being passed along to other people. Not in the footer or side bar. My favorite sharing tool is Addthis.com or Sharethis.com.

Subscribe Tool Bar

Benefit: Grow your audience via collecting subscriptions across brand communication channels

Example Subscribe Tool Bar

A brand communication channel is any medium you use to talk to your audience in which they can opt-in to. Traditionally you would think of email marketing. However, becoming a Facebook fan or following your brand on Twitter holds the same merits. If your website lacks buttons linking to your channels you are missing out on your low hanging fruit. This is your audience, get them on board.

Implementation is simple. You’ll need to identify a section of your website template that can handle a set of small linked images. Ideally this will be in the header, sidebar or footer. Be sure to communicate that this is where to follow and connect with your brand (so it’s not confused with sharing). Some standard titles:

Follow Us

Connect

Join Us

Subscribe

Items to consider including in your subscribe tool bar include: Facebook page, Twitter page, LinkedIn business profile or group, YouTube, Flickr, RSS feed or Blog, Email opt-in form, or live chat.

3.  Offline Marketing 

Put It In Print

Benefit:  Grow your audience via collecting subscriptions across brand communication channels AND nurture customer loyalty 

I love it when I get my bill at a restaurant when it comes with a friendly little insert with their Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter information. Even better, a special offer for connecting with them on these channels. Don’t forget to promote not only your website, but your key social media channels such as Facebook or even Foursquare if you want people to check-in right now at your venue (or event). Two items to include in print: a recognizable icon and your handle or full URL. That way they will get the visual cue and also not get lost searching through a sea of Facebook Pages that may or may not be yours.

The concept here is pretty simple; make it easy for people to share your content and subscribe to your brand however they want to do it.

Created by PEER 1 Cloud Hosting

Are they listening?

A website registration is as valuable as paper. I’m serious. Take your web form, put it on paper, and you can consider hitting the submit button the equivalent of handing it back to you filled out. At this point they’ve taken the first step to join the community. Whether they truly become a participant in your community is another story. Here are a few social analytics to better define your real community number.

          Desired Community Measurement: Size

          Social Metric = Number of Active Community Members

Define Active:

1. It Was More Than A One Night Stand

Has Visited: logged in the site over x period (website metric)

2. They Have a Pulse

Engaged: has participated and taken action such as creating, discussing or consuming content (website metric and social networking metric)

A Simplified Working Example:

A website community has 100,000 registered members

Over 30 days 25,000 have visited and logged in = Active Community Members 25%

2,500 of these visitors took action = Engaged Active Community Members 10%

>>Watch a video of how it works

What I like about other third party photo sharing services like Twitpic are the gallery, commenting and multi-channel sharing features that come with it. These features are lacking on the Twitter.com image display. This new feature will no doubt take market share from other third party services due to the convenience factor provided to web users. I do not think it will put them out of business as many savvy users will miss the expanded functionality offered by other services. And, we still have a broad range of photo services to choose from within the Twitter smartphone app. Which oddly enough does not include Photobucket.

Will you make a switch to Photobucket to store your images now that they’ve partnered with Twitter? Let me know what you think.

Twitter Image Sharing

Twitter Image Display

When you care about your customers, they will care about you. This translates to recommending your brand to others (driving referral business) and buying more of your products (increased customer lifetime value). If it’s that simple, why aren’t more businesses big and small harnessing the power of social media to engage with their customers? At this stage in the “social media revolution” it’s not just for marketing, it is a communications channel. Companies are only beginning to understand its importance from this perspective.

A study from Jive Software and Penn, Schoen & Berland found 27% of executives listed social business as a top strategic priority. Nearly half (47%) admitted a social plan was necessary but not a strategic priority and 19% said social business strategy was simply not necessary.

Becoming a customer-centric business means integrating “The Golden Rule” into your business strategy, core values and operations. For large companies whose corporate structure can make it hard to make small changes, this means moving mountains. It doesn’t have to be complex. It can be boiled down to a few simple concepts:

1. Treat customers as you would want to be treated. (Even better, how would you want a company to treat your mom or grandma?)

2. Be where your customers are online and offline. (Use communication platforms, such as Twitter or email, that your customers choose to use.)

3. Treat customer service as a branding experience. (Every touch point with your company from sale to finding out what happened to their shipment is equally important.)

Sounds easy right?

If you’re seeking more specific ways a company can become a customer experience rock star, I recommend picking up the new book The Hidden Power of Your Customers by Becky Carroll. It’s a fantastic tool with practical advice you can apply to your business now. I especially like the inspirational stories about brands like Zappos who are out walking the talk. In fact, Tony Hsieh thinks it’s a good read too.

“At Zappos, we found that the more we invested in the customer, the more loyal they were, and the more we grew from word of mouth. The Hidden Power of Your Customers explains why this works and why all companies should think this way.”

                – Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com, Inc., New York Times best-selling author of Delivering Happiness

If you’re in San Diego today, stop by the U.S. Grant Hotel between 11am-2pm to meet Becky at her first official book signing. You can mingle the Social Media Club while enjoying a mimosa. RSVP here or get your ticket at the door. Full disclosure, I am the promotions director for Social Media Club San Diego and a long-time Becky Carroll friend and fan. This is my plug.

Leave me a comment and share your best customer experience with a company. Or, tell me about ways your company is out walking the talk. You can also join the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #hiddenpower. We need more inspiration in this world!