Janet Johnson | The Art of Marketing

I was almost embarrassed by my own raves about my new addiction to Twitter this week. On Wednesday I spoke at Innotech to the Nonprofit Summit attendees about leveraging social media to support their causes, and actually thought I might be crazy as I stood on stage in front of 85+ people and went on and on about Twitter…

But I’ve come to rely on it to do the following for me:

• Get a glimpse into the minds (and lives) of some very interesting people
  • I know some of them, I’ve not yet met some of them
• Understand immediately what’s happening in places I can’t be
  • This works for gatherings like SXSW and for places like London or Mumbai
• Get to know business colleagues and even friends on a more personal level
  • This is the very best part - knowing what people are excited about, what they’re coping with, and how they’re reacting to their own lives…

Follow, Follow, Follow, Follow…

Following is way fun. That’s why I’ve largely given up on tools like HelloTXT that will post to Twitter without me going in. When I go into my Twitter feed, I learn something. The act of Twittering is much more about the subscribe than the publish to me…

So as I’ve been doing it more and getting personally more interested in it, I’ve run across some great Twitter Do’s and Don’ts - one from Kim Dushinsky - my mobile marketing guru in Denver; and one from Caroline Middlebrook, a software developer in the UK who gave up her 9-5 for the fun of online marketing.

One More Do, One More Don’t

I think I’ve said this before:

“Do” pick a short screen name. With only 140 characters, honor your fellow Twitterers who want to engage with you. I didn’t, and I’m sorry… but I truly didn’t know better at the time.

And this just in:

“Don’t” miss the tabs on your Twitter home page - it took me by surprise to see the Replies tab where I’ve missed timely replies to all sorts of conversations. Ugh.

Share This

Here are the notes from my SEMpdx afternoon. I wasn’t able to get connected to wireless to live blog or tweet the notes, so you’ll get ‘em here, delayed but useful, nonetheless, I hope. Certainly I’m not going to format, but if anyone has questions, ask away!

Marketing with Social Media -

Hallie - Anvil Media - Moderator
Paul Colligan - paulcolligan.com
Sandra Ponce de Leon - BuzzLogic
Dan Harbison - Portland Trail Blazers

Buzzlogic ranks #1 (over Wikipedia - quite a feat) in definition for “what is social media?”

Paul Colligan - bring social media into your marketing mix in a smart way, using:

Social News - digg, reddit
Photo Sharing - flickr
Video Sharing - YouTube
Bookmarking - del.icio.us
Social Networks - Facebook, LinkedIN
Answer Services - Ask.com
WIKIs - AboutUs.org

But remember the “one eared mickey mouse” - don’t let social media try to stand alone for your brand, be sure to integrate social media into your greater media strategy.

S3 Internet Marketing
Strategy - figure this out first
Search - make your keywords work (and URLs) for you from the start
Social Media - utilize these tools in the following ways:
- social media tools: don’t do the work of a computer, let the tools work for you
- subscription mindset: quality content will drive people to subscribe to your thoughts
- strategically delivered: with the brand in mind

ubersyndication - Paul googled define: ubersyndication on thursday last week, 0 results - today 85 results via microblogging techniques
Consider what makes good “spider food” - on your web site and other sites like Twitter, etc.
Use multimedia - podcasts, video, etc.

Brand your Twitterpage
- encourage your twitter followers to Twitter about your ideas…

Subscription mindset - push not pull…

Strategically delivered, SEO friendly

He’s gotten higher CTR on his best tweets than his best email lists

Twitter application on Facebook - Twice message and reach - no need to visit twitter
TwitterSearch.com - who’s saying what?
SocialPoster.com - uberposting tool

twitter your notes rather than blogging them, making it easy… all done.

::

dan h. - make your product fans do your marketing for you…
fans have opinions - their passion is what drives them to you and on your behalf

Blazer Fan site:
- started with video testimonials
- linked it to a marketing strategy for engagement and passionate fans
- taking the voice from a few to many
- enable a contagious environment
- integrated it with a ticketing component - people could form groups and get a discount

Successfully sold season tickets to rabid fans (bringing college basketball attitude to pro basketball) +100 season tickets for a special section + got a title sponsor for the community (Blazer Maniacs)

augments their traditional, 1:1 marketing - especially in email
integrates with their main, Trailblazers.com website

Recommends integrating social media with your business online and offline to further real connections and conversations in all spaces

uses Twitter - first around the draft debate - realtime updates
YouTube channels are there
Facebook and MySpace
Fan Toolbox - place for widgets, arm fans with photos, etc.

All of this generates content that can be indexed - “spider food” spread across myspace and twitter, elsewhere - pushing to multiple sites, linking back to your sites
RSS pushes get spidered and indexed much more quickly than traditional updates
mobile integration is coming - struggle now is consistency across all mobile channels

::
Sandra - BuzzLogic
IDs influential discussions online
“Conversation Targeting” - to drive ad performance
- think of psychology of users
- metrics - traditional do apply, but engagement measurements (passing along, comments)
- copy - read up and find out how bloggers are talking about your topic
- creative - how will you get their attention??

Blog reach rivals media
57M reading - 60% access blogs to get opinions, 65% go to blogs to make decisions
Who’s influential on any topic, who’s following the conversation?

BuzzLogic socially map conversations - show link direction, whther on, or off topic, whether popular, who’s influencer?

Reach pockets of engaged audiences
Brand is lifted linking to new media influencers
Linking can tell you about your customers,
Conversational nature can aid in advertising

Question from audience: Tools to monitor social media?

Feedburner - for RSS feeds - ensure they’re clean, shows subscriber rates and clickthru rates
- use yourbrand feature - www.you.com - brand your domain name not feedburner - it’s free
- as an insurance policy leverage your feed and brand
Flock - browser - built on Firefox engine, uses plugins for Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, your RSS feeds, etc.
Buzzlogic - helps interest influencer

Track your domain name - through any social media method utilize your domain names and track them

Alternative ROIs for social media ? sponsorship, advertising, content syndication, attention
don’t try to do too much with your social network engagement - phase it in.

ning and kickapps - free tools to get your feet wet, but your brand should be hosted on your URL…

One interactive agency put their culture up on twitter - got business from their twitter feeds

jott.com - killer twitter tool - who do you want to jot? audio recording goes through transcription - adding text to your voice… put a speed dial on your phone and verbally update your twitter account.

Share This

I’m speaking on March 10 at SEMpdx’s SearchFest on managing your online reputation. SEMpdx is an event I’ve been to for the past couple of years here in Portland, and I’ve always learned a ton by attending. I’m happy to pass along a discount from the show organizers to everyone… Here’s how you get it:

1. Register for SearchFest at www.searchfest.org
2. Enter the code SF8SPK in the “Coupons/Gift Certificates” text box and click “Add.”
   (This is at step 3 of the shopping cart)
3. Enjoy your day at SearchFest

Note - registration prices or SearchFest go up another $50 again on March 1 - so be sure to sign up now. This discount will not be available ‘at the door’

Share This

I have just finished driving that crazy stretch of I-5 south of Portland that makes me wonder:

What people are thinking when they’re driving a long, straight road like that?? That they can just exit in front of 18-wheelers going 80 without wreaking havoc?

I swear I witnessed the potential of three very scary accidents barely missed, I sincerely wonder how truckers do it!

And I’m so glad to be home.

I am happy to have made the trip, though, traffic and idiot drivers notwithstanding. The audience of Oregon Wine makers at this morning’s panel presentation was very attentive, asked excellent questions, and it made me realize how truly far we’ve come in technology in just a few short years.

Most of these people run small, family businesses. They were thrilled to hear the could buy shopping cart software for $300. That’s a far cry less than $5000 - which was the number that several people kept throwing out - having researched it just a few years back. I can see shopping carts popping up on wine sites all over the state now, which will be great for them (better margins) and great for us (supporting the direct growers).

Most are concerned about immigration rights, and the changes afoot here in Oregon. One man stood in front of a group of probably 300 people at a morning session, and said, “People don’t realize where their food comes from.”

I pointed out in our session (to about 100 people) that the web is a great forum to discuss the issues, educate the public and generate understanding. I hope to see blogs (or at least comments) popping up from wine growers all over the web now, which will be great for consumers (they’ll know where their food comes from) and great for the debate to be held in a very public (and very big - potentially reaching hundreds of thousands of people) forum.

It’s a wonderful time to be alive - to watch lightbulbs go off en mass over people’s brains, and to participate in the understanding gained through education.

Share This

I’ve been awake in a strange bed since 4:30 a.m., obsessing over story telling.

I’m in Eugene, Oregon, attending the Oregon Wine Industry Symposium, and speaking on a panel on “How to Make Your Web Site Work Harder For You” in a couple of hours. At our panel’s practice session and the annual wine industry dinner last night, I was impressed by simplicity and effectiveness of the storytelling going on… every award had a story, every acceptance speech had a story, and every vineyard, vintner and enthusiast had a story.

It seems the wine industry itself is a compilation of stories, and the people in it are natural story tellers, which is a great attribute for making the web work harder for you…

So the theme that’s going to be called out this morning, as I speak to my section of the panel - Engagement - is the art of online story telling.

It’s simple: people are captured and compelled to action by great stories.

As prospects and shoppers go online, they might be researching people, products, healthcare decisions or (like millions of us) posting our random thoughts, photos, videos, for friends, family and perfect strangers to see.

(”You’re either on the screen, or watching the screen, baby!” my friend Paul shouts in my ear…)

Simple, engaging stories serve to: 1) attract our attention; and b) provide the power of persuasion, once we’ve offered it. And so, in an effort to capture my thoughts about storytelling before I share them with attendees, I find myself here… in the quiet of my hotel room, at my desk, looking at a laptop, telling a story.

Our room is going to be the smaller of the two large rooms at the Hilton Hotel, which was built sometime in the 70’s and hasn’t been updated since. Three things that could have an effect on our attendance:

1. We’re the first session of the dreaded “Morning After…” You know the drill, the big dinner (with lots of wine) was last night, and everyone had a good time. The last thing they want to do is get up and go anywhere but The Big River Grille, and order up an “exceptional northwest cuisine-themed” breakfast.
2. We’re up against a session called “Impact of Grape Maturity on Wine Flavor” and I’m hoping people will say, “Yep, it does!” and come listen to our session instead of the learned folks from Oregon State and UC Davis. And another session called “This Just In: Extension Research Updates,” with speakers from Oregon State, Cal Poly and USDA Prosser, where ‘Short Shoot Syndrome’ and ‘cover crops’ will likely attract a healthy audience.
3. We’re in the “not geeky” track for oeneophiles. What a hoot.

I expect (fingers crossed) 100 or so people to brave their way in to listen to us. We’re focusing on simple, effective, FREE tools you can use to improve your web presence for attendees.

Our Panel’s Story:

Digital Footprints Don’t Lie - Debora Geary from Fireweed Analytics, will show us that using Google Analytics, which is a free analytics tool (and Google is the only one you’ll ever need, no matter what your ISP says, according to Debora), anyone can see the ‘digital footprints’ their customers will leave as they walk around a web site. What captures their attention, and what you can tell about their paths and meanderings are quite telling.

She studied the Sokol Blosser site in preparation for the panel, and found one of the top pages people visited on the site has been the “meet us” page - a simple compilation of photos of the people behind the wines. (JLJ: People love to buy stuff from people they like. Especially foods and wines.)

Capture Prospects with Content - Katherine Gray, content strategist, will speak to the importance of content on a site that will both support your brand and deliver the message you think most important. She’ll speak to authenticity of voice, and how to use words (first and foremost) and design to effectively tell your brand’s story. But it doesn’t stop there.

She’ll point out the critical links to a site’s shopping cart (JLJ: when they have them… most wineries take their orders by fax, and the abandonment rate off of “buy now - send us a fax!” pages are huge.) that could be vastly improved by simply adding a bit of contextual content here and there.

Think Like a Spider - Ben Lloyd of Amplify Interactive will tell attendees to go online, turn off the graphics in their browser, and look at how search engine spiders “see” their sites. (JLJ: go to your browser’s Preferences… Content… Uncheck the “Load Images Automatically” button. You’ll be amazed at what you see or don’t see…) Then sprinkle relevant keywords (pinot noir, pinot gris, pinot blanc…) in your title tags (most importantly!) body copy and headlines to give the spiders a notion of what your site is about. That will give you the opportunity to come up in search results when people are looking for a lovely pinot to take to the party Friday night.

Get Into the Magic F - I will wrap the panel by talking about how easy it is to use blogging, sharing, tagging and social networks to engage readers, tell great stories about your wines (and the people behind them), and improve your chances of showing up at the top of a Google search results page (”the Magic F”). And how to easily manage and monitor your online reputation using free RSS readers (like those from my client Attensa), so you’ll know exactly who’s talking about you, when they do, delivered right to your inbox if you like.

Dennis Hahn, ID Branding CEO and our panel moderator did a wonderful job of pulling all of our presentations together into a story… and he’ll lead our lucky attendees through the session in a memorable, compelling manner.

I’m off for coffee - fuel for the stories I’m about to share.

Share This