Marketing Edge » marketing

What A Marketing Crock – Improve Your Shopping Experience, Right.

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:49:17 +0000

I love this piece on measuring consumer’s emotional levels in a retail shopping space or tracking their eye movements on a website. I don’t for a moment believe it’s about “making their experience better” do you? No really do you believe retailers will pay millions of dollars on research about consumer behavior to make your experience better?

No, it’s to make you buy more period. Now, I’m not opposed to companies understanding how to sell their wares, make themselves more attractive to consumers, I’m sensitive to the idea that this is in my best interest.

video platform video management video solutions video player

And this is the inherent conflict in between consumer and company. This relationship and conflict is highlighted by social media. It will play out in the coming year as Facebook pushes timelines and sponsored stories, more companies use social and gaming to occupy your mindspace and consumers constantly connect to the consuming process through mobile devices.

Will We Get This The Linked Economy?

In this scene from the Miracle on 34th Street, Macy’s employees send consumers to their competitor Gimbels if they have the product the customer wants. Far fetched? probably, but this is where consumers and their mobile devices are fighting the in-store technology. Pew Internet and American Life study shows 52% of consumers use mobile devices in store to consult a friend, compare prices, or consult reviews before making a purchase.

“Imagine that, Macy’s sending me to another store cause they ain’t got what I want! I don’t believe it.”

Who Has The Last Laugh on YouTube?

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:17:08 +0000

I read Todd Wasserman’s piece on Mashable about how 4 billion videos a day on consumed on YouTube, but the trend is YouTube viewers don’t hangout as much as TV viewers. Those couch potatoes stare at the original Tube for 4-5 hours per day. YouTube for me is a Godsend for laughs, real, belly-shaking, bend over with cramps, face-hurting from smiling, laughs.

I wonder, however, whether YouTube enhances the public’s experience of stand up comics or if the audience, having heard some of the popular bits online several times don’t respond as vocally to the familiar material. The other question is whether they contribute to the comics revenue either with DVD purchases or attending live shows. How does the comic make money in a profession that is brutally difficult. I don’t believe comic bits similar to songs. It is a different medium. Some of My favorite comic shticks are embed below. In my case, I have seen Steven Wright live. I may not have know about Mitch Hedberg or John Pinette if it was not for YouTube. I would definitely see Pinette in the future.

I’ve certainly shared links on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks to many comics I enjoy who have material on YouTube. In this case, social becomes faith and not easily measured. I suspect there is no way to track whether any of my links led to revenue for any comedians, but I engaged dozens of people specifically about these and other comics. For artists, it seems it’s really a bet on older revenue streams e.g. DVDs and live shows, and faith that the new medium is adding to, not stealing from that revenue channel.

What’s your take on whether new media is a benefit or harmful for stand up comics?

John Pinnete – Chinese Buffet

Here’s John Pinette’s tour schedule, he is flat out funny.

Mitch Hedberg – Letterman Appearance

Hedberg died at age 37 Mitch Hedberg’s website is a creative insight into his sense of humor.

Steven Wright – Comic Relief 2009

Steven Wright has an infrequently populated Twitter presence, but a neat Steven Wright website.

Dealing With Non Profit Proliferation in Social Media

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:12:34 +0000

Time 18:38

It used to be back in the day, that all you needed do is be on social media and your non-profit cause was welcome with open arms. Ask Stacey Monk of Epic Change, the organization that launched Tweetsgiving and raised money to help build a school in Tanzania in 2008. Ah the good old days there was little competition on Twitter for non profits, but the early mover advantages are short and sweet. Today, Monk believes creativity, a focus on love, and fresh look at combining talents are what’s needed to get a non-profit’s message beyond the noise.

In this Marketing Edge podcast, I speak with Stacey Monk on how non profits can use social differently than in the early days of Twitter and Facebook. The heart and soul of Monk’s advice is for the non-profit to believe in and use the word love as a rationale for their work. Connecting to the emotional side is what attracts attention, drives satisfaction, and sparks the desire to give. Least we not forget, Monk reminds, that having a set of proof bullets, that this progress report on the Epic Change site helps the thinking side of the equation be comfortable with the gifting.

Here’s Stacey’s impassioned video about Epic Change and the need to be almost raw in the emotional connections between the non-profit and its beneficiaries. That’s the love portion of being a non-profit. Listen around the 8 – 10 minute mark and tell me if you are moved to do better.

Monk mentions that when it comes to fundraising, challenges are a good tactic to use, so let’s see how this goes. In the podcast I mention to Stacey that that Marketing Edge will give $100 to Epic Change if Marketing Edge listeners donate a total of $500 by January 31. Just include the #MktEdge in the note section when you donate to help with Epic Change’s ongoing supportof their mission in Tanzania for Shepards Junior primary school and in helping other non profits raise funds.

2012 Social Media’s Adolescence

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 02:55:27 +0000

Time 16:24

Just like a 1960s father complaining about his teenage daughter being on the telephone constantly, social media is entering into its adolescent phase with some growing up to do. The novelty of receiving tweets has worn off, and Facebook posts are commonplace, so now comes the phase when the value of social will have to meet some higher standard. The Pew Internet and American Life Project reports more than 65% of online adults use a social network Ironically while the aggregate numbers may lead to the conclusion that social is mainstream, I believe it is still a core group of early adopters that drive “active social media usage”. The trend line of new users and unique visitors does, however, force companies to switch attention and dollars to social channels in 2012.

Social Media 2012 Adolescence

The novelty is worn off, the “that’s cool” reactions to new functions on the social web are not as frequent as the early days of Twitter et. al. We are now somewhere between what Gartner’s Technology Hype Cycle calls the Trough of Disillusionment and Slope of Enlightenment depending on where you sit.

In my work with and research of larger companies, 2012 will be a year to reassess the criteria by which they will judge the success of social media implementation. My suggestion to some enterprises is that social media’s major benefit will be with internal efficiencies and not the number of followers a brand secures.

Social Media Mainstream

This is not a question of dumping social media or the death of social media. I will however, point readers to a wonderful piece by Paul Wallbank on Business Insider commenting on social media’s business model. It is a question of how to make social media efficient in both discovery and content creation. This is similar to the challenge the web faced with search and one which Google seems to have solved to the satisfaction of many. The entire web is whittled down to the first page result on Google for any keyword. A bit simplistic for sure, but a dose of reality for those who never venture to page two of Google results. Is this the future of social commentary and creation? Are we looking at a day’s summary in a nice, neat one page set of bullets about our network and selected topics?

One can make the case we are almost there with apps such as Flipboard, Zite, and Boxcar –

Mainstream Real Life

The life of mainstream America is less centered on technology as it is facilitated by technology. Blaspheme to the geek in you, but please forgive me. The obligations one has to themselves, families, employers and friends is the focus of mainstream individual’s day. Technology companies, especially need to keep that in mind. To paraphrase James Carville, it’s the people stupid.

In this last of a three part episode with Laura Fitton, Inbound Marketing Evangelist for Hubspot, we discuss the time management aspects of building a social media brand, while being a parent and entrepreneur. It’s a great conversation if you are thinking social has gotten out of hand, too much selfless promotion and has diverged from its original course of facilitating the needs of a community. Part One, What Will Change Social Media in 2012 and Part Two Keys to Integrating Content That Motivates Audiences

New Year’s Resolution

Get better. Ok that’s a general resolution, but nonetheless a good start. If you want to be a better marketer in 2012, then start with Hubspot’s Marketing Grader – Similar to their website grader, it’s a free resource to benchmark your website against a criteria that measures content, readability and sharability – the ability for your content to be shared. (i kind of just made that word up )

Sometimes your own website gets stagnant, (guilty), so I’m using Market.grader.com to turn a new leaf for 2012. The report goes in depth, but it also has some great quick tips on actions to improve your site. Here’s an example for me.

Sure there are some boilerplate responses that are part of the report, for example a premise of the report is for the business to have a Facebook page. I concluded early on that I did not want a business Facebook page, for several reasons among them, time, producing new and different content, I already have a personal Facebook page, and it is a lot of “me tooism”. This is also one of the reasons I’m not big on solutions headlines, e.g. 5 ways to make great fried chicken, but they do work. Hubspot does give you food for thought with its Market Grader report as you implement your New Year’s Resolutions for 2012.

Happy New Year to all listeners of the Marketing Edge Podcast, thanks for listening.

Keys to Integrating Content That Motivates Audiences

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:32:22 +0000

Time 21:34

The second part of the three part conversation with Laura Fitton aka @pistachio from Hubspothttp://www.hubspot.com/pistachio/. Digital content is the ingredient for all types of digital marketing, online or off. For example, a video case study can be edited into separate clips that address a focused issue. This clip can be on YouTube, included in a sales presentation, or embeded in a blog post.

The conversation that Laura and I have centers on the best ways to integrate original content and curate content from other sources. Hubspot, a developer of marketing software platform, has a methodology to rate a company’s website on the criteria of whether its content will attract, interest, and convert readers to some action. The Marketing Grader tool provides excellent guidance on content, and its ability to be discovered and shared.

In many situations it’s a reminder to do the fundamental blocking and tackling to provide regular content that is useful to audiences with an easy way for them to share it with their networks. Your New Year’s resolution to be more disciplined is as good a reason as any to run a Marketing Grader report this month so you start 2012 off right.

Here are a couple of tactics that I found useful integrating information from a single video interview with a client’s customer customer

1) Video interview – used cover video to spice up sales presentations

2) Edited short segments from interviews that focused on single, narrow topics related to prospects’ interests. Sales used in individual emails to their contacts.

3) Used short comments on Twitter and linked back to longer video

4) Created blog posts with pull out quotes from video interview

5) Used soundbites in podcast during roundtable discussion with subject matter experts from software company.

6) Video used in waiting area in the company’s lobby

I’m not suggesting every company undertake every media and tactic, I am however, highlighting how a single event to capture content, e.g. the video interview with the customer, can be multi-purposed across a company each with a clear objective.

Below is an example of a video case study that can be repurposed for a number of objectives.

What Will Change Social Media in 2012

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:48:24 +0000

Time 13:22

The year-end blog posts about marketing ideas for 2012 are endless. The one constant included in the majority of them is the importance of content. Now now, everyone and their brother has a book out about the latest consultant buzz word “content marketing”. Stop it; this should almost insult your intelligence, if you are a thinking person, for consultants to raise the content flag as what’s new in marketing.

The irony here is that digital and social media have created an environment similar to advertising. Here’s what I mean, in the last 20 years every space is open to place a logo for payment, from sidewalks to mobile apps. That same environment applies to content of all types, from “how to” videos to tweets about your blog post. The challenge is how many ways can you essentially say the same thing and how will it convince those who receive the information.

We get into a conversation about content with long time social media advocate Laura Fitton aka @Pistachio. She is one of the early adopters in the social community, an entrepreneur founder of OneForty, co-author of Twitter for Dummies, and is now an inbound marketing evangelist for Hubspot. I have no affiliation with Hubspot. Hubspot was all about content and digital crumbs long before today’s latest push for content marketing.

In this Marketing Edge podcast episode Laura and I discuss the shift from seeking customers to customers seeking. A difference that requires a shift in how you approach your own company and it’s role in the world of information. People have written books about this topic, I sum it up in one messily blog post Newsroom PR saving you time and money : ) .

Hubspot has a new twist on the way they analyze website content. Give marketing.grader.com a try, it will give you a report on whether the content on your website is attractive to readers and can help generate inbound marketing inquiries.

Maruggi’s Trends for Social in 2012

Mobile will drive foot and digital traffic so be there

Bloggers and customers want more to do your marketing

Companies will demand more feedback from consumers in exchange for something you value

Biggest Mistake on Twitter

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:06:49 +0000

What’s wrong people? Don’t you want to be Re-Tweeted? Then make your tweets short enough to allow for a quick RT click and send.

I see this mistake all the time, and on a promoted Tweet it is particularly inexcusable. Come on Yahoo, you should know this!

Facebook Changes Don’t Change The Challenge

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:24:08 +0000

Time 14:10

Regardless of any changes in Facebook to be rolled out this weekend, the challenge stays the same for business Facebook marketing, Attract, Teach, Drive behavior.

We discuss a real Facebook Marketing challenge with a client in the shipping business USA2Pilipinas. (now called USA2everywhere) This is a company that reduces international shipping costs by consolidating individual purchases in the larger shipping units, which are then unbundled upon arrival in Manila and delivered to the individual address.

This Marketing Edge podcast is a conversation with Christopher Baldock about increasing likes on your Facebook company page. The increased likes on the company Facebook page is only the beginning, the challenge is finding ways to engage those likes on Facebook or at the very least, maintain and increase views of that Facebook company page.

In this particular challenge the content about shipping was not valued, but content about consumer products and consumer product deals was the draw. Baldock grew Likes from several hundred to more than 36,000. The key elements of this Facebook marketing campaign were:

Facebook ads to targeted consumers in Philippines and Filipino communities in the US.
Understanding the unique cultural tradition observed by Filipinos living in the United States to send gifts in a special box back to the Philippines, it’s called a Balikbayan box
Seek content that is valued over the content relevant to your company (you’ll have to convince the powers that be that indirect messaging is truly the Trojan Horse of marketing)

Facebook Changes

The changes being implemented may change the mix for companies. It seems easier to like a brand than to “subscribe” to it. This will also put a greater emphasis on experiences individuals have with the company as that information will be reflected in the Facebook Timeline.

Facebook should prompt a company to take stock of it’s ability to stimulate customers, fans, followers, to share their experience. It’s a good time to audit not only your own information, but the information valued by your audiences.

I’ll have more on this topic in a live Blog Talk Radio show Facebook Changes, What They Mean for Business on Wednesday, October 5 at 11 AM CDT. It’s an open discussion so join me, Francine Hardaway author of the article What the New Facebook Changes Mean for Business on the Fast Company blog, and other Blog Talk Radio listeners interested in discussing the impact of Facebook changes for business and marketers.

Great Ways to Build Email Lists

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:35:03 +0000

Albert’s Answers

I do a lot of presentations, as a result I get many questions. I have answers to most of them, when I don’t I’ll say so and point folks in the direction to find out more. I’ll post these questions and answers periodically on this blog. Some of these questions where submitted by email and so I’ll withhold specifics in the event there is competitive information. These short answers get to the heart of the matter, if you are curious about the details, just add a comment or ask a question in the comment section.

An owner of a retail shoe store in a rural part of the country asks:

What is the best way to put together an email list for a small business?

This woman happens to be very savvy, she purchased a business that she frequently patronized. She obtained coverage from the local newspaper when the store opened. Nice going. Let’s stay on that trend, first the newspaper may be the best source of emails or at the very least access to emails if they have a subscriber list. In small towns with newspapers I am big on supporting each business. That means reaching out to surrounding towns.

More ways to get emails:

Point of Sale
Business card bowl
Contest, discounts, box
Website (big sign up box, even tell them what they will get in exchange)
Facebook Ads (Here’s a way to first determine within your geographic area how many people have Facebook profiles.) Then make the ad compelling enough to click through, on the landing page have an email sign up

Any event you do, have a sign in or name drop box and be specific about what the person giving you their email will get in exchange for their email.
Collaborate with other area businesses that are complimentary to your store
Chambers of Commerce
Email list brokers (less attractive to me, but know that with any purchased list sometimes as much as half can be wrong)
Direct Mail (yes I know it’s old fashion, but retail stores are also tied to a geography and those physical addresses are easier to obtain. My two cents, do an annual or semi-annual “can’t miss” event. Use direct mail to drive as much interest in that as possible using time specific offers, then have a value proposition to obtain the email. That value proposition is not just financial, can’t use all your profits promoting the business. )

If you like these ideas let me know, have more post them below

Social Marketers: Is It the Seven Year Itch?

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:57:46 +0000

There are hundreds of surveys these days about social media usage with varying degrees of accuracy. Suffice it to say this one from GlobalWebIndex showcases the general mood of fatigue by users of social networks. It describes Facebook registered users decline, perhaps defecting to Google+, perhaps just being tired of the constant need to be engaged and requests to Like, to Give, to Attend, and so on, and so on. and so on.

Beware Marketers

Gartner has a similar survey of consumer fatigue with social networks with similar results. These snapshots of mood are an early warning signal to social marketers and more importantly to those in decision making positions whose only contact with the social web are two charts they see at meetings – those charts usually contain some ROI data about number of Likes, follows, mentions, retweets, blog posts, or related data.

These individuals who like you and have carried some marketing water for you, are not your employees. Sure at the beginning of this social experiment it was humbling to be Liked by so many. Then it was fun to see what subsets of this “fan base” would do. Would they like a product? Share a discount with their friends? Get others to Like you too?

In the ivory tower it is easy to look down on this picture and see individuals scurrying about at your every instruction, clue, deal etc. That’s a relationship that can be easily taken for granted. When they stop doing what you expected them to do in that maze you created, you wonder if the thrill is gone. After all social media gurus you said this was about relationships, speak with a human voice. And now, just like any relationship, it’s time for the hard part. The equivalent of the seven year itch. Does one of you bolt? Just a thought as the end of year budgeting battles begin in corporate America and you gather the information about what resources to dedicate to social media for 2012. I submit the equation needs to change in the tone and activities of many business social media strategies.

Is This What Social Media is Supposed To Be?

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:43:12 +0000

We, and I say we because social isn’t anything without we. We tried something last night that felt like what social media is supposed to be. It was a night that recognized one of hundreds of groups that contribute content in social. The group was sports bloggers, true bloggers in that they are not part of a news media organization that also blogs. They blog because they like to write about a sport they love. The bloggers were:

Tim Allen – Canishoopus.com @canishoopus

Nathan Eide – Hockey wilderness Also SBNation Minnesota (ask him about the soon to be released mobile app for SB Nation.)

David Erickson – Minnesota Vikings Chat and @derickson

Nick Nelson - Nicks Twins Blog
and @nnelson9

These bloggers were contestants in a live sports trivia show. The audience, who filled the back room at Gabes by the Park, (a St. Paul old school sports bar) was into being there for the interaction. Some were active participants in social media and others could care less about tweeting answers or checking in on Facebook. The joy for me was seeing them together, laughing, guessing answers, learning about each other, and that Bill Bradley and Manu Ginobili are the only two NBA players to win Olympic gold, a Euroleague championship and an NBA championship.

In the midst of this was also the sponsor component. Verizon in the Great Plains region has been an active supporter of social communities for a couple of years now, some examples is there support of Social Media Breakfast, Mobile Twin Cities, and many others. Their 4G network was featured throughout the promotion of this event, we streamed the event using the Verizon MIFI and Samsung Charge, and they had their devices on display at the event. More important to me, however, was they were there.

Live Video app for Facebook by Ustream

No Hoop Jumping

Some people were here because they saw the event on a social channel, some because they were friends of someone at the event. It was not a case of social gamesmanship, you know, tweet 5 times and you get a piece of cheese. Those tactics work and there is a place for it in the large landscape of social, this was different. The implementation this event was about recognizing the effort made to create content and to engage with a community of interested people.

A measure of excitement ( i use this word instead of success because I think success is overused ) was the conversations after the game. We talked about doing it again, and how to get others involved and, and, and… This is how innovation works in a very open way. It underscored for me, the we in social. Thanks to everyone for being a part of this fun experience.

Disclosure: Verizon is a client and I appreciate all that @vzwkaren does for the social community in our region.

Chris Brogan on Google +, Monetizing Information, and the Value of a $.99 Margarita

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:08:30 +0000

Time 26:39

Chris Brogan is like the James Brown of social media. Brown was called the hardest working man in show business and the same moniker can be applied to Chris Brogan in social media. Brogan and I met over $.99 margaritas in Vegas at an early Blog World conference. Fast forward several years and the social space has changed, matured to some extent, but still with many challenges for individuals and firms to monetize on a platform of abundantly free information.

There is always a rush to learn and determine whether shiny new objects are worth your time. Google Wave, Buzz, etc have not created the rush of praise and participation as Google + has in the last couple of months. Brogan has spent more than 250 hours on Google + with an eye toward how business can use it. As of this writing business brands are not welcome on Google + which prompted some criticism of Brogan’s webinar. In an era of personal brands, however, there are plenty individuals in business who can benefit from learning about the Google + platform. We get into Brogan’s big 3 reasons for business to understand the direction of Google +.

indexing
longer content
greater ability to follow

Debate, Differences and Gratitude

I wanted to interview both Livingston and Brogan in light of their public differences to highlight the social nature of this medium which is important to me. Keeping a dialogue about how to monetize information, whether in the form of a book, a webinar, a community or a consultancy, is critical for the space to develop. This open disagreement is also critical for brands to see as it gives them a picture of how individuals within different schools of thought engage online in a civil discourse. This is how our economic and organizational culture will adjust to a faster, more open way to reflect nature of how individuals communicate in a public forum. It’s my belief that if corporate hierarchies and individual perceptions don’t change from their pre-social media habits of controlling information and perceptions, then social media will be more a fad, or a niche event and not a cornerstone for global development that I hope it can.

For a variety of reasons, professional and personal, I am not as prolific as many of those who read and listen to the Marketing Edge and who I interview on the program. The fact is I do personally benefit from much of the work of others, including Geoff Livingston and Chris Brogan. The all of them I say thank you.

I realize how hard original content providers work to make the social space a intellectually rich. This podcast is a labor of love and a way, limited I acknowledge, but a way, I contribute to the social space.

Sports Bloggers Trivia Night

We are recognizing four Twin Cities area sports bloggers on Wednesday, August 3, at 6PM at Gabes by the Park. Come out and see a live sports trivia show, have free appetizers, get your hands on the latest 4G devices from Verizon and maybe win some free stuff. Here’s the details. at bit.ly/sportsbloggers

Google + Dust Ups and Corporate Social Perspectives with Geoff Livingston

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:44:06 +0000

Time 25:00

I scheduled this interview with Livingston to talk about his book Welcome the Fifth Estate, but issues surrounding Google+ rose to a higher level so we talk both in this podcast. And yes we do get into the online differences between Livingston and Chris Brogan, two friends of mine.

First the book and the idea of making your corporate culture receptive to being open. This is the issue of restructuring organizations to be nimble enough in a fast paced, socially engaged environment. This involves two issues:

1) Can you speak about the issues surrounding your organization without having your organization be the focus of that conversation? This paradigm is critical to your organization’s future credibility and the ability to build a community that will expend energy on your behalf.   Think like you were an embeded journalist in your company.

2) The social web has no geography or silos, can your organization and its processes accommodate this very different structure?

Google + Observations

Use it as a person, nothing like getting in the pool and judging for your self whether the water is cold or not.
Hangouts are very useful, even for a quick video group call with Grandma. And yes just because your brand can’t use it, 10 people can collaborate from your global offices.
Circles can serve as a Yammer-like platform, remember Yammer?
+1 can serve as a voting function for more than my comedy posts, for example your ad campaign slogans, designs, food at the office party.
Bottom line, use it as an individual building your network and seeing through your own work processes how it can benefit

Google + Dust Up

This story is moving fast, suffice it to say here. Google + for business is a lot like the history of the Oklahoma land grab. Just as I post this here is an update on Google booting brands off + and NBC News left Google + but are keeping their reporters on.

As soon as the invites were flowing, businesses opened pages claiming we know Google +. Some by being insiders like Mashable, others by spending hundreds of hours in the + playground. All this despite Google not having an official business policy other than “no brands allowed,” yet.

It’s getting ugly because social is a maturing business. Plenty of individuals in this space are businesses, me included. I am for hire and I am on Google+ and I do know more about it than someone who has not been on Google+. The rub is that brands are being told they can’t play on Google+ (as of this writing) , but in an era of personal brands, how is that possible to not be on. For example, in the social web, Scott Monty is Ford, Jeremiah Owyang is Altimeter Group, etc. etc.

This is a confusing and rapidly changing issue, with some major camps of difference. Livingston and Brogan, two guys I admire greatly for what they have given to the community and me, have sparred over how to monetize their expertise. Brogan this week produced a webinar for how business should prepare to use Google+. Another friend of mine, Jen Kane once called me Switzerland because I get along with folks so I feel uniquely qualified to be in the middle of this Kerfluffel

Here’s my take, this is the result of the “free” economy of information which resides in a mostly socialist state with individuals contributing to a larger community each benefiting each other, while the same individuals responsible for the information reside in a capitalist financial state who some how must monetize a portion of that same information.

It comes down to how you package what may well be available for free, how you add value to that information through analysis or experience, and whether the market is willing to pay for that package. An example in free and paid information of the same topic is software training programs. I get a tutorial and support forums where users offer their experience freely with most software I purchase. However, there are also companies that package “how to use it” information in such a compelling way that some people are willing to pay for it because it saves them time or allows them to understand the software better.

While packaging is the means many in social media are adding value and making a living, the underlying issue remains that the foundation of social media involves individual contributions to the larger group. The irony or the beauty is the community raises the level of “influence” of individuals by their own accord (gaming tactics aside) and the market is willing to pay for it. Perhaps through social media we are seeing capitalism in a more raw form over the last couple of years, and like sausage, sometimes it ain’t pretty – but damn tasty.

Facebook Losing US Users & Gaining P & G Commerce Pages – Confusing

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 19:12:41 +0000

Time 28:34

So many mixed messages these days. First its declining active users vs awareness on Twitter – according the the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Second, Inside Facebook reports Facebook lost 6 million users in the United States base of users. But not a day later, consumer products manufacturing giant Procter and Gamble announced it was opening several product Facebook Commerce pages for Tide, Gillette, Olay, Gain, CoverGirl, Luvs and Febreze. So there seems to be mixed messages about whether social media is growing or leveling off.

In this Marketing Edge Podcast with Garrick Van Buren, we talk about the characteristics that attracted the early growth of social media, and the attributes it has developed over time that may be responsible for the current pause in growth. Garrick is a web application developer and person who is an astute early adapter with an understanding of consumer interface fundamentals. He gives to the community but does like to fly under the radar which is one of the reasons he stopped using Twitter several months ago.

Key elements of the social trend curve

Early access to new information and people (enlightened conversations)
Efficient communication paths (quick messaging with clear intent)
low noise to clear signal ratio (no or little advertising )

As social grew

abundance of new information and people (quality high, but potentially overwhelming amount of relationships)
cluttered communications paths (advertisers and company participation)
noise increases and signal distortion grows (public and private agendas muddy the message)

The conversation highlights potential pitfalls marketers can avoid as they attempt to be valuable to social consumers and responsive to their internal business clients.

1) Be aware of consumer apathy
2) Frequency of ask can lead to fatigue
3) Divide social consumers in to smaller groups with greater interest and topics to keep enthusiasm

Marketing Edge Survey

Looking for your input on topics and other potential channels bit.ly/marketingedge

PR Problems in Big and Small Packages

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:42:14 +0000

Time 13:09

Big Packge PR Problem

Delta Airlines got itself into trouble with a baggage policy for active military personnel that for nearly a decade had seemed to be working well. Active military traveling to and from war zones using Delta Airlines is not a new thing. A YouTube video of military personnel returning from Afghanistan tells their story of being charged $2800 for extra bags. The issue here is about large packages, some heavy with weapons which may also be an issue on connecting flights with weight limitations.

One can make the case that the government should pick up the cost of those bags and not the individuals, but that is another issue for another time.

I accept these types of situations as unavoidable. Large companies need policies in place and no amount of training at the customer interface level is going to completely eliminate a potential misunderstanding, misinterpretation of the policies, an outdated policy, or individual having a bad day. What is avoidable is the exacerbation of the problem by a corporate reaction that is viewed as insensitive.

Delta Airlines Reaction

“ Thank you to everyone who has participated in the recent conversations on baggage allowances for active duty U.S. military personnel. We appreciate all of your thoughts and insight, and want to share an update on the soldiers involved as well as changes to our official policies.

First and foremost, we want you to know we’re continuing to work with the soldiers individually to make this situation right for each of them. We regret that this experience caused these soldiers to feel anything but welcome on their return home. We honor their service and are grateful for the sacrifices of our military service members and their families.”

These two paragraphs from the Delta blog in reaction to the YouTube video just sounds like corporate speak. This is the inherent conflict between the legal silo of corporate America and the social environment of consumer conversation.

First let’s change the language. Try something like “We messed up. Or, “The policy that was in place for nearly 10 years no longer works. We are sorry to the service personnel and are reimbursing them in full with round trip airfare for their family to anywhere in the world. We also have changed the baggage policy for military personnel on military orders and put out an immediate notification to all of our baggage employees at check in counters.”

Little Package PR Problem

Which brings us to Congressman Weiner. This issue is just loaded with public relations horror however there is hope for Mr. Weiner. Ironically the wise PR counsel in this situation is the same that can apply to Delta.

1) come clean quickly
2) acknowledge those violated and, to the extent possible, address in word and/or deed making them whole,
3) extinguish the issue from public conversation by either removing yourself from the situation or highlighting subsequent changes.

In the case of Congressman Weiner he needs to leave office and get out of the spotlight. There is nothing good that can result from Weiner’s presence on any camera at this point in time. The additional issue that Weiner has going against him is permanently fixed image associated with this story. The best PR advice for Weiner is to exit stage right, get cleaned up and remerge as a “changed man.” Remember Governor Eliot Spitzer who resigned two days after the New York Times broke the story that he had patronized the services of a prostitute for years even when he was Attorney General of New York. Today Spitzer is an anchor on In the Arena a political talk show on CNN – America is a great country no?

The public relations moral of these two stories? There is no issue too big or too small that a little honesty and humility can’t solve.

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Twitter Traps and The Social PR Paradigm

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:38:52 +0000

Time 26:14

Patrick Strother, A long time, thoughtful practitioner of strategic communications and public relations is the guest on this episode of the Marketing Edge Podcast. He is the Chief Creative Officer and founder of Strother Communications Group and a visiting faculty professor of PR and strategic communications planning at the University of Minnesota.

The inspiration for this conversation was an article written by New York Times executive editor Bill Keller, The Twitter Trap. In this article, Keller (@nytkeller) laments giving his 13 year old daughter permission to be on Facebook, and I as a father of three teens, can empathize with Keller.

The journalist also highlights his concerns about how Twitter, et al. social is impacting out ability to give serious thought to issues, demand our attention, and perhaps even erode a bit of our humanity by undermining “complexity, acuity, patience, wisdom, and intimacy.”

Strother (on twitter @patrickstrother )and I talk about Twitter’s impact on parenting and the decisions that social media participation forces on adolescents. I thought this particularly appropriate given that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to explore the possibility of children younger than 13 joining social networks safely. This agenda advanced at a summit of internet and public policy leaders called the eG8 last week.

Strother and I take the conversation to uses of Twitter in building relationships with journalists. In his eyes, Twitter is not a pitching tool, but an effective research and relationship tool. Agreed. I also enjoy using Muck Rack to discover the journalists using Twitter. I read Poynter.org to stay close to the heart and soul of being a journalist in changing times. It pursues the agenda of independent journalism’s importance to democracy.

We discuss some of the skills necessary for companies to effectively participate on the social web, a place shared by journalists and company thought leaders. A place that can reward discourse.

The Social PR Paradigm in corporate communications operation should include:

1) Editorial planning as if you were a news organization for social spaces that feature your company’s expertise. I’ve talked about this for a while as the idea of an embeded corporate journalist
2) Read, engage, and comment on journalists blogs and twitter profiles that cover your industry
3) Gain a greater understanding of writing with a news , as contrasted with say marketing collateral.

On this last point, Strother makes a strong case in the podcast and is working to incorporate this concept for his students.

5 Ways to Make QR Codes Work

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 16 May 2011 14:15:16 +0000

Time 27:51

Nellymoser is an interactive agency focused on the mobile experience and doing creative work with QR Codes and other digital tagging. The Marketing Edge Podcast spoke with Roger Matus, Executive Vice President of Nellymoser, a firm that created successful interactive campaigns for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, and a thought leadership campaign for Timberland boots, among many other QR Code uses.

Matus and I discuss some of the ways corporate marketers approach integrating QR Codes into their marketing strategy. While QR Codes seem to be the latest in mobile marketing technology, Roger’s down to earth thinking ties technology applications back to fundamental marketing strategy. His thoughtful conversation is insightful for marketers drained by chasing shiny new objects. He wraps QR Codes into familiar techniques of Marketing 101 and concise “call to action” campaigns.

Matus does believe that QR Codes are not simple. Our conversation covers many of the multidimensional steps required in a successful mobile marketing campaign, but his approach allows marketers wrap it in familiar terms. This refreshing conversation puts technology in the context of consumer behavior objectives, a place from which marketers should rarely stray.

5 Ways to Implement QR Codes

Start from blank page – one of the worst things to do as a company is to engage in bandwagon thinking. So don’t have a knee-jerk reaction to slapping a QR Code on a print ad that takes you to a webpage. That’s not mobile nor innovative. QR Codes and Microsoft tags can be created in such a way to deliver a much more involved experience such as creating offers depending on the time or date scanned.  
Location, Location, Location – where the QR Code will be scanned matters. This requires understanding even plotting out a process flow at the physical sites where the QR Codes will be placed. Is it a noisy intersection? (so audio will be hard to hear). Is it a high traffic location with a premium on keeping things moving, e.g.. transfer point for mass transit with lots of people, but little time. (that’s a site selection study if ever I wanted to create one )  
Call to Action – at its base form a QR Code is a call to action in pure marketing terms, so don’t let technology throw you off your game. There is a consumer behavior outcome desired by the company, approach the QR Code planning from that perspective. NOTE: Roger’s comments about the 21st century is brilliant at around the 14:00 mark. He describes giving people a reason which usually is a financial value or informational value. Matus talks about using video for education, a contest to capture contact information, or an offer that changes to keep people coming back or accepting a pushed message.

Ain’t that Rich – whether video or audio or a mobile application, QR Codes is a place where you should be thinking bold content. I believe using the QR Code raises the expectation that something is worth the following steps A) take out your phone, B) open your QR Code reader or camera C) snap the image – ooohhh boy now what!? Matus wonderfully points out that it’s an important consideration to help set the expectation on the place that the QR Code is first seen.  

Calling all printers and publishers – QR Codes can be a savior by making print come to life, literally. This integration can deliver the type of analytics that may be a magazine advertising reps best friend. Matching the most powerful of a variety of formats and medium can be highly effective to sell or capture a greater percentage of mind space of your intended audience member.

In our next episode on QR Codes we’ll discuss the differences between the types of tagging available.

Is Empire Avenue A Game or A Social Network?

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 11 May 2011 17:21:11 +0000

Time 19:00

The personal or should I say people trading site Empire Avenue illustrates this new world of greater transparency. You must spend some time on the site to truly appreciate the deeper context of this post. In short, individuals on Empire Avenue are traded like stocks and commodities.
Their price is a function of many variables ranging from their social networks, activity online and participation on the Empire Avenue site.

One of Empire Avenue’s early players is Jim Durbin, on Twitter as SMheadhunter and he is a recruiter for marketing, public relations, and social media positions. We discuss the techniques of using Empire Avenue as a social game and as a very different kind of social network. The logic behind investing in the social capital of others also opens you up to new networks of individuals according to Durbin.

In addition, Empire Avenue is a great tool to understand gamification. Marketing to video game inspired generations does include the need to understand how the game-concept plays into their view of the world. I have coached youth basketball for years and I have spoken with coaches about retart syndrome. This is when a team gets behind its opposition by so much that they give up and, in their mind want to hit the restart button. Clearly, real games don’t have a restart, but this concept is real, you can see it in body language, attitude, and performance.

Gaming qualities are not limited to those who play video games. From American Idol to Chopped, entertainment has significant game-like characteristics that are part of our culture. Marketers who understand these concepts will be able to push the envelop in some cases and apply these qualities to achieving business objectives.

I’m not making a judgment whether Empire Avenue is worth the time, I do think it is worth a look. Have you been to Empire Avenue and what do you think?

Think Multidimensional When Using QR Codes

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 08 May 2011 17:33:12 +0000

Time 17:58

The Marketing Edge podcast continues its series on QR Code marketing. In this episode I have a conversation with social media marketing veteran Wayne Sutton. Sutton incorporates many of the skills necessary to thrive in the social space. He’s a former broadcast journalist telling a story with images, sound and words. Sutton is a long time user of technology and knows his way about programmers. His foundation is in graphic design and his eye for what looks appealing is apparent in his work on his mobile application Social Wayne, which takes me to his other skill set as an entrepreneur. This latter skill set does not mean being able to build a company from nothing to 50 employees. Rather, in my interpretation it means being able to execute on a vision and getting others to embrace that vision.

Multidimensional Thinking

The multidimensional thinking is a prerequisite to using QR Codes effectively. By multidimensional thinking I mean being able to construct a marketing experience along the following dimensions

Physical location – where is the individual to have their experience

Varied content – what types of content are best to achieve

Interactivity – what is the exchange between parties

This multidimensional marketing approach requires a much deeper level marketing planning. The Marketing Edge Podcast will cover several examples of this over the next few episodes, for this episode we focus on Wayne Sutton’s iphone app A handy (no pun intended ) reference for Sutton’s digital footprint and to interact.

While a social app is not right for everyone, I’m suggesting you download it to see how someone who is active on the social web integrates information and creates a space for interactivity.

As companies try to act more “human,” Sutton’s Social Wayne app may provide ideas that can be applied to a “socially active” business. As with many of the Marketing Edge podcast episodes, we highlight examples that will spark unique implementations of innovation for our audience.

QR Codes Hype or Worth The Work?

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 05:39:11 +0000

Time 31:55

Any new technology has its advocates, people that push the envelope on what can be done. The magic, however is when the tech advocates’ perspective meets those practical enough to ask the question why will this new technology help us solve X. Today we are talking about the technology of QR codes.

You see the challenge of solving for X is not a exclusive to mathematics. This X can be a practical business challenge such as selling more products. We’ll hear in this special Marketing Edge Podcast how an independent band was able to breakthrough the musical cacophony of hundreds of other bands and sell more songs by using QR codes. John C Havens @johnchavens Executive Vice President of Social Media at Porter Novelli shares that story.

I chose the letter X because it also is used in geographical references, such as X marks the spot. QR codes also can transport the user to other destinations. Take print advertising, a QR code can morph a staid stock photo into a multimedia experience in an exotic destination. That’s part of our conversation with Sarah Evans aka PR Sarah Evans. @prsarahevans on Twitter

A brilliant line from Evans in this podcast is “marketing gets people in the door and PR keeps them coming back.” She speaks to using QR codes as a way to enhance a customer experience, and that can be anywhere, in-store, through a billing statement, anywhere. The manta being how do we keep them coming back.

Havens, co-author of Tactical Transparency has dived deep into mobile tagging and scanning technologies as well as augmented reality. He makes the case for using QR code technology as a way to give early adopters of QR code readers access to your brand. It’s also more than brand, it’s capturing an immediate moment. Those moments can be transaction moments, excitement moments, information moments.

Let’s take community action. Say there is an intersection with a long traffic light. Petition commuters stuck in traffic by posting a QR code at the intersection, or someone with a poster of the QR code on an easel that launches an email to legislators saying, “I’m stuck at this incredibly long light at 3rd and Elm and I want to get out!”

Window shopping, literally, QR Codes in front of displays in retail windows take shoppers to a website where they can buy what’s in the window. With QR codes not only can you find out how much that dress is in the window, but what other colors it comes in and accessories can be purchased. QR codes make store hours your hours.

QR codes may well save some printers, imagine talking Christmas gift catalogues? Now you get the picture. Enjoy the podcast with John C Havens and Sarah Evans, along with a cameo soundtrack from Sarah’s dog. Which of course led to a good idea about a QR application.

The Reasons to Play With QR Codes

Effective way to integrate media (print, web, multimedia)

Great way to understand mobile audience (more smartphones were sold than PCs in 4Q, 2010 – that’s a game changer)

Point of Sale enhancement (it’s like an in-store kiosk for any product you want to promote)

Point of excitement selling moment (QR Codes printed on concert program allows audience to leave with music they purchase in their pocket)

Cautions When Using QR Codes

QR Reader quality not consistent, making user experience a larger variable than some would like. (a potential workaround is using Jagtag where you snap a picture of a jagtag and text it to a number. You will then receive a text with the detailed content. Another popular method is Microsoft tag. )

Simplistic use of QR Code, e.g. a QR Code is not a good replacement for a web address because it is likely not to meet heightened user expectation )

Give user time to understand it’s a QR code and to read it e.g. QR code on highway billboard, not good, on billboard at tourist venue or at baseball park, better.

So tell me did you scan the QR Code above? Sorry I just had to for old time, early adopters sake. Please let me know in the comments if you successfully scanned a QR Code this year? thanks

HootSuite Explains – Blah Blah Blah – Makes It Right, But No Sorry

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 04:01:18 +0000

I’m a fan of Hootsuite, I enjoy the paid service and admire Hootsuite folks like Dave Olson, with whom I’ve interacted. Dave, you’re great! That’s why I was a bit taken aback by the email that was almost, but not quite an apology and explanation. (The Hootsuite Making it Right post was also an email to paid users.) Before reading on, if you are into PR and writing you should read the HootSuite blog Making It Right to which this post is based.

I appreciate the enormity of the outage experienced by Amazon’s Web Services hosting which caused Hootsuite to be down for “approximately 15 hours”. HootSuite’s email which originated as a blog post, buries the lead which is “We are Making it Right” and eliminates an apology, what no we’re sorry, really? That’s what would have been my lead.

Hootsuite is a social media company, you know the whole “speaking with a human voice” stuff and drop the corporate speak and have a relationship with the customer. If that’s the case, the lead graph would have been along the lines of the following:

We apologize for April 21 being such a bad day for our customers. It was a bad day for us as well. We realize that being down 15 hours and loosing data is unacceptable regardless of the cause. We are offering our Pro and Enterprise customers $50 worth of coupons for our social analytics reports. One of the reasons for this form of apology and offer is even though the terms of service agreement provides a refund for a 24 hour outage, we simply didn’t foresee the Amazon Web Services EC2, upon which Hootsuite relies, being down for 15 hours.

From this humble lead, then by all means proceed to explain how “stellar performance with minimal outages” Hootsuite has, or how Hootsuite serves over 3 million social networks sending over a million updates per day with almost zero downtime.

Instead here is my brainwave emotional meter thinking out loud transcript as I’m reading this Hootsuite email — yawn yawn, lawyer inserted phrase, whatever, oh, 15 hours is “significantly” less than the 24 hours in the contract so I should be damn grateful to get this $50 coupon, so long as I use it in the next three weeks, Wow, is it possible they didn’t say sorry? Wait let me reread this, it says “we know how important up-time is for you and truly appreciate the kind words from our users who missed using HootSuite.” hmmm no sorry there, but in the midst of a 15 hour outage you still managed to get a testimonial in your own “having a bad day” blog post.

I suspect that “acknowledging the inconvenience” is as close as one can get in corporate speak to what I would have preferred. That would have been a more owly like “really sorry that me getting sucked into the Amazon cloud wind sheer caused a bad day for both of us.”

Sorry to be so harsh on the post gents, but I still dig the owl. Now, perhaps because this was the words of CEO Ryan Holmes, such candor is inappropriate from a PR and legal perspective. Afterall, Mr. Holmes signs contracts and is held accountable, a cute little owl isn’t. And this may reflect the nature of how corporate culture and institutions are less aligned with the culture of social media than I would like to believe.

Facebook Sells Your Stuff – Keys to Creating Great Promotions by Home Depot

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:19:29 +0000

Time 27:00

Home Depot’s version of Spring Black Friday on Facebook was a huge hit, promoting sales items on the Home Depot Facebook page, then directing consumers back to the Home Depot website for the transactions – no apps, no plugins required.

Recently Angie Schottmuller @aschottmuller wrote a post about this campaign Home Depot used Facebook on selling merchandise in a matter of hours. On the Home Depot Facebook page they offered select merchandise for a limited time. The hook was when a product post reached a specific number of “likers”, the next promoted product offer was revealed. Anticipation and known goals are great motivators!

Schottmuller outlines six reasons why this effort was successful. I take another wrinkle on these reasons and tie them back to characteristics from other technologies, communities or old fashion, yes, behavior modification techniques, which have been around since Moses’ stone tablets. Funny, tablets are making a comeback too.

What Works There May Work For You

The Game – A concept perhaps best highlighted by TGI Fridays be a Fan of Woody where if Woody received a certain amount of fans 500,000 everyone wins a burger. In the Home Depot version, each promoted product was essentially a Woody, encouraging viewers to Like each one. With each threshold crossed a new product was revealed. Everyone knew the rules and was anticipating the trigger moment to occur. This highlights the effectiveness of transparency about milestones for a game environment, as Schottmuller points out in her post.

The “Members only” Approach – This Home Depot offer targeted current fans. So you needed to be a Liker of the page before you could weigh in on a promoted product. The way Facebook works is when I Like something my network knows it, making the content only visible to fans, was also a signal to the Likers’ network.

The Offer & Timing – Deep discounts and a limited offer, sound “Groupon” familiar? Yes, and a nice observation by Home Depot I suspect of what makes the Groupon system so effective. However, let’s not give too much credit to the digital generation. Limited time offers and scarcity has been around capitalist economies for a long time. The tactic is proven. The takeaway here is that social technology exponentially collapses time and geography which enables the information about the promotion, and the Word of Mouth association via the Like button to have essentially an economy of scale.

A Bit of A Question Mark?

Mari Smith, the co-author of Facebook Marketing an Hour A Day, commented on her Facebook page, “I’m assuming Home Depot are in compliance with Facebook’s Promotions Guidelines – simple liking of posts gets you deals. Hmm!!” The way I see it the answer is yes, Facebook Guidelines notice my comments in Smith’s comment thread.

As Schottmuller pointed out on the comments on Smith’s page, the Like-Gating tactic was about seeing what was next, not the current product up for sale.

Are you considering a gaming, time, discount, and/or networking element to your marketing?

And the Social Media Marketing Survey Says…

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:23:41 +0000

Time 22:10

I usually don’t budge on surveys, most of them are a dime a dozen and an often used way to get a little PR. This Social Media Marketing survey from Social Media Examiner caught my eye because of the sample size of 3300 marketers across the spectrum of business sizes and types. It’s the Social Media Examiner Social Marketing Report and in today’s Marketing Edge podcast we speak with Assistant Director of the Social Media Examiner Phil Mershon about the report. One of the trends different from last year is the increased interest in Facebook over Twitter. Facebook’s improvements such as, adding places, and making their business pages easier to engage the audience are, I believe, among the reasons for this change.

Phil and I get into some great examples of Facebook “Liker” engagement practices that work for big and small companies. In the survey, there were three major benefits for those using social media for marketing, and there was a correlation between the amount of time spent with social media communities and the benefit derived from them. This was encouraging for me because there is an attraction for some to look for the quick hit in social. You know the big discount or insanely creative promotion to create that initial spike and then no follow through. The connection between time and benefit potentially shows more attention to content and relationship.

Benefits of Social Media

– my comments in ( maruggi says…)

Stand out in Noisy Market (this will diminish as social media gets noiser )  

Improved Search Engine Results (content is king, and social allows you to expand your digital footprint)  

Direct connection to qualified leads (it’s public permission marketing – thank’s Seth Godin)

Social Media marketing vets with 3 years or more are enhancing their communications with other formats. For example, nearly all those social marketers surveyed who have participated in social media marketing for 3 year or more are major proponents of video. This trend is likely because of item number 1 above, also as I reference in the Marketing Edge Podcast episode, there are new technologies in video that will make that rich-media format more engaging.

Seventy-seven percent of marketers with more than three years experience in social media will spend more time with video and that number increases when you segment just the respondents with more than 1000 employees. This is exactly the issue I’ve raised about making your PR and marketing department more like a news organization. It’s a mindset that will be extremely beneficial for an organization with plenty to talk about that is beyond their products and services.

Time is key as the survey indicates, the more time you put in the more you get out. However, I submit part of the time element is coming up with the right content, not just pounding away at a keyboard.

The Social Media Examiner has it’s annual Social Media Success Summit a unique series of webcasts spread over the month of May. The speakers include Guy Kawasaki, Jeremiah Owyang, and Frank Eliason. April 14 is the last Early Bird rate, take a look and take advantage.

Maruggi’s Take

The social media road is littered with spammers, in-active accounts, and disappointment due to lack of research about whether your specific audience is “active” in social media, notwithstanding the results of this survey.

Take the time to clearly identify the quantity of your qualified audience.  
It is easier to leapfrog than catch up. Ok so you take great pride in being a follower. You joined Twitter in 2010, the leaders were there in 2007 and earlier. But that’s OK. You don’t have to be a follower all your life. Life moves fast as Ferris Bueller says. Now that you have your feet wet, move quicker to experiment with what’s next.

Establish an emerging tactics swat team and do quick deep dives on early adopter ideas like the use of video, QR codes, augmented reality, and the semantic web.

What’s on your social media marketing agenda next? Video, audio, mobile marketing?

Twitter Search Tips

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:13:22 +0000

Sometimes when you are head deep in social media marketing you assume some of the tactics you use all the time are common knowledge. I mentioned these social media marketing search tactics in a group of seasoned marketing and PR practitioners and the tactics were new to some of them. Lesson learned, never assume and take time to share the social media marketing tactics you may have been using for some time.

I use Tweepz and Advanced Search on Search.Twitter.com to learn more about new topics I find interesting. I’m getting into a bunch of different cooking recipes and trying my hand at Indian cooking. Another is trying to determine whether there is an active social media community in a specific location. For example, for a client who was interested in the Des Monies, IA market, I used Tweepz to identify more than 4,000 users of Twitter who had listed Des Monies in their Twitter profile. I thought that was a good size pool to get the client active in that community. It worked out great.

I use Search.twitter.com to search by topic or key phrase, and if the task requires it, you can slice that data again by geography. None of these are so comprehensive to include everything, but they do give you a good sense of direction, and combined with other data, will allow you to make a thoughtful social media marketing decision.

A great place for discovering Twitter applications is www.OneForty.com. I’m sure you have some ways to search Twitter, would you like to share? Thanks

Jacob Tucker’s Social Media Slam Dunk

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:36:11 +0000

Time 12:29

UPDATE: Jacob Tucker just won the NCAA slam dunk competition, Congratulations!!! Victory for you and another win for social media in public relations.

Below was the original post from March 14.

One part viral Two parts grassroots campaign. The story of Jacob Tucker starts from the ground up. Dick Vitale calls Tucker, the hi riser Elevator Man. Tucker is a 5’ 11” guard at Illinois College who has a 45” vertical. Tucker, a senior plays basketball at the Division III school and so is unlikely to get noticed by many. He had a goal to get invited to the NCAA Dunk Contest. To that end he hoped to catch the eye of those at ESPN and others who contribute to the decision of those invited to the NCAA Dunk Contest by launching a video of his major hops.

What started in the early morning of March 4 ended up with media interviews and a huge spike on YouTube views in less than a day. Ten days later it’s approaching 2.3 million views. David Gaines, a friend of Tucker’s since Freshman year and a biology major, led the Jacob Tucker social media effort with a Facebook page effort which began with a network of less than 200 people. The key metric for Gaines was the second send of the link, once you know the first wave likes the content, then it’s a question of when and whether it will find it’s way to traditional media to make a quick leap to the next level of audience views.

ESPN knows gold when they see it and have layered an element of crowdsourcing to this selection. They have added another Division III high flyer Rico Cunningham from Lee University to a voting contest which begins March 17 and ends on March 28. You can vote on this ESPN 2 Facebook page

We will follow up this story because what goes up, must, at some point, come down.

Are You a Whining Consumer Who Doesn’t Pay Full Price? Join the Crowd

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:27:01 +0000

Time 24:59

The second part of this Marketing Edge podcast interview with author of the book The New Small, Phil Simon and Albert Maruggi talks about the type of consumer that the “New Small” economy may be creating. Picking up where Chris Anderson, the author of the book Free, a tome about the free economy.

In this free economy, supported in great part by the social web, consumers use platforms from Google to Hootsuite, from Twitter to Facebook for no cost (or a nominal fee) Simon’s book the New Small shows how businesses can tap into the free economy companies who are providing technology infrastructure at a fraction of the cost compared to the last decade. As a buyer at least, Simon contends the free economy is in your best interests.

More Whiners Than Buyers

Is this new small economy comprised of consumers who want something for nothing? Are they the same consumers that will share their criticisms to the world about a product they are using for nothing? Or perhaps this new small economy is about technology companies who calculate the more users the greater the revenue potential from other sources such as advertising, and in that model users are justified in their visible critiques?

Maruggi and Simon discuss ways to approach this highly vocal, highly opinionated consumer. The New Small doesn’t mean only small will win, it means there is a new perspective about creating businesses and new consumer perspectives that will impact businesses of all sizes.

Chance to Win The New Small

Enjoy this conversation with author Phil Simon, examine the book The New Small and enter a chance to win The New Small book used by Maruggi to conduct the interview with his notes by posting a comment or Tweeting about this podcast with the hashtag #mktedge Follow Simon on Twitter @philsimon on Twitter and Maruggi @albertmaruggi

What Did You Do When Twitter Was Down?

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 14:56:14 +0000

it was early in the AM Central time US and Twitter is usually the first place I check in the morning – daily routine don’t cha know. Alas it was crippled

It’s times like these when you see the value of what you miss. The classic case of you don’t know love until it’s gone.

What did you use when Twitter was down? Facebook? Friend Feed? Meebo? Quroa?

I used Google Realtime to track developments and how people were Tweeting.

2011 The Year of The Groupon

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 04:21:04 +0000

Time 25:03

Groupon is getting plenty of press regarding their growth, currently valued at $4.75 billion, or Groupon’s current round of funding raising, $950 million, or turning down a $6 billion offer from Google.

Groupon’s CEO Andrew Mason will tell you, and Charlie Rose in a recent interview, that those numbers are possible because of the company’s laser like focus on their customer’s experience. Groupon gives a stage to local businesses who offer daily deals of 50% or more. Reading the deal of the day Groupon email is now as much a routine for some as reading the daily newspaper for others. (That’s ironic) Mason, who started Groupon in November 2008 is passionate about individuals discovering something new about their city, and if they can share that experience with others, even better.

In late December, I interviewed Julie Mossler, a spokesperson with Groupon, about the benefits to businesses that use the group buying, deep discounting, pay for performance service. Groupon works like this. Businesses offer Groupon users significant discounts, for example a $50 dinner for two is offered at $25. The deal is on only when an agreed upon minimum number of people purchase the offer. Win – Win right? business gets people through the door at some minimum price point or else there is no cash expense by the business. It is a pay for performance advertising model.

Learn How Groupon Works! from The Point on Vimeo.

Groupon features a deal a day in an email to their local subscribers, in addition they have other deals on their local city websites. They recently started a self-service option for merchants and professional service providers. The key criteria for businesses considering Group are in the answers to these four questions:

1) Are you attempting to gain new customers for repeat business?

2) Are you attempting to gain customers who will more than likely purchase additional items during the Groupon redemption visit?

3) Are you reallocating advertising dollars toward the Groupon program?

4) How will you convert Groupon subscribers to your customers?

While you may see many restaurants, hotels, and spas, Groupon clearly is a model that can be beneficial for many types of businesses. It’s a question of creativity and thinking through the buying behaviors and advertising models to determine whether Groupon is a good fit for your product or service.

The Groupon site is a good resource for merchants to learn about this category of online marketing. I recommend Groupon’s web-based ROI calculator to help project estimated returns, costs, and repeat business potential. There are likely more detailed spreadsheets available as you engage with a Groupon representative to do deeper calculations that will help refine your costs and potential revenue the Groupon program may generate.

As a small business you should claim a presence on Groupon Stores, a new feature of Groupon’s page that allows businesses to essentially self-serve a Groupon offer even though they will not be the featured deal of the day.

2011 will see rapid change in business marketing. A strategy session on the long term impact on your business of Groupon and the general concept of social network buying and marketing may be a good use of resources.

We’ll have more coverage on this topic and feature other network buying platforms. Please suggest some that you have used or think are newsworthy.

Marketing Edge Listeners Win!

Ann McGinn is the winner of Julio Ojeda-Zapata’s book Ipad Means Business. Congratulations Ann and thanks to all the Marketing Edge listeners who submitted their name for the drawing. Stay tuned for our next book drawing and good luck.

Digging Into the Groupon Model

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:14:50 +0000

The merger of multi-level marketing, a buying cooperative and steep discounting is a successful mix for Groupon. In less than two years Groupon has 40 million global subscribers spread across 300 local markets. According to this Ad Age report What’s Next For Groupon, the Chicago-based company’s international growth by acquisition is a major reason for its rapid growth.

As a marketing advisor to business Groupon is a conundrum for me. Groupon has significant benefits of reaching potentially new buyers in a specific location, the question is how to leverage the Groupon tactic with growing the most profitable customer base for each business. One restaurant client, a steakhouse in a midsize city, calculates that his break even point is if 10 percent of the estimated Groupon buyers return without a promotion.

Groupon’s shared revenue model of a 50% discount split with the restaurant where Groupon takes half of that amount. Its payment structure to its customer businesses is a 1/3 upon sale of the Groupon, a 1/3 increments at 30 days and the remaining third at 60 days from time of sale. A recent study by Rice University professor Utpal M. Dholakia questioned whether Groupon is worth the $6 billion offered by Google for the company whose annual revenue is more than $1 billion based on the price sensitive nature of Groupon users.

I’m looking to see how consumers use Groupon. I’ve focused on a popular restaurant in the Twin Cities which has a Groupon going on today. The restaurant is French Meadow Bakery and Cafe. As you can see in this graphic, as of about 8:20 Monday, December 13 there are 429 sold well over the minimum required to initiate the deal. UPDATE – in the half hour it took me to proof this post from the time I took the image, the number of buyers is up to 1,933!

I’m interested in reaching the people who purchased this Groupon to ask the questions in the survey below. Basically I’m interested in whether they have been to French Meadow before and whether they are purchasing this Groupon as a gift for someone else. Yes I understand it may be a stretch trying to reach them on this post, but let’s give it a try, I’ll use Twitter, Facebook and some other Twin Cities communities to get the word out. If you have ideas on how to reach them, put it in the comments section.

French Meadow Bakery and Cafe Groupon Buyers

If you purchased Groupon for French Meadow Bakery and Cafe in the Twin Cities, can you answer these two questions? Thanks

Loading…

There are several articles on the issue of whether Groupon is a good fit for all small business. This New York Times piece for example I have several theories I’m working through on Groupon, one is from a simple dollars and cents standpoint, the other is from a conceptual perspective about whether Groupon’s concept is a way capitalist economics blends with social collective behavior.

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Ipad an Icon of Mobile Power Computing – And What it Means to Marketers

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 19:44:57 +0000

Time 24:50

We interview St. Paul Pioneer Press technology writer Julio Ojeda Zapata, author of Ipad Means Business, to be released the week of December 13. This is a two part series, with this episode focused on how mobile computing is impacting industries such as health care, real estate, legal, and other small businesses.

Some examples of using the iPad in business applications include:

patients completing online forms in the waiting area and not at a kiosk or a clipboard where interpreting handwriting can be a challenge

Mobile video viewing of real estate properties and integrated with location based applications to improve the real estate buying experience

Any field worker now has a more mobile, yes even stylish device for insurance claims, remote health care workers, service and repair technicians

And for the real business heavy weight,

Edit and Create CAD drawings, or

Access SAP data from your enterprise applications

Some will suggest this is a revolution, we believe it’s a natural evolution. Some contend the iPad is more a content consumption device than a content creation device. I believe it’s both, especially if you define completing a form as a type of content creation. I submit that in business a complete form field is content creation that advances some type of business process. To the end, the more convenient you make interacting with technology, the greater the chances of expediting a business workflow.

A word on behalf of non-Apple consumers of the world, mobile computing “Tablet Size” is not limited to devices that begin with the letter i. The android platform has the Galaxy Tab among several others on the market or soon to be available.

Point being for marketers is this –

Size does not matter – the screen size of tablets and smartphones are less of an issue.

Bandwidth is getting larger for mobile users - Speedy networks 4G is just about in place and WiFi will abound so long as people will consume coffee while accessing the web.

Price matters and is dropping - When comparing the iPad against a laptop or comparing the tablet market across the products in that emerging category, price is extremely competitive. Will this put powerful computing in the hands of more people?

These data points should lead a marketer to conclude the distribution of the message is now a minor issue. The format of the message should not be predicated upon who can access it. There is critical mass is virtually every platform, format, stationary or mobile, across the street or around the world.

This, I hope frees marketers to be innovative in the mobile arena. Just browsing the applications available on the ipad and android platforms will spark ideas for your clients and companies.

Social Media Helps Us Honor and Share War Stories

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:04:49 +0000

Time 18:17

No, I don’t mean social media war stories. Sometimes the social media world gets caught up in its own world of GAP logo changes and Old Spice YouTube ads to remember there are wars going on.

I mean real war stories and social media plays a role in sharing the realities of conflict. In part 1 of the Marketing Edge conversation with Bob Crawshaw, we talk about his role in marketing the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australia. Bob is a long time listener of the Marketing Edge. When I heard about his work with Australia’s historical and living commemoration to its participation in defending freedom around the world, and his use of social media, I thought listeners would enjoy the conversation.

In this episode we highlight how the Australian War Memorial is using its own Flickr Commons photostream to share its thousands of images. I found that link on its website to be an interesting way to encourage others to use those images across the web. I have not see other sites with a specific link to the organization’s Flickr stream of non-copyrighted images.

This conversation also reinforced for me the power of still images, at least some still images. I was captivated by an image of a World War I solider whose identity is unknown so his image is called “handsome man”. I reminded me of the male equal of the famous National Geographic image of an Afghan girl.

I invite you to spend some time on the Australian War Memorial website. It’s a trip through freedom’s history of a country whose citizens have fought side by side with Americans in virtually all of its international conflict to this day. More importantly, the social digital presence of the Australian War Memorial is an opportunity for a country, one separated nearly as far as you can be from the United States, to share its stories of shared values; values for which men and women are willing to sacrifice.

How are you using or have seen Flickr used in an interesting way?

Mobile Black Friday Shopping Part 2

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 19:54:04 +0000

Yesterday I posted a piece on how mobile will be tested heavily this heaviest shopping day of the year. It will be tested by both consumers and retailers. Little did in know when I woke up this morning, I’d be proven correct on page one of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press in a article written by Allison Kaplan called “Shop, Text, and Tweet Til You Drop?

Kaplan highlights how Best Buy is trying Tweetaway program a contest at its Eden Prairie store for those that Tweet a image of themselves in front of that Best Buy location. The random winners will receive $50 or $100 gift cards. The article reports that managers are monitoring Twitter.

Another mobile app being used today is ShopKick, www.shopkick.com an app on iPhone and Android that is essentially the digital version of the S & H Green Stamps concept. I’m 51 years old, so I remember collecting and putting S & H Green Stamps in books with my mom for redeeming products. The ShopKick variation on the frequent shopper theme is for those who check-in to locations, scan a barcode, etc, they accumulate Kickbucks that can be redeemed for discounts at affiliated stores.

As one who advocates using many of these technologies, I can also say there are times when I feel like a rat in Skinner’s box. We are pushing envelope on interacting with companies and perhaps we’ll find the line for legitimate actions and just being jerked around.

Behavioral Scientist Fredrick Skinner demonstrated the ability to shape behavior given specific responses to a condition in his box, in the famous case the condition of a light being on or off. This work illustrated what’s called “operant conditioning” which is the rewarding of an act that approaches a new desired behavior. Something like checking into a store, getting a reward. Take a picture, getting a bigger reward. And so it goes, progress.

Happy Shopping.

Top Shopping Apps & Mobile Shopping

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 21:58:35 +0000

There ought to be a study… American retailers are embracing the mobile nature of consumers, the question is will this trend also lead to mobile commerce? If it does, can one make the case that mobile commerce will reduce store traffic. It is fascinating to me how there is plenty traffic of consumers in what most still call a down economy. GDP is crawling back, up 2.5% in the third quarter of 2010. Chart source is from Trading Economics – Tomorrow, malls will be crowded, many restaurants packed, and yes, consumer will be buying gifts online or from their mobile devices.

Here are the top mobile shopping apps as reported by Gizmodo for Anrdoid and the best shopping apps for the iPhone

The mix of in store and online is a conundrum for many retailers. The choices – employ a strategy of openness so consumers can price shop across the web while in their store or camouflage the issue and bet consumers will not look online for a cheaper price.

Embracing the price war is being done with more information not less. For example, QR codes can provide information in a consumer friendly way which explains quality features of higher priced items. Some stores may adjust their pricing to match what a consumer may find online. As long as customers are in your store, you make the sale and perhaps a few more. It’s similar to a loss leader or BOGO concept to get people in the store. Here is a consumer account using QR codes from Drew Hawkins on the Brain Wads blog.

This shopping season, take a moment to notice how retailers are trying to understand how best to serve you (or get your business depending on your perspective). And by all means give them your opinions, they are listening now more than ever. Pick your preferred feedback channel, Twitter, Facebook, the pertinent retailer’s site, or dozens of other channels.

Retailers are listening and the smart ones are reacting.

Case in point is Taylor Guitars and Calton Cases who produced a new product line of cases and valuable web content within days of Dave Carroll’s famous “United Breaks Guitars” video hitting YouTube. A wonderful description of this is in David Meerman Scott’s new book Real-Time Marketing and PR, I highly recommend it.

What’s your take, will mobile commerce reduce foot traffic in stores?

Twitter CRM Embraced by MyTweeple.com

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:32:30 +0000

Time 26:41

Twitter is, if not the default database for many marketers PR, and communications professionals, a very important repository of individuals and relationships. The ability to focus on certain individuals among those you are following and who are following you is critical to deliver content that is of value to that segment of your relationships.

Granted, there are many ways to export your followers, one of the first among them was MyTweeple developed by Shannon Whitley. He also developed one of the more popular Twitter, WordPress plug-ins called Chat Catcher. That tool allowed tweets and links about your blog post to populate the comment section of that specific post. In this podcast we talk about why that service is no longer available.

Back to MyTweeple. Over time a relationship is about getting to know individuals, treating each person and their uniqueness separately instead of looking at Twitter followers as a list. Yes, I am speaking directly to social media and PR consultants who think that a Twitter list is for blasting irrelevant blather. I do not subscribe nor recommend this tactic. More importantly to buyers of PR services, please don’t get the impression that Twitter is cheaper or makes it easier to find free advertising for your mediocre product or service. I am sure there are firms that will take your money for such a purpose, ours isn’t one of them.

Whitley is a thoughtful, passionate developer who sought to address the issue of how to better understand the relationships he was creating on Twitter. This was his inspiration for developing www.mytweeple.com Here’s what I like about it.

Format is clean yet packed with information about each individual

Includes Klout information

Add notes about each individual

Add private and public tags for each individual

Export data in CSV format for importing into other databases

The new site we discussed in this edition of the Marketing Edge podcast is now live at www.mytweeple.com give it a try and share your thoughts with Shannon.

Book Drawing

Get your name in the drawing for #Twitterworks by Joe Sorge, Phil Gerbyshak, and Scott Baitinger by emailing me at MarketingEdge AT providentpartners DOT net or just Tweet @albertmaruggi with the words @ajbombers book drawing and we’ll get your name in the hat. We interviewed Joe Sorge on a previous Marketing Edge podcast about social media in the restaurant industry.

Restaurants are Social by Nature

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 03:05:59 +0000

Time 31:38

I love the Twitter cliche used by most every CEO skeptical of social media, “Who cares what you had for lunch.” In the case of restaurants, they all care that diners tweet their breakfast, lunch, and dinner to their hearts content. In some ways, after speaking with restauranteur Joe Sorge, that cliche seems a touch arrogant. Afterall there are nearly 13 million people working in the restaurant industry. The CEO’s dismissive cliche would not apply to a Twitter user sent words of praise about that CEO’s company, or better yet his outstanding leadership style. Highly unlikely given the CEO’s arrogance I suspect.

Sorge is a genuine leader that I, and many others, about whom are willing to write home, and elsewhere. His three restaurants in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ( @AJbombers @water_buffalo and @Swig) are extremely plugged into the social grid. So much so, that the social community of AJ Bombers contributed to the casual, playful, burger spot’s victory as the winner in the Milwaukee cheese burger contest. AJ Bombers sought the advice of their Twitter and Facebook fans about the type of ingredients that would illustrate Milwaukee.

Sorge didn’t need social media advice to realize the social web is just a restaurant without walls. Here let me demonstrate, I’ll list the characteristics of the person I, and Sorge would hire for a restaurant.

Hospitable

Polite

Good listener

Share recommendations about items that match the customers expressed likes

Check back once and again to see how things are progressing

Address quickly any problems that may arise

Invite back along with their friends

Yikes, I think I just created Twitter rules, quick let me fill in 10,000 words and publish a book.

Get your peanuts delivered with a bomb, at A J bombers

In this podcast Joe and I get into several issues that are stumbling blocks for many restaurants participating or thinking about participating social media. They are

How to connect social participation with floor staff so all hands can give the customer a seamless experience?

Driving engagement, can you be suggestive without being pushy?

Answering critics, public or private?

Sorge is also the co-author of #TwitterWorks along with Phil Gerbyshak and Scott Baitinger
Get a chance to win this book by emailing me at Marketingedge AT providentpartners dot Net or comment on this post.

Boxers or Briefs? Manpacks Has The Answer

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 04:18:57 +0000

Time 31:38

You thought the TV remote was the greatest invention for men, check this out. You can order men’s underwear online from Manpacks. You can even get packs of the boxers, briefs, or boxer-briefs for the uncommitted delivered on a regular basis. That’s right, now men have more time to use the TV remote with the time he saves not walking the asiles of some local Target store.

This podcast with Manpacks co-founder, Ken Johnson, reveals that while the idea of automating the purchase of essentials may be the next wave in retail, there is considerable learning, Johnson has done since launching Manpacks in January. Among the take aways:

Twitter is a better relationship building platform for Manpacks than Facebook,

Listen intently to customers for danger signs that you’re not providing the right products or services,

analyze customer buying patterns to anticipate what they need in the future.

I’m joined in this interview by Justin Dessonville who gave Manpacks the idea of a cause marketing promotion, Buy One Give One. The sales of Manpack underwear in the month of October will be matched 1- to – 1 from Manpacks with donations to Saint Stephens homeless shelter. Web entrepreneurs like Johnson, have an unquenchable desire to execute their idea, and the successful ones are married to the learning, not chained to their ideas. Enjoy the podcast and leave your ideas on whether you think subscribing for essentials is a good idea.

The Money & Ethics Hits the Fan at Blog World

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 17:38:40 +0000

Time 19:59

It had to come to this, the social web, the attraction of following a passion by blogging, the pursuit by companies of A list bloggers and visa versa for mutual gain, and the lower costs compared to traditional communications means all is coming to a head in discussions at Blog World Expo 10 in Las Vegas this weekend. This is a good thing because we’ll see what people and companies truly value.

Will mommy bloggers tire of doing product reviews for a few coupons and free stuff? Are we headed into paid content relationships and if so will companies want complete editorial control? Will corporations grow weary of the work it takes to be in “relationships” with amplified consumers? and do those companies even have a choice?

I discuss these topics from the Maketing Edge studio in Minnesota with Kasey Skala, head of social media for Great Clips, author of the Electric Waffle blog, and now attending Blog World Expo 10. Follow the trends from the Blog World Expo 10 conference with Trendistic

5 Ways to Help Your Business With Yelp

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:14:01 +0000

Time 34:56

Yelp, one of the most popular websites and mobile applications for consumer comments. The powerful tool allows you to discover all types of – restaurants, hotels, retail stores and many other business and community categories. The last year has seen tremendous growth for Yelp in part because of the jump in mobile smart devices, in part because of the segmentation of search engines used for particular functions. Yelp has become popular for geographic searches, for example you are looking for a particular businesses in a neighborhood, or a type of ethnic restaurant.

More Than 12 Million People Per Month Use Yelp

Yelp is a community just like most others where its members write reviews on their experiences. In this Marketing Edge Podcast we interview Luther Lowe, Manager of Local Business Outreach for Yelp. Here are five ways businesses can take advantage of Yelp.

1) Claim your business at Biz.Yelp.com once you do you will be able to see the most important piece of information, how many times has your business been viewed. That’s the measure of opportunity gained or lost. Many business owners look at the number of comments, I look at the exposure those comments are getting as a more significant metric.

2) Be creative in completing your profile, use photos, creative language and menu items.

3) Use the area under your business name as an ongoing place for promotions.

4) Regularly consider the reviews to determine if they highlight an area of your business that needs improvement. This is akin to listening to your spouse’s criticisms which in most cases are true, there I said it.

5) Download the Yelp mobile app and use it. This is the best way to demonstrate the power of instant information as it impacts consumer decisions. Go to the neighborhood where you business is located and search for the category of your business using your “current location”. Try it in other places around town or in new cities to discover your surroundings.

We’ll have much more on Yelp in future episodes, what questions or ways to use Yelp?

Little Secrets Parents, Kids, and Social Media

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:43:45 +0000

Yes Ok I admit it. Once in a while I will check out my college age kids Facebook page. Guilty as well that me, a social media early adopter, a social media consultant, a social media speaker have not approved my teens and tweens having a Facebook page. This does not make me a hypocrite. (or does it?) Perhaps I’ll give you this, it makes me a cautious, some might say overly cautious parent.

I don’t talk about my five children much on this blog because I reserve this space for purely business. Today, however there is a mix of business and family as I’m participating in the social media and family event tomorrow at the family friendly Depot Hotel in Minneapolis. The event is sponsored for the most part by the Social Media Club and Chevy (there is a $10 cost to attend ) there will be a reception at 6, followed by panel discussion at 7 and chatting after. More Details and RSVP for Social Media and Family on Eventbrite.

As more smartphones are marketed to tweeners and our society increases its mobility, staying connected on the grid is almost essential. I am reminded however, from teachers in my children’s junior high school that constant distraction has a direct correlation to memory recall. Linda Stone calls it Continuous Partial Attention There are studies that show a physiological reaction to receiving a text or a tweet, hmm feels good being needed, thank you for that hit of serotonin. These are all issues that social media meetings mostly avoid, I’m not saying they are invisible, but clearly they are not part of the social media provider discussions.

I’ve come across a couple wonderful resources that marketers may want to consider when pushing the envelope using social media regarding families and tweeners.

Parent Further highlights a variety of family issues and the connected society. They have a section dedicated to Technology and Media usage among children, including video games.

Talking about Lisa Ray’s blog Parents for Ethical Marketing will not win me many marketing friends/followers? or will it? After all, we are participating in a supposedly transparent medium. Most participants espouse that companies be “authentic” and “human” so it may be a good time and place to push the debate about the role of marketing and its intersection with family guidelines when it comes to social media.

Hope to see you at the Depot Hotel in Minneapolis tomorrow, a neat family place downtown. If not, what’s your belief about social media and family – unfettered participation or it’s no place for family matters?

MN Blogger Conference Highlights Live

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 19:42:46 +0000

Conferences usually are born from a small group of people saying, “We should… That was the conversation between Arik Hanson, Mellisa Berggren inspire The Minnesota Blogger Conference Others that helped organize a packed house of 150 MN bloggers and speakers are Katie Schutrop and Suzi Magill

Morning Highlights
James Lileks, a 15 year veteran of writing on the web. A key point in his presentation was to blog was is most reflective of your personality. It’s very hard to write frequently on topics or in a way that is not natural to you. I suspect that some bloggers are not necessarily blogging their passion, but have researched a niche where they can build a business brand topic. Tougher but doable as blogging has really become publishing.

Blogging at the Corporate Level

Great panel on how companies are using social media including Dairy Queen 1.6 million Facebook fans, Jamie Guse, Adam Singer, Kevin Hunt, Thompson Reuters and Ryan May, of MN PR Blog. This conversation has several takeaways:

Evaluate competitors to help educate corporate decision makers e.g. Culvers had an aggressive social media position which helped Dairy Queen see the opportunities.

Think like a journalist and participate, or I’d even say initiate stories that advance your objectives, and yes,

every corporation must have objectives, stated and written down. It can be anything, views, comments, leads, retweets, uploads,news coverage, embeds, but it must be articulated in the begining.

More from these thoughtful business social media folks in this post panel interview.

5 Ways Klout Should Impact Your Day

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:14:10 +0000

Time 26:42

The Point

I dislike solutions headlines, but readers like them, so it’s a compromise. And they work to attract readers, which is what the new system of influence rewards. Klout scores are part of an individual’s twitter profile and used by more than 450 applications and services.

Here are the 5 Ways Klout Should Impact Your Day

1) Retweeting certain others that have higher Klout scores will get you noticed – what you tweet will get you retweeted.

2) Engaging them within the context of their topics with quality content will impact your Klout score.

3) Focusing on specific topics will improve your exposure to companies interested in that industry (Klout will do more in the coming months to analyze by topic area listen to this podcast.)

4) Curate a topic by tweeting little known links, the more rare instead of the common, everyone tweets Mashable and Alltop.

5) Take care to seek out individuals in a specific topic area that will provide a greater chance of reaching influence within that topic

Klout and You

Klout at www.klout.com is a much used resource for determining whether individuals have influence within a network or are opinion leaders in a specific topic area. In this space of influence, algorithms will determine accuracy and a solid user interface will foster greater adoption by decision makers who must make sense of it all.

In this podcast, Klout Marketing Manager Director, Megan Berry discusses the key factors that comprise the Klout score, among them True Reach, Amplification, and Network. I’ve had some people tweet me saying they suspect their Klout score and we’ve exchange tweets about whether they have log on to submit their profile be updated. This usually yields a different result and set of supporting rationale for the change.

Klout scores are relative to Twitter participation so a popular blogger may well have a low Klout score because they don’t participate on Twitter. Obviously, they may still have clout, just not with a K. What’s your take on the topic of influence? It is necessary? Is it no different than ratings in other media like Abritron or Nielsen?

The Background

Growing up is hard to do, alas in web years, social media is in its mid-twenties I estimate. It’s time to get a job, get off my health insurance, oh sorry that’s another issue.
Social media started as a way to learn, exchange ideas, expand one’s reach into their professional and personal lives, and as a means of expression. (for a background on blogging see Julie and Julia) As it evolved, for reasons of necessity, passion, of just plan interest (refer back to the movie) a significant number of those producing content sought to monetize their passion and along with it, the community called social was thrust into finding it’s way toward looking like a business, a profession, or something that others wanted a piece of.

As word of mouth became automated, networks became the social web’s advanced answer to lists, only smarter and with personality. And so the spreading of digital influence was born. Budding businesses need money and companies need proof. Enter the quantification of digital networks, their members, and the pursuit of each 140 character or less message as being relevant to someone, some topic, some interest.

What’s Influence?

The ability to cause an action like buying, clicking, believing, echoing, motivating, among others. In this number obsessed society of ours, what can be measured is real. (no matter how manufactured that number might be e.g. political opinion polls paid for by special interests.) To me it’s a bit of a false sense of security, but I won’t go there, that would be like arguing against gravity. The laws of social media nature, as they are currently unfolding, reveal the reality that anyone who participates will have their participation quantified. (Privacy is nothing compared to Influence envy)

This reality is being fostered by several technologies and services (algorithms and user interfaces if you will) that produce a score, provide analysis about an individual’s online behavior and the disposition of messages, topics, and dare I say marketing campaigns.

The Toughest Choice is Changing Your Mind

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:08:30 +0000

Time 25:26

Making choices has become more difficult in an era of significant transformation – transformation in the economy from consumer obsessed to consumer cautious, from gatekeepers to personal brands, from physical to digital.

The mindset required to first absorb the present, and then plan the future, is quite difficult to establish. In the last post, we examined how Seth Godin’s direction is to first shed what you learned in school and then pursue your craft. In today’s podcast with friend Stephanie Hester, author of Choose a Better Life, it’s a story of a personal journey from blindly being on society’s typical treadmill, to hard times, and renewed dedication.

It’s one of those stories where personal experience allows Stephanie to connect with her audience. Stephanie Hester conducts workshops and team building session with Fortune 500 companies, government organizations focused on helping unemployed, and HR directors in retraining programs.

The key to creating change is to first change the way you view your world. This is an age old doctrine, I go back to Einstein who said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

And so first is always a personal choice to view the world differently. In Hester’s case it’s to choose the positive, then work your way from there. Sure this is nothing new, but certainly one of the most difficult things to do. Then Hester weaves a little social web thinking into her commentary which is excellent with three critical tactics as you pursue your destination

1) stay connected (Stephanie is a huge LinkedIn user)

2) stay involved (give back in some way, from Meals on Wheels, Big Brother, Big Sister, volunteer to help someone)

3) stay motivated (oddly the above help achieve this tactic)

BOOK DRAWING

Enjoy the podcast, if you’d like to get in the drawing for the book Choose a Better Life, email me at MarketingEdge AT providentpartnes DOT net

Seth Godin, Peter Finch, and Your Success

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:11:24 +0000

Preface: Linchpin is a new book by Seth Godin the premise is that you must make yourself indispensable to your employer, clients in order to truly have job security. “A linchpin is the essential element, the person who holds part of the operation together. Without the linchpin, the thing falls apart.” quoted from Mashable interview.

For those who attended yesterday’s Seth Godin Linchpin event they received a workbook called ShipIT. It’s a small guidebook to make sure the high you get inside the event doesn’t turn into a reality hangover when you go back to work the next day.

For those that need a frame of reference, Godin is a combination of Dr. Stephen Covey, Tom Peters, and Dr. Wayne Dyer, but truly that’s only for those that need a reference. Godin is uniquely Seth.

Seth Godin is navigating his way in uncharted waters. His brand as I see it is – Marketer for the new century – but his words and passion in the presentation I attended yesterday in Minneapolis (see on Twitter #sethgodinmpls) is one part marketer, two parts motivational speaker, and one part rebel, kind of like Peter Finch rebel in the movie Network.

I’ll cover separate parts of Godin’s message in several blog posts here. Let’s set the stage with these points.

Brilliant Points for Marketers

These are Seth’s ideas filtered through a Maruggi perspective (yes it may be a little twisted but that’s why you return here) : )

1) Figure out the world view of your audience and use it to frame your discussion. Example, say you are trying to sell NBA Timberwolves tickets to a fan upset by the number of blowouts last year. Now it becomes a question of selling the youth, athleticism and hustle (and yes the product actually needs to produce that expectation) as opposed to some notion of playoff contender. Plus I would not make a big deal out of seeing Wade, Bosh, and that other guy.

2) Lizard thinking. The ability of some people in an organization to protect their species called status quo. You run into Lizard think in many larger organization, usually because smaller organizations don’t survive with many Lizard thinkers on board.

I worked as a political appointee in the Federal Government and the agencies are loaded with Lizard thinkers on both sides of the political spectrum. They know their species has lasted a hell of a lot longer than you. The thinking goes like this, “I’ll just bake here in the sun and watch you try to change the world, then your kind will die off and they next generation come in. Democracy is great ain’t it?”

Godin’s guidance about the Lizard thinker – distract them, appease them, remove them. Details of doing this are unique to every situation and past success does not predict future performance with Lizard thinkers, but suffice it to say the world is full of them, don’t let them get you down.

Funny on the topic of people who are protective of the status quo and resist change, I asked Robert Scoble years ago whether they can stop social media from growing and he said no. I asked why and he replied, “they will eventually die off.” As a 51 year old social advocate and believer in the current revolution, this was a bittersweet statement.

Brilliant Personal Note

Godin talks about following your passion, making a difference and creating art. His palette is comprised of words, so it is easy to get caught up in the moment of “Yes this is my destiny.” Godin, more so than others who talk the “follow your passion talk” does include a healthy reality check. Thank God.

He acknowledges the parameters that most people face, family obligations, work constraints, time, money, etc. In fact, when he talked about these he gestured by placing them around his body as if they were walls of a box. And without any sugar coating he said one of these may need to get blown up, he also used the word sacrifice. Yup, that’s it. Sacrifice, and for those in the audience who have built a career, family, obligations, those walls are higher and thicker than for others, that’s just reality. For those individuals, Godin’s words are no less inspiring, but the path to implementing them is more arduous for you and those that depend on you.

Brilliant Perspective

The lens through which the reality check should be seen is Godin’s comment about the revolution now underway. Godin said each of us is both worker and factory owner. The digital factory which each individual now owns is a computer, each enriching asset a person owns is an idea, and the myth many of us need to shed, is the myth of needing to ask permission to succeed.

You don’t need permission to pursue your art. This was the most enlightening, realistic and sad concept of the presentation. Given today’s ability to create and share we don’t need any one’s permission to believe and work towards a dream. The industrial system rewarded conformity, bastards. It’s a yoke the anyone born before 1990 may well be carrying around. I’m not talking rebel with long hair and torn jeans, I’m talking, as I interpret Godin here, the ability to create anything, period. A book, a Tshirt, a store, a widget, anything. I submit to you this mindset is more important to success than talent, an idea, a network, anything. The myth is the first thing to blow up, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

Now so I don’t go too far a field from the readers of this blog, this myth of permission is also true for your potential competition and for your customers. They have few if any barriers to implement their ideas about themselves or about you. So if you have linchpins make sure the Lizards don’t get them down or they can become your competition. If you deal with consumers directly, understand their ability to share their perspective, right or wrong. Doctors, are you listening? Hotel front desk people do you get this? Wall Street, your next because the cost for this revolution are magnitudes less than 10 years ago so do you know what that means? Conformity to your short-sighted view of the world may not be in my world view.

Thanks Seth, more in the days ahead as we get deeper into the Linchpin revolution. I recommend you attend a Linchpin event in your area.

Are We Digital Homeless or Digital Travelers?

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 12:15:45 +0000

Time 24:33

This post is a quick comment on Shel Holtz’s Deathwatch: Why Facebook Won’t Kill the Website who responded to Jay Baer’s 3 Ways Facebook is Killing Your Website Baer, one who does have a way to use words to ignite a response concluded in his post “RIP websites, It was great while it lasted.”

I’m less inclined to believe the website is dead, but acknowledge our mark is left in many more digital places including Facebook. Will companies abandon their websites for their Facebook page? Companies active in the social web have an increasing percentage of their content on Twitter, YouTube Facebook et. al. but they do need the digital version of the American Dream, home ownership and not to be a tenant in Facebook’s apartment complex inside a walled city.

A website is a place to keep your stuff organized, a place to call your own. From a business perspective it’s a place where you can engage and set the rules without the whims of a crowd which only a very small percentage have an interest in you (and visa versa truth be told). Perhaps as a destination the website has seen better days. It’s really not that imperative to “drive” people to my site, it is more important to engage with others, especially from a business perspective. Perhaps the term web repository is better than destination, even if it is just there to make me feel comfortable about my own possessions, my own content, my own intellectual property. After all without that, what do I have? A website is like a book, a place where I can compile my ideas, my way. Yes I know books are dying too, but not the concept of the book as a place of structured thought.

Format Note:

For those regular listeners of the Marketing Edge Podcast I am trying this a bit differently today by using an audio file I recorded using Cinchcast. I use Cinch as a supplement to the regular Marketing Edge Podcast as a quick, unedited audio capture and release type of format. Most of the time I record on Cinch while I’m walking the dog early in the morning. Since I added my thoughts in print and wanted to link back to Holtz and Baer, I figured it would be more complete to include the audio file as well. Let me know if you like it or it threw you off. thanks

Facebook Marketing Tips – Hungry?

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:50:51 +0000

Time 24:33

You know I could have done the solutions headline and just throw a number in there, but I hate those things. The hungry part is because in some of this podcast we talk about Facebook and restaurants. Facebook Marketing, An Hour A Day is a book by Chris Treadaway and Mari Smith. In this podcast we talk to Chris Treadaway about some of the ways Facebook is used to market companies. Facebook is a place that requires attention, lesson one if you are not prepared to give it attention, forget it. This is where the hour a day comes in.

To pull a favorite useful idea out of this podcast I’d call attention to using Facebook as a market research tool. Creating an ad in Facebook will give you insights into potential online market size. Here is an example where I took the city of Chicago, people age 21 and over that self identified interest of football or fantasy football. The kind of information of interest to a sports bar owner. Targeting by interest, geography, age and other variables is a great feature of Facebook.

Using Facebook Advertising for Market Research from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

We are holding a drawing for the book Facebook Marketing An Hour A Day. Email MarketingEdge AT Providentpartners DOT net – put Facebook in the Subject line. Link should do that for you.

Other Examples of Social Marketing to Hungry Patrons

Smalley87Club – Tied Twins ticket drawings to items people like on the menu with a link to the Smalleys 87 Club menu page. (I helped on this one)

Dino’s Gyros IAMDEZ – Guess random number between 1 and 10,000 on Tuesdays before 7PM, closest 10 get a free gyro.

Izzys Ice Cream incorporates a variety of platforms and communities. Also has unique notification of the availability of limited time flavors Dave Erickson

The Sterling Cross Group broke new ground with Motoi only Japanese saki brewer in Twin Cities

Brian Solis, Mia Lee, & The 9 Ways Marketing is Changing

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:57:27 +0000

Time 25:21

In this podcast we highlight two major issues 1) The idea of resonance as implemented by promoted Tweets and interpreted by Brian Solis at a recent presentation in Minneapolis, and 2) We dig a bit deeper into the 9 ways marketing is being transformed in a conversation with college curriculum developer and instructor Mia Lee

We have a winner for the drawing for Brian Solis’ book Engage with my commentary in the margins where necessary – Ken Okumura of Minneapolis and a Marketing Edge listener is the winner of Engage. Solis was a guest on the Marketing Edge prior to his presentation in Minneapolis on July 27.

I attended his presentation which was thought provoking. One of his key areas for social media moving forward is the concept of resonance. It’s a word Solis combines with Relevance and Significance as a major way to determine value of social object. A social object is a piece of digital content, a tweet, a photo, etc. As companies continue to find ways to engage social commnities and platforms look for ways to garner advertising dollars, measuring the investment of time and dollars is being refined.

Measurement includes Retweets, mentions, clicks, actions, influence etc. During Solis’s presentations I tweeted this :

@WichitaCindy on Twiter asked me why. The reason for the excitement is because it’s a chance to engage and perhaps have an impact on anything, products, service, government etc. The reason for the nausea is caused by the many ways popularity and influence can be manipulated. The irony is that as consumers we revolt against advertising, even coming up with technologies to circumvent ads and now on social media those same consumers may well be part of message, and I don’t mean that in a good way. I mean just because you get a $5 coupon for a burger if you get your friends to fan a restautant doesn’t make it any less of an advertisement. In some respects we are being coopted under the guise of being social.

This is a fine line, and I hope I’m not the guy throwing sand in the social media sandbox, but the potential exists and there are plenty of tactics being used that contribute to search and klout. For more on resonance see Jeramiah Owyang of the Altimiter Group. The Solis event was produced by Jen Kane who does a wonderful job on these events.

9 Ways Marketing is Being Transformed

A while back I did a post on 9 Ways Marketing is Being Transformed. The beginnings of this post was an exchange on Twitter with WebbieGirl AKA Mia Lee instructor and program curriculum developer of digital marketing workshops. Mia developed a popular e-marketing program at the Wichita Area Technical College for social marketing.

In this podcast we get into some of the ways marketing is changing, including

1. Very public behavior – privacy or not

2. Ability to call bull – corporate transparency

3. Everyone is a media outlet – content marketing at its best

4. Consumers are marketers – How to build a community of passionate customers

5. Social culture vs. social tactics – Companies will benefit by adopting their culture to the social web

6. Consumers have an active role – the more you interact the better the information companies will provide

7. Personal brand networks matter – Instead of direct mail lists, online networks will preform better

8. Knowing how the system is gamed – the more social is quantified the more participants will try to gain an advantage, ethically or unethically.

9. Product development will dominate marketing – the social web will recreate how products are researched and developed

Have any to add?

The Only Way to Guarantee Social Media Success – Engage in the Process

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:15:12 +0000

Time 21:36

The tables have turned in five years. Back then social media zealots were telling company execs, “you don’t get it”. They loved to bring out charts of percentage growth and the ever referenced “if Facebook was a country…” It took among other things, two election cycles, (the US and Iran), numerous gadget launches, a pop star’s death, a golf icon’s fall from grace, the year-long roll out of the first “social” car (you can comment which car you think I’m referring to here), and a World Cup for executives to retort, “We get it now.”

And now it’s their turn to say to the social media business community, “you don’t get it.” The it for them is how companies work for anyone to move from side project freak show to bonafide, no snickering business function. The holy grail for social media practitioners is Engagement, the holy grail for corporate executives is Process. The mutual nirvana are the key performance indicators (KPI) that give each side a reference point for their work.

Engagement means dialogue, participation, exchange of ideas

Process means your work is part of a decision oriented workflow system with predetermined actions to be taken based on certain events

KPI means “a metric that helps you understand how you are doing against your objectives.” This definition is from Avinash Kaushik from an excellent post on different types of measurement.

In this Marketing Edge podcast with Brain Solis, we discuss how to support the social media champion in an organization by understanding how to fit social into the company’s goals. Even the smallest pilot project needs to be structured in a way that will assimilate into the larger picture if it is to succeed.

I love when Solis says every champion hits a ceiling. You can’t just walk into a meeting of senior executives, say the world is going this way, and they will come along. His latest book Engage Solis peels the onion back a few layers than most social media books by examining how to work social media into the corporate process. The journey to achieve getting social media included in corporate processes is what Solis calls the last mile. He has written about the last mile in social media on his blog BrianSolis.com

I look at the culture of the business to determine whether the last mile will be a walk in the park or the last mile of a long journey across a desert. I highlight social culture vs social tactics in a podcast called, Is Your Company Social At Its Core ? It’s the story of a small, but growing premium ice cream brand, Izzys Ice Cream, and how their culture is spawning sophisticated uses of social technology.

Fun for Listeners

We are going to do a few neat things with this podcast and post.

First we have a drawing to win Solis’ book Engage. Email MarketingEdge AT providentpartners.net and put Engage in the subject line. This is not just a copy of the book, but it is the copy I have read and included comments in the margins, kind of like a combination book and blog. The physical replication of social media, only slower with fewer people, but unique nonetheless.

Second, we invite you to join Brian Solis in Minneapolis, July 27 at 6PM at Solera in Minneapolis. It’s an event An Evening with Brian Solis, sponsored by the Minnesota chapter of PRSA, register for the event today, it will be enlightening and inspiring. Hat tip to Jen Kane for leading this event.

Social Media Overwhelming? Take a Deep Breath with Shel Holtz

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:35:18 +0000

Time 17:20

All the social media talk in the last year or so is like gnats on a humid, summer day at dusk. It’s time to get inside, take a deep breath and consider the state of social media. I did that with business communicator and IABC Fellow Award winner Shel Holtz. Holtz and I had dinner at Smalleys 87 Club in Minneapolis after his keynote presentation at the IABC gala.

We share some concerns about the state of social media, they are:

1) The continued blocking of access to social sites by more than 50% of companies.

2) Still too many voices echoing the fear of negative comments about their brand or company. (clearly denying access to the social web will shield those ostriches from their critic, sorry just had to slip that in. the timing seemed perfect)

3) Chasing the A list is not the same as gaining influence, it’s about niches and communities.

4) Over promising that social is a replacement pitting communication functions and their practitioners against each other. Business communications is not a zero sum game, nor should social media advocates do so at the expense of other media which will contribute to the ultimate business goals.

So what does stimulating conversation about business communications over a quiet dinner and a couple of beers get you. Some ideas for consideration what it means to integrate social media into a companies strategy.

1) Drop the word social and approach the communications strategy from the end objectives, essentially what do you want the recipient to do, feel, believe. As you plot out how the recipient of your message will interact with that information, who they do so in a digital way? If so, then social will naturally work it’s way into your effort. No big fanfare necessary.

2) Social cultures are easier to create from scratch than insert comfortably in an established institution. Patience and flexibility are key to bringing about change, incorporating social will require rewriting some company policies along with believing in them.

3) Social media is a communications support function, communications is a business objectives support function. Holtz raised this simple concept as a reminder of how the pieces of this puzzle can fit. Credit given to Shannon Paul for the reference point.

What are the chances of social media being implemented as a standard practice? Is it a fad or a true evolution of business in America? Catch more of Shel Holtz on his podcast For Immediate Release with Neville Hobson.

Disclosure: Smalleys 87 Club is a client with good burgers and beer selection. I suggest all consultants have at least one client with these qualities. Follow Smalleys87 Club on Twitter for fun stuff.

9 Ways Marketing Has Transformed – Have You?

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 09 May 2010 20:24:17 +0000

I’ve been in communications for 25 years spanning all types of the functions associated with organizations “getting their message out”. Those functions included journalism, grassroots campaigns, legislative lobbying, technology marketing, and public relations.

Perceptions are a largely based on perspectives, so laying out this experience I thought would be helpful to appreciate the lens through which I see these transformations. I’ve also experienced working in large companies and venture capital start-ups and mid-size growth organizations. I share this because it plays into the context of the obstacles facing marketers over this second decade in the 21st century.

Marketing Transformation #1 – Naked conversations leads to naked behavior. Gaining insights to consumers as they willingly (or unwillingly) act transparently by giving up their privacy. This data with be cross referenced and used in proactive programming.

Marketing Transformation #2 – Marketing Rhetoric vs Reality Reconciliation made simple with social media. Careful with your company puffery, there plenty of people and chances to call Bull.

Marketing Transformation #3 - Companies as media properties. Contribute to the stream of conversation that surrounds your company without being the center of attention (don’t be that guy, very difficult for some companies to do). Those that do will gain respect and leadership.

Marketing Transformation #4 – Consumers as marketers, really? When the novelty of social communities wears off, and the reality of the time commitment necessary to be social sets in, be ready to answer the consumers’ question What’s in it for me?

Marketing Transformation #5 - Social Culture vs Social Tactics. Plenty of companies will not make the transition which is OK, social culture will be similar to systemic corporate change like Total Quality Management and Six Sigma. There will be a divide between social companies and social hacks.

Marketing Transformation #6 – Greater consumer participation necessary. As the dismemberment of old advertising continues, companies desperately want to know what motivates you, the more you interact, the better the relationship.

Marketing Transformation #7 – Yesterday’s direct mail lists are today’s personal brand networks. Regardless of FTC blogger regulations, established individuals are conduits of word of mouth as being social on the web has significant overlap between helping and being helped, it’s the ultimate form of interdependence.

Marketing Transformation #8 – 2010 is the year of social media skeptic, have a contingency plan. The more social media is absorbed by the mainstream, the more people will try to game the system causing all kinds of turmoil among the ranks of advocates, enthusiats, and critics.

Marketing Transformation #9 - Less about convincing and more about delivering. Taking a page from the World of Mouth adovcates, companies with enough confidence in their ability to build products and delivery services that consumers are comfortable recommending will spend less time having to “message” their way to growth, they will listen their way to profits.

Recommendations

I don’t see the current format of social media being the end game. It’s extremely time and labor intensive and unless companies are willing to commit to those elements of participation, they will merely pay lip service through this initial adoption phase of social media.

Some believe the data is circumspect, sure if Facebook was a country it would be the fourth largest, but what does that mean? What kind of country exactly? Will its inhabitants grow weary of sharing their data, lobbying each other for worthy causes, and doing the work of marketers who were laid off because friends don’t make friend buy bad things? Or will they unify in a community of users of like mind, feed off of their shared new experiences, and expand to improve their current condition?

Will Social Media Imbalance Cause Us To Eat Our Young?

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 02 May 2010 16:24:57 +0000

I caught up with the director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project Lee Rainie after his presentation at the University of Minnesota Social Networks Research and Creative Collaborative. Rainie’s presentation was entitled the The Rise of Networked Individuals .

The lighting was poor in this interview, but the content timely and perhaps a bit of a conversation starter here. The questions are these, as the networked individual takes root in our new economy, do we begin to see interdependance among each other or do we break off into packs of networks? In the early adopter phase of the social web there was a sense of creating something new, contributing to something greater. As the adoption curve progresses, there is ample information to create what Rainie refers to as a culture of amateur experts who are now in competition selling their expertise and services. This is an information imbalance that can put significant pressure on companies, agencies and individuals. An imbalance where you may believe you give more than are getting back or taking more than you are giving. Interesting in that this is a similar situation that impacts personal relationships.

My perspective for many industries is for companies and individuals to give their way through this imbalance. Be as generous as you possibly can because technology and access to information are a breeding ground of new competition.

Networked individualism also has a stealthy side. As you look at an individual who is networked, you get the perspective of a single person reach out to hundreds even thousands of others. The less visible network, is the one where individuals combine for the gain of the group as a whole and individual benefit. For example the way wolves assemble in packs to hunt their prey. The network of the like-minded, the network of the ad hoc project team, are other ways individuals gain access to business, achieve their individual goals and create some of the scale that was once the exclusive domain of large companies.

Rainie posits that the following big forces are pushing/pulling us toward networked individualism

Affluence and affordable technology

Changes in family composition, roles, responsibilities

Expanding consumer options

Income and wealth volatility

Job security and longevity

Rise of free agency and freelancing

Employer changes pushing workers towards management of retirement and health care

Rise of DIY politics and religion

Do you believe social media is making us interdependent or highlights that we are independent entities?