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The Marketing Edge, one of the longest running marketing and public relations podcasts.
Host Albert Maruggi weaves his 25 years of marketing and PR experience across business, technology and national public affairs in interviews with newsmakers, authors and business leaders.
Maruggi is a frequent speaker and conducts workshop sessions on new media. For more information or to discuss your business challenges and goals, e-mail him.
Social media is at its best when people come together. That was the case when I met Joel Price, the manager of interactive services for the NFL’s San Diego Chargers at the February meeting of the Social Media Breakfast San Diego. Joel, who can also be found on Twitter @joelprice, is the guest on this episode of the Marketing Edge, which we produced on video. Joel takes us through some interesting topics around the tools they use including Twitter, Facebook, and even an efficient way to use Posterous as a news release distribution system.
Think of the unique challenges of social media in professional sports:
Vocal fan base (yes fans come in all sizes and dispositions on any given day)
Huge amount of content under a variety of licenses and parameters
Not the only game in town, these days there is intense competition for disposable income and sports is a entertainment/hospitality combination
The players themselves are social media celebrities
One might think it’s a double edged sword. Me thinks social media is not only perfect for sports, but mandatory. And here’s why:
It’s all about fans following the team and players, right? sound familiar
Candid conversation, from bars to talk radio, tailgates to multiplayer Xbox Madden draft day, bring on the topics. It’s the one category of conversation universally allowed to be raised in any venue, even church.
Personal brands, yes every player is one and the type of interaction players have with the fans will have an impact on revenue, don’t believe me, ask any parent who’s kid just got an autograph.
Tweeting while you work (game time) or about sensitive information (personnel changes before they are official) can be a dicey situation that require clear policy guidelines for sure. However, the overwhelming majority of the time, social media is a unique communications experience and an extension of what has gone in for a hundred years in sports. My father would tell me when growing up in New York, it would not be uncommon to see members of the Yankees, Giants, or Dodgers around town. Those days may be gone, but that’s where social media can bring the fans closer to the players and still accommodate the barriers erected by celebrity in the 21st century.
Some in professional sports are a bit confident and out spoken, no surprises here right? Ozzie Guillen, manager of the Chicago White Sox, was ruffling some feathers because of his Tweets. I say that’s a bit odd, you let the guy give press conferences, yet you are nervous about Twitter?
What’s your take, if you owned a team, what would your policy be for your players? Remember, every comment we get, Provident Partners gives a food item to a St. Paul, MN food shelter.
Make no excuses, only make decisions. That’s the quote I’ve come up with as a result of talking to our Marketing Edge Podcast guest Laura Fitton. Fitton is known to many by Pistachio, the name of her consulting firm and what she uses on Twitter. Fitton was in a pressure situation, mother of two young toddlers, going through a divorce, yet the desire to pursue her passion was so strong, and the network of innovators in social media was so supportive, that Fitton’s passion became a reality.
This podcast will cover two areas, the first is about how social media is providing a channel for entrepreneurial innovation. There are plenty of low cost or free tools to test your ideas, build a digital presence, and connect with networks that can be supportive. Fitton proves this statement and we chat about the tactics and principles of other social media business pioneers Liz Strauss and Gary Vaynerchuk who have been beacons for many in this the social media era. Vaynerchuk is also a passionate Jets fan so he is excited at least for another week. Go Jets.
The key bullets on pursuing your passion that I have identified are:
Persistence
Timing
Vision
Network
At first for Fitton, that passionate reality was a consulting practice focused on Twitter for business, today it has grown into a community platform for Twitter applications. You can participate in it at www.oneforty.com a community that supports, discovers, and exchanges information about Twitter applications. OK, the short description is, Oneforty, a Twitter app store and here is my Twitter App profile so far.
It’s a great resource for corporate marketers, social media and PR decision makers to quickly identify applications that may be a solution for your challenges. It’s also great for anyone, on Twitter or not, to explore the concept of real time, mobile information. The website lets you see what people are using Twitter for, stupid or not. Remember, beauty and stupidity are in the eye of the beholder. Oneforty incorporates crowd sourcing of those using Twitter apps and supports the Twitter application developer community.
Oneforty is developer friendly. Starting January 12 developers will be able to sell their applications on Oneforty and Oneforty will pick up the PayPal fee for donations made through the Oneforty site, and the developer will get the full donation. This is one way Oneforty demonstrates their support for the Twitter developer community.
Give this Marketing Edge Podcast a listen for inspiration to pursue your passion or discover the latest Twitter applications. Is there a passion you are hiding? Shine a light on it this year.
In this second part of a conversation with Twitterville author, Shel Israel and I get into the strategy some companies can use to improve their business in social media. The short answer is be generous. We get into the rewards of being generous, some direct and some not. Trust among individuals practicing and advising in social media has to be pretty high these days. With so much generosity on the web (translate free information), the more providers have to trust they are not undercutting themselves.
I find that the generosity model still is working. Perhaps because this method of communicating and relationship building is different for each participant, each company, each employee representing a company, and each person engaging with each other.
I recently had a situation with Comcast during a tech call, the rep noticed that my package of services qualified for a lower rate and offered it up. Nice. Say do you think banks or credit card companies would do such a thing? It pays to be generous especially if you are in a subscriber relationship like cable. When the customer knows the company is looking out for his or her best interest, that’s called trust.
Personal Background
Shel Israel and I met online and we have a common interest as senior fellows at the Society for New Communications Research. We come from different political perspectives and view some aspects of social media differently. As I listened to our conversation while writing this post, it strikes me that the social web facilitated this civil, respectful relationship. The result of which is a discussion of issues I believe listeners will enjoy. Had it not been for the social web this relationship would never have happened. Schmaltzy?, maybe, but it underscores the ecosystem companies are trying to understand and participate. Hey Shel did I use the word Schmaltzy correctly?
Win a Copy of Twitterville
Enter the Marketing Edge podcast book contest by emailing me at Marketingedge@providentpartners.net with the word Twitterville in the subject line. We will announce a winner the week of October 5. Or take all the risk out of it and buy the book at www.Twitterville.com
The Marketing Edge is also available on Stitcher Radio
Social media can bring people together, case in point, Albert Maruggi and Shel Israel. Two guys with little in common on the political spectrum, yet politics is something they exchanged online at first. They would have little chance to break bread except for their new found common ground called social media.
Is this that new? No, I spoke to the Rotary Club in Shakopee, MN and saw 50 people many of whom had little in common except living in the same locale and a desire to get involved before joining the Rotary. Over time, there is plenty to share.
Israel is one of the great conversationalists and story tellers. In his book Twitterville, Israel is at his storytelling best as his travels, online and off reveal the human impact of digital communications. Sappy you say, a little too soft for you corporate type A’s, listen how Nike and others are recreating the deceased mass market one consumer at a time.
In this podcast we take a high level view of the type of change taking place in communications and society. Our discussion is eye opening for companies who look at Twitter and other social channels as a shiny new object instead of a fundamental change in the way people engage each other and with organizations, companies, and government.
Israel reflects on the change social media has made on the initial meeting between individuals. Year’s ago a person’s business card and the company’s logo on that card would reflect on the person handing the card to you. Today, for those that are active in social communities, their individual reputation reflects on the company whose logo is on their business card.
Twitterville Book Drawing
This month, enter the Twitterville book drawing – Send an email to marketingedge@providentpartners.net put the word Twitterville in the subject line and we’ll include your name in a drawing for a copy of the book.
Last month, the winner of Trust Agents is Joe Mueller of Missouri and a frequent Marketing Edge listener. Thanks Joe, he too is a resident of Twitterville
A Tweet flashed across the timeline – 16,000 followers in 90 days. At times like this it pays to be a native of New York City, a former journalist, and political hack for a decade, my BS meter is extremely sensitive. However, my curiosity radar draws me in to see what’s up with that!
So I watch the Twitter Traffic Machine video. In the video, Bill Crobsy, the founder of the Twitter Traffic Machine system, is thrilled about two qualities of his system, 1) it gets 16,000 targeted people to follow you in 90 days and 2) at any time it can get two percent of them to click on a link to content that is automatically generated. The outcome of all these numbers is companies will pay you to drive traffic to their content. The sample of Crosby tweets shows its a feed of captions and links.
Since I’ve spent 25 years in marketing, I’m hearing this and thinking – Twitter is green direct mail. Yeah, that’s got something going for it right?
At first, maybe second glance to some, this is a hijacking of Twitter relationship paradigm. Perhaps it’s the “Infomercial-esque” style of marketing that generates a visceral reaction. However, if Twitter is a relationship machine isn’t it then what each party in the relationship wants it to be. When there is agreement that’s a good relationship – when not, it ceases to be a relationship.
In 2007, I raised the issue of Twitter being a 100% opt-in ad network using Dell Outlet as an example. When I am in the computer market I follow Dell Outlet because the profile sets the expectations about what I’m getting. It’s a classic case of good relationship management, set clear expectations by communicating.
However, when you take the human factor out by automating the discovery and communication, can that be called a relationship? Do I introduce you to my imaginary Twitter friend Write4cash at the local tweet up? Dharmesh Shah raises the Twitter Spam Bot question last week in Mashable.
The extremely fast product lifecycles as we move through the early adopter phase of social web tools is creating interesting questions about the proper use of the new medium. What was created for a certain purpose at the start is viewed as something very different as more people evaluate its use. The issue being grappled with here is age-old. Twitter, which is a versatile communications platform, is being use for quantity by some, and quality for others. Where they clash there will be a bit of friction.
When people ask me what is the ROI on a social media relationship I often think of my wife. Let’s see we are married 22 years, have 5 kids that have yet to complete college, braces, went through 2 Suburbans vehicles for the last 10 years, I mean there are not many cars that can hold a family of 7. I figure financially this relationship might not be the jackpot most CFOs would appreciate.
I raise this point first because as the web becomes more social, the quantification that corporate America has come to rely on for every action seems a bit callous when it comes to time spent online. Long before the social web, plenty of sales managers said this to a less than stellar sales rep, “you seem to be playing a lot of golf with John, when is he going to sign a contract?” Perhaps the same phrase can apply when it comes to the time spent on twitter or in social communities, blogger sites, and Twitter, however, I suggest online relationships have a more complex nature than golfing with a “targeted prospect.”
In this episode of the Marketing Edge podcast, we discuss what to measure in a PR relationship with KD Paine, author of Measuring Public Relationships: The Data-Driven Communicator’s Guide to Success It is not just about the number of press clips. Today’s measurement equation, if you have the patience for it, goes deeper in both the measured topic, and with whom to cultivate relationships around your business objectives.
Twitter is most noted for being a great tool to promote your cause and otherwise build relationships that are primarily focused on externalizing a message. There are other ways Twitter can be used to learn more about the market and competitive information. One of them is creating key words in www.search.twitter.com or using hashtags to attempt to collect the tweets around a topic, conference or other category you select.
Let me share a non-business example. When you are driving, do you ever go just a little bit faster when a certain song comes on? Yeah you know what I mean, so for the fun of it while on Twitter one night, I created a # (hashtag) called #Gofast which started a running dialogue about songs that make people Go Fast. I suspect a couple of insurance companies are monitoring this string right now and will update their applications to include this very question.
In this podcast, I highlight another Twitter tactic that flies under the radar which may give greater insight into what competitors are doing.
More Shout Outs
I get just a tad over the top in responding to listener comments. Apologies in advance to any friends with Boston accents, but you gotta admit, the running battle between who speaks better Bostonians or New Yorkers is pretty funny. Thanks to Kevin Newnan for the sound files used in the podcast of Boston phrases, his website The Wicked Pissah is hilarious. It hasn’t been updated in 10 years, but it still ranks high in searches for Boston Accent sound files.
Also a hat tip to the Guy’s Guide to Marketing to Women by Stephanie Holland a.k.a. Sheconomy on Twitter – I suspect this has both business and personal application (Mother’s Day is coming up and all).
Hope to See You at the NewComm Forum and InBound Marketing Summit
A terrific conference is scheduled for April 27-29 in San Francisco. It is a combination of the Society for New Communications Research of which I’m a senior fellow and the marketing conference produced by Chris Brogan, Paul Gillin and David Meerman Scott. Here is a $100 discount code for Marketing Edge readers and listeners, SNCRFRIEND if you only want to attend the New CommForum (see agenda) or if you want to attend the New CommForum and the InBound Marketing Summit use this code NCFCOMBO2 to get $200 off the listed price.
As more consumers use the web to research their medical needs and choices, the greater the demand for some type of performance metrics in healthcare delivery. This dynamic taking place in healthcare is causing greater competition among providers, and more healthcare marketers to look for ways to tell their story.
Healthgrades dot com is one of several sites that provide detailed reporting on physician performance, legal issues, and hospital outcomes. Within the last year, surveys of hospital outcomes mandated by Medicare are now available to the public. These points of data are piling up to create a mountain of information for patients to sort through as they make a decision on healthcare. To be sure, reliance on a general physician and friends and family are important, but checking that information against a report card gives a bit more substance behind a decision. Other physician rating sites include Find a Doc, Vitals, and RateMDs
In this podcast with Christopher Boyer of Healthgrades.com , we explore some of the reasons why millions of people are using these sites. We get into what tactics hospital marketers should be evaluating to tap into the stream of information patients and their families are accessing.
The most important indicator to examine social media and understand the impact of rating sites is the powerful element of “intended search” in healthcare. Those searching for healthcare information are usually doing so because of a need. It is more than likely it is an urgent need. Healthcare is different in this regard that many other industries. People can causally shop around a vacation destination or a car without a making a purchase, it’s unlikely that people are casually browsing hiatal hernia or slip disk remedies.
Call us with your comments or questions that we can chat about on the show, 206-600-6887. Provident Partners donates a food item for every comment we received.
One part chat room, one part instant messenger, and one part blog, the microblogging platform Twitter has gained in credibility and usefulness among businesses and journalists. I don’t want to say popularity, although it has 3.2 million users, because this word is less meaningful. Useful is how the author of a new book Twitter Means Business, Juilio Ojeda-Zapata, shares his insights from his upcoming book.
At its core Ojeda, believes Twitter helps build relationships, and relationships underscore business in many ways. A journalist to his core, Ojeda has been with the St. Paul Pioneer Press since 1987 and a technology writer for more than a decade. In this podcast, he walks through his personal journey on Twitter and it was his second look at the platform that got him hooked.
According to Ojeda, Twitter is an alternative means to get a reporter’s attention in a non-intrusive way. I have found it is an excellent to learn more about a reporter’s interests, immediate and long-term projects, and how they interact with the Twitter community.
Two ways to learn who is on Twitter is to search key words in either Tweetscan www.tweetscan.com or search.twitter.com or browse through TwitterPacks, a wiki dedicated to allowing individuals to list by a variety of categories. For example, there is a Twitter public media category
Society for New Communications Research Symposium, – November 14 in Cambridge, MA. I am a senior fellow for this organization and I invite you to review the agenda for this forum. It is a smaller venue that gives attendees exceptional opportunities to talk with some of the countries most thoughtful and experienced social media practitioners. Some of those practitioners attending will be Shel Holtz, Francois Gossieaux, Steve King and Todd Defren.
Companies operate in a world with equal access to information (minus the occasional government obstacles like China and Iran) but for the most part it’s all good. It’s a world where distance and time matter little, and sincerity and participation matter a lot.
The downsides of such access are the horror stories of price comparisons and margin evaporation. Let’s face it information used to be power when a few people had it. Now it is more about how people use the information, with whom do they associate with as they exchange it, and how do those relationships add value.
Scoble and I had a great conversation with a few laughs and insights into how he avoids information overload with technologies including Twitter and Friend Feed. He is a prime example of how social media works, give of yourself, and watch others give back to many.
Comment below or call 206-426-1117 and we’ll field some of them on the next podcast.
This month’s book giveaway contest is Millennial Makeover, MySpace, YouTube and the Future of American Politics, by Michael Hais and Morley Winograd. Enter drawing by emailing MarketingEdge AT providentpartners DOT net. Put Makeover in the subject line.
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