keithmonaghan.com » Social Media

Link-o-rama: Good Stuff From Around the Web

Keith Monaghan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:00:16 +0000

Lots of thought provoking ideas on marketing out there. Here are a few favorites found over my morning cup o’ tea. Enjoy.

How do you grab the attention of thousands of business commuters at London’s Waterloo rail station? One company uses projected video to play with the lines of the building. Not sure if it increases business but it sure is pretty. Check out the above video. (Can’t see it? Click here).
5 Ways to Use Twitter’s List Feature For Marketers - Rohit Bhargava’s take on how to use Twitter’s long overdue (and desperately needed) new list feature. Bottom line: segment like crazy.
Why Email Remains the King of Internet Communications – Open standards and universal availability mean good ol’ email will be around long after many of the hot Social Media sites bite the dust.
How’s this for irony? 33% of PR pros see press releases as “a necessary evil”. Ouch. A nice summary from Steve Rubel.
And finally, something good for the soul. YouTube: How to shoot an anvil 200 feet into the air…

See also:

Study: Adults Dominate Social Media

Keith Monaghan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:48:27 +0000

On a recent episode of NPR’s excellent Science Friday program, Forrester analyst Sean Corcoran spoke about a new report that looks at the use of social media and online communities among US computer users.

It offers fascinating, if sometimes obvious, insight into who’s using Facebook, Twitter, et al. Bottom line: it’s not all kids and hipsters, it’s mostly old farts (including yours truly). Sean says:

4/5 of Americans who are online participate in some form of Social Media.
Of the 250 million people worldwide that belong to Facebook, half log on daily spending over 5 billion minutes a day on the site.
Women over the age of 35 have flocked to Facebook, Twitter’s population has a male slant, MySpace is mostly the younger crowd.

Some of the points we’ve heard before (marketers, build relationships!) but the show neatly summarizes what’s happening online and, if you’re looking to put Social Media in perspective, it’s a well-spent 12 minutes. Get the full episode at these links:

Listen on the Science Friday site | Download the MP3 from NPR | Get on iTunesSee also:

Reality Check: How Augmented Reality Will Change Your Business

Keith Monaghan — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:09:18 +0000

“I reject your reality and substitute my own.” — Adam Savage, host, Mythbusters.

Imagine walking down the street and spotting a pair of fancy shoes in a store window. You really like those shoes so you point your cell phone at them. It immediately tells you that a store two blocks down carries the same shoes at a lower price. Cool, you think, so you touch your phone’s screen and up pops a map that guides you, in real time, to the other store where you purchase your awesome shoes, saving a few bucks, and go on your way.

It sounds like science fiction, but it’s not. You can see it at work in the video above in which a phone pointed at the Amsterdam skyline immediately shows which houses are for sale. (Can’t see the video? Click here.)

Awesome, isn’t it? It’s called Augmented Reality and it’s coming very soon to a smart phone near you. In fact, it is available right now for phones running Google’s Android operating system (Layar) and phone maker Nokia is currently beta testing its Point and Find system in the US and UK.

What does this have to do with marketing your business? Everything.

If you’ve paid attention to technology and the web over the years you probably know that you as a business are not in control. You never were. There is no stopping negative reviews online, only dealing with them honestly and head-on. The best strategy is to make a great product and reach out to people who will hopefully spread the word. That’s lack of control if I’ve ever heard it.

The Bad News

Augmented Reality is lack of control on steroids.

Now I can just point my phone at the front of your restaurant and see your reviews and health board rating. No more wasted time digging around on the web to see what others are saying about you. Everything about you now comes to my phone quickly and effortlessly. I can decide on the spot whether or not to eat at your place.

Or I could scan the conference floor with my phone, identify you, and see those embarrassing pictures on Facebook or that nasty twitter fight you had with a customer. I’ll know your dirty little secrets before we ever shake hands. If you’re smart, you’ll look for mine too.

And that shoe buying scenario I described earlier? It’s not possible yet, but it will be very soon. Retailers should be shaking in their boots.

Scary, eh? Sure, but only for the unprepared. And you’re definitely not one of them. Augmented Reality stands to be a very powerful tool in the hands savvy marketers.

The Good News

There is huge potential to engage customers and extend brands with Augmented Reality. Admittedly, the Wow Factor is a major part of the impact these campaigns will make, but I believe that with care they can be developed into highly effective marketing tools. A few ideas:

Digital ads or promotions that “appear” on the front of your building and are only visible through the screen of a phone.
Beautiful high-def pictures of your food on the gadgets of passersby when they scan your restaurant (coupons too).
Give customers who hold your product up to their computer’s web cam special access to exclusive online content like music, e-books and downloads.
Get people together and talking by providing Social Networking info on local customers who also love your products (opt-in, of course).
Finally, check out video of Disney and GE’s impressive early efforts with AR on YouTube: Disney’s Nightastic and GE’s Wind Turbine campaign.

Conclusion

Augmented Reality is here and I believe it’s going to be hugely popular in the near future, it’s just not widely distributed yet. But it will be. Now is the time to get ahead of the trend and start thinking about how you can best use it for your product and situation.

After the hype has died down I suspect we’ll find that the best way to use AR to market our businesses is the same as it’s always been: have a great product, be genuine, add value and, most importantly, remember that there are humans at the other end of the technology.

What do you think? How will Augmented Reality affect business? How can it be used for marketing? Leave a comment or email blog at keithmonaghan dot com.

Thanks for reading.See also:

Smart Talk About Marketing

Keith Monaghan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:38:22 +0000

Good Stuff From Around the Web

Lots of good marketing writing out there despite this being the slow season–end of summer and all. Here are some particularly insightful thoughts found over my morning cup o’ tea. Enjoy.

Jonathan Salem Baskin asks, “Why don’t we focus on making the conduct of our businesses meaningful and useful, and then structure the marketing communications to deliver that information?” Amen to that. Dim Bulb: True Lies
Jeremiah Owyang on the impending “ambient intimacy” of appliances, cars and other machines texting, blogging, and tweeting maintenance alerts. Not sure if I’m ready for my refrigerator to text me. Web Strategy: When Appliances, Pets, and Plants Start to Tweet
Nice piece on the risks of dropping your prices to compete. Bottom line: Think long and hard before giving into the temptation because there may be serious brand-damaging consequences. Are You Dropping Your Prices?
Another post, similar to Dim Bulb’s “True Lies”, on the benefits of embracing honest marketing for your branding strategy. The Edgy Entrepreneur: Marketing and Telling the Truth
There is no shortage of Social Media marketing guides on the Interwebs, but this one nicely sums up much of what you need to know. Web 2.0 + Best Practices = Connecting and creating value
Finally, something good for the soul: 8-year old Emma rocking the house at the 2009 Spring Coffee Shop Jam in Seattle with her song “Snow Day”. Rock on! YouTube: “Snow Day” by Emma

See also:

Marketing in Tough Times: Improving Customer Service

Keith Monaghan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:45:51 +0000

It’s not sexy or trendy but great customer service can produce better results than any PR or marketing initiative, not to mention happy and loyal customers (and you need those more than ever right now).

Join me as I explore the ideas in the e-book Marketing in Tough Times – 20 No-Cost Ideas in a new podcast that’s loaded with insight, case studies and interviews. The Marketing in Tough Times podcast is a quick, irreverent examination of what it takes to successfully market your business in this challenging economy. Tough times never last, but tough (and resourceful) marketers do.

In this episode: How United Airlines blew it big time and what Apple and Weber understand about customer service that many companies don’t.

Listen now:

Download audio file (ImprovingCustomerService.mp3)

Download: “Improving Customer Service” (.mp3/14MB/10 Min.)

Embedded player not working? Listen here.See also:

Social Media Marketing in 30 Minutes a Day

Keith Monaghan — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:20:04 +0000

Listen to this post:
Download audio file (smin30minaday.mp3)
Download: Social Media Marketing in 30 Minutes a Day (.mp3 | 4:59 | 6.9 MB)

Social media is more than just feel good PR, the numbers show that it’s good business and an increasingly important part of a larger communication strategy.

If you believe, as I do, that all marketing is ultimately word-of-mouth, then spending a few minutes a day on social media makes sense.

Yes, you say, I’m aware of that, Mr. Marketing Guy, but I have a real job and a boss and deadlines to meet. Who has the time to friend and tweet?

You do. The secret: start small and stay highly focused.

In just thirty minutes a day you can participate in the communities that want to hear from you, listen for talk about your company or product and work some social media magic.

First Things First

First, get smart. Spend a few minutes reading these thoughts on Social Media and business. Even better, spend a few days searching out and reading a dozen more.

Jeremiah Owyang on Social Media Marketing [SlideShare]
5 Things You Need to Know About Social Media Marketing and PR [Page One PR]
Can Marketing Be Conversational? [Doc Searls]
Intel Social Media Guidelines [Intel]

Then, learn how to track the results. Contrary to the hype, Social Media marketing is not about “Return on Interest” or “Return on Influence”, in the business world it’s “Return on Investment” or die.

You need measurable results, so spend a little time learning how to track and interpret what happens with your Social Media efforts. Here are a few excellent articles to get you started.

Defining Social Media ROI Once and For All [The BrandBuilder Blog]
How to Measure Social Media ROI for Business [Mashable]
Social Media ROI [SlideShare]
Social Media ROI [Scribd]

The Strategy

The secret to Social Media in thirty minutes a day is simple: start small, limit your options, use the tools a few minutes a day. That’s it.

My suggestion is to use only three Social Media tools at a time: a blog, the current hot Social Media site (as of this writing, Twitter), and an online community specific to your industry or product (if it doesn’t exist you have an opportunity to create one).

For example, a corporation might use a company blog>twitter>online community, posting news, updates and resources on their blog and responding to talk about their products on twitter and in the online community.

A retailer or restaurant could use twitter>yelp>brightkite, sending news and coupons via twitter, responding to reviews on yelp and using brightkite to send offers to their customers’ cell phones as they pass by on the street (seriously cool).

A wine shop might try a blog>twitter>corkd, blogging about wine and posting reviews, twittering special offers, recommendations and wine news and discussing wine with fellow oenophiles on corkd.

You’ll notice the retailer/restaurant example does not have a blog. That’s OK, they’re doing what works for them, which is exactly the point.

Now grab a fresh, steaming hot cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage and let’s get started.

The Routine

Blog: 15 Minutes a Day

Your online anchor. All of your Social Media tools point here, where there is more space for fleshing out ideas and communicating. Spend 15 minutes a day posting news, special offers, product updates, tutorials and resources, maybe even what’s happening inside the company. Nothing to post? Spend your time drafting ideas. 15 minutes a day means 1 hour and 15 minutes every work week to write something great. Here are two guides to help you get started with business blogging:

10 Tips for Becoming a Great Corporate Blogger [Scout Blogging]
A Guide to Corporate Blogging [ProBlogger]

Twitter: 5 Minutes a Day

The current Social Media darling is where the hyper-social hang out, but the web interface lacks the features to make it truly powerful. Consider using twitter management software like seesmic, tweetdeck or HootSuite. What to do? Set up and monitor a search for your company, reply to mentions of your product, and frequently retweet relevant ideas, giving credit and props. Reply, interact, build, engage.

If you’re new to Twitter here are several great articles on how to use it for business:

Twitter 101 for Business [Twitter]
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business [Chris Brogan]
Newbie’s Guide to Twitter [CNET]

Community: 10 Minutes a Day

There are many out there, Yelp, facebook, beebo, seesmic, jaiku, LinkedIn, MySpace, superfan, etc. The plethora of choices is a good thing, in this case, because more than likely there is an online community for your business, whatever it is. In the travel biz? Try Passportstamp. Game developer? Wakoopa. You get the idea. Here’s a big ol’ list to get you started.

More ideas on business and online communities:

10 Best Practices of Business Networking [About]
Four Ways Social Networking Can Build Business [bnet]

Conclusion

This plan is a starting point, adjust the times and tools as you see fit and use the sites that make the most sense for you. You know your situation best. Measure consistently. Tweak accordingly. Repeat daily.

Remember, Social Media Marketing is about your space, not your product. It’s about how you can empower users, highlight others work and bring something of value to the community and to your customers. Business will follow. Seriously.

One more thing, many of these sites have search functions that allow you to set up and monitor keywords like your product or company. Use them. (Or as Chris Brogan puts it: Grow big ears.)

Good luck and let me know how you adapt this strategy to your situation. I’d love to hear about it in the comments or drop me and email at blog at keithmonaghan dot com.

Thanks for reading.See also:

You’re a Social Media Expert!

Keith Monaghan — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:54:09 +0000

1. If you can make me laugh beer out of my nose, you’re a Social Media Expert.

2. If you can look me in the eye while I discuss something you don’t give a crap about, you’re a Social Media Expert.

3. If you care more about listening than f*#!king tweeting, you’re a Social Media Expert.

4. If you can talk to someone new without mentioning twitter or facebook, you’re a Social Media Expert.

5. If you show up to a party and shake hands with everyone hiding at the edges of the room, you’re a Social Media Expert.

6. If you try to make me feel better after my big screw up, you’re a Social Media Expert.

7. If you throw up in your mouth a little bit every time you hear the words “Social Media Expert”, well, you are one.

8. If you buy the first round of drinks and volunteer to be the designated driver, you’re a Social Media Expert.

9. If you resist posting that picture of me not wearing pants on Facebook, you’re a Social Media Expert.

10. If you believe it’s about peace, love & understanding, you’re a Social Media Expert.

See also:

Don’t Read This, Read That

Keith Monaghan — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:06:43 +0000

Busy with projects and random business. In the mean time, please enjoy these marketing articles from around the web:

Major companies like PepsiCo, General Mills and McDonalds are turning to nostalgia marketing in hopes that warm, fuzzy feelings about the past will help make people feel better about the present and future. Good luck with that. [NYTimes]
A raging debate over the future of online advertising. I won’t spoil it for you, but if your site is ad-supported things are going to get interesting in the near future. [TechCrunch]
Nice piece of marketing by the producers of the new Star Trek movie: have a major cast member from the original series surprise unsuspecting fans with a showing hours before the international opening. Twitter nearly explodes with excitement. Well played. [Wired]
Lastly, something good for the soul: 10 Swoon-Worthy Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. [delish]

See also:

In Praise of Half-Baked Ideas

Keith Monaghan — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:04:48 +0000

A Twitter Experiment Dies A Quick (And Deserved) Death

It was called “I Should Know That! The Twitter Trivia Game“. And it was an utter and miserable failure.

The idea: tweet witty trivia questions, followers tweet back answers, a winner is declared, everyone has fun!

Popularity, speaking engagements, a book deal, and my own show on NPR were sure to follow.

The reality: mind-scrambling chaos and indifference.

Answers from a mere 17 followers became impossible to manage. Who was first? That guy? No, wait, her! Too many tweets! Agh!

In short, it was not scalable. Duh.

But now I know.

It could have been a project that was developed over weeks or months, every aspect thought out, every “what if” question asked and exhaustively answered. And it probably would have still failed.

In a fraction of that time I quickly discovered a few things:

Each daily quiz was a huge time-suck of research and administration.
Sometimes simple rules aren’t enough.
It was probably a dumb idea.

But that’s the beauty of putting your half-baked ideas out there, isn’t it? Rapid deployment can lead to rapid enlightenment. In the case of “I Should Know That!” the insight was that I didn’t want to pursue it. End of story. Case closed.

In fact, there’s a certain school of thought that says you should release your incomplete product or service into the wild and let customers dictate what it should be. You’ll learn a heck of a lot about said product and what you’re trying to achieve, possibly saving a lot of time, effort, and money in the process. Whether you agree with them or not is beside the point.

So, my idea of a twitter-based trivia game is yours for the taking. Just remember me if it becomes a runaway success. I’m the guy who screwed it up the first time.See also:

Video: Twouble With Twitters

Keith Monaghan — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:37:49 +0000

“What’s twitter?”

“Gasp! It’s the latest social networking… micro… bloggy… thingy.

That about sums it up.

From Current.See also: