There’s one phone number that most people can recite, regardless of demographic. And I mean full phone number, not 9-1-1. Think about it for a minute: What’s the one phone number than most everyone you know has in common they can recite without hesitation? 867-5309.

Tommy Tutone’s hit from 1981 emblazoned the number in our minds, and while little more of the song is all that memorable, “867-5309/Jenny” has an incredible marketing lesson buried within it’s one-hit wonderness. The song is the probably drunken announcement of a man who finds the number of a woman written on a bathroom wall. “For a good time, call …” graffiti, while most often a cruel joke, is the ultimate in smart marketing.

Why? Because it hits the relevancy bullseye.

It’s a relevant message, sent to a relevant audience, in a relevant time and in a relevant location.

Drunk guys going to the bathroom in a bar are primed to hear this message, ready to receive it and apt to take action. “For a good time, call 867-5309.”

The magic of marketing, be it social media, digital or even traditional, is to deliver a relevant message to a relevant audience in a relevant location and at the relevant time. This is our challenge.

So what are you doing to make your audience think, “Jenny, I’ve got your number. I’m going to make you mine?” with your product?

The comments, as always, are yours.

There’s never a dull moment in the parent blogging world. This past month has brought new highs and lows to this group, a group I’m firmly enmeshed in both as an agency which works with bloggers and as the founder of a conference bloggers attend. (I also happen to be married to a parenting blogger – my husband blogs on his own dad blog as well as in a number of other outlets.)

Mom 2.0 Summit

The high was most certainly the Mom 2.0 Summit, a fantastic conference for moms (and others) who blog (there were many men in attendance, and many non-moms too – my husband joined me). This was my fourth annual Mom 2.0; 2013 was their fifth anniversary, so I’ve only missed one.

This year’s Mom 2.0 Summit was, as always, stellar. The very best thing about the conference was the quality of people there. Mom 2.0 never fails to bring the cream-of-the-crop of bloggers together to share, learn and grow.  These are bloggers who are amazing storytellers, beautiful writers, and really smart marketers. Quite a few of them make their living through their blogging and writing, and they are all wholly deserving of the success which has come to them.  Learning, schmoozing, dining and networking with this group is always energizing and insightful. And it didn’t hurt that the conference was at the Ritz-Carleton in gorgeous Laguna Beach, CA.

The Wall Street Journal Article

If more sponsors understand that blog conferences are a good way to reach digital influencers, we all win

However, in the lead up to Mom 2.0, the conference (and others) got some interesting press. The Wall Street Journal published an article about “The Mommy Business Trip,” which raised more than a few hackles as it portrayed blogging conferences as kid-free boondoggles for women. Many people, some of my good friends included, objected to the portrayal of moms and women in the piece, and I understand their concern.

But ever the contrarian, I didn’t completely agree with them. I found the WSJ piece, while certainly more than a bit condescending, good for the blogging conference industry overall. If more sponsors understand that blog conferences are a good way to reach digital influencers, we all win – the conference providers as well as the attendees.

It’s only recently that some parenting and lifestyle blog conference attendees are beginning to understand the reason that the cost of attending a blogging conference (as a blogger) is only $200-$450 for three days is because of the sponsors who are willing to pay to meet and talk to them.  Other digital industry conferences, from Affiliate Summit to AdTech to New Media Expo, cost between $800-$2,000, and provide far less for that cost than most blogging conferences provide. For the most part, blogger conferences have higher costs and lower margins than any other industry conferences (a fact which I’m intimately aware of).

There’s one big similarity between them: they’re all business-to-business (B2B) events.  Sponsors (businesses) come to blogging conferences to reach business people (bloggers) who will help them reach their target audience (typically, consumers).  This is the same as any other business-focused conference.

(Some) Bloggers Are Businesses

So ladies: stop acting like the Wall Street Journal says you’re acting. Because guess what? Some of you are.

So why do bloggers, at nearly all of the blogging conferences I’ve attended, not act like they’re businesses?  I do realize that if you started your blog as a personal blog or hobby blog, you may not know how to run your business, or even want to run a business, for your blog. But if you’ve spent the money and the time to come to a blogging event, it indicates that you’re looking to learn and grow in some way. (And apologies if you’re at the conference but do not want to grow your business – though given that much of the content at Mom 2.0 and other blogging conferences is related to “monetization” and “sponsorships,” I have to assume you likely do want to.)

So ladies: stop acting like the Wall Street Journal says you’re acting. Because guess what? Some of you are. Start acting like the business people you (mostly) seem to want to become.  Because if you’re not becoming business people by attending these conferences, then you really are doing it just to get out of the house. And then I don’t blame the WSJ for calling a spade a spade.

You need proof? At last summer’s mother of all blog conferences, BlogHer, I saw far too many women drunk off of their you-know-whats, barely able to get back to their hotel rooms. There are now-legendary stories of women pushing and shoving their way to grab sponsor swag at these events. And the social-network-based backchannel conversations before and after these events? Well…if you could see some of the name calling that happens when this person doesn’t get invited to a party but that one does; it’s not pretty.

Yes, of course, men do ridiculous things on the road too, and that’s what many people were reacting to as they read the WSJ article. Why doesn’t a major publication write an expose on the alcohol-filled parties at International CES or the intense city-wide party hopping that is SxSW? I’d love to see that article written, but of course it won’t be any time soon.

Up the Professionalism

If we women want to be taken seriously as business people, we’ve got to start acting like it.

I am certainly not saying that getting away for work to a beautiful location, with amazing content and the very best networking, shouldn’t a pleasurable thing. Whenever I go to any conference – blogging or otherwise – I go to plenty of parties; take time for myself at the beach, spa or touring the city; and often arrange fancy group dinners with friends. I bring swag home just like everyone else. But ultimately, I’m there on business, and I hope that my participation always reflects a high level of professionalism.

If we women want to be taken seriously as business people, we’ve got to start acting like it. Women bloggers need to treat their blog businesses like businesses, not as sometimes or part-time jobs (regardless of how much time they put into them). We must boost each other up, not become the worst versions of ourselves, when we go away to network and learn. And even if we stay home.

Disclosure: My conference, the Digital Family Summit, is loosely affiliated with Mom 2.0 Summit. I receive no direct compensation for my relationship with Mom 2.0 Summit.

As new disciplines emerge – like content marketing in the digital age – new jargon blossoms like wildflowers in a new meadow. Or sometimes like clods of cow shit.

Whichever category you put the term ‘Persona’ into (for me, it’s bovine-centric), you can’t deny that it’s won a permanent place in the B2B content marketing canon. “Don’t even think about doing content marketing without personas.” is Commandment Six last time I checked.

At Velocity, we’ve propagated the cult of the persona ourselves, with round-up blog posts and the occasional tirade about using personas properly. And yes, there’s a Persona section in the content marketing playbooks we create for our clients. But, to be honest, I’ve never felt entirely comfortable with them. For two reasons:

• I hate the term ‘Persona’ – You can’t just make a new, abstract word by adding an ‘a’ to the end of a perfectly good concrete word, especially if that perfectly good word means almost the same thing as the new a-enhanced word. If we allow that, we’ll soon be taking our virtual Dogas for imaginary Walkas.
• If you need Personas, you’re not getting out enough – A tight little set of personas in your content marketing playbook might say you’ve diligently captured all those hours you’ve spent in contact with real customers and prospects. But more likely, it says you never really spent any time at all with customers and prospects. You just grabbed a photo from a stock library, invented a sensible-sounding name, and started riffing on his or her imagined wants and needs.

And that’s my real problem: if you have to invent imaginary prospects, you haven’t met enough real ones.

Part of our input when we start working with a new client is to talk to their customers. It’s an absolutely critical part of our process because it lets us hear how customers talk about the challenges they face and the solutions they seek. And it’s NEVER the same language as the client uses when they package up their story for us.

Once we’ve spoken to a few customers and prospects, these become our internalized personas. When I’m writing, I don’t write to a fictional character, I write to a real person. Having a clear picture of a real person in mind as I write makes my writing much, much better. (Right now, I’m picturing Barry Feldman).

“Objection! Not everyone who works in and around marketing can have personal discussions with customers and prospects. Personas are a great way to capture these interactions for everyone else.”

If that’s true, then go ahead, use personas. But ask yourself: “Why can’t everyone in and around marketing speak to real customers and prospects?” Isn’t it essential? At the very least, it’s critical for your writers and planners and strategists — the same people you write your persona documents for (and the people who tend to ignore them because they’re hollow).

The personas I’ve read often prove that very few people on the marketing team have actually met a customer – least of all the person who wrote the personas. If everyone meets customers as part of their jobs, they’re unlikely to refer to the personas. They won’t need to. If no one does, the best persona document in the world will only take them half way to the authentic understanding that leads to great content marketing.

So here’s a simple approach to the important work that personas are designed to simulate (or shortcut):

• Meet real customers and prospects – Do it regularly. Take them for coffee. Pick up the phone. In the words of the immortal Kool & the Gang, “How you gonna boogie if you really don’t want to dance?” (Ignore the ‘by standing on the wall’ part — that always confused me).
• Use their LinkedIn profile as your persona document– You’ll see how they think about themselves, where they went to school (if that matters), who they hang out with, what they share, what groups they belong to, who gave them a rousing recommendation, who they gave recommendations to… All great stuff (and self-updating).
  For a while, I played around with creating fake people on LinkedIn to make our personas more realistic. It was fun. But then it occurred to me: why create fictional prospects when LinkedIn is packed with real ones?
• Supplement the profile with an email Q&A – Their LinkedIn profile won’t cover your own solution area in depth (which in itself is an important point: your top concerns aren’t their top concerns) So send them a list of questions about the issues and challenges that your solutions address. When new stuff comes up, shoot them a new question. Or pick up the phone.

This approach has two benefits: it forces you out from behind your strategy and out into the world your prospects live in; and it prevents the persona exercise from becoming a one-off, box-ticking exercise (“Personas? Done them. Next!”). Your personas will be living things not static templates.

I guess that brings me full circle: go ahead and create personas. It can never be a bad idea to start your content marketing by thinking about the people you’re addressing.  But if your nice, neat persona templates are acting as a substitute for real contact with real people, you’re doing yourself a disservice and your content will suffer for it.

Get your back up off the wall. I dare you.

How does this apply to me?

That should be the question we ask when encountering learning about the digital marketing world. Whether you’re reading a blog, a book, attending a webinar or conference, the one thing you won’t likely get is advice and examples that are directly applicable to your specific business.

Conference speakers are generalists. People who write books are, too. Their job is to be informative and helpful but appeal to as broad an audience as possible. If I were to speak at an event about how to leverage Twitter in medium-sized floral shops, I would only help a few audience members. If the talk is how to leverage Twitter for any business — a general approach — there’s more appeal.

The challenge then becomes taking that broad knowledge and applying it to your business. Unfortunately, there is no Easy Button in digital marketing. You’ll have to do the work. Or you could hire one of these speakers or authors to come in and apply their general knowledge to your specific business. But that can be cost-prohibitive for some.

This is the concept that spurred us to collaborate with Exact Target on the Social Media Domination Road Tour this summer. We wanted to get more specific with people. We wanted them to leave the event with a roadmap more specific to their business. If you come, you will do most of the work, but with guidance from us. We’ll help you work through the lack of the Easy Button and send you home with a framework and head start on your 2014 strategy.

So if you can join us June 13 in Philadelphia; June 26 in Atlanta; July 18 in Washington, D.C.; July 30 in Dallas or August 21 in Minneapolis, expect less “conference” and more “workshop.” It’ll be fun.

Register now for the city nearest you.

How does this apply to me?

In the meantime, though, put yourself through the exercise. Go read a blog post from someone helpful or look through a book you’ve read recently with some good digital marketing pointers. Then think it through: How does this apply to my business?  

Some things will. Others won’t. Distinguishing those will help you move from wishing you could figure it all out to actually figuring it all out, one idea at a time.

While doing some fundraising training in Philadelphia last week, I was introduced to an incredibly cool program called Spark.

Spark was founded by a 7th grade science teacher who wanted his students to see why school mattered. The premise is really simple: place 7th and 8th grade students in apprenticeships with people in their community. They’ve placed students in apprenticeships with all sorts of professionals: fire fighters, chefs, pilots, artists, and tech folks.

The results speak for themselves

Spark has grown to serve in students in at-risk neighborhoods in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia. And the results have been phenomenal. Despite very high high-school drop out rates with their peers, 98% of Spark alumni stay in school.

All it takes is a caring adult and the experience of a real job to help students see why school matters.

Three ways you can help

There are three easy ways you can help a Spark program in your community:

1. Make a donation

   Spark says $1,000 makes an apprenticeship possible. You can give any amount toward that at: https://www.sparkprogram.org/index.php/get_involved/donate

2. Become a mentor

   Your work can inspire a kid to stay in school. Spark lets you apply to be a mentor at http://www.sparkprogram.org/index.php/get_involved/volunteer

3. Become a corporate partner

   There are lots of ways your company can support Spark including hosting students, matching employee gifts, and more. See them all at: http://www.sparkprogram.org/index.php/get_involved/corporate_partnership

   Learn more

   To learn more about how the Spark Program is helping students go to their website www.sparkprogram.orgor watch their brief video on the Spark: Creating Real-World Opportunities for Youth with Apprenticeships:
   

   =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

   Tell Social Media Explorer about My Donation for Aggregated Reporting Purposes Here

   Read more about Social Media Explorer’s #GivingTuesday program.

   ]]> &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/spark-givingtuesday/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/spark-givingtuesday/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/spark-givingtuesday/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/spark-givingtuesday/comment-page-1/#comment-60233">I am visited many other blog site and read attentively your ...</a> <i>by gutter covers</i></ul></div><h3 style="clear:left;padding-top:10px">Related Stories</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/cradles-to-crayons/">Cradles to Crayons &#8211; #GivingTuesday</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/">Wediko &#8211; #GivingTuesday</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/amirah-givingtuesday/">Amirah &#8211; #GivingTuesday</a></li></ul> http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/41155225/0/socialmediaexplorer~SPARK-GivingTuesday/feed/ 1 http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/ http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/41135892/0/socialmediaexplorer~Recharging-Your-Digital-Marketing-Batteries/ http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/41135892/0/socialmediaexplorer~Recharging-Your-Digital-Marketing-Batteries/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 10:00:28 +0000 Nichole Kelly http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=20982 &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/comment-page-1/#comment-60232">I really think you will do much better in the future I ...</a> <i>by gutter covers</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/comment-page-1/#comment-60227">Hi Nichole, its really nice to learn that one can actually draw ...</a> <i>by Sunday</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/comment-page-1/#comment-60221">By: May 15 – Top News on Digital Strategy &#124; Digital Strategy News</a> <i>by May 15 – Top News on Digital Strategy | Digital Strategy News</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/comment-page-1/#comment-60218">Thanks for sharing this amazing post Nichole. I thoroughly ...</a> <i>by emarketing .</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/comment-page-1/#comment-60211">My pleasure!</a> <i>by Patrick McFadden</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/#comments">Plus 6 more...</a></li></ul></div><h3 style="clear:left;padding-top:10px">Related Stories</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/best-productivity-tools-for-people-on-the-go/">Best Productivity Tools for People On The Go</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/is-agreeing-to-disagree-killing-innovation/">Is Agreeing to Disagree Killing Innovation?</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/philosophy/learn-to-play/">Productivity Tip Of The Day: Play</a></li></ul>

   As I write this, I’m listening to the waves crash along the beach during my own recharge. The Social Media Explorer team trekked its way down to Oak Island, North Carolina for a workation designed to evaluate and refresh our perspectives on every part of the business. It got me thinking about the importance of recharging our digital presence. I’ll give you a look at what we’ve been reviewing over the last 10 days in an effort to help others step back and recharge their perspective.

   Get Out of the Office

   It may not be feasible to take your team on a company retreat to a beach, however, you can take a few days to get the team out of the office. Try to find a place that will allow you to bring the outdoors into your creative space. The key is to get out of a conference room and break the monotony that comes with holding another meeting in the office. You need to find a space that will inspire creativity and get your team out of their comfort zone and start thinking outside of the box.

   Here are some keys to selecting your space.

   1)      It must have access to high speed internet OR you need to bring a mi-fi with you

   2)      It must have access to a beautiful view

   3)      It must have access to outdoor and indoor meeting areas

   And to be clear, a single day won’t cut it. You’ll need to take a few days with a solid agenda for creativity and fun if you really want a full recharge for the team. Recharging to 50% isn’t going to deliver the kind of results you want, so don’t cut yourself and your team short.

   Review Your Reason for Existence

   Let’s be honest, when you get into the minutia of the day to day it’s easy to forget why you are there to begin with. We took a look at why Social Media Explorer is here by evaluating who our target audience is (more importantly who ISN’T) and what services we want to offer to them. We talked about the vision for the company in the short-term and the long-term. Then we aligned all of that by talking about how we could better structure our teams to achieve those objectives. We also held a pretty intense brand review from the comfort of the deck looking out on the waves. It’s amazing how a few crashing waves can get the creative juices flowing!

   Review Your Digital Properties for Alignment to Objective and Opportunity

   Once we had everyone on the same page about what our mission in the world is, it provided the framework we needed for the rest of the agenda to review our digital presence for alignment to our objectives and opportunity.

   First stop, socialmediaexplorer.com. We talked about what we needed to do in order to more closely align the objectives of the company with the objectives of our audience. This resulted in creating a list of changes for the site that we think will help take our business to the next level while continuing to give you what you’ve come to expect from us.  We focused on how to optimize our path to conversion from the blog with the framework of building a stronger email list and provide value to that audience, how to have a stronger conversion path for agency leads, and how to align the site with what the company does. While Social Media Explorer started as a thought leadership blog, it is now a full-service digital marketing agency. We will always push the thinking in the blog, but you will see the other areas of the site transition into positioning the expertise of the agency and driving qualified leads. Our goal is to make it stupid easy for someone who is looking for help from our digital marketing agency to raise their hand and ask for help without disrupting the experience of those who don’t. We will be using Marketo, a robust marketing automation platform, to assist with these efforts and we are super excited about the opportunity to become more strategic in our efforts to generate more agency leads.

   Second stop, Twitter. We had a discussion about the opportunity to make sure the followers of both Nichole Kelly and Jason Falls know we launched the SMXplorer account this year to assist with our goal of growing the corporate following. We also talked about doing targeted campaigns to select followers who might be viable prospects for the agency and a separate campaign for those who might be interested in attending the Social Media Domination Tour this summer. Our goal is to use the campaigns to inform those who already follow us about some of the opportunities they have to connect with us in new and exciting ways. At the end of the day, we want to provide more value to our followers through targeted segmentation. We will be using the Twitter targeting tool Insight Pool to assist with these efforts.

   Third stop, Facebook. We talked about how we can provide more value to our followers on Facebook, as well. We decided we want our corporate Facebook account to mimic what our personal Facebook accounts do, provide a view into the human part of our story. We will continue to share content from around the web that we think our audience will find valuable, but you’ll also see more content designed to humanize the team behind Social Media Explorer. We want to take the opportunity to share more content like the post in the photo (minus the humid beach hair, heh!) We also will have more content that shows our quirky sense of humor. You may not realize we have three comedians on our team. You probably already know and enjoy the comedic side of Jason Falls. Internally, we also enjoy the comedic riffs from Jason Spooner, our lead strategic account manager and Jay Kelly, our VP of Operations (and my husband) who actually met doing improv comedy in Baltimore. They are all ridiculously funny guys. I’m seriously hoping that the gut busting laughter we experienced at the beach will result in 6-pack abs, but I’m not holding my breath! We want to share the laughter with our Facebook audience, so you can expect to see more content in that area.

   Fourth stop, content. Finally, we talked through the content strategy for Social Media Explorer and all of our digital properties. I’ve already shared a few of the results of that conversation, but we also reviewed the SEO and keyword audit WebMechanix created for us and discussed how we could  take advantage of their recommendations to drive more organic traffic to the site. We talked about what type of content we need to be producing to serve the goals of the agency and how often we need to be producing content. The one area we found a weakness in is e-books and guides. We know we need to leverage our internal expertise to deliver more actionable and in-depth content for our target audience. We came up with a draft list of topics these e-books should focus on and will step up our game in this area. We talked about how we can make sure our content passes our Holy Smokes, That’s _______ (fill in the blank with the value you want to deliver) test.

   Ultimately, this exercise was about practicing what we preach, for lack of a better term. We want to take the recommendations we provide to our digital marketing agency clients on a daily basis and put them to work for our company. The creative brainstorming provided the team with a renewed sense of purpose and energy for the work we do at Social Media Explorer. Over the final 2 days of our retreat, we’ll be focusing on reviewing all of our clients to do the same for them.

   Your retreat may look very different, but the purpose should be the same. Use the opportunity to get out of the office to rejuvenate the creative energy of your team by auditing your digital presence and making sure your efforts are aligned to the objectives your management team wants you to achieve. Be prepared for the added benefit of closer relationships between team members, a renewed sense of purpose, and a strategic focus that simply isn’t feasible to achieve in a dingy conference room. The results are likely to improve the bottom line in more ways than you could have ever imagined. Now that’s an investment worth making, don’t you think?

   Have you ever done a corporate retreat with your team? If so, what results did you experience? Do you do a regular audit of how your digital properties are aligned to corporate objectives and opportunity? How does your team recharge its batteries? Leave a comment and share your story. 

   ]]> &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/comment-page-1/#comment-60232">I really think you will do much better in the future I ...</a> <i>by gutter covers</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/comment-page-1/#comment-60227">Hi Nichole, its really nice to learn that one can actually draw ...</a> <i>by Sunday</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/comment-page-1/#comment-60221">By: May 15 – Top News on Digital Strategy &#124; Digital Strategy News</a> <i>by May 15 – Top News on Digital Strategy | Digital Strategy News</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/comment-page-1/#comment-60218">Thanks for sharing this amazing post Nichole. I thoroughly ...</a> <i>by emarketing .</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/comment-page-1/#comment-60211">My pleasure!</a> <i>by Patrick McFadden</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/recharging-your-digital-marketing-batteries/#comments">Plus 6 more...</a></li></ul></div><h3 style="clear:left;padding-top:10px">Related Stories</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/best-productivity-tools-for-people-on-the-go/">Best Productivity Tools for People On The Go</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/is-agreeing-to-disagree-killing-innovation/">Is Agreeing to Disagree Killing Innovation?</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/philosophy/learn-to-play/">Productivity Tip Of The Day: Play</a></li></ul> http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/41135892/0/socialmediaexplorer~Recharging-Your-Digital-Marketing-Batteries/feed/ 11 http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/ http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/41099385/0/socialmediaexplorer~Will-Thinking-Beyond-Social-Ruin-Social/ http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/41099385/0/socialmediaexplorer~Will-Thinking-Beyond-Social-Ruin-Social/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 10:00:50 +0000 Jason Falls http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=20963 &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/comment-page-1/#comment-60205">Yep … small business brings the challenges of scalability and ...</a> <i>by JasonFalls</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/comment-page-1/#comment-60203">I would love to hear your take on the impact of social ...</a> <i>by JaynaLocke</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/comment-page-1/#comment-60200">I have found i am a metaphor/analogy junkie. And I need help!!!</a> <i>by Jillian. Not Jill.</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/comment-page-1/#comment-60198">[[[[metaphor alert]]]] I suppose, as a person, I am aware and ...</a> <i>by Jillian. Not Jill.</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/comment-page-1/#comment-60177">You don't sound like a hippie. 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   The thematic meme running through the social marketing world of late is that we’re about to move beyond social media marketing as a primary practice to thinking more broadly about our marketing and our business. Social is part of a greater whole and social-only thinking won’t get you very far for much longer.

   Part of this is driven by the social consultants threatened by those of lesser breadth of experience. Part of it is the reality that the industry is maturing. Social is now part of marketing. Marketing is almost impossible today without social.

   But will this assumption that social is just part of what we do turn social into something we forget about?

   I can attest that immersing yourself in a vertical or business like, say, online retail, means you start thinking about driving sales, moving the needles on the top- or bottom-line and looking for partnerships and revenue streams and cost savings. You start looking at the resources you’re pouring into social and expecting an immediate financial return for those. Sometimes social is about more than (or other than) direct revenue.

   You’ll start expecting an immediate financial return for social

   For many businesses, that means they’ll either go through the motions of social without really, genuinely investing the time and energy or they’ll forego social altogether and take the safe, proven routes of search engine marketing, ad spend and other acquisition and sales strategies.

   It is true that social needs to be a part of greater thinking about business and marketing if you want to have a mature, optimal approach to contributing to your business’s success. But in doing so, I worry that the “More, Now!” mentality of today’s business will dictate we just forget about being social in lieu of selling more stuff.

   What do you think?

   ]]> &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/comment-page-1/#comment-60205">Yep … small business brings the challenges of scalability and ...</a> <i>by JasonFalls</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/comment-page-1/#comment-60203">I would love to hear your take on the impact of social ...</a> <i>by JaynaLocke</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/comment-page-1/#comment-60200">I have found i am a metaphor/analogy junkie. And I need help!!!</a> <i>by Jillian. Not Jill.</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/comment-page-1/#comment-60198">[[[[metaphor alert]]]] I suppose, as a person, I am aware and ...</a> <i>by Jillian. Not Jill.</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/comment-page-1/#comment-60177">You don't sound like a hippie. 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We're doing a throwback to the Glory Days ...</a> <i>by KatFrench</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-60081">Hey, where's the rest of this article? Too short</a> <i>by Barry Feldman</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-60067">Not a problem! To me, keeping things brief has always seemed to ...</a> <i>by BSStoltz</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-60063">Two hundred words isn't that long, really. Unless of course I'm ...</a> <i>by KatFrench</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/#comments">Plus 6 more...</a></li></ul></div><h3 style="clear:left;padding-top:10px">Related Stories</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/highs-and-lows-in-the-parent-blogging-world/">Highs and Lows in the Parent Blogging World</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/forget-about-personas-meet-some-real-people/">Forget about Personas. Meet some real people.</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/technology-is-a-canvas-not-a-tool/">Technology Is A Canvas, Not A Platform</a></li></ul>

   Recently, a friend and fellow marketer asked what aspect of their favorite podcasts did people enjoy the most. I admit, I didn’t give my most honest answer.

   My favorite thing about my favorite podcast is that it’s only 15 minutes long. I’ve been listening to the very excellent Writing Excuses podcast for over a year now. While the writing and publishing advice is solid, I love their tagline.

   “Fifteen minutes long, because you’re busy, and we’re not that smart.”

   Most marketing and business podcasts run at about 45 minutes to an hour. If you asked most business professionals if they could spare an hour a week to listen to a presentation, they’d wince.

   So why are most podcasts longer than a weekly drama?

   Why do so many blog posts approach the word count of a burgeoning novella?

   Why are so many infographics 15 screens long?

   Because most marketers are long-winded and terrible at self-editing, that’s why. And we think we’ll sound smarter if we just use more words.

   There’s a lot of emphasis on “more content, more frequency, more platforms” in all the talk about content strategy. But editing is an important strategy, too. Cutting out the fat, and going for quality is a strategy. Condensing, distilling, and simplifying are all strategies.

   Otherwise, your audience response might just be “tl;dr.”

    

   ]]> &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-60230">Hallelujah!</a> <i>by KatFrench</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-60229">It's a serial, Barry. We're doing a throwback to the Glory Days ...</a> <i>by KatFrench</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-60081">Hey, where's the rest of this article? Too short</a> <i>by Barry Feldman</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-60067">Not a problem! To me, keeping things brief has always seemed to ...</a> <i>by BSStoltz</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-60063">Two hundred words isn't that long, really. Unless of course I'm ...</a> <i>by KatFrench</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/when-less-is-more-in-your-content-strategy/#comments">Plus 6 more...</a></li></ul></div><h3 style="clear:left;padding-top:10px">Related Stories</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/highs-and-lows-in-the-parent-blogging-world/">Highs and Lows in the Parent Blogging World</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/forget-about-personas-meet-some-real-people/">Forget about Personas. Meet some real people.</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/technology-is-a-canvas-not-a-tool/">Technology Is A Canvas, Not A Platform</a></li></ul> http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/40999255/0/socialmediaexplorer~When-Less-is-More-in-Your-Content-Strategy/feed/ 14 http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/ http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/40957723/0/socialmediaexplorer~How-to-Write-a-Headline-and-Become-a-Media-Star/ http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/40957723/0/socialmediaexplorer~How-to-Write-a-Headline-and-Become-a-Media-Star/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 10:00:30 +0000 Barry Feldman http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=20927 &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/comment-page-1/#comment-60321">Those are very useful tips, yet simple but seems to work ...</a> <i>by Anna Pham</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/comment-page-1/#comment-60152">[...] Feldman echoes that exactly about being a media star by ...</a> <i>by Top 5 Posts on Writing Stunning Headlines - Week #19 - Malhar Barai</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/comment-page-1/#comment-60151">[...] Feldman echoes that exactly about being a media star by ...</a> <i>by Top 5 Posts on Writing Stunning Headlines - Malhar Barai</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/comment-page-1/#comment-60105">Thanks. Deliver value, consistently, and the success shall come.</a> <i>by Barry Feldman</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/comment-page-1/#comment-60038">I like your article, I want to become a successful person in ...</a> <i>by yepi6</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/#comments">Plus 2 more...</a></li></ul></div><h3 style="clear:left;padding-top:10px">Related Stories</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/all-positive-all-the-time-is-positively-boring/">All Positive All the Time is Positively Boring</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/lean-in-women-are-their-own-worst-enemy-in-business/">Lean In: Women are their own Worst Enemy in Business</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/bombing-coverage-could-change-social-media/">Coverage Of Bombing Suspects Could Change Social Media</a></li></ul>

   This ain’t Back to the Future. It’s Top Gun. We’re going time traveling—backwards. You with me? Here we go…

   Is that Whitney Houston on the radio? Great song. Crank it. Oh, and did you hear? Mike Tyson’s the youngest heavyweight champ ever and the USSR doesn’t want to fight.

   Aviator glasses? Right on. You don’t look quite as slick as “Maverick”  (Tom Cruise in “Top Gun”), but those screaming neon-colored parachute pants and your big hair are just perfect.

   We’ve arrived. It’s 1986. Let’s get to work.

   We’re in some ad agency’s conference room. Lots of brass. Lots of glass. The chairs are cozy. In class are 12 folks who hope to be transformed into advertising copywriter superstars. We paid over $100 to become David Ogilvy and we’re not leaving until we’re have the chops to dominate the world—or at least the world of advertising.

   The teacher is a creative director, a real life Don Draper. Ooh. Aah. To me, the job title sounds more bitchin’ than heavyweight champion of the world. You would think I’d remember this legend’s name. I don’t. I’m actually happy I remember my own.

   I do remember the lesson he gave. I always will.

   The goal is to cruise Madison Avenue in a Rolls Royce.

   Nike has set the bar high in consumer advertising. Rolling Stone is running one of the snappiest B2B print campaigns ever (“Perception/Reality”). Us students want to know how to do stuff like that.

   Where do you begin?

   Nail down a USP.

   The teacher says you begin with a thing called the “unique selling proposition,” or USP. He says every company, product or service must have one. Then he tells us his simple process for getting it down on paper.

   He uncaps a pleasant-smelling dry erase marker and writes:

   How to ________________________________ .

   The benefit goes in the blank.

   Pencils down please. We’re not ready to write. First, we need to understand the difference between a feature and a benefit. The teacher reels off a real world example. I remember this one exactly as he said it:

   • Feature: McDonald’s has drive-up windows.
   • Benefit: You can grab a quick breakfast on the way to work without dragging your ass out of the car.

   Because I’m a cagey old ad guy and it’s not really 1986, I’ll toss in my own era-appropriate example.

   • Feature: CERTS breath mints have Retsyn (scientific sounding ingredients were very hip at the time, even if they were complete BS.)
   • Benefit:  People will want to kiss you.
     

   So now we’re going to learn…

   How to write a great headline.

   “How to write a great headline” is not a great headline. The words I chose there, “great headline,” merely describe a feature. According to the teacher, a great headline reveals a benefit.

   So here’s a second stab. How to get people to read your ad/email/article.

   Ding. We have a winner.

   You try it now. Use your product or service. Notice its features. It might be shiny, powerful, scalable, reliable, user-friendly (always hated that term), 100% natural, made in the U.S.A., grown on a tropical island, cheap to buy or free to try.

   All these things might be good news, but they’re not benefits and therefore, not headline material. They’re features.

   Features are duller than dull. Your job as a great marketing writer is not to begin the story by telling me about the shoes soft supple leather. I don’t care. Tell me they feel good on my feet. Now I’m listening.

   Get out your sharpest pencil now.

   Try it….

   How to ________________________________ .

   Stick a benefit in there, a reason to care.

   Well done.

   Class is almost over.

   I want to thank you again for trekking back in time with me. Now, here’s the lesson I learned on that day in 1986 and share with you just 27 short years later.

   Fill in the blank that follows “how to” and you have your unique selling proposition.

   And it gets even better. You may have your headline too. Think of how many headlines begin with those two words.

   “How to” is the formula of formulas. It’s not a creative or unique headline writing technique, but it’s great bait bound to hook readers. It’s why we read non-fiction. We want to know how to do something. Don’t fight it.

   And so then, with media stardom and world domination in mind, you unleash the creative juices. You work on writing a better, more unique headline than “How to (blank). Ideas should come. If they don’t, you have a killer fallback position with “How to (blank). It’ll do the trick.

   So it works like this.

   Dateline: 2013. In addition to contributing educational (and opinionated) articles like this one to sites like this one, I actually sell my time and talent as a copywriter, creative director and content marketer. As such, I need to help clients cut through the crap and establish a clear USP, and then, bake tasty headlines based on it.

   When I ask clients, “what’s your USP?” you might not believe how often the room goes silent.

   Know what I do? I head for the whiteboard, uncap the marker and write those two little magic words. I say we’re going to fill in the blank first and then get to the creative part second. No “how to” statement, no go. It’s that simple.

   Now, here’s one more interesting little headline writing secret I’ve discovered. If the time-tested “how to” feels worn out and cliché, I offer an easy alternative.

   When you’ve filled in the blank with an effective benefit, you can go back and strike the words “how” and “to.” What you’re left with is a headline that starts with a verb.

   Check it out…

   How to finish your blog post with a memorable last line.

   Strike “how to.”

   How to finish your blog post with a memorable last line.

   Ta-da:

   Finish your blog post with a memorable last line.

   Works every time.

   This will be fun. Treat the comment section below as your whiteboard. Resist the temptation to feature a feature. Leave a comment that is: “How to [benefit of your product].” Thank you for playing.

   ]]> &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/comment-page-1/#comment-60321">Those are very useful tips, yet simple but seems to work ...</a> <i>by Anna Pham</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/comment-page-1/#comment-60152">[...] Feldman echoes that exactly about being a media star by ...</a> <i>by Top 5 Posts on Writing Stunning Headlines - Week #19 - Malhar Barai</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/comment-page-1/#comment-60151">[...] Feldman echoes that exactly about being a media star by ...</a> <i>by Top 5 Posts on Writing Stunning Headlines - Malhar Barai</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/comment-page-1/#comment-60105">Thanks. Deliver value, consistently, and the success shall come.</a> <i>by Barry Feldman</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/comment-page-1/#comment-60038">I like your article, I want to become a successful person in ...</a> <i>by yepi6</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/how-to-write-a-headline-and-become-a-media-star/#comments">Plus 2 more...</a></li></ul></div><h3 style="clear:left;padding-top:10px">Related Stories</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/all-positive-all-the-time-is-positively-boring/">All Positive All the Time is Positively Boring</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/lean-in-women-are-their-own-worst-enemy-in-business/">Lean In: Women are their own Worst Enemy in Business</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/bombing-coverage-could-change-social-media/">Coverage Of Bombing Suspects Could Change Social Media</a></li></ul> http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/40957723/0/socialmediaexplorer~How-to-Write-a-Headline-and-Become-a-Media-Star/feed/ 7 http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/ http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/40919053/0/socialmediaexplorer~How-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/ http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/40919053/0/socialmediaexplorer~How-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 10:00:25 +0000 Nichole Kelly http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=20910 &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/comment-page-1/#comment-60272">Certainly some important points there. Great stuff ! I just ...</a> <i>by Allen Borza</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/comment-page-1/#comment-60110">It all starts with sales and marketing 101. Which says to focus ...</a> <i>by Patrick McFadden</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/comment-page-1/#comment-60018">By: May 09 – Top News on Digital Strategy &#124; Digital Strategy News</a> <i>by May 09 – Top News on Digital Strategy | Digital Strategy News</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/comment-page-1/#comment-60015">thank your post, it helped me a lot.</a> <i>by yepi6</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/comment-page-1/#comment-59978">I would like to see more posts from guest writers, especially ...</a> <i>by Dara Khajavi</i></ul></div><h3 style="clear:left;padding-top:10px">Related Stories</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing-training/applying-general-knowledge-to-specific-needs/">The Trick Is Applying General Knowledge To Specific Needs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/">Will Thinking Beyond Social, Ruin Social</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/lean-in-women-are-their-own-worst-enemy-in-business/">Lean In: Women are their own Worst Enemy in Business</a></li></ul>

   Editor’s Note: Today’s post comes all the way from the UK via our friend, Michael Truby, Outreach Executive for Oxford based SEO company SEOptimise.

   As a marketer striving to make your mark in this competitive world, you’re probably constantly looking for solutions to help you devise the most innovative marketing program.  One that is also quick, has greater reach, and lowers cost would make great business sense too.  As such, using the web to reach customers has become central to modern marketing. Within this online world, email marketing and more recently social media are two tools that have emerged as ones wielding considerable power and influence over customers.

   Channels available to the ecommerce marketer

   The always-on nature of the Internet has created a number of new ways to reach potential customers with offers, deals and promotions designed to tempt them into making a purchase from you. The rise in smartphone adoption has also created a number of additional opportunities, ready to be exploited for creating more sales.

   Email

   The staple mode of advertising in the Internet age, email remains popular with both marketers and consumers. Research published by the IAB found that 66% of consumers actually like to receive email messages from brands.

   The rise of the smartphone has given email marketing a new lease of life. A recent survey from Adobe found that 79% of people use their smartphone for email – incredible considering only 78% said they used their mobile for making calls!

   Many smartphone owners admit to using email features on their phones to “pre-screen” messages, allowing them to focus on important mail when they get back to their PC. However if the recipient can be tempted into opening the message, the chances of actually making a purchase is also greater.

   As such email is an essential and welcome component of any marketing campaign.

   Social media

   Social media has become an unstoppable force, providing another point of contact between brands and their customers. It has also become a great way to get customers to repeat your marketing messages for you. Each social channel has its own rules of etiquette and engagement which marketers need to bear in mind as they reach out to customers.

   Facebook

   With a reported 1 billion users, Facebook offers businesses a potentially enormous audience for brand messages. For the greatest returns however, marketers need to craft messages so that consumers “like” it enough to share with their own circles of influence. Brands are best using Facebook to promote new products and services because there is no way of accurately targeting deals based on specific customer preferences.

   For the greatest success, brands need to exercise plenty of creativity to capture and keep the customer’s attention. One of the best examples of Facebook being used to engage followers like never before was Heineken’s “One like, one balloon” campaign.

   The premise was simple; for every “like” that the official Brazilian Heineken brand page received, a green balloon would be inflated in the office. The Heineken staff would then post videos periodically showing their progress. Come the end of the day, the office was filled from floor to ceiling with balloons and Heineken had engaged 12,600 new Facebook followers. Once part of their “stream”, Facebook was able to push marketing messages to an increased follower base, spreading their message even further.

   Over the course of the next 12 months, Heineken recorded a rise in Facebook fans from 1 million to 1.65 million, with a corresponding rise in brand awareness and a marked uptick in sales. The promise of something novel and entertaining may take some careful planning, but turning a like into something tangible is something any business can apply to their own Facebook campaigns.

   Twitter

   Popular with the 18-34 demographic, Twitter makes communication between people and brands instantaneous. However built on a broadcast-type basis, Twitter is also best for general announcements and link sharing designed to pique curiosity and encourage click throughs (just like an email in fact!).

   Last year American Express unleashed the viral marketing potential of Twitter by creating a new loyalty scheme for their cardholders. In return for retweeting brand messages containing specific hashtags to their followers, cardholders were rewarded with couponless discounts which were applied automatically to their credit card. The customer benefited by receiving something, such as a free coffee at McDonalds, and American Express got some free coverage for their brand and offers.

   Early this year American Express took things one step further by introducing hashtag purchasing for their registered users. By tweeting #BuyAmexGiftCard25 for instance, the cardholder can automatically purchase a $25 iTunes gift card and bill the purchase to their American Express credit card. Often these hashtag purchases are at reduced pricing, providing an added incentive for customers to continue promoting American Express. American Express benefits by encouraging customers to spend on their credit cards – on which their core business relies.

   The key to the success of the American Express Twitter campaign is again down to turning an intangible, a tweet, into something of physical value – a free coffee or a purchase discount. Although American Express has enormous purchasing power, any business can, with some thought, create their own intangible-to-tangible promotions to encourage their customers to become brand advocates.

   Pinterest

   Seemingly out of nowhere, Pinterest has gathered over 25 million users since its official launch in 2010. Designed to focus purely on sharing visual elements, Pinterest lends itself to best to use by businesses with tangible products to promote. As with other social networks, the goal is to encourage users to see and share your content, acting as a hook by which others can be lured back to your ecommerce site in order to make a purchase. Pinterest also has a distinctly unbalanced user base, particularly in the US, with women making up the majority.

   Although Pinterest has courted controversy for the ease with which users can share copyrighted materials, British airline BMI decided to use the platform to help promote their flights. Pinterest users were invited to select six photos from a collection of 45 supplied by BMI and “pin” them on their interest boards. At the end of each week, all of the users who had repinned the matching “winning” image were entered into a draw to win free flights. There were 3000 entries within the first two weeks of the competition.

   The campaign was cheap and easy to set up, and helped BMI grow a following on Pinterest, and turn followers into advocates. The images were supplied by BMI leaving users nothing do but click their “Pin It” button, ensuring absolute simplicity and raising the chances of images being shared. The Pinterest Lottery concept can be applied by virtually any business with the assistance of a handful of high quality images.

   There are of course other social media channels such as Tumblr and Google+ which may prove to be of interest depending on your business niche. The same rules apply to each however:

   • Messages should be crafted for re-sharing by customers to their own networks
   • Messages will be generic as personalisation in this broadcast medium is impossible
   • Customers should be encouraged to interact with your brand via their chosen medium – answering product questions publicly will help raise awareness with other users too
   • Adopt a softly softy approach and listen more than you broadcast to avoid turning customers off your message

   SMS

   Despite feeling decidedly outdated, text messaging remains extremely popular with people in the UK and is therefore a legitimate communications channel for marketers. The case of SMS spammers Christopher Niebel and Gary McNeish shows the power of text message marketing, making up to £7000 per day.

   For legitimate businesses however, great care and attention is required to prevent SMS marketing from becoming unwelcome. Best practice would suggest that customers be asked to opt in to mobile marketing as it has the potential to be one of the most intrusive tools, turning a potential customer into a never-customer very quickly.

   The Hilton hotels chain has implemented an SMS campaign in conjunction with Visa, rewarding customers for joining their loyalty program. When spending on their registered Visa card, customers receive up to 2 special offers each week in the form of a text message sent to their mobile handset. The more the customer spends, the more rewards they accumulate in their Hilton Honors account which can be converted into hotel stays and other goodies.

   Again, the key to the success of the Hilton Honors scheme is the ease with which customers can receive and redeem offers. Although Hilton’s promotions cannot be shared or rebroadcast, customers are made to feel as though they belong to a privileged elite, encouraging them to spend – the overall goal of any promotion. The entire system has again been designed to be simple and effortless, increasing the chance of customer uptake – an essential consideration for any business looking to undertake a similar SMS marketing campaign.

   Reduce friction for increased impulse buys

   The array of communications tools available to marketers provides plenty of opportunities to tempt consumers into making impulse buys. The rise of the smartphone and the immediacy of connection afforded by the technology also means that there is less friction from message to purchase. Amazon is set to introduce “in app” purchasing across multiple platforms (Kindle, iOS and PC) in coming days.

   “We’re passionate about making game developers successful, and we’ll continue to build services that make monetization easier and remove undifferentiated heavy lifting from developers,” Amazon Games director Mike Frazzini said of the development. Essentially they want to make it easier for customers to make a purchase.

   The idea is to reduce the steps required for a customer to make a purchase, thereby reducing the number of opportunities for them to back out of the transaction. As people respond to marketing methods, regardless of the channel used, the follow-on process must be quick and simple to use for the best results.

   Regardless of which messaging method you choose to adopt, the keys to increasing temptation for ecommerce customers are:

   • Make offers relevant and compelling
   • Use analytics to target specific customers with specific deals wherever possible
   • Make the path to purchase as frictionless as possible to encourage impulse buys and prevent abandoned carts
   • Adhere to the etiquette of your chosen medium at all times to ensure a continued good relationship with customers.

   If you can get those in order, your ecommerce marketing efforts your customers should be tempted!

   About the Author: Michael Truby is the father of one, a big football (soccer) fan & player and he is an outreach executive for UK based SEOptimise, specializing in email communications. His previous experience includes account management & customer-centric roles. Visit his website, follow him on Twitter or connect with him on LinkedIn.

   ]]> &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/comment-page-1/#comment-60272">Certainly some important points there. Great stuff ! I just ...</a> <i>by Allen Borza</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/comment-page-1/#comment-60110">It all starts with sales and marketing 101. Which says to focus ...</a> <i>by Patrick McFadden</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/comment-page-1/#comment-60018">By: May 09 – Top News on Digital Strategy &#124; Digital Strategy News</a> <i>by May 09 – Top News on Digital Strategy | Digital Strategy News</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/comment-page-1/#comment-60015">thank your post, it helped me a lot.</a> <i>by yepi6</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/comment-page-1/#comment-59978">I would like to see more posts from guest writers, especially ...</a> <i>by Dara Khajavi</i></ul></div><h3 style="clear:left;padding-top:10px">Related Stories</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing-training/applying-general-knowledge-to-specific-needs/">The Trick Is Applying General Knowledge To Specific Needs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/will-thinking-beyond-social-ruin-social/">Will Thinking Beyond Social, Ruin Social</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/lean-in-women-are-their-own-worst-enemy-in-business/">Lean In: Women are their own Worst Enemy in Business</a></li></ul> http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/40919053/0/socialmediaexplorer~How-to-offer-your-ecommerce-customers-more-paths-to-temptation/feed/ 5 http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/ http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/40897621/0/socialmediaexplorer~Wediko-GivingTuesday/ http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/40897621/0/socialmediaexplorer~Wediko-GivingTuesday/#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 18:00:28 +0000 C.C. Chapman http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=20869 &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60241">Thank you for this informational article. I concur on many of ...</a> <i>by Yepi Friv</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60239">Your gift for original informative content is best on this gif</a> <i>by Friv 4</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60234">I took to alittle degree any to admit your content. i created a ...</a> <i>by Yepi</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60055">I merely must tell you just how you've written a great and ...</a> <i>by Y8</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60004">I wish you would always do a good job for you.</a> <i>by kizi2</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60003">the information provided is very good article, we need to pay ...</a> <i>by yepi6</i></ul></div><h3 style="clear:left;padding-top:10px">Related Stories</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/spark-givingtuesday/">SPARK &#8211; #GivingTuesday</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/amirah-givingtuesday/">Amirah &#8211; #GivingTuesday</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/raising-a-reader/">Raising a Reader &#8211; #GivingTuesday</a></li></ul>

   As a father, whenever I see children hurting it hits me in my soul. That is why five years ago when I first learned about the amazing work that Wediko was doing they got my attention. Next thing I knew I was joining their Board of Directors and now know first hand how passionate of an organization they are. You might not know, but May is National Mental Health Awareness Month and this week is dedicated towards raising awareness for mental health issues in children. You might also not know that 15 million American children have a diagnosable psychiatric or learning disorder? What is even scarier to me is that less than half of them will ever get the help that they need.

   

   What better time to share the message about Wediko and all that they do? Wediko responds to the needs of children who face repeated obstacles to development due to social, emotional, behavioral, and learning challenges. They partner with children, families, schools, and the community to offer a continuum of flexible and multidisciplinary programs. Not only do they have The Wediko School and home based solutions, but they also have a summer program at their beautiful camp in the woods of New Hampshire. They’ve been doing all of this and more since their formation in 1934. Last year the day after I returned from a trip to Ghana, I took part in their first ever stair climb fund raiser. We raised over $18,000 and it has now become an annual tradition.

   I’ve first hand seen the transformation in the children from around the country that take part in their programs. It is dramatic and heart warming to see. Don’t just take my word for it. Read and view some of their success stories to fully appreciate the mental health issues that children are facing today and how Wediko helps them. Right now Wediko is gearing up for their annual Century Ride where cyclists of all skill levels can raise money while riding from their New Hampshire campus to their downtown Boston offices. They also have a Boston Marathon teamthat runs to raise funds.
   Donations are always appreciated, but as with any organization like this, they also love you taking the time to raise awareness for them and their work. You can find them on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and read their blog. Wediko.org contains photos, stories and more details about everything they stand for. Please take a moment to share this post with others and if you know a child in need, consider letting their family know about it as well.
   ]]> &#160;<a title="View Comments" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/#comments"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/comments20.png"></a>&#160;<a title="Follow Comments via RSS" href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/feed/"><img height="20" style="border:0;margin:0;padding:0;" src="http://assets.feedblitz.com/i/commentsrss20.png"></a>&nbsp; <div style="clear:left;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/#comments"><h3>Comments</h3></a><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60241">Thank you for this informational article. I concur on many of ...</a> <i>by Yepi Friv</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60239">Your gift for original informative content is best on this gif</a> <i>by Friv 4</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60234">I took to alittle degree any to admit your content. i created a ...</a> <i>by Yepi</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60055">I merely must tell you just how you've written a great and ...</a> <i>by Y8</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60004">I wish you would always do a good job for you.</a> <i>by kizi2</i><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/wediko/comment-page-1/#comment-60003">the information provided is very good article, we need to pay ...</a> <i>by yepi6</i></ul></div><h3 style="clear:left;padding-top:10px">Related Stories</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/spark-givingtuesday/">SPARK &#8211; #GivingTuesday</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/amirah-givingtuesday/">Amirah &#8211; #GivingTuesday</a></li><li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/raising-a-reader/">Raising a Reader &#8211; #GivingTuesday</a></li></ul> http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/40897621/0/socialmediaexplorer~Wediko-GivingTuesday/feed/ 6