Jimmy Gilmore

03.10.10

Social media policies and why you need one

Just because you’re not ready for social media marketing doesn’t mean you can put off establishing a social media policy for your business. Your employees and customers are already active on social networks, sooner or later they’ll engage. Article continues on the Kilgannon Says Blog.

Technorati Tags: Business, Internet Marketing, social media

03.9.10

23 Linkedin Tips. Or a B2B Linkedin cheat sheet

Editors Note: This is another post in my series of cheat sheets. These were initially created to aid a client but I thought they would be useful for others and decided to share them here.

Would you believe Linkedin is one of the top traffic generators for our agency blog and our corporate site? Why? Because we’re a business services company that creates, among other things, business to business marketing. Linkedin is where our customers are so we actively target the site. Many people view Linkedin as a job networking site but with the addition of groups and upgrades over the past several years, its influence has risen significantly. Especially in the B2B relm where there are not always a lot of other opportunities to network.

1. Create a custom url and use it in your email signature. You can do this in “edit profile.”
2. Have all your employees create URLs too and add them to site bios and their outbound email.
3. Consistently update your profile and let colleagues know they are expected to do so too.
4. Status updates. Do them weekly. This will ensure your status shows up in Linkedin’s weekly email.
5. Consider linking your company’s or your personal Twitter account account to your profile. This can show up as your status update.
6. Update your company page on Linkedin. Do it every month or so. This way, you’ll be sure not to miss any additions or edits by someone else.
7. Some Twitter apps allow you to update your status and read those of connections. This makes it easy to update frequently and keep tabs on your network.
8. Add your company blog or your own blog to your profile.
9. Join lots of groups.
10. Participate by commenting on posted news items and participating in group discussions.
11. Start a group discussion and reply back when someone comments.
12. Add news articles in groups and offer insight in your link description.
13. Use applications to raise your profile.
14. Use in-messages to contact prospects you feel strongly you can help.
15. Answer questions in your area of expertise to demonstrate thought leadership.
16. Ask a question to learn about your prospects and maybe even draw one out.
17. Post your blog articles in groups and ask a question to encourage commentary.
18. If your product’s user base is large, consider creating a group for it. For example a search for Java yields 1,000 groups.
19. Multiply your efforts by having key team members participate as well. Why have one person working all day at something when 10 people working ten minutes a day will reach far more people. This is the essence of social networking.
20. Use searches to learn more about your market. Wonder how many engineers working in a particular field there are on Linkedin? Type it in the search box.
21. If you’re in sales, consider upgrading your account and to actively target individuals. It’s a valid compliment to information services like Hoovers.
22. Consider banner advertising on Linkedin if you favor a more passive approach.
23. Use “Events” feature to promote your company’s events. This is more social than than using something like Evite where only other invitees will learn about the event.

Note: Government workers, teachers, academics and some other fields that are not heavy users of Linkedin.

While working on this post Marketing Profs published this great article on Linkedin case studies. Well worth a read.

Technorati Tags: Business-to-business, LinkedIn, social media, Social network

03.5.10

Academy Awards and social media monitoring. Can we predict the future?

The academy awards is a bit of a popularity contest. Not as much as the Golden Globes, so it will probably be a little more exciting to see if there’s any predictive insight here.

I’m just going to stick with the big awards and pull a few charts and see if there’s anything real interesting to look at.

Let’s look at best actor. We have Colin Firth, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Morgan Freeman, and Jeremy Renner battling it out.

Analysis of the subject “Oscar Actor” tells us that Jeff Bridges leads the pack in sentiment and volume. Looking at buzz and trends, George Clooney is just way more popular – I’m going write this off as the Clooney factor. Colin Firth also has a wonderful sentiment score. But since I can’t ignore Jeff Bridges’ volume and sentiment scores combined, I’m picking Jeff Bridges.

Best actress is looking very Sandra Bullock: 92% positive sentiment and 23% of the conversation vs. just 14% for Meryl Streep – who would’ve thought a year ago.

The Best Director Oscar gets interesting. I think most people were predicting James Cameron had an easy win. He has 19% of the conversation but his ex wife, Kathryn Bigelow has 17%, well within a margin of error in my down and dirty search.  And Cameron’s sentiment score of 89% positive (never mind keywords like “evil”) is below Bigelow’s 94%. Now this is where it gets real squishy, analysis by subject reference is slightly better for Cameron but the sentiment of the posts for Bigelow is far better. Got that? That means people are saying nice things about Cameron more often but their articles are more positive about Bigelow when discussing best director. What do the pure buzz numbers telling us? Searching Cameron and Bigelow within Oscar, there’s just more talk about him. So if you think it’s a total popularity contest it’s Cameron and if you think it’s about a little bit more of an emotional decision go with with Bigelow. I’m going with Bigelow.

Now for Best Picture. I would have thought this category would clearly favor Avatar. It does not. It actually looks a lot like the best director analysis – but closer. So I’m going to have to go against my instincts and go with Hurt Locker. This one is just so close.

What are the Vegas Odds? Are the gamblers smarter?

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges by a big margin 2/15

Best Actress: By a decent margin it’s Sandra Bullock

Best Director: Katheryn Bigelow over James Cammeron

Best Picture: Avatar 4/7 over Hurt Locker 6/5

I’m not pretending to gain any serious insights here, just having a little fun to see if how the blogosphere feels about things and to see if it has any relevance to how the academy votes.

Editors note: Jimmy is not a professional analyst. His wife, who is, will sometimes remind him that what he thinks is a relevant deviation may not really be all that relevant at all. So don’t go betting the cow on anything I have to say. I hope you enjoy the oscars.

Technorati Tags: Academy Awards, Oscars, Social Media Monitoring

03.2.10

The all-powerful customer and why you shouldn’t “friend” her.

In previous posts, I’ve talked about relationships in social media and why I think “friends” is the wrong way to think about a brand’s relationship with their customers.

The old relationship model wasn’t broken. It’s just evolved as customer contacts have moved to new environments. And this has made some relationships a little weird. Kinda like when your preacher starts showing up at your favorite watering hole or your boss joins your tennis team. It’s not like you can yell at your boss for missing a shot – well, maybe you can, but I wouldn’t.

To stick with the boss analogy for a moment, just because your boss is on your tennis team doesn’t mean she’s a tennis buddy all of a sudden. You’re still dependent on her for your income. The power dynamic hasn’t shifted. Only the place where your relationship takes place has changed.

It’s the same with brands and their customers. You’re not peers or friends. Good marketers understand fundamentally that the customer has the power in the relationship. And with Web 2.0, including social networks, that power has been magnified.

In friendships we give and we get. We expect reciprocity. We share fun and heartache. We ask favors and we give them.

Customers and clients? We give to them and we thank them for their business. We then ask them if we could please bust our asses for them again. And maybe, pretty please, could they mention us to a friend.

Things get confusing when relationships shift to new areas – people either get used to the changed dynamic to them or they opt to end them. Traditionally, Facebook has been about social friends. (For some people, who’s jobs are in relationship sales maybe it has always been about business.) As the Web 2.0 world evolves and Facebook and others create strategies for the future, businesses will have to constantly adapt to changing relationships online. But brands will need to walk a tight rope – engaging customers in new places without forgetting who’s boss. This will require constant study of customers, relationships, and technology.

Technorati Tags: social media, Social network

03.1.10

Shattered. It’s time to re-imagine.

I don’t know a single person in my profession of advertising, or in an ancillary field, who isn’t working much harder for the same or less money then they were a few years ago. Most industries have been hit real hard. But marketing and advertising professionals got it right in the teeth.

Marketing departments are now expected to function with far fewer people and also handle a proliferating assortment of media types. Plus they need to be expert on Web strategy, analytics, ROI reporting, project management, get social media and Web 2.0 figured out and keep multiple vendors on task and on budget with less then half the work force they would have had five years ago. And did I mention the dwindling budgets?

Those dwindling budgets are being passed on to the agencies where staffs have been decimated and pressure to preform and workloads have risen. A friend reported an 80% cut where he was working.

Agency vendors and media companies are now in dire straights. Many have even folded.

There are now thousands of talented people on the street. Many of the people I know who’ve lost their jobs were among the best. Unfortunately their salaries lined up perfectly with what the bean counters needed reduce the hemorrhaging. I’ve been caught in that situation before and am so thankful it’s not me this time.

Many of the people left manning the marketing departments and agencies are working at unsustainable rates. Yeah, I know it’s cool for creative types to sleep under their desks when they’re juniors. I did it too but a whole industry can’t continue working at a short-term pace forever.

It doesn’t look like lost workers are going to be replaced anytime soon either. Economists expect slow job growth over the next decade, it may even take 10 years to reach near full employment again. And fears of a double-dip recession are keeping staffs ultra-lean.

So is everyone just supposed to suck it up for the next decade? Many managers are choosing that strategy. And it may seem like the safest.

But I suspect it’s not in the long run. If the value was truly there in our current mix of services and the industry has not changed for good, then the money would have come back as the stock market has recovered. But it hasn’t come back to the traditional marketing channels.

In fact, digital is seeing some growth and Web 2.0 and social are seeing significant growth. Remember when newspapers ran columns in the business sections making fun of the internet companies like Facebook who couldn’t turn a profit? Yeah, times really have changed.

Well, we’ve all gotten leaner and meaner. We’re working smarter.  We’re employing project management best practices and using software to optimize our work flow. Yet none of these are good enough to restore balance.

What’s really needed is a complete re-imaging of the industry. We need to break down the all the assumptions that we’ve had about how our business works.

That ad agencies shouldn’t take responsibility for digital strategy and analytics.

That marketing is different than customer service.

That digital agencies can’t do branding.

That PR shops should function in a vacuum.

That corporate communications are somehow different than marketing communications.

That marketing and sales teams can function separately.

That virtual agencies just can’t work on branding.

That branding happens at an agency or marketing department in the first place.

That crowd sourcing will only hurt our industry.

That advertising should always be created in integrated campaigns.

That push messaging can’t also be pull (anyone old enough to remember The Great International Paper Airplane Contest knows better).

That a digital agency shouldn’t produce a TV spot.

That a creative departments should exist.

That an ad agency shouldn’t be responsible for the messaging and building of a corporate website.

If any of the above seems risky or scary you’re right. But if you don’t take these points seriously, you may find yourself in a rather scary place before this economy has recovered.

Technorati Tags: Ad Agency, advertising, Business, marketing

02.25.10

26 Facebook Fan Page tips for business users. Or the Fan Page cheat sheet.

This is the second post in a series of tips on using social media for business users. Note: This post assumes you already have your strategy set and by no means should you be engaging your customers without one in place.

1. Remember main goal of the page and ask yourself before posting if the post is on topic.
2. Leave a little room for fun. Your fans will enjoy it if it doesn’t overwhelm the reason they fanned you in the first place.
3. Delegate a project ownership, if you don’t have time to post continuously.
4. Give the page a username for unique and memorable Facebook URL (facebook.com/”brandname”). Go to facebook.com/username – select your page from “My Pages” and then apply for username. MAKE SURE YOU’RE NOT SELECTING FOR YOUR PERSONAL PAGE. Then double check, because you can’t change it. Maybe even have someone watch you do it, really.
5. Don’t forget there may be a larger community discussing your category, you can join and post there, too. Feel free to post respectfully.
6. Monitor daily at best. Weekly at worst. Set alerts so you know when someone has written on your wall.
7. Facebook should only part of your online presence. Use it to capture fans and then drive them to deeper content on a blog, connect on Twitter, and promote video on YouTube. But, most importantly, they need to be moving toward business goals.
8. Use other online vehicles to recruit Facebook fans including links on your homepage, ads, promotions and other social media sites.
9. You are only a small reason your fans are on Facebook. Be respectful and don’t over-promote or you risk losing them.
10. Put fans first. Consider what is valuable to them and link to it or post about it.
11. Consider promoting others on your page who have done something significant in your area.
12. Listen, converse, energize, help, support, or embrace are six things you should ask if your post do.
13. Keep things as positive as possible.
14. Promote offline and integrate with other marketing materials. (Example: Put that unique URL on your ads.)
15. Respond to comments.
16. Thank people for becoming fans.
17. Ask people to use the “share” button if it’s a particularly important post.
18. Ask fans what they think about a subject or post, when appropriate.
19. Consider using apps to give your fans something interesting to do.
20. Promote real-world events. This connects online and offline.
21. Facebook isn’t just for kids anymore – consider that FB is getting more mature, less edgy. Don’t treat fans like kids.
22. Put a fan box on blog and site.
23. Take notes. Make an Excel spreadsheet with stats. (Don’t rely on Facebook to store your data.)
24. Occasionally use Fan Page as focus group and consider giving a prize for participation.
25. Track fans. See if you have people leaving or coming. Try to figure out why.
26. Frequency is key. You can’t ignore fans and expect them to stay interested.

02.24.10

The love spectrum. Or I love Illy Coffee but I don’t want to marry it.

This series begins here.

I really love my Illy Coffee. Really,  I do. But I’m not a fan of it on Facebook and I don’t even know if I could follow it on Twitter – and I follow a lot of people. Heck, if I could get a coupon or something for the simple act of following Illy maybe I would.

Am I really saying this, a guy who’s job it is to advise brands on how to use social media?

Yeah, I am saying it and it’s something that needs to be said with all the Koolaide sipping going on.  Just because someone has an affinity for your brand it doesn’t mean they want to engage it during their spare time – if they actually have spare time. I haven’t had any of that since my first daughter was born.

People have priorities and it’s a good idea to think about where your brand fits into that list of priorities before expecting an entire demographic to be it’s friend. And then share this relationship with their friends and also generate content for you for free.

Sure, brands that illicit passion can have often have a core energized base of believers who want to interact and discuss the brand – like Harley owners or Mac users. And technical products often have user groups. But if you market a packaged good or a service, you probably shouldn’t expect social media to do the same job your push marketing has been doing. And maybe “friend” isn’t what you want your customers to be in the first place. (Think critic, member, or advocate.)

Technorati Tags: interactive, social media, Social network, Web 2.0

02.22.10

27 tips for business tweeters. Or a Twitter cheat sheet.

A few months ago a client asked for a cheat sheet on how to uses social media tools. Here’s more or less what I gave them on Twitter. See something important missing, let me know and I’ll add it. Note: This list isn’t a substitute for a strategy.

1. Follow some good tweeters to get a feel for it and find a voice you feel comfortable using. There is no one right voice.  @chrisbrogan, @postachio, @comcastcares, @delloutlet and @lancearmstrong are examples of popular tweeters using very different styles.
2. Understand frequent users will never visit your twitter.com page. Your brand/identity must be in your communication or where you send users.
3. Use Bit.ly or other tool to shorten links and collect data.
4. Use CoTweet or HootSuite to optimize your workflow and track analytics.
5. Engagement is earned with time and by providing value. You must be dedicate significant time to get any value from it.
6. Be helpful is the Golden Rule of social media.
7. Use Twitter lists to manage the information flow.
8. Add to conversations that are already happening instead of expecting them to come to you.
9. Re-tweet often – people like to be patted on the back. Add a comment/value to your re-tweet.
10. Try and reply to @ messages, but you don’t have to reply to everyone
11. Try and thank people for re-tweeting.
12. Ignore the “What are you doing?” question and answer more interesting questions like, “What interests you right now? What did you just discover? What are you passionate about? What is something positive you can share?”
13. Frequency is key. Don’t feel bad for tweeting the same message again if it’s valuable.
14. A message will be viewed on someone’s Twitter page or Twitter client only if they happen to be looking at it at the time when you Tweet. And you probably have a lot of competition for attention. Again, frequency is key.
15. Tweet about other people you respect – no one likes anyone who only talks about themselves.
16. Give followers somewhere to go, some news, or something to do or read. There’s no interaction without action.
17. People will follow your tweets if you provide them what they find valuable. Usually that’s news, inside information, entertainment or deals.
18. Use search engines or Twitter client to create searches on relevant topics and your brand.
19. Use Google Alerts.
20. Find other users with similar interests and follow them, get a feel for what they’re doing and engage them.
21. If possible, have more than one tweeter.
22. Obviously, be ethical and transparent.
23. Let people know you’re on Twitter by putting your username on e-mail signatures, web sites, blogs and offline communications.
24. Try and follow people back who seem legitimate; this gives them the opportunity to direct-message you…which could be important.
25. Don’t be boring. Don’t just Tweet PR language or links to press releases. This is not a push medium.
26. Don’t treat it like a broadcast mechanism for advertising.
27. Don’t read every tweet; you’ll go mad.

Update: If you found this list useful, check out my Facebook Fan Page tips for business users.

Technorati Tags: interactive, marketing, social media, Twitter, Web 2.0

02.21.10

Fat guys now just fat guys online. Or where did all the hot-nerdy-online-women-with-male-personalities go?

Not so long ago, back when Second Life was the next coming, the common belief was people didn’t want to be themselves online. They wanted to be someone better, someone a different sex, someone with a better job and more money or all of the above.

A lot has changed since then. Living online has become common place – it’s no longer just introverts living fantasy lives. Heck, my retired step mom is on Facebook everyday.

The interesting thing here is now that everyone is there, people online are starting to play by similar rules they use offline. Like when the wild west was finally settled and women moved out, people are finally starting to behave like a polite society on the Web. In fact, there’s a new study that says social network profiles are down right accurate to the offline personality.

And you know, it makes a lot of sense once you think about it. Can you imagine:

Finding a job a with a fake Linkedin Profile?

Keeping up with friends on Facebook using an avatar of the opposite sex?

Or sharing media with family online with a silly screen name?

It’s no longer a free for all online. And that makes it more exciting to me.

Technorati Tags: interactive, social media, Social network

02.19.10

Social Media good energy vs hippie crystals and social media posers

I’m going to date myself. When I was in college, in the late 80s, The Grateful Dead were having their second hey day. People were sick of hard-core punk and were ready for an acid flashback and some Quaaludes. This meant too many bongs and tie dies on campus owned by neuvo hippies with hacky sacks and little pouches with crystals in them.

I never really got the crystal thing but their owner’s swore they were creating good energy for the people who wore them. Maybe they did, and they only reason they got busted for dope dealing was the negative energy the dancing-bear bumper stickers on the back of their VW buses were sending the cops.

There were other hippie types though that weren’t just going to Dead show’s expecting positive vibes simply for showing up with the right clothes. Instead of putting faith in crystals, they got involved with causes they believed in, art or helping others. For them, the hippie thing was more than an excuse to smoke pot.

20 years later, the positive hippies are still doing things like fighting for social just or helping teach children with disabilities and not finishing up their latest detox like their poser counterparts.

They have all now abandoned their crystals for iPhones and along with half of the corporations on earth are now attempting to use social media to bring good energy into their auras.

Just like strapping a crystal necklace around your neck, expecting social media to passively bring good energy your way is a silly idea. Social media hates posers. But embracing the positive aspects of social media and being active in the culture in an intelligent way can bring positive change over time. Just don’t ignore you karma.

Technorati Tags: hippies, social media, Web 2.0

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• Social media policies and why you need one
• 23 Linkedin Tips. Or a B2B Linkedin cheat sheet
• Academy Awards and social media monitoring. Can we predict the future?
• The all-powerful customer and why you shouldn’t “friend” her.
• Shattered. It’s time to re-imagine.

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