Erik Qualman's Blog, page 678

Use Social Media to Cash in on Holiday Retail Marketing Efforts

[image error]With the holiday season just around the corner, many retail marketing execs are likely polishing up their efforts to make it a winning campaign for their companies in hopes of offsetting a sluggish economy.

With that in mind, what are some things for retail marketers to keep in mind as they put the finishing touches on last-minute efforts to secure more return on investment (ROI) this holiday season?

Among the things to consider are:

The holidays are the busiest, and oftentimes most profitable, period of the year. They also offer the opportunity to rebound and end the year strong, especially when businesses struggled earlier in the year. It behooves  retail businesses to make a strong push in the final few months, with social media being a great tool to utilize;
Are you using things like photos and Facebook and Twitter to promote your products and/or services? For many small retail businesses, an image is worth a thousand words. By using images, not only can you provide customers and potential customers with a visual of what you have to offer, but you can help them a little better in their decision-making process by seeing the item/s from the comfort of their homes;
Promote key hashtags on Twitter. Assuming you are using Twitter to promote your company, be sure that you engage in properly created hashtags to connect with consumers. For example, if you're running a Christmas contest where you will be giving away gifts, use words like #Christmas, #gifts, #contests #coupons etc. to attract a larger audience on Twitter. These will be the same consumers who are using certain keywords to dial-into a particular subject of interest;
Put conceivable goals in place. While we all know the 2011 economy has been less than stellar at times, you still need to have goals in place for end-of-the-year retail marketing. It is important prior to kicking off the campaign to measure your goals and what can be conceivably accomplished this holiday season. While looking to attract more business, break things down as to specific needs;
Include social media as part of broad campaign. Using social media is important, but it should be a portion of a more complete campaign. The advantage with social media is that its ability to be real-time is unsurpassed by anything else. If you have sent out a flyer, advertised in a newspaper, magazine or on radio/TV, you can use the social media campaign to highlight this;
Lastly, have fun with the campaign. Given it is the holidays, many people will find themselves stressed out with all they have to do. It is important to make the holiday marketing campaigns light and fun for the consumers, not something considered stressful. When all is said and done, the social media campaign should entice people to come to you, not drive them away.

As retail businesses nationwide look to craft the right message this holiday season, take the time to make sure your marketing message is utilizing social media to the fullest extent.

If it is, you may find yourself unwrapping some pleasing financial numbers come 2012.

Photo credit: Blackdiamondpr.com

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How To Earn Cash from Your Friends

Have you heard of a site called Social Loot?

In a nutshell how it works is that businesses pay people to post promotional messages on their personal Facebook walls.  People posting earn money when their friends click on the links, and the business pays for those clicks.

This is how you can earn money from your friends…  what do you think?  Did you know that your friends might be pimping products to you in the hope of getting you to click and earn them some money?

I heard about this today from a client of mine, they said it didn't work particularly well for them, which isn't a great reason to rush off and use it as a business.  But it's bigger than that I think, it's not about the fact that it didn't work, but more about the trust and the relationship you have with your friends.

I have culled my Facebook friends massively from over 250 to 87, because I decided that I wanted it to be more about quality than anyone off the street.  If I found out that one of my friends was promoting/recommending products and/or services to me and being paid to do it I would not be a happy bunny.

I trust my friends to give me good advice, to help me, and be there for me, not use me as a way to make money.  I see the relationship as one of openness and where I can relax and be me, and not have to worry about being sold to.

On the other hand you may be thinking, well you don't have to read it/click on it – true.  But you know those annoying people who post rubbish on Facebook and you couldn't really care less about what they say?  You tend to hide their posts….

Will you sign up to Social Loot?

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Five Handy Google Plus Tips for your Personal Brand

Still hesitant about whether or not to utilize Google Plus? I know I was, but considering I'm a Google Fanatic with my Gmail, Docs, Calendar and more…and not to mention a complete digital geek…I had to join. Here are a few tips I've learned along the way from my own ventures and others who have shared…
1. Profile Picture

As we all know not all social networks make it easy for you to upload your avatar pics. Google Plus can have issues with resolution when uploading. Suggestion: make sure the picture you choose has higher resolution so it's more clear.

2. Manage your Contacts

So many people, so much to share, so much hassle? Google Plus allows you to make it simpler so you can share with whom you want to share, when you want to share. For example, you can make one group for family, one for close friends, one for coworkers, and another for industry experts. Therefore you can share pictures of your dog with friends, while your blog post with others in your industry. Or whatever suits your fancy.

3. Sharing with Relevant Contacts

As stated above you can decide how you group your contacts so its easier to share what you want to share. Here I am emphasizing that this is great so you don't share irrelevant content to all groups. For example your close friends may not care about a post related to your job, or vice versa. If you want the right exposure for that cool "tip post"….share with those who will actually respond and comment and be excited to read it. Share and share relevantly.

4.  Cutting Through the Noise

Too many items in your feed? Tired of seeing certain people post about the same old thing? Turn down the "volume" and cut through the chatter. Mute a post from the notification window. Simple, and way more manageable.

5. Take it on the Road

Want to keep up with your Google Plus circles but not at your computer as often? There's an App for that! You can also get notifications via text on notifications.

Bonus!

Want to know how it measures up against Facebook? Check out this sweet Infographic…

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Who are you? A google plus fan? Still an Avid Facebooker? Or both?

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How Do We Make an Event out of Social Media?

[image error]In a day and age when social media is the rage for both businesses and personal matters, it is safe to say that too many people still do not entirely get it.

If you're a business owner who is looking to increase your social media presence in order to better connect with both current and potential customers, there are means by which to go about that.

First and foremost, define your goals for social media and why you need this networking tool to further your business along.

So, still baffled as to why using social media to promote events and more is right for you?

Take a few moments to study these tips and then see how you can employ them in your business:

Create event pages on major social networks like Facebook and Twitter. For your company's event page, you want things like the event's date and locale, along with contact information. Also make sure you provide registration details so interested parties can sign up;
Use location-based tools – With location-based sites like Foursquare, you can encourage event attendees to check in on the day event, while offering free goodies. With some good PR, you are likely to encourage those checking in to encourage co-workers and friends to do the like;
Know your hashtags – When using Twitter, hashtags carry a lot of weight. Let's say you are a catering business and you want to promote a big event you're working. Be sure to use the hashtag in your marketing efforts so that your marketing team and others can spread the message using a simple word or words;
Utilize images, video and more – Whether you are using Twitter, Facebook or another social media tool, the addition of images, videos and such are great accessories to promote your event. While you can and need to use words to promote events, images, videos etc. can leave the viewer with a much more powerful impression and interest in your event;
Employ a blog – A blog can be a powerful tool, but only if it is quality content/images and most importantly, is regularly updated. Blogs can be a great means by which to engage with both present and potential clients, providing them with valuable information and even deals, coupons, etc. Before utilizing a blog, make sure it will be worthwhile and fresh;
Drive viewers to your site – Different tools such as YouTube (www.youtube.com) and Ustream (http://www.ustream.tv/) are great options that offer embed codes one can simply copy and paste into a company web page. By doing so, you can help drive inbound traffic and hopefully have visitors share the imagery with people in their social networks.

When you use social media to promote your events, you increase the chances of more people attending the event, more people learning about your company, and in the end, bettering your return on investment (ROI).

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10 Simple Steps to Social Media Success

1. Identify Your TARGETS. These should relate to your key business objectives. Be as specific and quantitative as possible (e.g. "100 new engaged Twitter followers a week," "$5,000/month in new online sales," etc.)

2. Emotionalize Your BRAND. This is what makes your business venture so special/unique/worthy of advocacy. It should be a few sentences and should resonate with your target demographics, so that they are inspired to share it with others. Remember, hit people with your features and benefits, and you win their minds. Infuse them with your cause or your mission, and you win their hearts.

3. Identify Your AUDIENCE. Be as specific as possible relative to psychographics and demographics. Spend some time listening to what people are saying about you online. The simplest way to do this is to Google your company or use the native platforms on social media like search.twttier.com or the search features on Facebook, LinkedIN and YouTube.

4. Optimize Your WEBSITE/BLOG. Your website is your primary destination for consumer call to action. It should be simply and elegantly designed around the one thing you want your visitors to do. Make sure you've installed Google Analytics tracking code to your website (visit: www.google.com/analytics [http:// www.google.com/analytics] for more information), and study your visitor behavior. Then, start making improvements to your site around what you're seeing in the data.

5. Establish Your SOCIAL OUTPOSTS. Set up accounts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIN. Once you've done that, download Hootsuite (www.hootsuite.com) and you can monitor yourbrand, listen to relevant conversations, engage your communities and update your social platforms all from one simple dashboard.

6. Engage EMAIL MARKETING. There are hundreds of millions of people who don't like social media, but almost everyone uses email. Email marketing ranks high in terms of conversion. Con- stant Contact and VerticalResponse are two excellent services that can get you up and running in no time. Make sure to integrate your social media with your email marketing and invite people to the party, e.g.: "Engage with us on Twitter for real-time customer service." "Get exclusive deals on our Facebook page."

7. Establish a TRADITIONAL MEDIA PLAN. If you play your cards right, the mainstream media will cover your story. Create something buzzworthy about your business. Do something crea- tive and unique. Then reach out to local newspapers, television and radio and tell them why their viewers would love to learn about your business. (Not why you deserve to be on TV, but why their viewers would love the story. Big difference.)

8. Start a SEO PROGRAM. You want to optimize your website and blog content for your desired keywords, so that when people type in: "best darn left-handed scissors" into Google, Bing and Yahoo, your left-handed scissor website shows up. Spend some time learning more about "Search Engine Optimization." Now, I don't think you're a dummy (heck, you bought this book; you're brilliant!), but an excellent resource for SEO is: Search Engine Optimization For Dummies (For Dummies, 2010).

9. Measure Your RESULTS. Google Analytics is an industry-leading analytics program and it is easy to sign up and install into your website and blog.

10. Continually HONE AND REFINE Your Campaigns. The best results come from letting the data drive decisions. If a certain platform is generating results, channel time and resources to that platform.

Eric Harr is the Founder & President of Resonate Social Media, a leading, integrated social media agency in San Francisco. He is the award-winning host of "Your Social Media Minute" on CBS News. And, he is the best-selling author of the new book "The REAL TRUTH About Social Media: 8 Timeless Truths Uncovered & 8 Monumental Myths Revealed" available now on Amazon.com.

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How Far Would You Go?

With brands trying to make meaningful connections with consumers online, most take their efforts to Facebook  Twitter, while others go a bit further. These brands are not only thinking of creative and unexpected approaches to connect online, but are taking their efforts offline.

The first example that comes to mind is Morton's Steakhouse surprising Peter Shankman with a free steak dinner upon his flight's arrival.  Peter jokingly tweeted @mortons that he would love them to meet him at Newark Airport with a porterhouse steak. The Morton's team spotted this in time and acted quickly, sending one of their employees off to meet him at the airport with a steak dinner to go. Sure enough, Peter spotted the waiter dressed in a suit toting the Morton's bag, and the surprise went off without a hitch. He was completely shocked, overjoyed and documented the entire event on Twitter and his blog.

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A stunned, Peter Shankman with his Morton's steak dinner

With many factors that could have gone awry, it was a big risk for Morton's, but one that paid off with Peter sharing the story of Morton's efforts on his popular  blog and to his 112k+ twitter followers. This act was timely, well-executed and created a lot of positive conversation about Morton's that week.  That extra effort not only earned them Peter's loyalty, but generated new interest in the restaurant as a caring, generous company.

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That makes for one loyal customer!

 

Another  example of unexpected surprises online and off comes from Nokia. As the global sponsor of Social Media Week this past September, they wanted to connect people online and in person to brighten people's days. Through some clever use of Twitter, they tracked conversations of those using the local social media week hashtag to give away free Nokia phones, organize tweet-ups, and perform random acts of kindness. These ranged from sending someone a get well soon kit who tweeted about their tooth infection, to sending a personalized pizza with a handwritten note to one of their tweet-up attendees.

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A surprise pizza sent to someone from their Tweet-up

That level of attention to detail and personalization is scarce today and makes a big impact on each person.  Nokia also performs random acts of kindness throughout the year, even handing out umbrellas to New Yorkers on a rainy day. By engaging with people online, then reaching them offline with personalized surprises, it strengthens that connection towards the brand and helps create positive word of mouth for Nokia.

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Nokia giving away free umbrellas to New Yorkers caught in the rain

 

Finally, Klout has taken its service offline by offering Klout Perks- surprise gifts sent to users who sign up for a Klout profile. While some are still online offers, most are physical packages sent in the mail. As someone who doesn't receive that much mail, I find it very exciting to get a surprise package-  instantly tweeting it and share the news on my blog, which is exactly what the sponsor of the gift intends. The thing that works about Klout Perks, is the gift is something relevant to your interests, since they're based on the area you demonstrate a specialization through your Klout profile.

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My first Klout perk: A zip-up hoodie from FOX

What examples have you seen of brands going above and beyond in the online and offline space?

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Social Media Case Study: Music (Hoodie Allen)

Situation:[image error]

Two college buddies, both big music fans, decide to collaborate on one last music project before they become working stiffs.  Both were graduating seniors with corporate job offers waiting for them.  For RJ Ferguson and Steven "Hoodie Allen" Markowitz, what came next was completely unexpected.

Action:

They ended up releasing their song free online; it was titled "You are not a robot".  They targeted music bloggers who were active on The Hype Machine (www.hypem.com).  This was a collection of music bloggers that aggregated mp3s via blog posts.  Users were then able to rate the tracks based on a top 100 type format.  "You are not a robot" made a meteoric rise to number one.  They received 60,000 listens over night, trackable since the song was being hosted in the SoundCloud.

Since they had seen such great success, they decided to continue at it in their spare time.  They went to work at their corporate gigs but collaborated on a full length mix tape titled "Pep Rally" on evenings and weekends.  Some of the actions they took:

Built a web page with one click access to download the music.  They utilized their own independent server to ensure that massive amounts of site traffic would not crash the web page (including bandwidth to allow for faster downloads of songs).  Included prominent social media links to ensure ease of sharing.
Identified bloggers with a large social influence and sent them each a personalized email with some info on the project and directed them to the newly built web page
Developed a Hoodie Allen Facebook account (not a fan page).  Utilized socialmention.com to listen and then Hoodie engaged with those that showed interest in the music materials now circling the web.  Usually in the form of a hello, friend request, or thank you.
Interacted with their fans and followers.  By responding to as many posts and tweets, they were able to connect on a personal level with fans.

Result:

In the following months, Pep Rally was downloaded in excess of 500,000 times.  Hoodie Allen was offered (and accepted) a contract with the Morris Agency to be his booking agent.  He now shares the same booking agent as Kanye West.  They recently released "Leap Year" as their second independent album, utilizing a similar approach to "Pep Rally" but have included video content on YouTube as a way to augment the impact.  As well as emailing tracks out to influential vloggers.

Hoodie Allen now performs upwards of 15 times a month, selling out at venues across the country.  The corporate day job?  History.

Key Learnings

Peers are 10x more influential than someone trying to sell to you.  Harness the power of those with a passion for your industry
Target those already separated into a group, music bloggers in this instance.  Relevant content is still king
Listen and engage with your consumers, especially those with a large social influence.  Connection and interaction is key.
Provide easy access to your product, often follow the 'one-click' rule

Check out Hoodie Allen's new album at www.hoodieallen.com.  Special thanks to Scott Shelton, Owner at www.WaitingToExplode.com for helping provide some insights into this social media success story.

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Android App Alerts Individuals You're Getting Arrested

[image error]What will they think of next?

In the latest technology offering, Quadrant 2 has unveiled a new Android app, "I'm Getting Arrested," which alerts one's family, friends and even lawyers if necessary, that they're about to go to the local jail for booking.

Quadrant 2 Inc., which makes software for worldwide financial institutions, non-profit arts organizations, household names and mom and pop stores, indicated that the app got its inspiration from a true "Occupy Wall Street" incident.

For those who have not been following, the "Occupy" events have been taking place in both the U.S. and around the world for at least a month now. They are designed around the idea that too many corporations and individuals are greedy, along with the notion that middle income and poor individuals are paying the price for such actions.

So if you're planning on attending the "Occupy" events or think you might find yourself in another situation where you could potentially face arrest, here is how the new app works.

The individual simply enters a custom message and some SMS-prepared numbers to contact should they be arrested. Within moments of being placed in the back of a police car, kick in the app and hit the bull's-eye for a couple of seconds. From that point on, the message will be funneled to the appropriate individuals.

One interesting nugget coming out of this new app is that it has not been partnered with either Facebook or Twitter to date. With a built-in social media component, one would think the app would reach out to countless others, including family and friends.

Whether or not a social media component will be added remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, the new Android app will not pay your bail.

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Did a Company Actually Listen to Its Customers?

[image error]Could it actually be that a company took the time to listen to customer feedback and in the process learned something?

California-based Netflix informed the public this week that it will move away from its recently announced plan to separate its DVD service and market the brand through the Qwikster name.

Announced barely a month ago, the original plan drew the ire of countless customers who not only reacted negatively to price increases, but that the service would be split up.

Using both email and its blog to make the announcement, Netflix said that it will instead continue utilizing the "one Web site, one account and one password" through the Netflix brand with both streaming and DVD-by-mail services. The news will undoubtedly be well received by most subscribers who did not like the idea of being burdened with a pair of separate accounts. Oh, wait, many subscribers won't even know of this plan because they are now former subscribers.

The original announcements, first involving price increases, then the proposed dual accounts, led to a dropping of more than 50 percent in Netflix shares since July.

In comments from Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings, he noted that "Consumers value the simplicity Netflix has always offered and we respect that. There is a difference between moving quickly – which Netflix has done very well for years – and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case."

As for the price increase, Netflix went on to state on its blog, "While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes."

The price changes dealt a major blow to the Netflix subscriber list, with countless members dropping their accounts. In fact, Netflix was expected to have around 24 million subscribers at the end of the quarter, a loss of close to one million or so from the previous quarter.

Many of those former subscribers utilized social media in recent weeks to announce their discontent with the company, and in many cases, that they would go elsewhere for their movie rental needs.

The blog regarding keeping the services on one account was tweeted more than 2,000 times as of Monday morning (Oct. 10), showing the reach and power of social media sites such as Twitter. To show the interest in the news through social networking, the previous three Netflix blog posts regarding movie and television announcements drew less than 50 tweets combined.

Whether or not Netflix is truly done with its changes remains to be seen? One fact is in play, however, the public spoke, many of whom used social media as their communication device, and Netflix listened.

Now wouldn't that be a novel concept if more and more businesses did what the customer requested?

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Did a Company for Once Actually Listen to Its Customers?

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[image error]Could it actually be that a company took the time to listen to customer feedback and in the process learned something?

California-based Netflix informed the public this week that it will move away from its recently announced plan to separate its DVD service and market the brand through the Qwikster name.

Announced barely a month ago, the original plan drew the ire of countless customers who not only reacted negatively to price increases, but that the service would be split up.

Using both email and its blog to make the announcement, Netflix said that it will instead continue utilizing the "one Web site, one account and one password" through the Netflix brand with both streaming and DVD-by-mail services. The news will undoubtedly be well received by most subscribers who did not like the idea of being burdened with a pair of separate accounts. Oh, wait, many subscribers won't even know of this plan because they are now former subscribers.

The original announcements, first involving price increases, then the proposed dual accounts, led to a dropping of more than 50 percent in Netflix shares since July.

In comments from Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings, he noted that "Consumers value the simplicity Netflix has always offered and we respect that. There is a difference between moving quickly – which Netflix has done very well for years – and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case."

As for the price increase, Netflix went on to state on its blog, "While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes."

The price changes dealt a major blow to the Netflix subscriber list, with countless members dropping their accounts. In fact, Netflix was expected to have around 24 million subscribers at the end of the quarter, a loss of close to one million or so from the previous quarter.

Many of those former subscribers utilized social media in recent weeks to announce their discontent with the company, and in many cases, that they would go elsewhere for their movie rental needs.

The blog regarding keeping the services on one account was tweeted more than 2,000 times as of Monday morning (Oct. 10), showing the reach and power of social media sites such as Twitter. To show the interest in the news through social networking, the previous three Netflix blog posts regarding movie and television announcements drew less than 50 tweets combined.

Whether or not Netflix is truly done with its changes remains to be seen? One fact is in play, however, the public spoke, many of whom used social media as their communication device, and Netflix listened.

Now wouldn't that be a novel concept if more and more businesses did what the customer requested?

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