This is something of a public service announcement. I can't tell you how many times I've heard clients/companies say "we'd like you to make a viral video for us." As Greg Verdino would say, "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little."
People, people. It just doesn't work that way. You can't will something to be viral, any more than you can tell an author to go write a bestseller, a director to direct a blockbuster, or an 8 year-old to be a major-league ballplayer.
Virality (if there is such a term) lies in results. It means that if you've created something worthy of passing along and comment, it will be more likely to reach epic heights on YouTube or whatever other way you're choosing to measure it.
For companies looking to create the next viral video sensation, David Meerman Scott recommends creating 10-20 videos in the hopes that maybe one of them will work. If you look at the how many videos actually reach viral status, he's probably right - if not even a little conservative.
I hate to tell you, but you're probably not going to have a viral sensation on your hands. The best you can do is to create content that matters to your customers and prospects and give them the ability to share that content around.
Oh, and the image above? It's taken from the January 1973 issue of National Lampoon magazine. The original caption was "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, We'll Kill This Dog."
Related posts:
"A Mind-Blowing New Advertising Model"
If You're Going to Do Viral, Do It Right
Research + Entertainment = Wildly Successful Campaign
Psst! Want the Secret to Viral Marketing?
Update (7/16 at 2:45 p.m.):
This video was released by the guys at JibJab just 6 hours ago, and currently has bout 2,200 views on YouTube. I think it has qualities that will make it go viral - it's universally funny, it's topical, and you can pass it along. Let's track the numbers and see how they do over the course of the next week.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Why I Won't Make A Viral Video for You
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Corporate Blogging - How the Pros Do It
Has this ever happened to you? When you're at a conference that offers many tracks, all of the really interesting sessions are at the same time. It happened a number of times to me during SXSW. Only I typically missed all of them, due to making personal connections and discussing topics of mutual interest with colleagues in the hallway.
The good news is that on my final day, I didn't have to make that decision. The first session of the morning was one that I was really looking forward to. Called "The Future of Corporate Blogging," it was a panel discussion between Lionel Menchaca, Mario Sundar and Kami Huyse, moderated by Mack Collier.
There's no question that this was a worthwhile session - with two living case studies of corporate blogs that really work, rich examples of how to do things well, and some of the very individuals who made it happen. Add in a consultant's view of measurement and tools, and an insightful moderator who operates in this field, and you've got a great mix. So, on with the summary!
An introduction from the experts
Lionel is the Chief Blogger at Dell's blog Direct2Dell and Mario is the Community Evangelist at LinkedIn - and these are two great examples of corporate blogs. Both were founded in response to a particular problem that needed to be solved; the prevailing thinking was not "we need a blog." Note that. The blogs were part of an overall communications strategy; blogging itself is not a strategy.
Kami is the principal at My PR Pro and is widely respected in the field of communications measurement. She rightly observed that if you want to figure out where to connect with your customers, you need to know something about them: namely how they communicate. How and where are they most likely engage with you? Do they use Facebook? Are they on Twitter? Do they read blogs? You should also find out what they need. When you meet needs in the place they're most likely to be, you'll find a wealth of engagement. Then you can decide what to measure.
A quick word about measurement
It seems like the holy grail of social media marketing is around measurement & metrics. I think it keeps coming up because there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Invariably, at the beginning of every campaign or project, you should be asking yourself "What would we consider a success?"
The panelists offered the following suggestions as a rough set of guidelines of measuring your blog or establishing a set of social media metrics for your efforts:
Kami actually put together a number of links on her del.icio.us page for reference:
http://del.icio.us/kamichat/sxsw2008
You've got a blog. So what?
Mack raised an excellent point: customers probably don't care that you have a blog. How do you make it relevant?
Dell makes it relevant by adhering to a social media framework:
Listening, analyzing, taking action. The first thing Dell realized is that there were lots of conversations going on about Dell on the Web. In fact, when the corporate blog started, about 50% of the comments that came in were negative. But, thanks to their openness and action, now 80% of the comments are positive.
Lionel noted that taking action is the most important step, and Dell has addressed this in a couple of ways. First, they've empowered every employee to apologize. Think about it. A huge corporate behemoth has stepped away from its usual scripted customer "service" language and allowed the company to become human for it a bit. That's a huge step right there.
Next, Dell established a way for customers to share product development ideas through IdeaStorm. A core team looks at new ideas that come in, assesses them, and then figures out a way to incorporate those into the business. Dell has received about 9,000 ideas from the community, with over 600,000 comments. An example of one idea is getting Dell to integrate Linux. To show you how effective it was, Dell put out a survey and in 8.5 days received 100,000 responses from customers. Now customers are aware that they can influence product development at Dell and it's resulted in the development of a community of loyalists.
LinkedIn wanted to help users better understand the site and the technology.
Mario noted that the company's vision was to establish conversations - a "playground of ideas" - on the site. The best way to teach customers how to use the site was to show them how to use the site, through demos. The next best way is to provide them with excellent customer support.
Overall, the panelists agreed that relevance lies in how easy you make it for your customers to interact with you. A surefire way is to create multiple touchpoints that meet the goal of reducing the amount of time between the identification of a problem and a solution. Sometimes you can find answers in unexpected areas. Despite our focus on the new shiny "2.0" things, forums are still a great place to mine for information, feedback and problems.
And in order for social media strategies to take root, the panelists noted, a company's culture needs to change. It's a step-wise process that can take years with layers of tools, technologies, and management that get more complex the longer you're in the game.
But not all is lost, even if you're in the most change-resistant environment. You don't need a fully-formed answer before you respond to concerns you identify by listening. Just be human and reach out - think of it as a conversation, where you add incremental value along the way and learn more about the person, the problem and the processes along the way.
And if there are any doubtful managers or executives in your company, sometimes seeing these conversations helps to dispel the myths/fears around negative comments. It's essential to demonstrate this on an ongoing basis, especially in a large organization, in order to show how direct communication with customers really matters.
New tools
Each of the panelists was asked about which new tools they'd recommend trying out.
Mario recommended trying Twitter as a customer service tool, for monitoring and response. He also had this cool idea: try setting up a livestream (video) as a response to users. He suggested that you use whatever tools you can find that allow you to answer problems or questions in the shortest amount of time.
Kami observed that blogs can be a platform for all of these tools. In some ways, she said that a blog could almost become a home page for the customer, where they're offered a more rich experience. The only caution she noted was that we should be aware that expectations are changing: as you give more, customers will expect more.
And Lionel reminded us that internal collaboration should not be ignored in this process. Piecing all of these activities together within the enterprise is essential, in order to capture all of the value. The best advice for this was "Get it off of email." If you establish a wiki, you'll be able to share more information with everyone within the organization.
Questions
The panel had time for a few questions from the audience.
1. How do you keep your personal brand separate from your corporate brand?
Mario referenced Hugh McLeod's post about the porous membrane - step out of the way and let users speak directly with product development, to keep each separate. That way, you can maintain your own brand and let the people at your company do what they do best.
2. How do you help employees understand the value of & support a corporate blog?
Dell established an internal blog (behind a firewall) at the same time they established Direct2Dell, with the same structure & setup, in order to capture value internally. LinkedIn encourages employees to read and contribute to the corporate blog.
3. What's behind the fear of blogging in the corporate world?
On the surface, there's the fear of getting flamed by negative comments and not knowing what to do. But you know what? It's happening anyway. It's better to capture these conversations and show how you can interact with your customers.
An example is when Dell launched its blog on July 5, 2006. About a week later, Lionel wrote a post about the now famous flaming laptop. He said that within minutes, got calls and visits to his cubicle with questions like, "What the hell are you doing?" He rightly observed that people were talking about it and it was all over the Internet already; he was acknowledging it and joining the conversation. It led to 1.3 million battery recalls, but more importantly, it also led to a documented process for interacting with customers.
As I noted at the beginning of the post, this was a great session and I'm really glad I had a chance to attend. If the conference organizers recorded it, I'll be sure to share that here.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Creating Social Strategies
I'm sitting in on Charlene Li's session on Creating Social Strategies at SXSW. Here's a brief overview of her very thoughtful and comprehensive presentation.
Straight off, Charlene defined "groundswell" - the social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.
According to Charlene (and from my own experiences), most companies are aware of this, but don't truly understand - they just don't get it. So how to go about getting a social strategy planned, created and adopted within an organization?
A word about radicals/revolutionaries
Are you going to be a radical like Thomas Paine? He sparked the American revolution, then continued to foment revolution in France. He became so radical that no one respected him any more.
Or a revolutionary like Thomas Jefferson? A more respected leader, even though he was a staunch defender of Thomas Paine - he worked with others, put plans into place and brought ideas to life.
POST - the process to create a social strategy
- People - assess your customers' social activities
- Objectives - decide what you want to accomplish
- Strategy - plan for how relationships with customers will evolve
- Technology - decide which tools/technologies to use
The ladder of participation (see below) is made up of creators (18% adults/39% youths), critics (25%/43%), collectors (12%/14%), joiners (25%/58%), spectators (48%/66%), inactives (44%/26%)
Age is a major driver of adoption. For a more detailed breakout of these numbers and fuller descriptions of each category, see Charlene's original post.
Objectives
Traditional roles are changing under the groundswell, from more unidirectional to bidirectional. Some examples:
Research --> listening
Marketing --> Talking
Sales --> Energizing
Support --> Supporting
Development --> Embracing
How are revolutionaries doing it?
- BlendTec - used YouTube videos for the now famous Will It Blend series. George Wright, BlendTec's VP of Marketing spent $50 to get this started.
- Dan Black, director of recruiting for Ernst & Young used Facebook to connect with students. But he did so in a different way. Lots of questions were asked on E&Y's wall, and he wrote back in a very personal tone. Realized that this was one of the few channels to have a direct conversation with students.
- Gary Koelling & Steve Bendt at Best Buy decided to start BlueShirtNation for Best Buy employees. It turned out to be a great support system for employees.
- Josh Bancroft at Intel - created an internal wiki for employees: Intelpedia. He got it done quickly and without the usual corporate red tape. Demonstrated that people were already using it/contributing to it by the time management got back to him to discuss the idea.
How to get it done
Lionel Menchaca at Dell.com was a product tech guy, had been there for 17 years - he was knowledgeable and he was a connector. He realized that customer service + product development + blog = getting Dell out of hell. He got direct support from Michael Dell to keep going, personally address concerns & negative comments. Very quickly, the culture within Dell changed:
- In the course of 2 months, they took customer suggestions and launched a new product.
- DellShares - the Investor Relations team of Dell is now blogging.
Find & support your revolutionaries
- Find the people who are most passionate about developing relationships
- Educate your executives - teach them about the benefits, and actually get them involved in them
- Put someone in charge - someone who has authority
- Define the processes & policies - yes, the legal department may need to be involved, but it's best to outline it up front
- Make it safe to fail
Final thoughts:
- Make it stick with frameworks
- Start small, think big
- Make social strategy the responsibility of every employee
- Be patient - cultural change takes time
Update: If you'd like to see Charlene's slides, they're available on SlideShare.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Generation Y and Your Business
Call them "Gen Y," "Millennials," "Echo Boomers," or whatever you want - just be sure you call them, because they've got something to say.
I was listening to episode 79 of HBR Ideacast, Managing Generation Y, in which Tammy Erickson, who writes the Across the Ages column for the Harvard Business Review, was interviewed. As I was listening, I realized that in addition to the baby boomers, this is a generation that is potentially going to change the way you're doing business - or at least thinking about doing business. There are implications to marketing, internal communications, social media, and organizational behavior here.
In the podcast, they referred to the "self-assured, overly emotive, text messaging" generation who are "happy to tackle the big jobs, and they'll do it with confidence." This should be welcome news to any manager's ears, but I think this should be tempered with an acute awareness of the idiosyncratic traits that this generation brings with them. Let's look at them one by one:
Impatience/Immediacy
I've often said that this is the generation that wants to be an intern on Monday and the CEO by Friday. I admire that kind of drive, but I also wrinkle my nose at the hubris that accompanies it; there seems to be a lack of willingness to put in the time and gain the experience necessary for such a role.
According to the Erickson, this is deeper than just youthful impatience; she says they're likely be impatient for their entire lives. She posits that during their formative years, Gen Y has been bombarded with inexplicable, sudden and tragic events such as 9/11, Columbine and Virginia Tech - and that they've decided that they need to live life now.
I think it goes a little deeper than that (perhaps she was limited in time on the show). Look at the way the cable news networks have evolved over the last 10-15 years. Whether it's padding their daytime programming with Iraq war I or II, the O.J. Simpson chase & trial, or the latest celebrity overdose, all of the news outlets are catering to a need (?) for more information, now. When you take this institutionalized view of news, information and service, it's not too much of a stretch to think that Gen Y is going to expect fast results in the workplace.
But at the same time, I think we need to keep in mind that this desire for results and action may come at a price: the inability to think strategically. Granted, there are very few (if any) strategic planners who are 20-somethings. But if they have this nurtured aversion to longer-term thinking, there may be trouble ahead.
Let Me Tell You What I Think
By and large, this generation has grown up in a peer to peer world, where they're used to openly sharing ideas and not being shy about saying what they think. Odds are that in the workplace, if they have an idea that will benefit you, they'll share it - with managers, directors, and even CEOs.
Technology
This is the generation that€ was raised on text messaging. They look up on email as an outmoded style of communication. To them text messaging is personal, immediate, and it gets results. They can't understand why it takes us
16 emails deep in a chain to come up with a time to schedule a
conference call. To them, it's a no-brainer: text, boom, done.
In addition, TiVo, Facebook and other technologies lead them to doing things on their own time. We've been used to structure & scheduling, while they do things when time allows them to do so. Asynchronous behavior may become more prevalent.
our day-to-day lives, with internal communications, and possibly with
marketing.
Parents' Roles
Gen Y likes their parents; not surprising when these "helicopter parents" are involved in many aspects of their children's lives. While this can be incredibly annoying (and these kinds of parents should ease off, lest they tarnish their kids' reputations in the workforce), it does have one positive side effect: Gen Y has great working relationships with Boomers in the workplace.
There is no doubt that this generation will have a huge impact on the world. They're certainly ready for us. But are we ready for them?
What do you think? How have you experienced Gen Y in the workplace, either as a Boomer, a Gen X-er, or a Gen Y-er yourself? And what do you think the answers are?
Monday, February 04, 2008
3 Steps to Getting Your Blog Posts Noticed
I've got a social media lesson for getting your blog posts noticed: it comes down to timing & technique.
Last Friday, the early-morning news broke about Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo. You know the story by now. But I first caught wind of it on Twitter, then quickly found the news on the Wall Street Journal Online.
I was lucky enough to be up and working at the time - about 6:30 or so - and I quickly threw together a post that combined visual humor with a little analysis. With Google's ability to quickly index blog posts, I found that my post consistently ranked in the top 5 search results for "Microhoo" on Friday.
And today, I was rewarded with an interview request from a writer at TechNewsWorld. He said that he noticed my blog post and wanted to get some additional views on the Microsoft-Yahoo deal. He used my quotes in the article Blogosphere Crackles with Talk of Microsoft and Yahoo.
Here are the three components that I believe led to my post getting noticed:
- Timing is everything - be quick to pick up on major developments.
- Put your unique spin on it - in my case, it was to use humor, information, and opinion together, to appeal to and provide value to as many readers as might notice the post.
- Be considerate of your rushed readers - write catchy headlines that bring them in and when they're here, be concise as you make your points.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Keep the Tip(ping Point)
It's funny. Just yesterday, I got notified by two separate people - one of whom is my colleague Greg Verdino - about an article that criticizes the theory behind Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. One directed me to the Wall Street Journal's The Informed Reader post called "The Cast Against Marketing to 'Influencers'" while the other referred to the recent Fast Company article Is The Tipping Point Toast?
Gladwell's theory (echoed by Ed Kelly and Jon Berry in The Influentials) held that trends are influenced by a select few; word of mouth marketing efforts typically focus on those. But the articles mention that social networks are too complex to function like that, and that the influencer theory is kaput.
The reason it caught my attention is because both articles cite the research of Columbia University research scientist Duncan Watts. This is the same research I actually wrote about 8 months ago, in post called The Accidental Influentials. The concept was that ideas or trends can spread like a forest fire, and that it doesn't matter who applies the match - it's the conditions of the forest that make a difference.
There are two points I'll raise in connection with this.
In Social Media, Timing Is Everything
The first thing that struck me is that I hit upon this back in May of 2007. But the mainstream media is only getting to it now. Why? The topic is clearly in a field I'm interested in, so that might be one factor as to why I covered it early. The other is that I had initially heard about the study on a podcast. Given that new media is still struggling for recognition as a legitimate and viable channel, I'm not surprised it didn't make headlines then.
Watts is Wrong
As someone who works in the field of conversational/word-of-mouth/social media marketing, it should come as no surprise that I think Watts isn't quite correct when he claims that influentials aren't necessarily influential. I think that his research was flawed in that it only focused on email and a virtual setting, whereas now we have a variety of communications methodologies that account for the rapid spread of ideas: IM, video chat, and social networks of all kinds, to name a few. I won't go so far as to say he's 100% wrong - but then again, I don't think that Gladwell was 100% right either.
At crayon, we consult and advise on a variety of conversational marketing strategies that incorporate an element of influencer outreach (or "blogger outreach," as many call it). With the proper amount of time and attention dedicated to research, and using tools like Technorati and Alexa, it's fairly easy to determine who the major influencers are in any given segment. Where it gets difficult is figuring out how to interact with them. You need to know how each one communicates, in which social networks they participate, and on and on.
My Alternate Theory - The Boy Scout Analogy
I propose that a hybrid theory - Watts' and Gladwell's theories combined - makes more sense. We can agree that there will always be influencers, whether you call them A-listers, celebrities, or whatever. People will always look to these leaders and high profile individuals for cues.
At the same time, I think Watts is onto something when he uses the forest fire analogy. Yes, the conditions have to be right for an idea to spread. But he claims "any old match will do" to get it started. I don't think so. Someone might have wet matches or might not know how to strike one properly. It's the combination of finding the right conditions (social networks, communities, etc.) and applying the match (friends, members, followers, commenters, in those socnets & communities).
Once you've got the proper combination of communities and influencers and you understand the intricacies and nuances of how they work together, then you'll have the recipe for success.
As part of their training, the Boy Scouts have to learn how to make fires how to adhere to fire safety. Their official motto is "be prepared." I think the same should be said for marketers consider conversational marketing.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Planning vs. Tools
One of the most challenging things about social media, Web 2.0, or whatever you want to call this digital revolution in which we live, is keeping track of all of the tools, tips, and resources at our disposal.
The list grows daily, and with it, so do the predictions that many of these sites won't make it much past 2008. So that brings to mind a key question:
How much of your social media strategy is actually dependent upon these tools?
Put another way, Jeremiah Owyang warns, stop fondling the hammer and focus on the house. I couldn't agree more.
All too often, I've seen clients - at least those that are savvy enough to already be following the social media space - become fixated on a tool or a tactic. They come to us ready to execute a project centered around one particular site or tool. As Todd Defren so succinctly puts it, Beware the GMOOT ("Get me one of those!" - coined by Scott Donaton).
What's important is to step back and have them clarify (for themselves just as much as for us) what it is they're trying to accomplish. Once we understand the goal, we can draft the proper strategy. Then and only then is it reasonable to look for tools.
Now don't get me wrong - there are times when it's perfectly okay to come up with a new & innovative way to use a tool you're already using. But I'd argue that at that point, you've already outlined your goals and developed a strong stategy (You do have a strategy, don't you??).
But without the proper framing in place - the strategy & goals - you're going to have a house that simply won't stand; or at least one that won't fit together properly. What's more, if all of your solutions are tailored around technology and tools and not around a good solid plan, what's left for you if these providers suddenly shutter their doors in 2008?
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The Future of Business Planning
There's no doubt that newspapers are in a fight for their lives. What will the newspaper industry look like 5 or even 10 years from now? It's tough to say for certain, but it will almost definitely involve less paper and more online presence.
The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) just released a set of 66 predictions from newspaper executives that pertain to the future of their businesses. Here are just a few examples:
- Infotainment, with games, DVDs, tickets, samples and other non-traditional products becoming an increasingly important component of the media offering.
- Changing demographics, with more single households, older people and non-traditional families.
- Growing choice, with an infinite number of options making it hard to decide what products and services to buy.
- User-generated content that provides opportunities for self-expression and social interaction.
- Consumer power, where the customer is taking control over brands and information flows on the internet.
- Mobile devices becoming faster, smaller and user-friendly.
- The growing importance of social networks.
- Multi-channel strategies and the diminishing differences between types of news media.
What stood out to me is that a number of these trends are not relegated solely to the newspaper industry. I think much of what they've mentioned is also relevant to marketing executives across many sectors of the business world.
Information continues to explode and hyper-disperse at an alarming pace. Just last night, a client was opining that he just doesn't have the resources to put staff in every channel of communication that his customers use; it's too fractured.
Certainly the ultimate challenge for every marketing executive will not be how to participate in the myriad of new media channels (although that will be one ongoing concern), but rather which ones are the best to deploy resources against.
It would be foolhardy of me to make any channel predictions at this point, so I'll keep my judgment to trends that transcend any fads or sites that are currently in favor.
- Be flexible; people are becoming used to consuming information and entertainment when and where they like. The more options you provide, the more likely you'll be able to keep their attention.
- Be unique; even if you're only serving a small audience or customer base, you'll have a dedicated following that can grow into a cadre of brand ambassadors.
- Provide value beyond your own offering to promote loyalty. If you don't happen to have that truly unique product, consumers can get information or a me-too product from the next guy. Take a risk. Offer something that perhaps doesn't promote your product or service directly, but gives an unexpected additional value to your customer.
Image credit: Despair.com
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Psst! Want the Secret to Viral Marketing?
Viral marketing is like the weather: everyone's talking about it, but no one is doing anything about it.
You know why? Because you can't. That's right. You can't simply manufacture viral marketing. But don't tell that to some marketers. They're out there, practicing something akin to alchemy.
Think there's a science behind viral marketing? Or perhaps a secret formula? I think there's a bit of each, but they follow that famous saying by Louis Pasteur, "Chance favors the prepared mind."
While so many marketing efforts are more measurable than ever before, there are aspects to the practice that are still a combination of art and science. Good research trumps everything, but then again, so does common sense.
When it comes to "viral marketing" I think the secret sauce is simple: make it entertaining. If you know your audience, what they like and what will grab their attention, adding an entertainment angle to it (plus the ability to easily pass along the content) will make it viral. That's it. You may recall a mathematical formula I've used here before:
That's not to say it's going to work. Odds are, it won't. But this is the formula that has to be followed, in my opinion, if you want any shot at success. You don't just upload some half-ass video to YouTube and claim you've got a viral video. The 42 people who view it may think so, but I doubt your client or manager will.
Bottom line: you need to exercise good judgment, gut instinct, have some smart research insights, and know your audience. Come to think of it, this doesn't sound that different from traditional marketing, does it?
Thanks to Rohit Bhargava for issuing the challenge on this one. I hope I can bring these and other insights to Ad:Tech.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Presidential Candidates & Social Media, Part 2
A couple of months ago, I wrote about how effectively the presidential candidates were using social media as part of their campaigns. The conclusion, by and large, was that they were embracing it but that they were using it like any other paid media placement - as a one-way message, rather than as a conversation.
Today, I received a message on Twitter from Fred Thompson that his site I'm With Fred has been updated - it's the 2.0 version, according to the statement. This is somewhat interesting, since he's not a declared candidate yet. Having taken a look at his site, here's what I see that he's doing well.
The posts are all enabled with comments, del.icio.us tagging abilities, and Digg and Facebook links. This is now pretty much standard fare among all of the candidates, in addition to having YouTube, MySpace and Flickr accounts. Here are a couple of notable points regarding Fred:
You can get widgets for your site that contain headlines of the latest blog posts and that state "I'm With Fred." There are some alternative ones, like "The Latest from the Fredosphere," which sounds a little too much like The Godfather or "Connect With Fred," which is much more appealing to potential voters.
The other thing that's interesting is the URL of his site: imwithfred.com. I know it's supposed to be "I'm with Fred," but there's a whole generation out there - first-time voters, in fact - who will see this as "IM with Fred." It's a good thing that he's got a Twitter account, but if I were advising the team, I'd implore them to get a Meebo account and to make IM'ing a major feature of the site.
If I'm not mistaken, they ask for your IM address when you register there. They might be planning something yet.
This brings me to one final point. The CNN-YouTube debate has been covered extensively, so I'm not going to rehash it. The one thing that stuck out is the Snowman question. If you haven't had a chance to see it, here you go:
Now, this was a silly appearance but a great question. It undoubtedly highlighted how zany the Internet can allow people to be, but it also made the point that candidates need to take this space seriously. In fact, the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article called Snowman Video In YouTube Debate Chills Some Politicos, adding the subtitle "Brothers who created it are all the rage, but GOP doesn't entirely get it."
Boy, is that an understatement. Mitt Romney - even though he has a YouTube channel (clearly for push-marketing only) said "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman." Romney just doesn't get it. The questioner isn't as important as the question in this case.
By and large, the Democrats have been embracing social media and they've been doing a good job with it. Obama has raised millions of dollars online through social networking groups alone.
The Republicans' refusal to completely embrace social media reminds me of the way corporate America has been resistant while their customers are running circles around them. I've often said that those who ignore social media do so at their own peril. Conversations are taking place, whether they like it or not, and joining in will help them in the long run.
I predict that the GOP will lose the White House next year and it will be in no small part because of their lack of enthusiasm with regard to social media.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Starting a Podcast? Start Here
I recently wrote about an unexpected early success with a podcast that I'm producing. The subject matter is extremely niche - which is ideally what you want in a podcast. Think of it as "narrowcasting." The more specific and unique your content, the more likely it is to connect with your listeners.
Even so, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of downloads and subscriptions my podcast received. I have heard traditional media types trying to gauge the value of a podcast by asking about the number of listeners. While this can be impressive (or disappointing, depending on your expectations), I don't believe it fully captures the value of a podcast. If a traditional broadcast engages with only 10% of its audience - or if it only has a fraction of their attention - doesn't it sound more appealing to have nearly 100% engagement?
Today, I'd like to share some of the steps behind my podcasting success. These are not comprehensive; there may be many other ways to achieve solid results. But these are what worked for me.
I had been thinking about creating this podcast for 8 months and I could have launched it at any time, but I wanted to make sure I did everything correctly and did it well. Here then are some of the key factors to which I attribute success:
Patience & Preparation
It's tempting to just jump in and start a show because you've got the passion, you've got the knowledge and the technology is so easy to acquire. But don't let this throw you off, because if you haven't got a plan in place, you'll be susceptible to podfading. I know a company that wanted to do a podcast, but in their haste to "just get something up," they made the common mistake of posting a single episode and letting it linger on its own for six months. Big mistake. You'll never build an audience that way.
You should spend a lot of time thinking about what you want to talk about and figure out the logistics behind the process. Things to think about include:
Editorial Plan
There are many components to an effective plan, the first of which is an editorial calendar - what you're going to talk about and how often you'll produce a show. You probably have a lot to say about your subject, but it works best to put the major topics down on paper, so you can determine the order of the episodes. If you're going to produce an ongoing podcast, I think it's wise to have a six-month editorial plan in place.
If you're not ready to make a long-term plan, you might think about a short podcast series that is limited to say, 10 episodes. That way you're giving your audience something of value but not locking yourself into an eternal commitment.
Part of the editorial planning process is determining frequency - how often will you be able to record and produce your podcast? You should take into account how long each show will be, the editing time required, and how often you'd like your listeners to expect new content. There are some podcasts, such as For Immediate Release, that are produced twice a week; Trafcom News comes out every other week. Both are excellent shows that are worth your time, even though they're produced on vastly different schedules. Either way, you should set expectations for your audience as to when they can expect to hear your new episodes. Not everyone subscribes, so you want to make it clear how often they should be checking your site.
The point is: put a plan together that makes sense for you, tell your audience about it, and stick to it.
Format
There are plenty of excellent podcasts with a single host; there are also some very successful ones with co-hosts. As you think about how your podcast will work, you should take a personal inventory and determine if you can handle a podcast alone. If not, you might consider co-hosting it with a colleague who can provide additional perspective.
Then decide how each episode will work. Perhaps a straight narrative style will work for you. Or maybe you'd like to mix it up with interviews. Or an interview-only format. Again, it depends on the type of content you'd like to cover and the value you'd like to give to you listeners.
Whatever format you choose, it should support the content that you'd like to share and that is interesting to your listeners.
Branding
Whether you're producing a podcast for business or personal reasons, it should have a brand - that is, a distinct look and feel that connects on an emotional level with your audience. When people hear your show or when they visit the web site, they should be able to identify it immediately. This means you should have some non-generic graphics that reflect your show and music (if you plan to use any) that is consistent with your brand.
Podcasts by their very definition are episodic, which allows you to make a consistent brand over time. While you may work out the kinks in your first few episodes, over time you'll find a comfortable style and format that work for you. This includes certain "regular features" that you may want to assign to your show. One example is New Comm Road, hosted by Bryan Person. In it he has a very useful segment called "Tools of the Trade," in which he highlights some of the websites, applications and technology that his listeners should be aware of.
Fresh or Canned?
I recommend that you start by having a few episodes "in the can," or recorded by the time you launch your podcast. For certain topics, you can record some episodes that are timeless and can be aired at any time. Depending on your topic, you may want to have a show that addresses current events or trends, in which case you should be able to record and produce a show in fairly short order.
Examples of some time-sensitive shows include industry events, product releases and major announcements. Record an interview ahead of time and discuss the timing of the release with the subject; depending on the goal (building awareness, driving event registrations, promoting product sales, feedback, etc.), you can determine when it's best to air the episode. In particular, if you're airing an episode prior to an event, I find that it's helpful to have a follow-up episode in which you air comments and interviews about the event after it has occurred. For those listeners who couldn't attend, they feel they've been given an inside scoop and may have reason to attend the next one.
People...People Who Need People
If you currently have a community of contacts across the Web, by all means, leverage your relationship with them as you launch your podcast. It doesn't matter if they don't fit the demographic of your target audience. The point is, you've developed some kind of meaningful dialog with them over some common interest, so use that connection to help promote your show.
You may have friends on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, del.icio.us - the list goes on and on. Essentially, any social networking site that you use already has a built-in community. Use the power of the community to help grow your show. And when your show is up and running, ask your listeners to tell their friends about it by being specific: ask them to tell just three people about your show. Over time, your numbers will grow.
Are Ess What?
Let's face it: even though you and I may be familiar with the ins and outs of new media technology, your audience may not be. They may only have passing familiarity with a blog, let alone RSS feeds, podcasts, iTunes, etc. It's essential that you not only cater to the lowest common denominator, but that you create options that everyone can feel comfortable with.
For example, when I started my other blog, I made sure I had a FeedBlitz email subscription option, because I knew many of my readers were new to RSS. And I was right: the ratio of email subscribers to RSS subscribers has been somewhere between 2:1 and 3:1. And then, for good measure, I threw in a Twitter feed as well.
Your show should be available on an RSS feed, on iTunes, through email (Feedburner or FeedBlitz can handle this), and directly on your site. Listeners should know they can listen to your show on their mp3 player, their computer, their phone or burn a CD. The point is, give them every possible option to listen to and subscribe to your show, because you don't know how they prefer to consume audio.
I did all of the above, plus I integrated a Flash-based player from SplashCast for each episode and for all of the shows to date. You can customize the image so it contains your brand and you can determine how you want the shows to be presented. It's easy to create and super-easy for your listeners to play. You can see it in action on my podcast web site. In addition WidgetBox has a number of audio players you can use as well.
Letters, We Get Letters
One of the best features of any new media production is that you can get direct feedback and comments from your listeners. And you should be encouraging them to participate, because you are in a unique position to give them exactly what they want from your show.
Again, you need to give them a variety of choices. Certainly, since your show lives on a blog, the comments feature should be enabled. Give them an email address where they can reach you, either by using one that comes with your domain name or setting one up through a free email service like Gmail. Establish a call-in number so they can make a phone call and talk to you directly and (this is the good part) you can play it on your show. There's nothing like hearing what another listener has to say. You can find and set up numbers through Skype or k7.
Duly Noted
Finally, you should write up notes for every show that you produce. While this may seem like drudgery, I cannot underscore enough the importance of this. First of all, it gives your listeners an idea of what to expect and how long the show will run. And secondly, the show notes are indexed on the search engines, giving you much more power to attract future listeners. You'll be easier to find. They don't have to be long, but plan to spend a decent amount of time on them so they are descriptive, useful and contain the key search terms that are appropriate for your show.
One Last Thing
There are lots of widgets and add-ons out there to spice up your site. Check them out and use one that works for you. In my case, I was getting a lot of compliments on my theme music, so I used MyxerTones to create a mobile phone ringtone of the intro. It's gotten a lot of attention.
So, that's it! I know this was a long post, and if you've made it the entire way through, I thank you. If I missed anything or if any of the above is unclear, please let me know. I hope you found this useful.
Post script: Donna Papacosta has a very handy check-list that is a must-read for any podcaster.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Getting to Know You
The days of the blind taste test are over.
When you're considering an online purchase, it's a huge leap of faith to simply buy anything without knowing much about the people, the company or its customers. In this case, I'm thinking specifically about books. After all, that's what the entire Amazon model is built on - knowing what you're getting, what's similar, and what people are saying about it.
There has already been a remarkable and enthusiastic response to The Age of Conversation, but I can understand the hesitancy in hitting that "buy" button without more information. Even though we live in a fast-paced hyperactive society that rewards quick action, it's still going to take more than saying "trust me" to drive sales - on this book or on any product or service marketed online.
With that, I'd like to give you some samples of what to expect from the 103 authors of this tome (listed alphabetically by authors' last names):
A taste from A-D
A taste from E-J
A taste from K-R
A taste from S-Z
Have you read it yet? Do you have a favorite?
Thanks to Steve Woodruff for the links and synopses.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Are Presidential Candidates Using Social Media Effectively?
Occasionally, I'm pleasantly surprised at some of the dividends that my blog pays. For example, at the end of last week, I was contacted by a staffer at BostonNOW, a new local paper that is edgy and is beginning to embrace social media, to see if I'd like to be interviewed as a social media expert, commenting on the use of social networks in the presidential race.
A note: I didn't use a partisan approach in the interview, nor do I intend to use this blog to discuss my political views; they are irrelevant in this forum. My goal is to assess what is being done and to what degree.
I also learned that my friend and new media colleague Doug Haslam was interviewed as well; he's got a nice entry on his blog summing up his point that candidates are not using social media to the fullest potential.
I made that point with the reporter as well, likening the candidates' treatment of MySpace, FaceBook, YouTube, etc. as media buys - they've simply ensured that they have a presence there. There's little to no conversation going on with their constituents.
In many ways, political candidates are very similar to corporations: they have a specific message that they want to push out. At rallies, stump speeches, debates and public appearances - even town hall meetings - they manage to spit out their talking points.
One of the most important points I made with the reporter was this: the candidate that learns to use social media to listen to the people is the candidate that will pull ahead. Social media works best when candidates - or companies - hear what's being said and put themselves in a place to respond accordingly. Even if they can't solve a problem or completely address a concern, the fact that they make their constituents/customers feel as if they've been heard is enough to create brand loyalty.
The other major point I made is that the presidential candidates are using social networks for a different purpose. Rather than to connect to their base, they are allowing the base to connect to each other. This is a pretty shrewd move when you think about it. Create the conditions for a social movement and you'll see a major shift begin to occur.
It's exciting to see this unfolding before us - and to wonder how much it will improve in the run-up to November of 2008. But we're far beyond where we were a short time ago in 2004.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Empowering Women's Health with Social Media
It was with great interest that I noted the news that is reverberating through the Greater Boston medical device world today: two women's health companies, Hologic and Cytyc are joining forces to form the largest women's health company dedicated to diagnostics.
Hologic is known primarily for its digital mammography and bone densitometry tests, and Cytyc owns the market on new cervical cancer screening kits that surpass the standard Pap smear and can detect the human papillomavirus (HPV). Each has a number of other technologies so that together, the two entities form a formidable enterprise dedicated to the health and wellness of women.
And the connection to social media? I think it's a no-brainer, but in the world of medical devices and diagnostics, things can be a bit more complex. See if you can follow the logic with me.
It's well known that when women are concerned about a health issue - whether it's for themselves or their families - they first go to the Internet as their source of additional information and research. This approach actively gives way to online interaction with other women who have experienced or are living with a similar situation.
How ripe the opportunity then, for CytoLogic to get involved with an existing social network related to women's health - iVillage is a great starting point. It's a health portal dedicated to women's health.
The reason I'm suggesting joining an existing entity rather than creating one from scratch is twofold:
- There are already a number of well-established, well populated social networks out there, and it's difficult to drive traffic to a company-hosted destination without a full set of offerings
- Busy women have enough to worry about without needing to search, bookmark and follow www.MedicalDeviceCompany.com/onlinecommunity/. Let them get the information where they're already looking.
A podcast for women and by women with cancer could be a powerful addition to the mix as well. Firsthand stories that underscore the importance of proper screening for breast cancer and cervical cancer would be a powerful motivator. Again, the company could host or sponsor such a show.
But here's where it gets tricky. Like it's oft-embattled cousin Pharma, the medical device industry stands at a prickly juncture of the healthcare chain. Technically, hospitals and physicians are the targets of marketing efforts by Hologic and Cytyc. However, I think we've seen a push into the DTC space particularly with Cytyc's ThinPrep system, in their drive to create awareness among women for cervical cancer screening.
Many Pharma companies are hesitant to get