An Bui, Spelled An With 1 N

The action at Marketing Profs Digital Mixer didn’t stop. From an early morning breakfast discussing Twitter with Leigh Duncan-Durst to two moderated sessions to discuss: (1) various uses of Twitter for brands like Marketing Profs and Best Buy; (2) community building through social media.

The rate of responsiveness for Best Buy’s Twitter team was amazing - during the session, one of the attendees tweeted something about Best Buy and minutes, if not seconds later, had a response from Best Buy. This in-person, real time demo made us laugh. Marketing Prof’s Twitter evolution also highly interested me - from Ann Handley just tweeting on her own to having a more formal policy or structure demonstrated that social media use isn’t static. What one does today, how one applies various tools will change over time, as it should. Business needs and goals change as new information develops and social media strategy should evolve to take those changes into consideration.

The conference closed with the Mixologists recapping and reviewing tips and tactics that attendees could take home with them. Highlights include:

• KEYWORDS for SEARCH because people are searching! 4-5 search terms should give them your product if they are looking for it!
• Community membership is a privilege, not a right
• 80/20 rule for content - personal vs. brand for personal Twitter or brand vs. personal for brand Twitter. However, make sure the content has value for your audience
• Lawyers speak their own language - legalese. Lawyers’ risk aversion is in service to their clients, so have in-house counsel discuss social media policy development with peer enterprises
• Have a plan - know why you use the tools you use and how you use them
• Tactics without a strategy is like doing nothing, or passing up opportunity while incurring costs. If you’re looking for an analogy, tactics without a strategy is like a steering wheel without a car. Maybe it’s like a public transportation system without any stops.

Was Mom wrong with her advice: “Don’t talk to strangers?”

Ann Handley in her opening talk contradicted Mom, reminding us that we should go out of our comfort zone and talk to strangers and learn from each other.

Go forth and learn we did -

From “The Magic Combination of Rich Content and Social Media Can Land You On ‘Page One’ of Google”

If you think about creating great content - if you build it, will they come? Maybe if you make it easy for them - the “crazy viral” content doesn’t have many barriers to access. A registration form is an example of a barrier for your users. When creating content, also think about usability - something that is easy to consume, read and share will be so, especially if the content is quality.

Different media types serve different purposes. Of course, you might want to collect email, contact information and names. If you explain why you ask for that personal information to share survey results, you might realize response rates as high as 95% as Michael Stelzner did, the author of Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged.

Some other quick tips:

• Develop relationships with key influences before you need to make an ask - hint - offer interesting, unique insight or value.
• Think about your signal to noise ratio - what content should be open and public, and what should be more private?
• Retweet buttons or links that allow people to share your content
• Video tools to use may be Screenflow for those who use Mac and Camtasia for those who use Windows
• Check out Sexy Bookmarks if you use wordpress

Life moves quickly, at the speed of Real Time. So what about business - how can business engage in real time? How Big Brands Engage in Real Time Conversations with Customers provided case studies of how both B2B and B2C brands leveraged online interactions to develop relationships with their customers.

• Hansen’s soda used Twitter in conjunction with street teams to grow their brand
• Intel used social media to discover the desire for the Ajay Bhat t-shirt from the Ajay Bhat commercial.

However, incentive-based contests are great for launching programs and products, not for building sustainable relationships. Social media is like a long term relationship, not casual dating. Speaking of relationships, what do you do when you screw up? You can address problems by figuring out what the problem is and addressing it. Apologize for your mistakes and ask for forgiveness.

Have we moved past the it’s-about-the-conversation/it’s-about-the-community chant? Social Media Measurement: Metrics, Impact, and Value addressed how we can measure our efforts in social media.

After a brief talk by Amber Naslund (available on slideshare) about what metrics to track and how to make meaning of so we can drive the ultimate metric.

While you can automate data gathering and visualizations, you can’t automate insight and analysis. Research will inform which social networks to participate in and lack of success provides opportunity to get customer feedback about the type of content they want to see.

Just like laundry, social media measurement only gets harder the longer you wait. Some free listening or measurement tools to investigate:

• socialmention
• backtype
• netvibes
• search.twitter.com
• GOOG Alerts
• boardtracker

If you’re really geeky, look at various APIs and RSS tools and pull together an iGoogle or Yahoo Pipes dashboard. Filtrbox also provides a more robust free social media monitoring tool than Google Alerts.

After packing my brain so full of information, it  felt like both carry-ons packed under the seatback in front of me, it was time for some leiderhosen and chatting in real life with those I’ve chatted with online for a year or more.

I haven’t been blogging here as much as I’d like to. However, I started a food p0rn blog that I regularly post to.

I’ve also been traveling quite a bit - from an amazing inaugural year at Social South in Birmingham, Alabama to my regular trips to Seattle, this month finds me turning another year older and (hopefully!) another year wiser.

This month, I’ll be in:

The Bay Area: I’ll be visiting my little sister and attending CAR EXPO in San Jose, where I’ll be meeting with DocuSign users and potential users to answer any questions they might have about electronic signature, paperless transactions, or just give out hugs.

Washington, D.C.: I’ll be visiting with a very cool nonprofit, Disaster Accountability Project. They have some great initiatives planned for the coming year, so keep an eye on them. After my experience evacuating from Hurricane Katrina, I’m inspired to work with such a motivated, committed and inspiring group.

Chicago: I’ve never been to Chicago, but I’m excited for my first time. I’ll be attending Marketing Profs’ Digital Marketing Mixer, Oct 21 - 22, and blogging with some good friends of mine, Mack Collier and Paul Chaney. Digital Marketing Mixer provides a wealth of programming. From one-on-one sessions, discussion groups, and more, you can learn how to see even more results for your digital marketing program.

If you register with the discount code “DMBLG” you’ll get $200 off the conference pass. For every pass you buy with the discount code “DMBLG” I’ll donate $100 to Disaster Accountability Project.

You get insight from amazing, talented marketers and Disaster Accountability Project gets donations… everyone wins!

Apparently I need to clear my cache, because when I went back to Mack Collier’s blog, I didn’t get redirected to his new site.

Instead, I saw this title: “The idea that ‘content is king’ in blogging is total bullshit”

According to Mack, “Being Social is [king in blogging]”

The idea that good or even great content is not enough. Besides, “Good” or “Great” content isn’t even actionable - it’s too abstract. So let’s get concrete.

What makes good content?

1. Applies to your target audience

2. Findable or discoverable by your target audience

3. Helps or is otherwise useful to your target audience

For example, if you were trying to launch a new boutique geared towards teens/early 20’s demographic, you’d want to offer clothes they’d want to wear. You’d make your retail location accessible to them and you’d make it easy for them walk in by literally leaving your doors open.

One company that did this well? Abercrombie & Fitch, which changed its business from offering outdoors gear to offering clothing for the Tweens/Young Adult demographic. They even got a mention in LFO’s summer hit (’99), “Summer Girls”

Same deal with online marketing.

1. Provide germane (relevant) content - answer questions your audience may have or give them information they want to know.

2. Findability/searchability means that search engines can crawl AND index your content. If your content can’t be found, your audience can’t find you.

3. Helps or is otherwise useful - the call to action is so valuable for this reason. If you let people know what to do next and they want what you’re offering, you’ve lowered the barrier for purchase, adoption, etc.

So why does being social matter?

1. You get invaluable feedback loops from others - your content can improve based on customer/user feedback. You learn what resonates with people and what they think is worth repeating. Given the speed of publishing social media, you can iterate more quickly - concept to publishing no longer takes weeks or months.

2. You enable people to find out about you sooner, rather than later. Trust takes time. If you’re hanging out by yourself online generating amazing content, search is basically the only channel by which others can discover you. By leaving your blog, going to others’ and leaving insightful (not spammy!) comments, you’re creating other channels for people to discover you.

3. By adding or providing value (ie - being useful) you start building trust. Intention matters. Be open and honest about who you are, what interests you, and what you find interesting.

Good content is the minimum barrier to entry and great social content helps you learn, grow and refine your thinking.

Thanks to Deb Robison for the conversation that spawned this blog post and Mack Collier for his thoughts.

via flickr user welmo

My favorite memories of college were cross country and track practice. While XC and track both increase your fitness by running, the approaches were quite different. 

Cross country was more freeform. You’d go out on long runs and just run. You could run hills, through creeks, deal with trails. You adjusted on the fly and the key is going long and hard. Try running five miles at an average pace of eight minute miles. Interval training on varied terrain for 1 or 1.5k happened every week, and much of the work happened on the trails. 

via flickr user nocklebeast

In contrast, track workouts were interval based on a track. 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1000 meter repeats. Run, time, record. Try and hit consistent splits with every interval. 

Over time, your times get better. This was true in both XC and track. 

However, times in XC had more variance. Why? Courses were different. Some had more hills, turns, tree roots, rain, streams, hay bales than others. These factors affect your time.

Track times tended to be more consistent because a track is a more controlled racing environment. It’s 400m, outdoors. The surface may be cinder, rubber, or gravel. The turns’ tightness may vary, but it’s basically some form of oval.

Now what does this have to do with Social Media and PPC?

Social Media and PPC both help you reach your online marketing goals in different ways. 

Think of social media as XC. The landscape varies. Twitter, Facebook, blogs are all different. The interaction paradigms vary in part because of the content that is share and in part because of the people you can connect with. You can show up, listen and share information with people you connect with. It’s a long term marketing strategy.  

Think of PPC as track. You have the search engines. You buy your ads and keywords and you can calculate your PPC ROI and adjust over time. You try to hit your click through rates and lead gen goals. 

With both XC and track you get fit. Fitness from XC and track complement each other - you run better times for running both. 

Think that’s true for Social Media and PPC as well?

  

Robert Matsui United States Federal Courthouse by flickr user Rojer

IMO, blog policies R 2 make legal dept feel better, the style guide is more important 2 me when comes 2 work blog #blogchat 

The above comment came out of last night’s #blogchat, hosted by Mack Collier. Later that night, I read an article in the WSJ, entitled “Corporate Blogs and ‘Tweets’ Must Keep SEC in Mind: Social Media Offer Immediacy and Spontaneity to Communications but Risk Running Afoul of Regulations.” From the article:

Blogs and tweets can run afoul of Securities and Exchange Commission regulations on corporate communications. But sanitizing such posts risks hurting credibility with online audiences.

Hrm. blog policies and post sanitation aren’t just to make legal departments feel better (although they probably do) - they protect the organization and its employees. Because organizations are held to different standards than consumers and those standards depend on the type of organization, I understand why companies take their time regarding social media adoption. 

That said, organizations like Dell, EBay and Comcast have done an amazing job adopting a social media strategy.

What About Startups?

Startups have a unique advantage when it comes to blogging - they aren’t publicly traded so they aren’t subject to the same SEC regulations on corporate communications. 

Startups can be scrappy, making much out of very little, figuring out how to get more for their money. The runway is only so long and business considerations like user acquisition, monetization, scalability and revenue generation tend to be high priority. 

Blogging, while time intensive, consistently generates fresh content for search engines while sharing the organization’s story, thoughts, opinion and values. That said, startup bloggers should also watch what they say… litigation ties up resources, such as time & capital, and can distract from progress on user acquisition, revenue generation, etc.

Keep the style guide in one hand and your legal-approved blog policy in the other. Be bold, yet thoughtful.

If your online audience is turned off by you protecting yourself, use your blog and your tweets to explain to them why you need to include the un-fun* language. Alternatively, you can take a page from Virgin America’s book and figure out how to add the fun back.

*as used here, fun refers to unsantitized content. Your brand personality may or may not be fun. Write in your own brand voice, as it makes sense for you.

The lovely weather in Seattle inspired me to pull out my madras skirt. Madras is synonymous with “summer” to me. Seersucker is another one of those fabrics that whisper promises of sunshine, warmth and bbq. 

As lucky as I am to have both madras and seersucker in my closet, I wanted to know who else was searching for madras and seersucker:

Madras & Seersucker Search Volume 2006 - Present

I chose a longer time period because I wanted to see the seasonal effects, given that madras and seersucker are spring to summer fabrics. I was also curious to see if the current economic situation affected search volume. At this time, the data suggests a possible correlation. 

Let’s drill in to 2008:

Madras and Seersucker Search Volume 2008

Just as I suspected - searches for both peak from May to June. That’s prime bbq, picnic, garden party and crawfish boil time. Late enough in spring that you have confidence in nice weather, early enough in summer that the heat hasn’t peaked. 

And just where are these people searching for seersucker and madras?

Regional Interest in Seersucker 2008

Apparently, seersucker and madras are popular search terms in the South, South Atlantic and Massachusetts. The prime madras-seeking crowd centers are Massachusetts, Washington DC and Georgia. Those seeking seersucker are in South Carolina and Louisiana. 

Perhaps my time in both Massachusetts and Louisiana explains why seersucker and madras mean sunshine. For those curious, today’s a madras skirt day. My seersucker jacket’s staying in my closet. For now.

*update* for those curious as to what seersucker is…

From Flickr User dnkbdotcom

Want to know more about madras?

I discovered a horrifying truth today. My mom has discovered the Google. She now knows what we all thought in our heads, but maybe didn’t admit… You can use Google to STALK people.

Like your children.

My sister pinged me tonight:

Kim:speaking of mom, she apparently commented on my blog. me: what? ha. the condom thing? Kim: no. on the baguette i don’t know how she found it, but she’s getting good.
Kim didn’t quite know what to make of Mom’s comment:

Baguette and butter!!! Delicious!!! Extra exclamation marks, use three to express your feeling!!! Better yet, they’re free!!! absolutely free!!! Can you say: “I want to buy a loaf of French bread or baguette.” in Vietnamese? Is it in your guide book?
Are those avocado halves in the background? They look delicious!!! I’ve missed Tex-Mex cuisine!!! I haven’t had breakfast!!!

Awesome. I quickly realized that Mom was making fun of Kim’s previous post, making fun of apostrophes. Of course, Mom also referenced Kim’s slightly inappropriate post about saying something in Vietnamese.

Kim: but then she makes that sly reference to the condom postKim: when has mom ever been sly?askin me if the book i has tells me how to say i want a baguette in vietHOW ELSE WOULD SHE KnOW ABOUT THE BOOK?!

In the meantime, I had responded to my Mom’s comment:

…I love you, but you comment like a sp@mm3r.

Of course, my mom’s comment and this story was too good not to share, so in short order, @MackCollier was laughing his @$$ off and having a conversation about my Mom’s comment. Others picked up the link, and in short order, her traffic hit an all time best, surpassing the day her blog got passed around her husband’s consulting firm (take THAT, Justin!).

Traffic from thienkim.wordpress.com on 01/19/2008

She freaked.

Kim: it’s like inviting someone into your house and you haven’t cleaned yet!

As of this writing, I’m trying to convince my sister to join Twitter:

Kim: an.i am a technophobe.for real.and a luddite.there is no reason for anyone to read my blog except the people who know me!if more people read me, i’d have to step up my game!(ok…so i don’t want to twitter because i’m a perfectionist.)

Linkbait

In all seriousness, Kim, Mom and I had great fun and were glad we got to share it with you.

Kim’s post gave my mother the fodder she needed to make fun of Kim. My mom’s post gave me a chance to make a comment that resonated with the Twitter community I’m part of, a community of social media marketers, search marketers and digital professionals.

Thanks to Mack Collier for helping me drive traffic to my sister’s blog post and sharing in this fun!

rel·e·vance (rěl’ə-vəns)

n.

1. Pertinence to the matter at hand.
2. Applicability to social issues: a governmental policy lacking relevance.
3. Computer Science The capability of a search engine or function to retrieve data appropriate to a user’s needs.

The American Heritage Dictionary provides the above three definitions for the word “relevance.” Notice that the primary definition is the broadest, and the tertiary definition is the most specific.

I recently went to LA (and flew Alaskan Airlines), and while there, I unplugged – traveled to a place where I had dial up or random wi-fi access only.

I didn’t blog, I tweeted less often than I generally do, and I didn’t post to my blog. I got back online when I got back to Seattle, and noticed my number of twitter followers dropped off, and that my last blog post was five days ago.

What does this mean?

I’m no longer relevant - my content got stale. In this day and age, users like and want fresh content, from 140 characters to a few hundred words. Readers want it. Fellow Twitter users want it. Search engines want it. And frankly, those interested in social change, social justice, and making the world a better place want it.

My message? Be relevant. At the very least, be relevant.

Relevance matters.