Are you an SMB? Want to learn from the best in marketing & social media?

Archive for the ‘Branding’ Category

Are you an SMB? Want to learn from the best in marketing & social media?

October 20th, 2008 | Author: Beth Harte

Here’s your chance!

What: Solutions Stars Video Conference
When: October 29, 2008
Time: 1pm until approximately 3:30pm (EST)

If you have a few hours to spare, you should really consider giving this free (yep! FREE!) on-line conference some time. The line up of speakers can only guarantee that you’ll walk away with some great advice!

There will be nine content areas featuring vignettes of the Solutions Stars. Topics include:

Building Web Presence
The Social Opportunity
Start with Listening
Strategy Drives Outreach
You Need Social Networks
To Blog or Not to Blog
Visibility Through Search
Rising Above the Noise
Time Demands

While the videos are streaming, you’ll be able to chat online with Network Solutions’ Social Media Swami Shashi Bellamkonda and my friend and the author of Now Is Gone, Geoff Livingston. Or, you can always participate in a live public chat.

Video participants include:

I wouldn’t miss this line-up for the world, won’t you join me?

Just click on the Solutions Stars link to get more information and access the conference on October 29. Need a calendar or Facebook reminder, well you have those options too!

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Posted in Blogging, Branding, Marketing, Marketing Communications, Marketing Management, Social Media, social networking |

Tags: Marketing, Social Media, Solution Stars Video Conference |

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Emily Post, Miss Manners and Social Media

October 18th, 2008 | Author: Beth Harte

First, I want to thank everyone for such a great conversation with my post “Who are you? And why should I follow you?” Looks like I wasn’t the only that gets either amused or frustrated by what is experienced on social networks.

Not having any guidelines to follow when I first started on joining social networks, I learned the below etiquette from people experienced in social media who guided me and from continuing to follow just good, common sense off-line business etiquette.

If Emily Post and Miss Manners were involved in all these social networking sites with us, I wonder if they would agree with the below etiquette tips…and what we’d learn from them.

People use social networks for different reasons and this is my personal etiquette list. Feel to let me know if you think this is an appropriate list, what you’d add, what you’d question and what you’d change.

Be real
This seems simple, right? Be who you are, let your personality shine through. But, the funny thing about being on-line is that the first reaction is to hide behind monikers, avatars, etc. And with the stellar security of the Internet, who wouldn’t consider it? It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there…findable, in public, permanently. As well, there have been more than enough posts on personal brand management to make those in the corporate world leery of being real on-line, which is also understandable. However, the more real you are, the more people will trust your presence. If you are engaging in social networks to personally or professionally network or engage with potentials customers or clients, the benefit of being real outweighs not doing so.

Be nice
This one is simple. Just be nice. Most people are inherently nice and if they aren’t being nice to you, well you can just unfollow/unfriend them. It’s not worth getting into snark wars…remember you are on-line and your comments are public (unless you choose for them not to be) and permanent. As well, comments found outside the context in which they were made can be misunderstood and misconstrued. So before engaging someone, even if they are attaching you, ask yourself, “is it worth it?” Most likely, it’s not.

Be respectful
We might not always agree with how people use social networks, what they say, how they handle themselves or what they share. But we should always be respectful of each other.

Listen then talk
When joining a social network, sometimes it helps to sit back, listen and learn. All networks have a culture and it makes sense to understand the culture before you dive in. The good thing is because you pick and choose who you follow/friend, you already have a sense of what the culture will be and how to join in-at the right time.

Give then take
Provide value to your community; let them know they can count on you for good information, genuine conversation, insights, sharing, fun, humor, etc. Once you have earned their trust and respect, and then ask for what you need. Handle on-line relationships just like you would with new off-line friends, business acquaintances, etc.

Try to be consistent
When you join a social network, people get used to your presence. When you aren’t there it’s obvious. Everyone gets busy and social networks can be time consuming. Before you join a bunch of them, make sure you have the time to be involved.

Apologize when you make a mistake
We all make mistakes. If you state something publically that is wrong, admit to the mistake and move on to something else.

Say thank you
If someone spreads information you have shared, posts a comment on your blog, refers you, adds you to their blog roll, etc., say thank you. Let people know that you appreciate their time to do so.

Don’t broadcast
You can tell the broadcasters a mile away. They use social networks to broadcast about their companies, their posts, their daily activities. They never interact or respond back or interact. Conversation is key to social media and broadcasting, in my opinion, is just traditional one-way marketing using on-line tools.

Don’t stalk
Everyone gets excited about joining social networks. But, it’s a little bit aggressive to track down someone in every social network they belong to and follow/friend them. Take the time to get to know the person and then follow them where it makes sense.

It’s not a numbers game
The benefit of social media and social networking tools are the connections, conversations and engagements they provide. How can you really connect with 5,000 followers/friends? I would think it would be a challenge.

Don’t publicly or privately unfollow/unfriend
If there is someone in your social network that you no longer want to follow/friend, just quietly unfollow/unfriend them. It’s okay. And it happens all the time. It is natural that you may find there are people who just don’t work for you. What’s the point of embarrassing the person by publicly unfollowing/unfriending them?

Below are some insights from other social media folks. If you have any links to share, please do! We are all still learning.

[Photo: iStock]

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Posted in Branding, Conversation, Marketing Communications, Social Media, Web 2.0, social networking |

Tags: Social Media, social media etiquette, social networking |

32 Comments »

Branding, Politics and Twitter

August 30th, 2008 | Author: Beth Harte

Recently, Brian Solis kicked off his “The Socialization of Your Personal Brand” with this statement:

“…Practically everything we create and share online is open to public discovery, interpretation, and feedback—positive, neutral and negative.”

People can be very passionate about their politics and what they believe in is a major part of their personal lives. But when does a person’s politics start to affect their professional brand?

Yesterday on Twitter there was a stream of outpouring against the nominated Vice President candidate Sarah Palin (“Little Known Fact”). Most of it was fictitious, but some verged on slander.

So as marketers (if you are marketing your company, business or non-profit include yourself) how does participating in politics on Twitter affect your personal brand, which in turn can affect your or your company’s professional brand?

As Brian Solis points out:

“…basically everything you contribute to the Social Web shapes and contributes to your personal brand and how people will most likely perceive it. Hopefully in most cases, it can promote and showcase your expertise, and sometimes, what’s representative online can and will be used against you.”

Regardless of your politics, keep in mind that months or years from now a potential hiring company, client or donator could find your political tweets—separated from the pack—only to be misunderstood or misinterpreted as a standalone, singular comment.

As marketers we know the rule of thumb: Perception is reality. We also know that we can’t control our brands—personal or professional—we can only manage them.

Are your political beliefs so strong that you would be willing to lose a potential marketing job offer, a large corporate client or donation that is desperately needed because of differing political views?

[Photo: iStock]

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Posted in Branding, Social Media, social networking |

Tags: Branding, Brian Solis, personal branding, politics, Social Media, social networking, Twitter |

25 Comments »

Luxury Brand Community Forums: a Look inside the Buyer’s Mind

August 3rd, 2008 | Author: Beth Harte

In the July/August issue of the AMA’s Marketing Management magazine there is an interesting article, “Wooing Luxury Customers,” by Suzanne Hader (Principal, 400twin). Suzanne covers a lot of great points such as what is luxury, what defines wealth, and what shapes luxury habits and how luxury brand customers look for a rich, emotional experience and great service rather than being ‘sold’ to.Not being a luxury brand marketer, I went on the hunt for other articles about luxury brand marketing and came across a few older items such as an article in Chief Marketer, a keynote on Luxury Branding Marketing and a scholarly article.

In reading all of these pieces, the one thing I consistently noticed is that the luxury brand marketing advice, for the most part, focuses on traditional marketing and branding—talking to the customer and creating an experience for the customer.

The reality is luxury brand customers are building and maintaining their own communities to discuss the brands they are loyal to and the experiences they are having. Here are just a few examples of forums, member counts, threads (topical discussions), and posts (within threads):

The BMW Forum
(Members: 183,864, Threads: 978,328, Posts: 13,296,986)
The Fashion Spot
(Members: 66,746, Threads: 45,987, Posts: 4,529,436)
The Mercedes Forum
(Members: 33,931 , Posts: 105,042, Topics: 31,073)
The Purse Forum
(Members: 128,573, Threads: 299,826, Posts: 7,153,120)
The Rolex Forum
(Members: 14,970, Threads: 44,550, Posts: 685,615)

The amount of people discussing luxury brand features, pricing, quality, advertising, where to buy, etc.—in one location—is rather amazing.There are some other interesting aspects of these forums that might persuade the luxury brand marketer to consider utilizing these forums to “listen” to what brand loyalists are thinking, feeling, and saying. The members are:

international
influential and persuasive
passionate and loyal
purchasers that range from extremely wealthy to average income
brand experts that help to educate non-experts
developing on-line friendships that lead to off-line meetings
vocal about price, features and quality
discussing off-line sales/service experiences and are relaying them on-line

These forums are the perfect example of how customers are having conversations about the brand and creating their own emotional experiences on their own without the complete influence of marketing.
If I were a luxury brand manager, the first thing I would do is tap into these forums and “listen” to what customers and potential customers are saying about my brand. The second thing I would do is determine who the loyal and influential brand experts are and engage them in meaningful conversation on- and off-line. The third thing I would do is implement their feedback. And finally, I would offer brand experts preliminary showings of all new product offerings and enlist them in word of mouth marketing via the forums or their blogs to create buzz prior to the products being released.

[Note: Suzanne Hader wrote an article for Marketing Profs in May called “Five Ways to Optimize Luxury Online Sales Channels.” In this article Suzanne discusses social media applications (not forums) and bloggers. You need to be a Marketing Profs member to view the full article.]

[Photo: iStock]

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Posted in Branding, Marketing, Social Media, social networking |

Tags: AMA, American Marketing Association, Branding, luxury marketing, Marketing, Marketing Management, marketing management magazine, social networking, Suzanne Hader |

10 Comments »

Are you stuck in a box?

July 30th, 2008 | Author: Beth Harte

A few weeks ago Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer suggested in a post that social media is the responsibility of public relations. My visceral reaction to that notion required an immediate comment [note: I am a PR practitioner as well]. And it didn’t end there; I spent the entire weekend thinking about the post. Come the following Monday, I went back for another comment to strengthen my position on why social media is the responsibility of marketing. In doing so, I noticed that Brian Solis of PR 2.0 posted a comment: “Truth is that Social Media is the responsibility of the champions that demonstrate how it will benefit the company and the brand.” Interesting.

In the spirit of debate, I then posted this topic on Plurk to see what the smart folks there had to say. Frank Martin of Marketing Magic plurked: “this debate is so old school it misses the point of New Media, which will cut across all aspects of companies: Marketing, PR, Customer Service. We need NOT to put it in a little box of yesteryear’s definition!”

In reading Frank’s comment [and others] I realized that I was indeed stuck in a “marketing box” and looking at social media through a cracked lid.

After some consideration, I’d suggest that social media is the responsibility of the revenue generators. How so?

Customer Service/Technical Support provides support for purchased products/services
Finance/Accounting collects payment for the product/service
Sales sells the product/service
Marketing Communications/Public Relations publicizes the product/service
Operations/Manufacturing delivers/builds the product/service
Engineering/R&D designs/tests the product/service
Marketing develops the product/service
Human Resources hires the people that develop, design/test, deliver/build, publicize, sell, collect payment and support the product/service

You get the point. All departments have the ability to affect—for better or worse—a customer’s brand experience and revenue generation.Unfortunately, a lot of employees are stuck in their own departmental boxes. Understanding the brand might be foreign to some let alone adding on the concept of social media. Getting employees to embrace social media will be a daunting task if they don’t first understand that each and every interaction with prospects and customers is an opportunity to provide value by creating a positive brand experience.

Before becoming a social media champion consider becoming, if you’re not already, a brand champion first. Doing so just might create the brand pride necessary to get employees to understand, embrace and champion social media initiatives.

Initial steps might include:

explaining that the value of a brand—first & foremost―comes from the inside-out and bottom-up
embracing that the brand is a living, changing thing—it can’t be controlled
understanding that all brand experiences affect revenue—positively & negatively
respecting that a brand is owned in part by the prospect or customer

Are you stuck in a box? Do you think brand champions will help social media efforts? What other steps would you recommend?

[Photo: rustiman]