Top Reasons I Follow Back on Twitter

Let’s face it, the Twitterverse is made up of individuals and brands. While the branded Twitter accounts are staffed by people, the persona of each Twitter account is either an individual or a company or a brand. For example, General Motors has a branded Twitter account, and they also have product branded Twitter accounts.

Like you I receive dozens of new Twitter followers every day. When I plow through them, I usually make my decision to follow back (or not) in under 5 seconds. Here are the criteria I use to make my quick decision. I should point out that these are my criteria. I don’t suggest for a minute that these criteria should be yours. To each his or her own on follow back decision criteria.

I should also point out that my Twitter persona is mostly about marketing. I do very little personal tweeting. When I do it’s usually on the weekend when I may be watching a ballgame or something otherwise leisure related or an occasional random thought.

Why I Follow Back an Individual

Your Twitter account is visually appealing to me. You have more than one photo or you have a creative custom design that is unique. And, you look like an interesting or fun person I would want to meet in person. Age, gender or ethnicity do not affect my impression.

Your most recent tweet was recent (in the last 24 hours). People who don’t tweet daily are not of interest to me. Remember, these are my criteria. You may not share my follow back criteria.

Your tweets are relevant, interesting and they contain links to interesting content. Your tweets will somehow add value to me.

Your profile has a link to your blog or website. If you get my attention and I want to know more about you, you make it easy.

Your profile bio is descriptive. It paints a picture for me about who you are what you care about. It’s uniquely about you.

I get the impression (quickly) that if I met you at a dinner party, I would want to have a conversation with you.

You RT others and reply to others. The absence of either RTs or @ replies immediately tells me you’re using Twitter for one way communication.

You may use hashtags, though sparingly. This tells me you participate in Twitter conversations. This isn’t a huge factor, but I notice it.

Your follower to following ratio is greater than 1. For newer accounts (less than 1000 followers) I’m flexible on this if all other factors are compelling.

A scan of your Twitter home page generally communicates that you use Twitter conversationally, not as a promotional megaphone.

A sample individual Twitter account I like from @AmyMengel:

Why I Follow Back a Brand

The Twitter account design clearly communicates a message about the brand. Whether it’s a logo or other graphics, I get a quick understanding of the brand’s main message and persona.

The profile description clearly communicates the brand’s message and purpose. It contains a link to the website or blog where I can learn more about the brand.

When skimming the Twitter home page I see interesting content with links to more content. The tweets and links inform me, educate me or entertain me in some way.

If the brand offers promotional tweets, they are done tastefully, professionally and in a way that adds value.

The Twitter account is very transparent. You don’t B.S. me. You demonstrate interest in your followers.

You tweet with a human voice. If you’re a brand and you sound like a non-human, I’m not interested.

You engage your followers with @ replies and RTs.

If you get criticism you respond to it openly and swiftly.

You tweet daily.

A sample brand Twitter account I like: @Teddy’s Pride

Do you have other criteria you use when deciding to follow back individuals and brands? Share them below…

@berniebay

Marketing Operations 2.0: Interview with Gary Katz

Click the play button or download this podcast interview. Gary Katz is CEO of Marketing Operations Partners, located in Silicon Valley. Gary has a background in PR. He developed a concept which intrigued me because it fits well with the mindset shift in my book.

Gary authored a chapter in my book, Marketing 2.0, appropriately named Marketing Operations 2.0. Here is the definition of Marketing Operations (MO) from that chapter.

“Marketing Operations is a relatively new discipline that can be defined as a comprehensive, end-to-end operational discipline that leverages processes, technology, guidance, and metrics to run the marketing function as a profit/value center, growth driver, change catalyst and fully accountable business. MO reinforces marketing strategy and execution with a scalable and sustainable infrastructure. MO seeks to nurture a collaborative, well-aligned ecosystem, both within and outside the marketing department, to drive achievement of strategic objectives.”

MO Delivers the Operating Plan for the Marketing Department

When I asked Gary to translate that explanation into plain English, he used an analogy which I believe does the job. Gary says that the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of a business is like the driver of a car. The purpose of getting into a car is to drive to a destination. The driver is responsible for the outcome, but there are many other factors that must be in place to get there. The car’s engine must be operating well. The tires must have enough air. The wheels must be aligned to drive safely.  The roadways must offer an efficient pathway. And, the driver must have knowledge of the roadways or have a navigation system for guidance. And, the car needs periodic maintenance to stay prepared for ongoing use.

MO builds a high performance car and makes sure there is a plan to get to the destination. Gary points out that MO is essentially like an operating plan for the CMO. He refers to his company, Marketing Operations Partners as a COO for the CMO. This explanation makes sense to me because the CMO needs an operational plan to manage all the marketing activities which include a myriad of marketing campaigns comprised of advertising, email, SEO, SEM, social media marketing, media relations, etc.

Gary says that MO places a lot of emphasis on alignment of messaging with the rest of the company. MO helps deal with change management for the marketing function acting as a chief of staff for the CMO to guide in effective execution of all marketing activities. In other words, the CMO is like the CEO of their business. MO is the COO to the CMO.

Accelerating the Sales Process

In my book, Gary addresses how MO can accelerate the sales process. Here are two key points on this popular topic.

1) Lead Flow: Nurtuing prospects who are not ready to buy today into prospects of tomorrow. A Sirius Decisions study indicates only 20% of leads get followed up by sales, 70% of which are disqualified. Shockingly, 80% of those leads buy from someone within 24 months.  The issue for any CMO is the pressure to show ROI in the face of so much waste.

MO offers a lead process supported by a technology solution. Many companies put in place the technology (CRM systems, tracking systems, etc.) before creating the lead development and nurturing process. Can you say “cart in front of the horse?”

2) Alignment of Sales Process with Buying Process: Since social media is meant to be a platform where conversations occur and relationships are built, new processes must be defined. Remember MO is also a mindset.  Gary was inspired from the book Think Like your Customer. He encourages marketers to ask: “How attractive are we to our prospective buyers?”

Thinking Differently

Businesses need to think differently in an environment where economic pressures ask you to close deals this quarter. Sellers have big pressures. But, buyers don’t want to be engaged in a sales pressure situation. Sellers need to get the buyer to “like you.” MO provides the roadmap for a CMO to implement marketing strategies with process and discipline.  Organize marketing activities around the customer. Break down the silos that exist in your business. Examine how the functions in your business align with marketing such as customer service, P.R. sales, manufacturing/distribution, etc. They are all part of the marketing function. If they are not aligned, those who touch the customer directly will reflect a different message or attitude than your marketing message.

Demonstrating Measurable Returns on Marketing

Using MO to measure results always comes back to the business goals. Social media is a new channel. You can measure details such as RSS subscriptions, website traffic from new keywords used in social media, names of employees producing great content, etc.  The challenge for many companies is that using social media is still new. There is no history or benchmark. The analytics usually provides indicators but not results. Executives ask the CMO how these metrics impact revenue today? In most cases they will affect revenue in the future, not the immediate present. So, it’s imperative the CMO has strategic alignment with the CEO and all other key stakeholders in the business for short term survival and long term success.

MO Take Away

Regardless of the size of your company here’s the take-away on marketing operations…How do you execute a marketing strategy regardless of individuals? How can you build a marketing organization that sets the right processes and can scale effectively as the company grows? The more you grow, the more marketing programs you run and the more challenges you will face in measuring, managing and staffing.

Companies are wise to think with an MO mindset before you get into trouble. You can’t defend your marketing budget, your people or your programs without processes. You’ll get marketing programs (or people) cut when things go wrong without MO processes in place. Often senior management doesn’t understand the value of what was cut in the absence of MO processes until after it’s been cut. Reduce your risk and maximize your long term success with an MO mindset.

If this topic interests you, you can learn more from Gary Katz and his company Marketing Operations Partners at his website, his MO blog his LinkedIn groups, and his MO presentations on Slideshare. You can also follow Gary on Twitter.

So, what’s your take away from this MO discussion?

Bernie Borges
@berniebay

Should Twitter be Allowed in the White House?

You do know that President Obama has a Twitter account, don’t you? He is widely recognized for his use of Twitter and social media during the presidential campaign last year. In fact social media as a communication platform received a lot of fanfare during the 2008 presidential campaign as both the Obama and McCain campaigns used Twitter and Facebook to communicate their campaign promises on a regular basis.

There is a television report out that Twitter is banned at the White House. Here’s the video clip:

The fact that Twitter is banned in the White House is very interesting and has stirred debate among American citizens and no doubt people outside the U.S. President Obama continues to use his Twitter account to communicate. It doesn’t matter if it is or isn’t really him typing the tweets. The fact remains that we know for sure the Twitter account belongs to President Obama, not an impersonator. Twitter displays a “verified” symbol on his account as a means of communicating that it is really his account. That’s Twitter’s way of preventing people from hijacking a Twitter account from celebrities.

Should White House employees be permitted to use Twitter? What does it imply if they are not permitted to use Twitter? I won’t get into the political aspect of this topic. I will take this in a different direction.

Should employers allows employees to use Twitter?

There are many employers who don’t allow employees to use Twitter. While I’m sure there are cases where that decision makes good sense, as a general rule I don’t like it. Consider these comparisons. Should employers not allow employees to have Internet access? Should employers not allow employees to bring cell phones to the office? Should employers not allow employees to bring leisure reading material to work?

How much distrust should employers have toward employees?

When senior management is aligned with the values of employees and vice versa, tools such as Twitter can and should be considered permissible and productive. I certainly don’t condone abuse of Twitter at work, or for that matter any aspect Internet access during work hours, or reading leisure material in the middle of the day (other than during a legitimate break of course).

My point leads to another point. Twitter is still not as mainstream as people think it is. Sure, there are CEOs such as Tony Hsieh of Zappos who use Twitter every day. In fact, he allows his employees to use Twitter. Strike that…He ENCOURAGES his employees to use Twitter. Why? Because he gets it. He understands that his employees make or break his brand. His employees create great customer experiences in part through communicating through Twitter. He gets it!

Does your company get it?

There are many companies who still don’t get it when it comes to Twitter. I’m sure this statement sounds condescending. I don’t mean it that way. But, I do argue that Twitter is a powerful communication tool and not permitting employees to use it is like not allowing them to use email. That’s right, email! What if an employees wastes time using company email? What if an employees sends an inappropriate email? Sure, those are real risks. But, are these risks reason enough to ban corporate email by all employees but a few who need to communicate with customers? Sounds like a silly question, huh?!

It’s about communication

Twitter is a communication platform. It’s time businesses held classes on how to use Twitter reviewing the do’s and don’ts. Company guidelines are appropriate and even necessary so employees know when they are crossing the lines at the risk of losing their job. But for heaven’s sake, don’t stifle employees from using contemporary communication tools. The truth is, you can’t prevent them entirely from using it. Just look at the situation in Iran. Average citizens used Twitter to communicate to the world the events as they unfolded during recent unrest. The Iranian government couldn’t stop it.

What’s in your corporate communication arsenal?

-Bernie Borges
@berniebay

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Content Marketing, Need I Say More?

Podcast Interview with  Joe Pulizzi: CEO Junta42.

Along with Newt Barrett, Joe Pulizzi is the co-author of Get Content: Get Customers. This book was very inspirational to me in writing my book, Marketing 2.0. Joe was an early reviewer of my book and he was kind enough to write a review on the back cover.

Joe is the founder and CEO of Junta42. Prior to starting Junta42, Joe worked at Penton Media where he was responsible for custom publishing. His division served customers such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, producing custom content such as podcasts, newsletters,etc..  In Joe’s words, Junta42 is the “e-harmony” of content marketing. They “match up” brands who need to create custom content with expert custom content creation vendors.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is the natural evolution of custom publishing. It’s branded content created by any business, in any industry no matter how large or small. Original custom content was in print, e.g, John Deere, Toyota send customers a custom magazine to strengthen customer loyalty.

In recent years, online branded custom content has become very popular.  Online custom content comes in many forms including but not limited to blogs, podcasts, video, newsletters, topical websites, white papers, articles, e-books, and any form of aggregated content.  Custom content is the natural evolution of custom publishing. In contemporary marketing, brands must deliver relevant content to keep customers loyal.

Marketing 2.0: Two Pillars

In my book, I refer to two pillars in Marketing 2.0: Content Marketing and Relationship Building. I refer to marketing 2.0 as a mindset which many companies still do not understand. Those companies who produce or aggregate great content and deliver it to their buyers across different platforms build relationships with them.

It’s Not Your Father’s Market Anymore

Buyer behaviors have changed. Buyers don’t want to be engaged the way sellers have engaged them in the past. The old style of marketing is very selfish. It’s all about the seller (me, me, me attitude). The seller just wants the prospective buyer to contact them or buy from the seller. The new mindset is about you (the buyer). Brands should think like a publisher. Brands should strive for buyers to like their brand, trust their brand, think of their brand when it’s logical to think of the brand. In other words, the new marketing mindset is about you, the buyer. What can the brand do for you?  Don’t think like a marketer. Think like a publisher.

What’s Your Competitive Advantage?

Joe is quick to point out that your competitive advantage is your communications. All your communications! Build your brand as an expert. Buyers go online to find what they want.  They seek conversations with people who have something meaningful to say. Unleash the power of your secret sauce. How are you the expert? Demonstrate your expertise. Don’t just talk about it. Share…Teach…

Lethal Generosity

Jeremiah Oyang, of Forrester Research has coined a term: lethal generosity. Brands should give and give and give to our customers…Give for free. But, most marketers still don’t think that way. But, that will change in the coming months and years. It’s inevitable as marketing 2.0 mindsets continue to evolve and buyers demand it.

What if you’re a B2B high tech product manufacturer? How do you give away your secret sauce? Become the media. Create  custom content as an asset. Create content that is compelling and builds trust. Be the media. Build communications assets which have potential to reach many people who are willing to share your content.

Excuses

“We just don’t have the time.” “We’re in such a niche market.” Joe’s response to these typical excuses is to ask people how they find new products? He asks do they buy from advertisements, yellow page ads, direct mail, trade shows? How many people use search engines? Everyone does! Buyer behaviors have changed. They go to industry websites and other sites and find people talking to each other. Brands may be left out of the purchase discussion if they don’t participate! It applies to nearly every market, not just some industries.

All buyers are online somewhere. Brands should produce or aggregate good content online in multiple formats that are accessible and subscribable.  Good content online spreads. You can reach people you would not otherwise be able to reach.

Risk of Social Media Abstinence

The risk of social media abstinence refers to the risk of being absent from conversations on the web where your buyers are and you’re not. If you’re not present and your competitors offer good content and they are building relationships across various platforms, you are at risk…If I’m a buyer and I’m consuming a vendor’s content, and others are spreading their content and saying positive things about them, I’ve begun to build a relationship with them before I contact any of these vendors. Are you one of them? If not, your social media abstinence can cost you business!

When you make content marketing your mindset, you organize your time around this mindset. So, it’s not as time consuming as you think. You’ll develop new habits. Do you really have a choice?

30 Year Nap

Imagine you just awoke from a 30 year nap. When you visit an office you observe all knowledge workers using PCs. If you are going to have gainful employment you must learn to use a computer. You need to use email, create documents, spreadsheets, use a browser to access the Internet, etc. Do you have a choice? Not if you want to be employed….People must learn new habits as culture and technology evolves. It’s just that simple.

Content marketing is a new habit that companies must embrace or die! Build content that shows off your expertise. Build content that will become an asset. Your content can become one of your greatest assets. Without this asset your marketing will eventually become ineffective.

Listen to the entire podcast interview with Joe Pulizzi to learn about a limited time offer to receive a free copy of my book, Marketing 2.0 as well as a copy of Joe’s book, Get Content:Get Customers.

And, of course you can produce your own content by adding your comments below. I want to hear from you.

@berniebay

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Dear Twitter, I Want to Pay for my Account

Paying for Twitter is in the Best Interest of the Twitter Community

When Twitter suspended my account this week (while on vacation) I was shocked. At first, I didn’t believe it. I almost denied it. But, it slowly sank in that I was without the ability to post (tweet) comments and links to articles, or reply to other’s tweets.

I didn’t realize how dependent I had become on Twitter until my account was suspended. So, I turned to Facebook to ask people who follow me on Twitter to tweet about my suspension. After all, it must be a mistake. I’m not a spammer. And, I certainly didn’t violate their TOS. My hope (fantasy) was that if enough people tweeted about @berniebay being unfairly suspended, that somehow Twitter would notice and reinstate me.

Once I calmed down I learned through a blog article on Mashable that Twitter admitted to a human error that apparently suspended numerous accounts and they were working to restore them. Yes, that gave me some comfort. At least I know I didn’t inadvertently committed some Twitter sin that warranted my suspension.

But, then the light bulb went on. I am so frustrated that I can’t use Twitter that I would be willing to pay for it!

One of my Twitter friends, Peter Rad made the comment on Facebook: “remember that Twitter is free and you have no right to complain when it fails you.” Peter you are correct! Peter also is of the opinion that if or when Twitter starts to charge a fee the uproar will be so loud it will be deafening. I think it depends on their pricing model.

So, here is my proposed pricing model for Twitter usage.

Individuals:

The first 500 users are free. This allows the casual newbies to try it out with no barrier to entry. After 500 followers the monthly fees start. The thresholds I propose are:

501 to 2000
2001 to 3000
3001 to 4000
4001 to 5000
5,001 to 7,500
7,501 to 10,000
10,001 to 15,000
15,001 to 25,000
25,001 to 50,000
50,001 to 100,000
100,000 plus

The monthly fee at each threshold obviously would increase, but until the threshold gets to 50,000 it should not exceed $50 per month. One mathematical approach is a penny per follower with the first 500 free. At 2,000 followers that’s $20 per month. Perhaps above 50,000 followers the per follower fee would drop below a penny to keep the cost reasonable for the Twitter superstars. I also propose a cap so even a Twitter mega superstar would never pay more than a ceiling price.

I like this pricing model for two reasons. First, it provides some revenue to Twitter so support tickets can actually get a response. Second, it provides some accountability. Now, they have no accountability because their service is free. And, third it will dissuade some of the rif raf from spamming us with offers to “grow our Twitter following and make a zillion dollars.”

Brands

Twitter should charge all brands a one time $99 fee. That’s a reasonable amount that any serious brand can afford. A similar fee schedule should apply to brands as the one described above.

Whether or not my model is the right pricing model for Twitter is not my point. No business on the planet can survive without revenue. It’s long overdue. As a Twitter “customer” I have no recourse for my undeserved suspension because I’m not a paying customer.

Dear Twitter – I want to become a paying customer. It’s time!

Would you pay for your Twitter account? How much is it worth to you?

@berniebay

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What if Thomas Jefferson was a Blogger?

Every Independence Day I read the Declaration of Independence. I don’t tire of it. Each year I get goose bumps as I read it. The clarity of voice in our founding fathers in the historical document is simply amazing.

This year I got to thinking, what if Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers had the opportunity to blog? What if the Internet had been invented in the 18th century. Rather than Thomas Jefferson distributing the scroll of paper (after Congress approved it August 2, 1776) announcing the independence of the 13 colonies, he (and many others) would’ve blogged about becoming independent from mother England.

And, what if the Declaration of Independence was drafted as a document in Google docs shared by the committee of five who drafted it: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman and Thomas Jefferson.  Jefferson is credited with the authorship of the famous declaration document which was “inked” into an official scroll document to be distributed throughout the land and delivered to mother England by ship.

I don’t need to be reminded of how fortunate we are to have the technologies we have at our fingertips. Reading this historical document on July 4th every year serves to remind me how blessed I am to be an American and how lucky I am to be alive during this time.

Our military men and women serving us bravely in far away lands communicate with their families with webcams across the Internet. The citizens of Iran have been communicating with the world using mobile devices, Twitter, Facebook and blogs. The Iranian authorities have been unable to completely prevent citizen journalists from essentially playing the role of uncensored media to the world.

Similarly, some business executives have not yet awakened to the capabilities available to their customers, employees and competitors using these commonplace technologies.

Just like long haired ponytails were the popular culture for men during the time of our founding fathers, the modern day popular culture is for people to “tweet” their sentiments about your new product announcement, or your decision to layoff 20% of our your workforce, or merge with your largest competitor, or (fill in the blank). Whether your company is public requiring disclosure of every substantial event, or private, the current culture is that everything is public on the social web.

The Internet makes this possible. The culture of transparency makes this popular.

Does your CEO resist this culture? Does your chief marketing executive resist this culture? Does your chief sales executive resist this culture? Does your chief financial officer resist this culture? Does your chief people officer resist this culture?

Are You Swimming Upstream?

You know the cliche “swimming upstream.” What image do you get when you hear that cliche? My visual is a salmon swimming fiercely against a river current. They do it yearly to spawn but you can’t help but wonder why they do it. Only a few make it. The odds are so against them. Why not “swim with the current” and get there faster?

That’s the question I ask when I encounter business executives who resist the new social web. These are the executives who know social networking is here to stay but think it’s a waste of time for them and their employees.

In my book, Marketing 2.0, I refer to this as social media abstinence. I suggest it’s the biggest risk in business today.

Business executives who abstain from engaging their buyers on the web where their buyers want to be engaged are risking their future. If their employees get it, it’s only a matter of time before they seek employment elsewhere, or worse yet their competitors will engage their customers in the culture of the social web and capture market share.

If Thomas Jefferson had access to the Internet I don’t think he would’ve abstained from using it to write and distribute the Declaration of Independence ahead of time. I bet it would’ve gone viral. Don’t you?

@berniebay

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YouTube or MyTube? Video Content Marketing

Podcast/Video Interview with Shaun Pope of Endavo Media

This podcast interview with Shaun is about using video content marketing in a Marketing 2.0 strategy. Shaun is the co-author of the video chapter in my Marketing 2.0. social media book. Endavo Media is an Internet TV platform that allows a marketer to easily upload video content, brand it, control it and monetize it. It allows any marketer to create “branded entertainment.” Shaun points out that those companies having the most success with video have fun with it!

A video excerpt of this interview will be posted on the branded Find and Convert video channel.

Marketing 2.0: Content Marketing  & Relationship Building

YouTube is a popular tool. Shaun refers to it as: “YouTube is really their tube.” While YouTube has ease of use and wide distribution in its favor, the reality is that YouTube gets all the branding benefit of your video. Your video on YouTube   brings the audience to their platform, not your platform. Marketers should strive to bring their audience to a branded entertainment destination.

There is some value to uploading video on YouTube. It’s a free video service.  It’s easy. Your videos are  displayed by topic. But, because your video topic is tagged, YouTube will display other videos with similar tags. So, people can easily find your competitors videos or get distracted by other videos because YouTube will display “like” videos. In other words, you can lose control of your audience on YouTube.

In a branded video channel you maintain full control of your video content and give your target audience a branded entertainment experience. You control the calls to action, the links, the messaging, the channels and generally the whole experience.

I refer to the branded entertainment concept as “my corporate tube.”

Examples of Companies using Video Successfully

Rick Short, MarCom Director at Indium Corp., has produced video about their solder paste product. Some of his videos are funny. But the humor is generally only humorous to their target audience. It’s like an inside joke. Outsiders wouldn’t consider it funny. Like the video of Rick giving his wife a present at a restaurant. The present was a tub of solder paste. His wife didn’t think it was funny. But, his audience does…These funny videos strengthen relationships with his global audience by humanizing an otherwise technical topic.

TurfNet: They are an association of golf course administrators.  TurfNet TV uses fun and humorous content. They recognize the importance of ongoing story telling that attracts their audience.

HubSpot TV: Weekly internet TV show on Friday at 4pm hosted by Karen Rubin and Mike Volpe.  They deliver great tips and advice on inbound marketing strategies. I like that they emphasize the low cost infrastructure of HubSpot TV. They use a camcorder and show topics on a plain sheet of paper. They understand that video is important, but it’s a cog in the wheel. They produce a lot of content across multiple social web platforms, blogs, Twitter, forums and video.

Many people in today’s global economy have basic video production skills because the tools are so readily available to the masses. Whereas in years past video was restricted to professionals with expensive gear.

Market Leverage: Affiliate Marketing TV

Market Leverage is an affiliate marketing network. They bring together content publishers and merchants. They promote different offers from publishers to affiliates on their branded Internet TV channel. They have a lot of fun with it. Their audience understands them and enjoys their video.

Strenghthening Your Brand

A weak brand = weak sales. A strong brand can result in strong sales. People buy from people they are comfortable with. Video content goes a long way toward straightening your brand. Video content should be a staple in very Marketing 2.0 strategy.

Video content production is a terrific way to bridge the gap between sellers and buyers.

I have produced a brief summary of my book: Marketing 2.0 on my branded video using the Endavo Media platform. It is MyTube. Check it out.

I hope you’ve been inspired to use video content in your Marketing 2.0 strategy!  Don’t hesitate to share your comments below about how you’re using video or other examples of Marketing 2.0 companies doing it.

@berniebay

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Help Me Select Social Media Marketing Book Cover Design

My new social media marketing book is coming out this summer. And, I need your help selecting the book cover design.

The book title is Marketing 2.0: Bridging the Gap between Seller and Buyer through Social Media Marketing. The book is written for small and medium size businesses. It is a how-to book for marketers who have not yet fully developed their social media marketing strategy. The book provides guidelines for developing your strategy and real world case study examples from other SMBs for inspiration.

You’ll hear more about the book soon. For now, I want you to help me select the book cover design. Below are two slightly different versions of the book design. Please use the comments section below to give me your opinion on which one I should select.

I look forward to your input. Thanks!

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Podcasting Tips From Master Host Susan Bratton

Podcast Interview with Susan Bratton, CEO of Personal Life Media.

As a podcaster, I have long been a fan of a handful of other podcasts that cover the topics that I cover, namely web marketing, new media, online marketing, and all related topics. One of my favorite podcasts is produced by Susan Bratton, called DishyMix, a podcast show where Susan interviews interesting and accomplished guests in and around marketing, advertising and new media. So, I invited Susan to be interviewed for my podcast and she graciously accepted…Boy was it fun!

Susan has many attributes I enjoy and I will share them with you in this blog post. But, you should listen to the entire podcast to learn how Susan is making an impact in our economy and how you can too by following her tips. No matter your industry, Susan’s advice can be applied with measurable results.

Susan is the co- founder and CEO of Personal Life Media, a media publishing company for people on the leading edge of culture. Susan is a Silicon Valley exec who knows everybody in new media, advertising and anything marketing. Susan is widely adored and recognized as a “super connector” among interesting and influential people in the web 2.0 and new media world.

PLM is about helping people change their lives. Susan calls it edutainment. Each one of Susan’s DishyMix podcasts make me a little smarter.  She interviews fabulously interesting people. In each of her interviews she seeks to bring her audience “brain science,” personal growth and leadership examples. She brings her guest’s deep expertise to her audience while also about allowing you to get to know each of them as a human being. This combination of professional expertise and human interest makes DishyMix a very engaging podcast show!

From 16 to 40 and Counting

Susan launched Personal Life Media with 16 shows. Now PLM is comprised of 40 shows and growing. Susan recognized that podcasting is a communication platform that allows anyone who views herself as a publisher of content (an individual or a business), to do just that. Publishers have always produced a profit through paid sponsors, paid advertisers and paid subscribers. That’s exactly how Personal Life Media exists in our eco system. Susan has transferred this economic model to the podcasting medium with success that isn’t slowing down.

In addition to the 40 shows PLM is launching a new category called “online information products.” These will comprise ebooks that offer their target audience multiple benefits through a combination of audio lessons, video lessons and text based content. PLM has 15 information products in the hopper!

Podcasting as a Business

In December 2008 Lee Odden created a list of the top podcasts. DishyMix came in first in social media podcasts and my Find and Convert podcast came in third in the fan voting (Susan referred to it as a bake-off).

Susan is quick to point out that podcasting is a medium for marketers to get their message out to a target audience. Susan’s advice to businesses is to consider podcasting when one or more people in their business are comfortable in front a microphone and/or camera and a commitment can be made to producing regular podcast shows. Most businesses have plenty of content which can be re-purposed into a podcast. Interviewing interesting guests is a common approach in any industry. While monetizing podcasts can be achieved through advertising, sponsorships and a subscription model, most often a business can monetize their podcasts by using it as an effective way to communicate to their customers and surrounding community. In short, podcasting is an effective medium to build relationships with your customers and differentiate your business.

Susan’s advice on business podcasting includes the suggestion that a podcast can be better than a blog if the podcaster is one who doesn’t like to write but likes to speak. “You must love it. If you like to talk rather than write and you can sustainably do it, it’s a great communication medium,” says Susan.

Any business can tap into an existing or new audience through iTunes, which is a free distribution channel for podcasts. Businesses who create a podcast show are using new media as a corporate communications vehicle.

Talk Show Tips: 72 Secrets “Master Host” Techniques

Susan’s new e-book was inspired by her rapid success in podcasting. She humbly realized that her success qualifies her as a “master host” and she set out to create a package of information sharing tips. And boy did she ever! Talk Show Tips is packed with audio, video and text based tips that will make any podcaster, no matter how experienced, a more effective show host.

Talk show Tips provides podcast show hosts practical ways to organize a show. It offers awesome preparation tips for each interview so that your guest sees how prepared you are for the interview with killer questions and background. It also offers communication guidelines with your guest so they feel prepared for your interview. The ebook also shows how to conduct and promote a flawless podcast interview.

I suggested that Susan come back on my show in the future after I have finished consuming all the content in Talk Show Tips. I was truly blown away by all the content in her ebook but I didn’t finish it in time for this interview. She agreed to come back to see the difference (before and after)…

Measuring Results

I asked Susan how she measures results for all PLM shows, including DishyMix. Susan uses a service from VoloMedia. This service measures how many people have downloaded a show with ads in it. It measures completed downloads, not just clicks on a podcast file. Their numbers are reliable allowing her to measure the penetration of her shows.  Volomedia allows Susan to say that there are about 1 million downloads per month of her 40 shows on Personal Life Media. Of course, the ultimate measurement is the revenue she produces through her advertisers and soon from subscription sales and online information products.

Memorable Show Guests on DishyMix

I asked Susan to name some memorable guests from her DishyMix show. That’s a tough question with sooooo many fabulous guests. But, here is a short list she mentioned:  Sir Ken Robinson, author of The Element; Dacher Keltner, author of The Science of a Meaningful Life; Linda Resnik, author of a new book, “Rubies in the Orchard: How to Uncover Hidden Gems in Your Business” is half marketing genius and half auto-biography of an amazing billionaires.  Other notable guests include Steve Wosniak, Marcus Buckingham and Bert Decker.

A Memorable Speaking Experience

Susan emceed a conference called Happiness and Its Causes. Susan was a little nervous before the event due to the anxiety from some of the organizers.   A friend advised her to imagine a golden chord extending from her body as a tap root anchored into the earth. She advised Susan to take a deep breath and blow it through the grounding-chord to relieve all the stress. It worked and Susan went on to emcee a very successful event, which is a common occurrence for her.

Susan’s Three Pillars of Social Media Marketing in Business

Listening: The most popular action in social media among businesses. You can learn a lot about your customers, your market, your competitors and your employees by listening.

Appvertising: As Susan explains “Brands who create useful aps or sponsor useful aps for their target consumers are brilliant players at a high-level of sophistication in the social influence marketing sphere.” She cites examples such as ClearSpring, Gigya and RockYou! as well as SocialMedia.com and ContextOptional.

Participation: Facebook fan pages such as the Find and Convert fan page and the DishyMix Fan Club where Susan gives away all kinds of goodies to her listeners (I could learn something from this – huh).  Susan also cites consumer generated content experiences like HP on YouTube described in an interview with Daina Middleton as well corporate Twitter accounts like Personal Life Media’s Twitter account.

Inspiration, Entertainment, Education

My interview with Susan Bratton was inspiring, entertaining and educational. I guess I can say it was edutainment! Susan’s passion and intellect are enjoyable. Her advice is commendable. Her enthusiasm is contagious.

Susan is simply a fun gal with a ton of wisdom and success to share with you and me. I hope you enjoy the podcast. I’d like to hear from you with your comments about this interview including questions for Susan for the next podcast.

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Memories from the Inbound Marketing Summit

I attended the Inbound Marketing Summit in San Francisco April 28/29.  I’ve processed the event in my head and here are some of my memories from the event.

Chris Brogan’s humility is as impressive as his wisdom.

Justin Levy doesn’t need much sleep to get the job done.

David Meerman Scott offers countless triggers to turn your content into a world wide rave.

Paul Gillin is my choice to lead a panel session any day of the week.

Dharmesh Shah likes to give presentations no matter how much he tells us he doesn’t.

Tim Ferriss isn’t shy about plugging his services while he has the stage.

Brian Halligan’s parents had deep discussions about Tide detergent commercials.

Tim Street is my choice to close out a full day of presentations any time.

Tim O’Reilly is also my choice to close out a full day of presentations any time.

The private party sponsored by DNA13 was great. Too bad just two bartenders were on call for 200 people.

Here are some interesting factoids that caught my attention during the presentations.

The average age of the newspaper reader in the U.S. is 57: Paul Gillin

We learned to share in kindergarten. Our training for social networking started then: Tim Young.

To get your video to go viral create a spectacle, tell a story, create emotion: Tim Street

Companies who measure the lifetime value of customers measure the outcome of relationships in social media: Charlene Li. BTW, not to take anything away from Charlene, but I’ve been saying the same for quite a while…

Chris Brogan’s (self proclaimed) occupation is “typist.”

Here is a list of 19 things learned at the Inbound Marketing Summit by Jason Stewart.

I interviewed Chris Brogan to discuss why he shaved his head for charity (unedited):

I interviewed Mike Volpe to discuss the meaning of inbound marketing:

Hope to see you at the next Inbound Marketing Summit in Dallas, May 27/28.

Bernie Borges
@berniebay

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