The Edgy Entrepreneur

Marketing and Telling the Truth

I've been thinking quite a bit about branding strategies of late and I have a question...why can't marketing be about telling the truth? I mean, you know, the plain old truth...the "this is a great product, give it a try, if you like it, buy it again", kind of truth? Some sort of "here's the real value to you, here's how your life will actually benefit from giving this a go"...kind of message?

Because that is not what I usually experience...I usually read things that tell me my clothes will shine with radiance like the sun or smell as fresh as the ocean. I am conditioned to look for things that say "extra strength' or "super" or whatever the current moniker is that tells me I have the really, really good stuff...not just the plain old good stuff. I mean, how clean can you get something? If you scrub it with the extra, super, duper cleaner instead of say, vinegar and water with a little dish washing detergent, is it a billion times cleaner?

Consumers have been fed and led by this kind of advertising for so long that we have become jaded to the very adjectives that have been used to motivate us. And this approach might very well have continued had social media and the interactive web not come along. There are many things that happen within the culture of social networks, but one consistent message rises to the top. "We want truth in messaging. We want to know the people who work at the companies that make the products we buy. We want to know why we should care."

Still, there are precious few who are able to respond to this call, online or otherwise. Because this requires an openness, an eagerness to communicate, a willingness to tell the truth...and above all, a desire to understand your audience well enough to know if the product you are trying to sell them will actually be of benefit to them. This means a deeper understanding of your customers and potential customers, less (instead of more) advertising, highly target messages that reflect your knowledge and interest in the communities you serve, and lots of relationship building. Did I mention truth telling? Yeah, there's that, too...

And aside from yours truly, who has embraced this concept to the point of naming my gardening podcast "Good Enough Gardening", there are very few people out there who do a great job applying these concepts...David Meerman Scott is one of my faves. But I know that there are a whole lot of people out there grapling with these concepts, struggling to pave a new marketing road. What about you, what are you doing? Who do you follow or admire?

Building Community on the Web

Seems like I have been so busy with the release of my book (Growing Food) and the kick off of my podcast with Amanda Thomsen (Good Enough Gardening) that I haven't had a single minute to write about my second passion...social media marketing, and in particular, building communities online. I have learned a really a couple of really valuable lessons during this process, so I thought I would share them with you.

The first is this...though every brand or company might want an online community, not all will be able  to build one. That's just a cold, hard fact. Now, I am not saying that people can't benefit from online marketing...because everyone can...but no, not everyone can benefit from an online community.

The second is this...it will not happen overnight. If you try to push people into becoming a community overnight, they will do everything they can to avoid it...and you will be treated like a spammer. And no matter how many clients want you to bring in 8,000 new people to their social media accounts each week and offer to pay you to do so, you must still tell them that is an impossibility. That's not a community...and a great example of that is the ill-fated MySpace.

The third is this...your networks will build slowly and then suddenly take off. I don't know why this happens, but it is as if you reach a level of critical mass that results in exponential growth. And once this happens on one platform, it makes growth on other platforms much easier. Graphic Depiction of Online Communities by D'Arcy Norman

The fourth is this...even if all of these things are in place, if the market doesn't want what you are selling, they won't buy it...period. So before you do anything else, use social media for market research. It has to be one of its best and most effective uses.

The fifth is this...and when people buy, the conversion rate won't equal the significance you feel in your social media relationships. Here's what I mean by that...social media marketing is relationship based, so a significant part of your time is spent building connections. And, when you do start promoting a product, you will naturally expect all of your online friends to feel as passionate about it as you do. And while I am not saying they won't ever buy it...I am saying that a lot of variables go in to making a purchase, so don't be disappointed if you have lower than expected sales.

Let me help put this into perspective, Grokdot posted the Top Ten Sites for Conversion Rates:
 1. ProFlowers 31.1%
2. LL Bean 25.7%
3. Amazon 23.7%
4. VitaCost 23.0%
5. Coldwater Creek 22.4%
6. QVC 21.1%
7. Roamans 20.4%
8. Office Depot 20.2%
9. LandsEnd 19.3%
10. Victoria’s Secret 19.2%

And these are well established brands that put a ton of money into marketing on and off line...average rates for small businesses would range from 1-10%. See what I am saying?

All of this is not to dissuade you, but to help you create a realistic marketing plan that will help you portion your time and resources efficiently and effectively. Since most small businesses don't have a lot of money, they have to be prepared to use the one thing they do have...time. It may take longer, but the long, slow burn can be just as effective, even more so, in building and maintaining a happy, healthy community.

Social Media Marketing: How It Works

It can be challenging, to say the least, to try and capture the way in which social media marketing actually works. The framework for understanding this process is so different from traditional marketing that not having experience in marketing can actually make the tenets easier to adopt.

 

The good news is that communicating via social media is much more like real life communications, on fast forward. We have removed the barrier of travel and quite a bit of the "getting to know you" niceties. And because much of the "screening" function has been removed from the relationship dance, users expect direct (tactful?) and transparent communication.

Implementing an online marketing campaign in this context requires that a company be flexible and responsive. This ongoing effort is about building culture and community around a product or business. And though there are some time-saving tips, this is not a quick fix or a one time effort.

Businesses who choose to enter this space need to understand that they are a part of the community they are building. They do not own the community they are building. And it is that lack of control that feels very uncomfortable to many. But by letting go of this need to have a polished and perfect (and unbelievable) brand, companies are able to build deep brand loyalty and viral recognition.

This loyalty is the result of a real life desire to support the people we care about and admire. Relationships create customers, and relationships are significantly harder to build if your campaign is only utilizing billboards, TV ads, and print.

With social media, when one of your contacts buys your product it is because they believe in the company at a much deeper level. They have stronger buy in and a connection with the person(s) who is running the campaign. Which is just common sense, really...don't you give your business to your friends first?

All of which makes social media marketing a very enjoyable process...if you have passion for your business and have a great product, you will have the opportunity to share that with a receptive and engaged audience. And this is a hell of a lot more fun than creating a whole bunch of static messages and using them to talk "at" a potential group of customers.

And where traditional marketing is about flooding the target market, hoping a small percentage of people respond, social media marketing is about building relationships. The latter necessitates more time spent on the front end, but results in a higher response rate. Taking the time to build these relationships will also increase the likelihood that your customer will continue to be your customer time and time again.

The jury is still out on whether or not social media marketing can benefit every business. This depends on multiple factors, including market pull and brand positioning. It is definitely in your company's interest to explore it a bit more, whether that is via hiring an interactive marketing consultant or using existing company resources to gather information.

Chances are that your customers are already using some form of social media. If you aren't showing up to engage them, someone else is.

Why Skittles' New Branding Strategy is Brilliant

Skittles made a daring move in its recent web redesign and online branding strategy. Their home page has become a series of links to pages that show user generated content about their candy.Twitter search, Facebook, and YouTube all make an appearance. Essentially, their marketing plan is to harness the wisdom of the crowds (also known as "crowdsourcing").

And though it is risky to use content you don't control as your primary marketing strategy, I happen to think it is brilliant. Skittles understands their target market,the majority of visitors to their site are teens who are influenced by pop culture and online trends. Take a look at the Quantcast lifestyle analysis for www.skittles.com.
You can see that the site with the highest affinity rating is MTV. We also see gaming and lyrics sites. In the keyword section, we can see that a high percentage of people reach their site using their brand name...which is no surprise given their high brand visibility.

Just taking a look at their user demographics and traffic patterns more than likely sent them in the direction of strengthening their online campaign. The genius is in understanding that implementing a social media campaign means embracing it as a living thing and celebrating the unpredictability of it. And in knowing that their target market will think that seeing themselves on their product website is just about the coolest freaking thing ever...dude.

This site guarantees chatter will skyrocket...much like the people who like to wave at the cameras on the Today Show. But instead of the folks standing in a circle around the Today Show crew, the crew is coming to their neighborhoods, talking to them, filming them, asking them to create the content for the show. And who doesn't want to watch (buy) something they helped to create?

There is always an associated risk with this type of transparency. Anything that is said...good or bad...will end up on their home page. But I don't think that will bother their customers. Anyone who has a teen knows that one week they can't be separated from their best friend, the next week they can't stand each other...and so on, and so on, and so on.

While this obviously won't work for every company, it is an absolutely awesome example of the right strategy, at the right time, with the right people. I can't wait to see what happens!

Facebook Groups: Real Strategies for Building Interaction, Part III

Well, I intended to get this third and final Facebook Strategies post out earlier in the week but had to stall so I could get past my latest irritation with Facebook. This week there was quite a lot of hubbub about their new Terms of Service...which they later rescinded. And, I stopped to get angry about a friend who had gotten a warning because she had "too much activity" on her account. Wha???

Anywhoo, I went on a rant about it on another site where I post...so I will spare you. But I want to  make a couple of things clear. In order to market on Facebook, you need to a)fly under the radar by not taking too many of any kind of action each day and b) use your real name and only use your business name in groups and on pages.

Back to our series on strategies...today I want to talk about some advanced strategies that I use with   Facebook and other social networking/social media platforms. Here are some of my favorite tips:

• Connect all of your social media sites together: any place there is an option to add a link to your other profiles, you should do it. And be sure your blog has a link to the groups you have created on any social media sites.
• Update your group regularly, ask questions, enter comments, add links. By making changes on the group, your profile and the groups members are alerted that things are a-changing.
• Use the share button or bullitens  to promote your own group at least once a week.
• Send out an update to all of your networks (via Ping.fm) to let them know you have topic groups and what the hot topic of the week is...every time I do this, I have new members.
• Grab a discussion thread and turn it into a post on your blog and vice versa. You do not have to generate 100% new content. Great information is great information, share selectively and repurpose what you have created. 
• Join similar topic groups on all of your social media sites. Friend members of those groups, then invite them to join yours.
• Post videos and pictures around the web, linking back to your groups.
• Ask your social media networks (including Digg and Stumble) to help you promote the good news with a link. This is an easy one if you have built good relationships with your friends. Just don't wear them out by asking too often.

Hope these tips have been helpful to you...and despite my irritation with Facebook, I will still use their network. There are just too many people there who are a good fit for my demographics. Hopefully, they will make some changes that makes their system a bit more user friendly.

Facebook Groups: Real Strategies for Building Interaction, Part II

Yesterday, we created an optimized profile as a base for future online business development. Today, we will focus on the development and management of groups.

To the left is a screenshot of the group I created for my organic vegetable gardening blog, Gardener to Farmer. If you click on the picture, it will take you to the group. There are examples of all of the tactics I describe in this post, in this group.

Before starting a group on Facebook, it is important to engage in a bit of market research by exploring existing groups. Are their similar groups that are really popular? What kind of content are they providing? What kind of questions are being asked? How many members are there? This kind of information can help you create a group that has a special niche rather than duplicating topics and content. Be sure to join all similar communities. The members of these groups are likely to become members of yours.

Once you have decided on a topic, create a solid description and name that actually tells people what the group is about...you would be surprised at how many groups are obscurely named. That's fine if it is a personal, for fun kind of group...not so great if you want someone to find your group. And if you have a solid list of keywords, even better. Remember, keywords  are most effective when used consistently across the net.

A quick tip: add the Memorable Web Address application to your profile. With it, you can generate easy web addresses for your profile and groups. This is really helpful for promoting your group...the addresses that Facebook assigns are a yard long, full of numbers and letters and other strange characters.

Next, add some great content to get the group started. Discussion points, photos, videos...create value so people joining your group will see the benefit of membership right away.

Now, start inviting people from your existing friends with the invitation feature. You can also click the share button and invite your friends by promoting the group in your information stream.

You can also promote your group on other groups. Be sure not to do it in an obnoxious, spammy way. Most groups are fine with a topic related post and link on the wall...not so much in the discussion groups.

Another way to build both your group membership and your overall reach is to start friending members of similar groups. Remember that your friends will see your activity stream, and their friends will see their interactions with you. Though it may take a bit to get going, this is a great way to build viral messaging capability.

Now that we have the basics in place, we will talk about advanced engagement by combining other social media tools and Facebook in our final post.

Facebook Groups: Real Strategies for Building Interaction, Part I

This is the first post in a three part series about using Facebook groups for online business development. So much has been said and written about using Facebook groups to create community around your business, that it seems like there can't possibly be more to say. Yet, when I take a look at the various articles/slides/videos about how to use FB groups, they just don't capture the whole story.

Not only that, many people who read this post and others, will still not start a group...even if they already use Facebook to market their business. That's just crazy, people...why would you invest that kind of time and not reap the full benefit of the tool?

I will admit that it took a while for me to warm up to Facebook...I just hate the thousands of have a beer/send a gift/save a dog applications. I let those distract me from the other valuable aspects of this social networking site.

Using a group for online business development involves a bit of initial foundation building. But once it is up and running, your time spent there can be significantly less. And that is one of the greatest things about groups...they are owned by the community. Once the community starts responding, they generate their own content and build engagement with each other.

Here's how to get started: First make sure your profile is optimized for your niche market. This does not mean use your business name for the profile or excessively hawk your business in all of the profile descriptor categories. It means make sure you use your keywords in your profile and express your genuine interest and passion for your niche. Upload interesting photos and videos, tag them with useful information.

I have both an organic vegetable gardening coaching business and have a grow your own food book that will be coming out shortly, so my profile is optimized fairly heavily toward gardening and social media (I'm an interactive marketing consultant by day). Before I ever started a group, I spent some time cultivating friends who shared similar interest in gardening. I did this by going to different FB gardening groups in search of like-minded people.

A word of caution...do not be offensive and spammy in your attempt to build thousands of friends. I am requesting a connection around a topic that genuinely interests me. And, my full intent is to provide value to my network. Even though I have products and services to sell, I share a lot of valuable information for free.

After developing a base of friends who shared a similar passion for gardening, I created the Grow Your Own Food with Gardener to Farmer group. Tomorrow, we will talk about group build out and promotion.

Top 3 Business Marketing Tools for Adding Value

I don't know what has gotten in to me of late...I am madly exploring and adding things to my sites to boost the value for my readers, while simultaneously using them to market my businesses online. And believe it or not, you CAN market to people and have them enjoy and find value in it.

Case in point: I am mad about a new site called Chi.mp. They just rolled out Chi.mp 2.0 today and man, what a huge difference! These guys are still in beta, but the functionality that already exists is mad...Chi.mp is a "content hub and identity management platform". Essentially, that means that all of the things that are important to you can be a part of a platform you own.

Hang with me here, the creators of Chi.mp want you to have your own domain and the flexibility to add information and design features the way YOU want to...not the way THEY want. This is heresy in the social media realm...a site where you own your own information and create your own platform? Stop!

I recently built out my profile page for the Edgy Entrepreneur. It contains all the feeds for my social media writing, a social media news mashup (which I will get to in a bit) and miscellaneous social media accounts I think are beneficial. Go and check it out, see what you think. I have 4 invitations left for the beta, let me know if you want one.

Another thing I added to my site is a social media feed mashup. I have written quite a bit about my fondness for Yahoo Pipes, so I cloned a copy of an existing pipe and spiffed it up a bit. This contains some of my favorite social media blogs, a Yahoo web search for "social media" and a Digg Top Tech Feed. You can subscribe to this in an RSS reader, add it to igoogle or add it as a widget to your blog. If you have a social media blog and would like to add this widget to your profile, let me know and I will add your feed.

Finally, I added a customized Google Search to each of my blogs. I just decided that the amount of content on my blogs had reached critical mass. I mean, if people can't find it, they can't read it, right? It was a really easy process to set up. What's great about customized search is that you control the sites that you are searching. If you just want to search yours, that's fine...if you want to create a topical search, that's A-OK too.

And of course, all of these things are beneficial to both me and my readers. I am able to generate content that is informative and engaging, add other related content, and create a search that will save them from clicking on a hundred categories to find it all.

And, the overarching search engine benefit is insane. First, Chi.mp is designed to show up well in search results...and you can add Google Analytics, which ensures it will be indexed. The Yahoo Social Media Mashup is obviously indexed by Yahoo, and Google too...all of those gorgeous keywords attached to your site. Last, a customized Google Search? Hello? Can you feed Google more relevant information about your site than to have your readers search for things they EXPECT to find there?

It was a lot to complete, but I was on a mission...think about adding one or two of these items to your website...it could make a huge difference for you and your readers!

Rebel Against Twitter Rules: Do What Works for You!

We Tweeple are overly fascinated with Twitter...not that Twitter isn't a good online marketing tool, it is. But we tend to talk about it like there are clearly defined rules for its use and that there is only one effective brand building strategy. There are multiple ways to use Twitter, at least as many ways as there are micro-cultures on this micro-blog.

I agree that understanding a site's etiquette will help you build networks and generate quite a lot of good will. But to limit our usage strategy to a relationship-intensive model of engagement is to reserve Twitter only for the people who have an abundance of time on their hands or specialize in online marketing. Deciding what role Twitter, or other time-intensive platforms, plays in your online marketing strategy is your first step to developing a workable plan.

Let's take a look at few different uses for Twitter, all of which I have seen used successfully to market a product or service.

• Traditional Twitter: This user builds out a solid profile, consciously searches out like-minded people, and is a somewhat finicky follower. Each tweet is informative, meaningful or funny. This user spends time connecting via online or in person tweet ups and reaches out through genuine responses. This person has no idea when someone stops following...nor do they care.
• Marketing Twitter: This user builds a highly searchable profile bio, then checks their search results on Twitter Grader to find out if they are visible to their target audience.  This tweeter uses auto-follow, auto-thanks and auto-notify when someone stops following. Messaging is more traditional "push" content with high repetitive volume.
• Link Builder Twitter:  This user connects Twitter to an automated updating platform and posts multiple links to various posts, pictures and video about their product or service. By also connecting Twitter to FriendFeed, they are able to get double the link building bang for the buck. They may or may not have a lot of followers. If they do, chances are high that they have a pre-arrangement that allows them to automatically post updates to their followers accounts or they have agreed to RT (retweet) all pertinent tweets.
• SEO Twitter: This user has the latest version of Tweetdeck and has maxed out its global search function. Their bio contains keywords, their posts contain the same keywords and their search is based on those keywords. The result is a highly topical network or multiple topical groups with one network that can also be monitored through Tweetdeck. They also have a blog and/or website built around the same keywords, using the same messages.

  None of these Tweeters are following the same strategy, yet each of them has found a way to utilize this marketing channel to their advantage. Most of us move back and forth between all of these functions at some point.  The critical issue is to do so intentionally and because you feel it is a good fit for your resources and your overall marketing strategy.

  If you want to know which strategies I use, you will have to follow me ( @JeanAnnVK ) on Twitter to find out!