Marketing Talk

Have you ever gone to the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame? Apart from the fact that it’s in Northeast Ohio, which means I automatically love it, there are a lot of neat things to see in there. One of my favorites is the room where you can trace influences from one back to another, something that was around long before Pandora came along. Geoff Livingston recently alluded to strings of musical influence, and it got me thinking.

As a blogger, it’s really important that you frame yourself not as someone who can be imitated, but as someone who can influence. In the music world, Roy Orbison embodies that balance perfectly. While a lot of people have been influenced by the man in black, for my money, no one has ever come close to imitating him.

So how can Roy Orbison help you prevent imitation? Here are some things to think about.

Infuse your soul into your work. It’s pretty darned easy to identify a song as one sung by Roy Orbison. With every song you hear, you feel like you’re listening to someone just singing those words for the first time, whether they are words of sheer joy or words of tragic misfortune. Roy Orbison felt every song that he sang. Do you feel every blog that you write? Do you pour your soul into it? It’s a great way to avoid imitation. After all, who else has your soul other than you (If you have a story about a crossroads and the devil, this may not apply to you)?

Tell stories you can believe. Some of Roy Orbison’s most famous songs are the ones in which he tells stories. Pretty Woman describes a scene where a fellow is walking down the street and sees a woman that is just too gorgeous to believe. It seems like she’s walking away, but oh, guess what? She walks back to him. In Running Scared, the story is of a lover’s triangle and the singer winning his lady’s love. If you ask me, few song endings are more joyful and triumphant than the endings of those two songs. As a listener, you feel that suspense, and then you feel that surprise joy. Tell your readers stories as you experienced them. Add details that make the stories uniquely yours. Put your own spin on an experience your readers can relate to.

Don’t pigeon-hole yourself. It would have been easy for Roy Orbison to choose a single type of song and just stick with that throughout his career. He could have been king of the rockabillies. He could have been a crooner. The problem with mastering just one thing is that then you’re offering people tons and tons of ways to study how you do what you do. You can’t help but develop a technique for doing the same sort of thing over and over. Roy kept exploring until the day he died. He sang solo, he sang duets, and he sang with the Traveling Wilburies. He sang heart-wrenching songs like Crying and silly, catchy songs like Oobie Doobie. Could Only the Lonely and Anything You Want be more different? Yet you know it’s all him. His voice, his style, keep it all tied together. This doesn’t mean niche blogging is bad, by the way. It just means that you can approach that niche in infinite numbers of ways. Try things out. Keep the imitators guessing.

Raise other people up. This is something that imitators can’t touch. Roy Orbison easily could have worked solo his entire career, keeping all of his fame to himself. But he did just the opposite. He raised KD Lang to greater heights of fame by singing one of his most famous songs, Crying, with her. His famous concert, Black and White Nights, spotlighted tons of other people including Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, KD Lang, and of course, Bruce Springsteen. When he joined the Traveling Wilburies he shared the spotlight with Tom Petty, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and Jeff Lynn – quite an unlikely gathering, by the way. No one can imitate your community building techniques because it’s all about how you interact and engage with people. You just have to do it.

All of these things can influence people in major ways, both in general and in the nitty gritty details. You might have people who will come along and try to sing one of your songs. You might run into someone who is compared to you because of a certain nuanced part of how they do what they do. But you’ll still be you. And there’s no imitation for that.

One of the first posts that I read when I really started blogging a lot was a post by a woman who was coming out in the open about the fact that she was being physically abused by her husband. I read it and experienced a myriad of thoughts. First, I thought it was really great that she was airing her family’s dirty laundry so that she could let other people know that they were not alone. Then I saw it being retweeted all over Twitter, and I thought, “Hmm…what if it ends up in the wrong hands because of all of that retweeting?” Then I thought, “I feel kind of weird knowing that much detail about a person I don’t actually know at all.”

The seduction of many comments

The super personal posts in Social Media are kind of like sirens. They sing to you and say, “Ohhh, you’ll get such good traffic from this. So many comments.” And often times, it’s true. The other nice thing about personal posts, and I think why a lot of people write and publish them, is that they take care of that whole “be human” thing you hear so much about online. If you write about a serious illness, the death of a loved one, or some other major life-changing experience, you are showing people a side of you that has nothing to do with your business.

Then again, it has nothing to do with your business

Here’s where it starts to get a bit thorny for me. If you are out here representing a company, whether it’s your company or one you work for, are you fully weighing the possible ramifications of writing that super personal post? This is what I worry about for people new to the blogosphere.

You see, a lot of times, when you write a personal post, you attract readers that may not normally read your stuff. If you are writing about a struggle with Cancer, for example, you may get readers who are suffering through the same fight. If you’re writing about child abuse, you’ll probably get visitors who are touched by that subject in some way. But if your profession does not have to do with those issues, your new visitors will eventually melt away as you get back to business. You won’t keep them around for the long haul.

It likely will not bump your sales.

The other thing I worry about when I read super personal posts sometimes is that you might be revealing things that could come back to bite you. If you write that your health is really bad, is it possible that someone might say, “Well, that doesn’t seem like a sturdy situation right now – I’m going to hold back.” If you write about something super personal that your friends or family or co-workers didn’t know about, will that come back to haunt you?

Be careful

Of course, I don’t think that personal posts are “bad” or “wrong.” I’m just saying that it can be tempting to send one out into the world after you watch the 50th personal post get 500 comments. Make sure you think about it for 24 hours before you hit “publish.” Think about how you would react to it if you didn’t know you – because a lot of people who read it won’t know you. Think about possible ramifications. Weigh those against possible benefits.

Make sense?

image by Darko Skender. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/ime

Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer wrote a really thought provoking post a few days ago called “Why Ad Agencies Struggle With Social Media.” Jason makes a really interesting argument. He says he feels that the primary obstacle in the way of “traditional” agencies getting more social is the time factor. In other words, where once you placed ad space, waited for the magazine to come out, and then waited another month until your next ad came out, now, with sites like Facebook and Twitter, you could literally be talking to your audience several times a day. Certainly several times a month. This must, without question, stand as a major change from what agencies used to do (and what some still do).

Jason was speaking specifically to agency creatives because his post concentrated on the creative output agencies are putting out there. Now, in our agency, I do a lot of the copywriting but I am not a graphic designer by any stretch of the imagination. However, having worked in the agency world for close to seven years now, I would like to offer some ideas on why agencies might not be creating social campaigns, or at least not social campaigns in the same hemisphere as “Old Spice.”

1. Relationships must be redefined: While Jason is right to note that the time factor is a major change, Social Media is also asking agencies and their clients to redefine how that whole relationship can and should work. As we know, Social Media is very much about the “now now now.” The thing is, if an agency is responsible, they don’t sneeze unless their client authorizes them to do so. The ones that go off on their own are the ones that give agencies overall a bad name. We don’t place space without our client’s consent. We don’t send art to a vendor without a client’s approval. We believe this is good business. I’m sure a lot of agencies do things in a similar way. To work in the fast-moving world of Social Media, the agency and the client must sit down together and work out how that good business relationship can be maintained without negatively affecting the Social Media campaign. This can certainly be done, but the issue needs to be recognized first, and then worked through.

2. The client needs to make some decisions. While an agency can certainly consult with its clients about how best to approach Social Media, there is a lot to the social space that really must be hammered out by the company being represented. An agency can advise on what the corporate voice should be, but the company needs to be completely on board with that proposal. An agency can suggest what to use for a blog design or a Facebook company page, but the company needs to approve those things. That approval can only stem from a corporate understanding of what the goals and objectives are, and that takes a lot of planning.

3. Companies may not feel that traditional agencies can do it. There certainly are plenty of blog posts out there condemning “traditional” agencies, as I discussed in my response to Jeremiah Owyang’s post about Social Media boutiques, digital agencies, and traditional agencies. And, as I said, there are some agencies out there who are still trying to make it as production houses. They certainly can’t make a case for being effective Social Media advisers. Factually, though, agencies can help with all facets of a Social Media campaign, from consultation and design to actually implementing facets of the campaign itself. The issue is that if agencies are doing things right, the definition of “traditional agency” is changing rapidly to become that “hub” I’ve talked about before.

4. Agencies need to figure out who’s doing all of this work. We are all pretty familiar, probably, with the job titles most agencies have. You have your creatives, your copywriters, your account executives, the media department, the accounting department, and so on. So, which of those departments handles Social Media? This is something agencies (and digital agencies count for this as well) need to work out. I think in the end it’ll turn out that the creatives and copywriters and AEs can still work together, just like they did when graphic design moved from pencils and markers to computers and FTP sites. But this is all a transition, and transitions often seem a lot more complex before they are finished than they do after.

5. Agencies need to be treated as a many-headed employee. As I wrote on Dawn Westerberg’s site a couple of months ago, agencies need to make themselves as easy to work with as if the entity was a single employee. This is especially critical when it comes to Social Media. Agencies from top to bottom must be aware of what their client’s objectives are for a Social Media campaign, what roles the company’s customer service department and others are going to play in the campaign, what the expectations are, and many other details. The work should shift seamlessly from the client to the agency as much as it would between different people within that company (maybe even more seamless than that). Again, there are agencies out there who would stand in the way of this happening – but the good ones will want to work with you this way.

One final footnote, as I alluded to in the comments section over at Social Media Explorer, I come from (primarily) the B2B world. Executing a Social Media campaign in this sector of the marketing world can be (though is not always) very different from the B2C world. We aren’t talking to people who will use the products all of the time. We’re talking to the people who will buy the product to make another product that people will use. That can be at times a tough message to get across via a Facebook page or a Twitter account. Not all companies are perfect matches for Social Media, though I know that may be shocking to hear. Painting with broad paintbrushes is almost always a dangerous endeavor because there is always at least one person, case, or company who will prove to be the exception rather than the rule.

Those are some of my thoughts on traditional agencies and Social Media. What have you got going on in your brain? I’d love to continue the conversation with you!

1st Image by Frank Köhne. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/frko

2nd Image Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/cfi02

This is post number two  in a series of posts from Facebook expert Tommy Walker. If you have questions, leave a comment here or visit with Tommy on Twitter at @tommyismyname.

Do I use my Facebook profile to Market my blog? Do I set up a Page?

It’s a classic debate anyone who has considered using Facebook to promote their blog has had with themselves.

The argument is Pages have less of a “personal feel” and therefore don’t encourage interaction.

However the flip side of the argument is that using the Facebook Profile to promote the blog can be obtrusive to friends and family.

So which one is right?

Here’s the deal. Profile pages are meant for friends and family. Business pages are meant for business.

If you’re writing a personal blog that is a chronicle of your daily shenanigans, and you have no interest in monetizing your blog either directly or indirectly, then by all means use your Profile to promote your blog.

If you are planning to make any money from promoting your content over Facebook, you are running a business.

My guess is, if you’re a reader here, you fall into the latter category. You want to make money…

And Facebook wants to help

If you’re writing a blog and you’re using only your Profile page, you’re missing out.

See Facebook and Facebook app developers have a whole range of tools that are designed specifically for Pages.

Most notably is the ads platform, which allows you to specify how much you’re willing to spend, and target people primarily based on their likes and interests section.

Facebook’s Ad platform allows you to have a grater control over who interacts with your content. Meaning only the people who are going to be the most interested in what you have to say will be seeing your content on a regular basis (but more on why this is important in just a second)

Even if you’re not using the Ad platform, installing tools like Clobby group chat, Stickam live video chat, Discussion boards or Payvement E-commerce are simply not a possibility.

Insights are also not available to you. Insights help you measure the effectiveness of your communication. Insights give you measurements of the amount of impressions a particular status update has vs the amount of feedback, the demographic breakdown of the users on your Page, the languages people speak, top cities where people are from, and graphs that show interactions with multimedia such as pictures, video, and audio.

Facebook also caps Profile pages at 5,000 “friends”. If you blow up and make it big, you’ve stunted your own success. Pages however have no limit to the amount of people who can “like” it, so you’re free to grow however you wish.

In short, Pages are designed with the business mind.

Now there’s nothing wrong per se if you don’t mind not using these tools.

But let me ask you this…

How many of your friends and family actually understand what it is that you do?

One of the biggest problems with using your Profile as the primary method for promoting your blog is the mix of people who you’re “friends” with.

If you’re like me, you’ve been using Facebook longer than you’ve been blogging.

On my personal profile, I’m friends with my Mom, my fiancée, my 11 year old sister, and a good majority of Somersworth Highshool’s class of 2000-2006. And while I love thinking they’re all as passionate about Online marketing as I am, the reality is they’re more interested in cats that look like Hitler.

The reality is, most people just don’t “get it”.

By publishing your stuff for the 5-10 people who do get it, and trying to keep a “personal feel” on your Facebook page, you’re doing yourself more harm than good.

It’s very confusing when you post pictures from last night’s drinking party, then write a post about reputation management.

Do this too much and you’re just training everyone to tune you out, because there’s no cohesive feel to any of the content you publish.

Segment your Facebook Presence.

I’m not suggesting that you abandon your Profile and move entirely over to the Pages part of the Platform.

Segment what you’re doing. Industry and “work” related stuff update from your Page. Personal stuff stays with the profile.

This way you’ve created multiple layers to your online presence.

And you don’t muddy up your friends and family’s News Feed with content they don’t understand.

Final thoughts

Create your page, and send a note from your Page to the friends and family who are most likely to want to follow your blogging career. This way, you know that the people on your Page are interested in your business stuff, and you’re not being obnoxious to everyone else.

Look through different apps that can enhance your Page, and use all of the different tools available to help set yourself apart from everyone else!

In Social Media, a lot of people look for markers. We strive for x number of followers. We aim for x number of subscribers. We want to get x many comments on our posts. We want x many fans on our Facebook pages. But there is a secret that you don’t always get a hint of when you’re just starting out.

Social Media is a place that never stops. It never waits. It never pauses.

You wrote a post that soared like an eagle? You’re not done. Get off those laurels. On to the next one.

You wrote a post that sank like a rock? There’s no time for moping in this space. Pick yourself up. On to the next one.

You got mentioned by a super big name and traffic on your site hit record highs? Set a new record and get ready to beat it.

On to the next one. On to the next one.

Your triumphs in Social Media never mark the end, nor do your failures. If you had a bad day, move on to the next one. If you had a great day – still move on to the next one. It begins fresh with every post, with every status update, with every tweet.

Is that scary? Yep. Sure is.

Is it also invigorating and a fun challenge? I think so.

You’re never done proving yourself here. You’re never done perfecting your craft. You’re never done picking yourself up. You’re never done picking other people up.

On to the next one. On to the next one.

And nobody can stop you but you.

PS, thanks for the inspiration, Jay-Z.

My Blog BFF kicks off the “Your Social Media Journey” series today with an awesome post about traveling from failure to success. Stanford Smith obsesses about how to get passionate people’s blogs noticed and promoted at Pushing Social except when he’s chasing large mouth bass. Check out his new Blogging Bootcamp to learn how to whip your blog posts into shape.

It’s a strange feeling at first.  It’s kind of like dunking a basketball for the first time or catching a monster largemouth bass.  You can’t believe it just happened but the evidence is staring back at you.

This is how I felt when PushingSocial.com got it’s first mention by Brian Clark at Copyblogger.  Instantly my blog  was on the fingertips of hundreds of people.  I watched the Tweetmeme button in shock as it climbed north of 100 in one day.

At that moment, I realized that this blogging “thing” could be fun.

That happened late June 2010 for my “Lady Gaga” post. I’ve had a blast ever since.

Margie asked me to kick-off her series on “Your Social Media Journey” and I had to agree.  You see, Margie and I have talked a lot about the journey and I have been fortunate to learn from her.  So I thought I would return the favor by writing this post to you.

What I Learned from 3 Blogging Failures

PushingSocial isn’t my first blog.  It’s just my first successful blog.  I failed at blogging for 3 years before I got it right.

The first time I spent tons of money on fancy designers and themes but couldn’t write a lick.  My posts were generic and hollow.  I hated writing them and it showed.

The second time I tried to outsmart my readers.  I needed to make money and thought I can wow them with fancy copywriting.  I was wrong.  I learned that readers have a sixth sense for authenticity.  I was a con-artist and they knew it.

The third-time I wrote from the heart.  My posts were deeply personal diatribes that plumbed the depths of my soul.  I enjoyed those posts.  My readers felt they were a third-wheel.  That was failure #3.

I should have given up but when I looked back I learned 3 key lessons:

1.    You can’t fake authenticity

2.    You can’t con your readers.  They always know if you are the real deal

3.    Posts must solve reader problems

Pushing Social is Born

In May 2010 I tried blogging again.  This time, PushingSocial would be focused on helping new bloggers get noticed.  It was an experiment to see if I could be authentic, helpful, and relevant to a tough crowd of business people and writers.

I resolved to keep writing no matter what for one complete year.  Every week I would publish a post even if I was on my death bed.  I would ooze passion and be ferociously optimistic.

My topic wasn’t unique – but I was.

9 months later, PushingSocial is doing “alright”.

If you want to succeed in blogging you have to decide to not quit.  You can evolve.  You can fail.  You can rant and shake with homicidal rage.  But you can’t quit.

I’m convinced that our best bloggers quit one post away from greatness.

Think about it.

What Makes My Journey Fun

PushingSocial taught me how to be human.

I have over 1,000 subscribers who rely on me to deliver inspiration and practical information every week.

I have 3,000 Twitter followers who trust me to filter the world through my lens of passion and Midwest honesty.

I co-run a greasy digital after hours joint called #Tweetdiner that is home to misfits, dreamers, intellectuals, and artists.

I’m an introvert so all of this attention and commitment makes me nervous.

Fortunately, I reached out to people who understand what I face everyday and are quick to offer encouragement.   These blogging buddies keep me genuine and make the journey fun – even on the bad days.

Margie has helped keep me sane on bad days and made me better on good days.  You need a Margie too, So, find them sooner rather than later.

What Lies Ahead.

I am a strategist.  I have 2011 planned out in excruciating detail. But it’s just a plan. My readers are my real compass.  I will go where their problems take me.

How about you?  What does your 2011 journey look like?

Image by Kaylie Horch. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/klie17