It’s barely been a day since the 2009 Business Smart Tools conference wrapped, but the event was a tremendous success! Thanks to everyone who attended, as well as all of our speakers AND the tireless team at Creative Concepts, who organized and managed the entire event. We covered a lot of ground at this year’s event — from “when your company is READY for social media” to “how you adapt to negative feedback,” and everything in-between.
Some key points from our speakers:
* John C. Havens highlighted the ways some companies have benefited from social media engagement — as well as the ways people who have negative experiences with your brand can potentially damage your company’s reputation. But instead of fearing that possibility, companies should embrace it as an opportunity to address concerns and improve flaws.
* Cindi Bigelow discussed the ups and downs associated with her handling of the Don Imus issue a few years ago, and how her interaction with supporters and detractors on all sides of the issue — including CNN — helped shape her appreciation of transparency in social media.
* Tom Guarriello, David Vinjamuri and Albert Maruggi suggested that the real issue companies should be addressing isn’t whether social media is right for their company — it’s whether or not the company’s mindset is ready for social media.
* Greg Kirk of Pitney Bowes explained that social media can change the public’s perception of a company, even without that company’s name or logo being front and center. (As Gregg says, “that’s kind of the point.”)
* Both Pepsi and Ford now consider themselves “media companies.” (Which, in other words, means EVERYONE is a media company — so think like one.)
* Ford’s Scott Monty debunked the corporate fear that a company’s own employees might “misuse” social media to damage their brand: “If you don’t trust your employees, why did you hire them in the first place?”
We videotaped most of the day’s sessions, and we’ll be uploading excerpts from those talks throughout the coming weeks. Plus, we’ll still be addressing any ongoing questions, concerns and opportunities surrounding social media + business. This year’s conference may be over, but the conversation is just beginning!
For years now, companies from Dell to Comcast to Tide have weathered negative PR that stems from negative customer experiences. But when those customers use social media tools like blogs, Facebook and Twitter to spread their frustration, the resultant backlash can even stun a stable brand like Motrin or, most recently, Dominos. Even web-centric companies like Amazon or GoDaddy can get tripped up by the speed of web gossip.
By the time most of these brands recognize the problem and mount a solution, the damage has already eroded their credibility, and they have to spend precious time rebuilding a level of consumer trust that they’d previously taken for granted. But having a social media presence and engaging your audience on a regular basis can help limit (or at least contain) the effects of a negative PR event because your company will already be in the water, where the accident happened, rather than having to swim out from shore.
As for the overarching effects of these PR disasters, two truths should now be obvious:
* Life on the internet moves fast, and
* Trust is never something you can take for granted
Several weeks ago, a video that Creative Concepts (the organizers behind the Business Smart Tools conference) produced for their client, Bigelow Tea, generated some online buzz. But while most viewers enjoyed the personal touch of seeing Bigelow Tea president (and 2009 BST speaker) Cindi Bigelow talking about tea with strangers on the streets of New York City, others thought the video needed some “YouTube star power” to help it appeal to a wider audience.
While Bigelow Tea hasn’t crossed the bridge to YouTube stardom just yet, they do have a few recognizable faces among their fans — including LA Dodgers manager Joe Torre, Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona, and NFL sportscaster Phil Simms. In fact, they recently shot another quick video in which these gentlemen talk about health, fame, competition and (of course) tea:
These two videos have plenty in common — including being filmed on the same morning. They also have a similar theme: tea brings people together.
But while some viewers are inspired by the “everyman” vibe of the first video, others need a little more “star power” to keep their attention. However, the difference between YouTube celebrity and “real life” celebrity does raise some questions. For example:
* Torre, Simms and Francona actually drank Bigelow Tea even before they become spokesmen for Bigelow, which makes their endorsements authentic. But does that authenticity resonate with customers, or does everyone automatically presume a celebrity spokesperson is simply pitching a product, regardless of how the spokesperson really feels about it?
* How would the message change if Bigelow hired a YouTube celebrity who’d never even had a cup of tea in her life, just for the sake of reaching that person’s built-in audience?
* Even with the help of a YouTube spokesperson, would a Bigelow Tea video featuring that person gain any traction beyond that person’s existing YouTube fanbase? Or would it result in one traffic spike that wouldn’t translate to long-term interest in the Bigelow brand?
* Torre, Simms and Francona are near-household names (in sports-obsessed homes, anyway) but that doesn’t mean their fans are necessarily searching them out online. Meanwhile, a YouTube celebrity’s fans are ALREADY online, so while their niche may be narrower, their audience may be more active — and more inclined to listen to what their heroes have to say.
All of these (and more) are questions that any company should ask itself when considering the best way(s) to reach their target audience(s) — online and beyond.
The speakers at this year’s BST conference will be sharing their insights into how social media works within business. To give you a glimpse of what you can expect at the live event (which happens on Tuesday, May 5), here are 3 questions with PR veteran Albert Maruggi, who’s been tackling marketing issues for over 25 years.
Q: Why should companies be investing their time and effort in social media?
A: Every time you read about a newspaper cutting back or going under, think, “Who is going to cover my company?” Every time you see a decline in television viewing, wonder, “What are those former viewers doing?” Online and mobile devices are where people are going for entertainment, information, discovery, and networking.
Q: What are some ways you have seen companies directly benefit from using social media?
A: Small companies now get major national news coverage without writing a single pitch to the media, access to specific high level executives at major corporations, and leads directly from sources like Twitter and blogs.
Q: Tell us about one emerging social media trend that you’re keeping an eye on, and why.
A: The world of widgets — for me, that’s an exciting place. It’s a format where you can allow others to carry your information to places like their blog or Facebook, and this data can be aggregated across the web. It can also be used to pull data from a variety of places that have natural synergies. In fact, I’d like you to test one out: I use qcwidget on the Marketing Edge podcast.
Learn more from Albert Maruggi and the rest of our speakers at the 2009 Business Smart Tools Conference on May 5 — register here!
The speakers at this year’s BST conference will be sharing their insights into how social media works within business. To give you a glimpse of what you can expect at the live event (which happens on Tuesday, May 5), here are 3 questions with Tactical Transparency author and Director of Partnership Marketing & Integration at BlogTalkRadio, John C. Havens.
Q: Why should companies be investing their time and effort in social media?
A: Why shouldn’t they? This question in 2009 is, to me, the equivalent of asking, “Should your company have a website?” in 1995. Social media is simply too broad a spectrum, with too wide a variety of opportunities (many of which are free in cost if not minimal time) to ignore. Specifically, however:
SEO— The more content you create online with your brand’s messaging, the more opportunities Google has to raise your rankings. You cannot expect to have just your main website/portal and get the kind of presence on Google that you need. Utilizing your blog, Tweets, BlogTalkRadio shows or any other medium that lets you put in metadata including your company name/keywords is a MUST. Period.
Presence— As I talk about a lot in my book, if you don’t demonstrate that your brand is trying to have a presence online, people will wonder why you’re silent. (If they wonder about you at all.) More likely, they’ll be listening and interacting with your competitors, who have demonstrated that they care about what consumers think.
ROI— The ROI is substantial, and please stop thinking, “but I have to have X number of comments on my blog post,” or “a social media campaign is no better than a banner ad.” Let’s talk COA—if just one person comments on your company blog (even to complain) and you connect with them in a real manner, what did it cost you to do so? $150 for a series of postcard/direct mail campaigns? No—the time for one person at your company to respond and connect. Yes, you have to have a person in the company who does those things, and they have to know what they’re doing, but you get the point: stop wasting stamps, and utilize the free, permanently digital PR that you can get when you demonstrate that you will answer customers/employees with a real voice, where you hear their concerns and address them.
Q: Tell us about one emerging social media trend that you’re keeping an eye on, and why.
A: Twitter, like everyone else. But BlogTalkRadio uses it as a broadcast medium to help boost the live listenership of shows. We’ve increased live show participation by 12-15% by having all of our hosts who tweet do so 30, 15, 10, 5, minutes before a show and then during.
Q: What are some ways you have seen companies directly benefit from using social media?
A: Please download the case study for our recent Wal-Mart campaign for the movie Twilight. We were able to demonstrate actual lift in sales via social media, which is the holy grail for any social media campaign.
Learn more from John C. Havens and the rest of our speakers at the 2009 Business Smart Tools Conference on May 5 — register here!
Earlier this month, Dan Zarrella of HubSpot posted a highly-detailed blog suggesting that 22 tweets a day was the best way, statistically speaking, to use Twitter. His research included the Twitter habits of more than 1.6 million Twitter users, with emphasis on the habits of the most-followed (or, in Twitter parlance, most popular) users.
Undoubtedly, this “22 tweet” proclamation was then pinned to the bulletin boards of countless marketing offices and pasted into numerous Power Point pitches. But, as Zarrella pointed out in the blog’s actual title (”Is 22 Tweets-Per-Day the Optimum?”), that number is flawed, because it doesn’t tell you the whole story. For example:
* It ignores the content and context of what’s actually in the tweets
* It doesn’t specify the time of day those tweets were sent — or seen
* It doesn’t indicate how many people are actually seeing those tweets, vs. the potentiality of the Twitter user’s entire aggregate audience
* It doesn’t delineate between original tweets and retweets (or “forwarded” tweets from others)
* It implies that the “most-followed” Twitter users (like Barack Obama, The New York Times and Zappos) are being followed as a result of their frequency of Twitter use, rather than their brand-name attraction. (Obama’s account, for example, has been dormant since January 19th.)
* It defines Twitter success solely in terms of followers, without regard for whether one’s audience will take action (in terms of sales, marketing, activism, direct feedback, etc.) based upon that user’s tweets
Unfortunately, marketers, consultants and advertising agencies are so eager to quantify the impact of social media — if for no other reason than to understand what percentage of their bugdet (and time) they think their clients should be investing in it — that they’re looking for any statistical shorthand that can help make their work (and their clients’ decisions) easier.
But just as you can’t quantify a baseball player’s impact on the game based solely on his batting average, you can’t summarize social media’s impact on your business based strictly on a pre-determined criteria of “followers,” “views” or “comments.” The “22 tweets” results are interesting and, in some cases, may be useful, but when it comes to conversation-based metrics, mathematical statistics only tell one part of the story.
We have a lot of smart, talented and insightful speakers coming to the next Business Smart Tools conference on May 5. But as well-versed as they are in the ways of social media, marketing, business growth and general communications, there’s one thing they DON’T know (yet):
What do YOU want to learn about at the BST conference?
Whether you’ll be there in person or you’re hoping to catch glimpses of the event online, let us know what topics and questions you’d like to ask Scott Monty, Cindi Bigelow, John C. Havens and the rest of our illustrious lineup. That way, our speakers will be able to tailor their talks toward the needs of the audience, and help you down the path toward the answers you’re after.
This past weekend, Chris Brogan started a great discussion on his blog about the latest video for Bigelow Tea (which was produced by Business Smart Tools’ parent company, Creative Concepts). The video features Cindi Bigelow talking tea with complete strangers in New York City — some of whom have never even heard of Bigelow before, despite it being one of the top-selling teas in the city.
The comments on Chris’s blog reinforced a lot of the reasons that Bigelow thought the video was a good idea in the first place:
* It provides the company with a public face and personality
* It lets Cindi share the history of her family-owned company
* It presents the “good” and “bad” of being recognized (or not)
But despite all the positives, some potential drawbacks were mentioned as well — particularly by fellow blogger Nalts, who points out the difficulties of:
* interesting casual viewers in a business-branded video
* promoting something without a YouTube “star” attached
* navigating the attention spans and entertainment needs of a casual audience
And guess what? All of these comments are what made producing the video worthwhile, because:
* Cindi was able to connect directly with people on the streets of New York
* The Bigelow brand developed newly-interested followers online
* The company received creative suggestions on what did (or didn’t) work for various viewers
But, most importantly, the video got people talking about tea (and Bigelow Tea in particular). And that’s the primary goal of any social media marketing: to generate new discussion about a brand. Because people can’t buy your product if they don’t know it exists.
You can hear more about Bigelow’s approach to social media when Cindi Bigelow speaks at the Business Smart Tools conference on May 5!
On the social media service Twitter, individuals post messages of less than 140 characters. If another user thinks that information is worth repeating, that person can “retweet” the original post themselves, usually with a nod to the user who first posted it. It’s the social media equivalent of the telephone game, although “copy-and-paste” reduces the risk of misquoting the original person’s statement.
Mashable contributor Dan Zarrella has been studying the hows and whys of “ReTweets,” and his findings are quite interesting. Perhaps the most surprising find is that retweets seem to gain momentum over time. That is, the more often a message is repeated by others, the greater its total number of retweets — which would seem to imply that people really like talking about what everyone else is ALREADY talking about. In this fashion, the original tweet begins to operate like a beach ball at a concert — it only takes one person to throw the ball into the crowd, but it takes each successive person bumping it back in the air to keep the ball (and the message) alive.
What makes something worth retweeting in the first place? Zarrella has his suspicions (and makes a great case for “politeness”), but he’s also running a survey to get firsthand feedback from Twitter users. He’ll summarize that data once it’s compiled. Meanwhile, look for people to become incredibly creative within their 140 character limits as they strive to keep their beach balls in the air.
Image by Brandi Tressler. If you enjoyed this article, consider following us on Twitter.
Twitter is a public instant messaging tool. It happens NOW. And because it doesn’t thread conversations together, or provide them with permanent landing pages, Twitter is a lot like Vegas — what happens on Twitter usually stays on Twitter (unless someone else blogs about it, or searches for it, later).
Blogs are more permanent. They provide one specific URL for each post AND for the comments to that post. This helps people who weren’t “there” catch up long after the conversation is over, and still add comments that may be relevant to the blog’s author.
But this isn’t an “either / or” situation; your business needs both.
Real-time tools like Twitter help you stay up-to-date with what people are talking about NOW. Hopefully, they’re talking positively about you (and you’re talking back). But if they’re expressing discontent, you can use the immediacy of the moment to engage them and help them solve their problems (without having to read about it a week later).
Long-term tools like blogs provide a context to your message, and help potential customers find valuable information about your services (and your ideas) without requiring them to be “there” with you at all times. (They also provide trustworthy SEO juice, compared to the fluctuating search value of tweets on most search engines.)
Learn the value of using both types of tools. Because you want people talking about you NOW, but you also want them to be raving about you LATER.
