Get Talked About | Blog
I was asked by Andy Angelos, to join a panel discusion focused on maintaining a centralized brand presence at SocialDev Camp Chicago on Saturday. While the discussion was taken in several directions, not related to the central theme, I thought I would add some comments I thought belonged in the panel discussion, but may not have been discussed or weren't clearly stated.
While I don't know how one would maintain a centralized brand presence across networks and applications (reading that now confuses me -- is that from one geographc location? From one super app built by Google? Maybe living in one place like YouTube and embedding everywhere?), I think maintaining a consistent brand presence makes more sense. It was where the discussion was leading, so here are my additional comments.
1. Whoever you are as a brand, be that in all the channels you may use. In other words: same identity/screen name/call sign/nickname/photo, etc (i.e. Manny'sMothBalls with a picture of a moth 100x75) 
2. Be predicatable in the delivery time of your content in each channel (every month, every week, every day, hourly - your choice just be consitent) people will expect you like the morning paper (does anyone get one anymore?)
3. Talk in the voice of the brand but adapt it to the channel you are using (don't use the hashtag in facebook, it belongs on twitter-I do this personally, but for personal only, and because I am lazy and use ping.fm, be formal when required, casual when appropriate) and maintain voice consistancy relative to the brand. Don't get into controversial discussions as a brand (politics, religion, heated social issues).
4. Have something of value to contribute to the conversation (remarkable content-it's hard to do, but keep at it). This is where you could link to or embed content--live in one place, show in many--Hey Centralized Brand Presence--CBP-coin it.
5. Do the research upfront on who your buyer persona is and don't operate in every network or use every application because EVERYONE is using giant social network/microblog X. Be in the places where your buyer persona participates.
6.Engage one on one. With a person as a person. Talk with, not at. You have 2 ears and one mouth, use them in that order (does that work on the web? I think it should)
Did I miss anything, cause confusion? Let me know your thoughts.
Ciao
Marty
You don't have to sell Pepsi, nor compete with them to be great
I was reading a Seth Godin post titled "Everyone is clueless" (great post), and he had a link for a post and video on the Kim Komando site.
Watch it! Amen! John Nese Rocks!
New Site, First Blog Post
So we finally launched our new site! It took us a while, but we felt taking care of our clients was more important than catering to ourselves. While it is always important to take care of the client first, it hurt us to ignore our own business (A potential client cancelled a meeting and wouldn't talk to us because the site we threw up in the middle of the night when we started...well...sucked!) Thank you Avinash Kaushik for reminding me not to SUCK! While this site is a WIP, I think we are much better off.
We will see you all soon with much more thought-provoking posts and commentary. Remember to stop by SocialDev Camp this weekend and say hi. Andy Angelos will be there all weekend and I will be there late Saturday afternoon.
Please help us by sharing your thoughts, suggestions for improvement and praise.
Best
Marty
Using Social Media In your Marketing efforts?-Think Like a Professional Salesperson, Think Relationships
As a person who used to do a lot of cold calling as a professional salesperson; I believe a company, brand or person should approach social media in the same way a professional salesperson would approach clients and prospects. If you use social media as a way to build up your company's "likeability", build trust with communities of people, and help lead people to the right solutions wether it is your product or not, you will increase awareness, trust and ultimately a recommendation and purchase from those same individuals.
While there is no social media kit (http://altitudebranding.com/2009/05/there-is-no-social-media-kit/), each and every company does have people, or outside agency help, that like a professional salesperson, can build strong relationships with people and ultimately lead those who are approriate to a purchase decision, or the trust of a recommendation to someone who is in the market for the things your company sells. It bears repeating that social media tools/platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, del.icio.us, etc are just communication tools. How you use social media to benefit your company, brand or persons can be game changing, but you need to approach it in the right way or you are simply wasting time and money. Find a smart agency and the right stakeholders in your organization and get moving. Your competition, whether you are a company, brand or person, already has.
Off-line Recommendations from an Online Lurker
I have told this story a thousand times offline, but I thought it was worth telling again digitally.
I am a lurker. Yes, that's right a guy preaching the value of using social media to market your company, brand and person not talking about a company, brand or person online. And guess what, I am not the only one. There are a few companies who have no idea that they have gained sales because of my recommendation.
Personally, I have recommended JVC, Alesis, Adobe, Musician's Friend, Guitar Center and the products they sell to no less than 5 people/companies over the last year to a total sales value of over 5 thousand dollars. I didn't even ask for a commission, But the reviewers and their commenters’ postings I read should have. Yes! all of these brands and the other brands they sell have fans, online reviews, comments and posts that they might not know they have. These digital enthusiasts have caused me to buy, and recommend offline all of their products. Yet these brands won’t find me talking about them online (until now), I will talk about them offline. You see, I am a lurker in the amateur recording and live gigging market. I look for deals, recommendations and suggestions online, but do not participate online. Yet, I have made several recommendations offline for The companies I have found online. If they had not had influencers, fans, evangelists online, they would not have gained my sales and subsequent recommendations offline.
Check out the graphs and the power of the lurker. Three brands have gotten 20,000 plus post, but over 70,000 reads in a recent 30 day period. How many recommended or purchased their products and services? How much are you missing out on, by second guessing the power of social media?
I await your call if when you decide to do something smart in the Digital Word of Mouth Marketing space. Call me at 312-235-2051.
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