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Diamonds in your own backyard

Aug 6th, 2010

Posted by Mitch Fanning in Interactive Strategy, Social Media

Instead of going somewhere for our summer vacation, @treatqueendiva and I have decided to plan a few small adventures for the month of August to rediscover (and appreciate) all the great things the Golden Horseshoe area has to offer (i.e. Southern Ontario).

In other words, we’re staying home.

Seriously, we’ve come to realize (once again) we live in a very unique and diverse area of Canada. As a result, we’re going to rediscover the “diamonds” in our own backyard.

Social Media is No Different

When it comes to online marketing (specifically social media) the same often can be true.

People want to be heard. That’s why some use social media, to express themselves. Day after day, I see individuals and companies use social networks to broadcast “all-about-me” messages in an effort to influence others. Of course, this doesn’t work. Most people are not interested in you (or me).

They’re interested in finding solutions to their problems.

People also want to be appreciated and understood. The world is full of people who are self-seeking, but the rare individual (or organization) who unselfishly tries to serve others (using social media I might add) has an enormous advantage.

Dale Carnegie (author of How To Win Friends & Influence People), once said, “you can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” Zig Ziglar (author and speaker) said it slightly different, “you can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough people get what they want.”

Recent Example

Lululemon Athletica – @lululemon

The Situation: @treatqueendiva loves her Lululemon gear. Recently, her gym bag strap broke. Distraught, she posted the first of five tweets below. Shorty after, @lululemon responded, demonstrating they understood and offered her solutions.

The Result: The customer felt appreciated and, most importantly, found a timely solution to her problem. In addition, Lululemon increased their “social equity” proving they’re here to help.

Advantage: Lululemon.

Lesson: Become a “Diamond” Hunter

Slow down, watch, listen, and the opportunities will unfold.

Yes, use online publishing and social media tools to tell stories that educate. However, more importantly, spend time in “search” mode watching and listening to what people are saying. Do this and you’re going to be ahead of the game. My colleague, Keith Burtis, recently summed it best – (remember) “those are HUMANS behind the keyboard!”

So, what’s in your “backyard”?

About the Author:

Mitch Fanning is the VP of Strategy & Business Development for Fruition Interactive. He’s spent 10+ years (and put in his 10,000 hours) working with businesses of all sizes, from global brands to Canada’s fastest growing Internet companies ranked in the PROFIT 100. At any given moment, Mitch can be brainstorming ideas for a client, writing for blogs he contributes to, or resting under a tree in a quiet vineyard with @treatqueendiva.

Photo credit: swamibu

[disclosure: Lululemon Athletica is not a client of or affiliated in any way with Fruition Interactive]

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What will you build when you engage your audience?

Aug 4th, 2010

Posted by kent in Interactive Strategy, Social Media

I’m hearing social media being described more and more as a channel these days, the implication being that it’s being thought of as a one-way path to a market.

But what opportunities are missed when you fail to engage with customers, when you take the social out of social media?

I’m going to pick on CBC Radio 1’s The Current a little bit here. It’s not because they’re the only media outlet or business that’s failing to take full advantage of social media or because they’re the worst case. It’s mainly because they’re close at hand — I’m a regular listener so I’m really familiar with what they do on-air as well as online. And I should say, to, that I have HUGE respect for the journalism work that they do. In fact, I’d like for more people to be exposed to it.

Anyway, last week someone The Current was interviewing on-air as a subject matter expert repeatedly made a factual error, referring to WikiMedia as being responsible for publishing the controversial WikiLeaks Web site (they’re not, as both organizations are careful to point out). It was wrong and a potentially dangerous mis-statement given the nebulous legal status of WikiLeaks and so I contacted the producers via Twitter.

What happened next? Nothing. @TheCurrentCBC kept pushing out their same 3 tweets a day — early morning promo for the upcoming show, promo for the podcast, promo for tomorrow’s show.

What could have happened? They could have addressed it in some way. Even if they’d said, “Hey, it’s live radio. People sometimes trip on their tongues. Get over it,” it would have been huge. It would have felt like someone was listening and cared about the accuracy of their reports. I would have been totally SOLD on the The Current.

But I’m just one guy and this is just one example. Let’s zoom out and see what the impact is on a broader scale.

@TheCurrentCBC currently has just over 3,000 followers. They generally get @ mentioned once or twice a day. That’s a huge under-perform for a media outlet with daily, prime-time international reach. And in more general terms, the show is virtually unknown outside of Canada even though their work stands up with the best in the world.

Let’s look, by contrast at The Guardian, the publishing outfit that’s gone from being a semi-obscure lefty English newspaper to being one of the world’s dominant media brands. And they’ve done it largely through a strategy of openness and engagement. Their UK Politics Twitter account (@GdnPolitics) has nearly 10,000 followers — that’s just one account out of dozens (their news feed has over 75,000 followers) A single one of the Guardian’s columnists, @JanineGibson, has nearly as many followers as @TheCurrentCBC.

The difference is The Guardian’s Twitter people engage online. They ReTweet, they reply, they get in the mix. They’ve built an audience, they’ve built loyalty, they’ve built a global brand all on top of engaging their audience.

What will you build when you engage your audience?

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We help you figure out the “Why”

Jul 29th, 2010

Posted by Mitch Fanning in How We Work, Interactive Strategy

When I go to the doctor, which I try to avoid, he typically asks questions and perhaps even runs a couple of quick tests before he prescribes a custom solution to remedy my situation.

I’ve never walked into his office expecting a prescription for something without his initial analysis. In fact, I wouldn’t want it any other way. When it comes to my health, I want to know “why” something is being prescribed before we get to the “what.”

Is you experience similar?

How We Work

Over the years, I’ve often thought about this analogy is terms of how I work. It’s also how Fruition Interactive begins any client engagement. We like to ask a lot of questions before offering solutions. We typically like to get a 360 degree look at someone’s business (or situation) before we recommend the “what.” We wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it any other way.

Why?

Mainly, it’s because most people (not all, but many) don’t think about online marketing in the right context. Sure, they know what they want (brand awareness, leads, sales), but they think tactics, not strategy.

They ask the “what” questions:

“What’s our web site (and blog) going to look like (do)?”

“What can we do on Facebook and Twitter?”

“What’s it all going to cost?”

Start Asking Why

Everyone gets so excited (and busy) about launching new sites and social media initiatives that sometimes they completely put aside strategy (the why).

Instead of asking “what” ask “why”:

“Why should people come to our web site?”

“Why should we be on Facebook and/or Twitter?”

When you understand the “why”, you’ll then know why people want to be a part of your community, buy from you, and tell others about you. You’ll know what success looks like.

This is what we help you do.

We ask a lot of questions to help you figure out the “why” (before the what).

So, when’s the last time you had a check-up?

About the Author:

Photo credit: anyjazz65

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What does success look like?

Jul 28th, 2010

Posted by kent in How We Work, Interactive Strategy, Metrics and Measurement

One of the questions we like to ask our clients when we start working with them on an engagement is “how are we measuring the success of this?” And often clients aren’t sure how to measure the success of their online marketing efforts. So we help them establish some Key Performance Indicators — important things to measure that drive the health and success of the business overall — and put in place analytics systems to measure those things.

Recently we evolved that practice to include creating something we call an Online Marketing Dashboard. It’s a simple spreadsheet that we use to capture a birds-eye view of important online success measures on a month-to-month basis.

So what does an Online Marketing Dashboard look like. Well, for us — Fruition uses one, of course — we identified 4 key things that online marketing does to build our bottom line as a company:

Creating awareness of our company
Engaging potential customers with our ideas and perspectives
Spreading the influence of our ideas
Generating leads

And for each of those general categories, we identified some measures that would indicate the extent to which we were being successful at doing each of those things. For us, our main online marketing vehicles are our Web site, our blog, Twitter and LinkedIn and our metrics reflect that.

So, for instance, to measure the growing (we hope) awareness of our business, we track our Web and blog unique visitors and total visits, our Twitter + LinkedIn followers and our Google PageRank. To measure our success at creating engagement with our community, we track comments on our Blog and on our LinkedIn posts, Twitter ReTweets and mentions, average time spent by visitors to our site and blog as well as the number of page views per visit on our site and blog.

It goes on like that, but I think you get the idea.

To be truly effective, your Online Marketing Dashboard needs to be tailored to your business goals as well as to your specific online marketing activities.

How about you? Are you measuring your online marketing success? How are you tracking your success? I’d love to hear your tips and insights, too.

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Your Website Is Not Important

Jul 28th, 2010

Posted by Mitch Fanning in Interactive Strategy, SEO / SEM, Social Media

I’m always looking to improve any web site (media property) I own, contribute to, represent, or help bring to life. I’m mainly referring of course to [fruitioninteractive.com] and [mitchellfanning.com].

I’m consistently tweaking and fiddling with these sites in an effort to optimize results. At the same time, however, I’m keenly aware these sites are not as important to you. It’s not your morning destination. It’s not the place you go to first thing to see “what’s new.”

I’m okay with that.

Why?

Mainly because, I’d rather be hanging out where my audience “is” (and so should you).

So where do people hang out? I’m glad you asked.

Search Engines

No doubt about it, the minute someone hears something about you (or meets you in person) and want to know more, the first place they go is to their favorite search engine to see, exactly, what your story is.

The point.

There is a digital footprint that represents you and your business on every major search engine. The first page of search results is your “brand” and the way the world sees you.

Your brand is not what you say it is, it’s what Google says it is.

Here’s the deal…much of what determines ranking position of your web site (in a search engine) is now mainly due to what happens off the page, in the form of links from other sites, which brings me to my next point.

Social Networks

Consider this fact.

People now wake up and check their Facebook and/or Twitter streams (usually on their smartphones) to get a handle on what’s happening in the world.

More importantly, social networks are where your audience hangs out. It also happens to be an effective way to attract links and increase your search engine rankings.

Put simply: If your content isn’t good enough to attract good, natural links (via authoritative sites like Facebook and Twitter), it doesn’t matter how “optimized” the content is on your web site.

The Lesson

Spending time improving your web properties is fine. Just make sure you’re also hanging out where your audience is and stay focused on ensuring your brand is being properly maintained on those online channels.

So, where do you hang out online?

About the Author:

Photo credit: mandyxclear

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The Old Spice Man backlash has started. Is it justified?

Jul 21st, 2010

Posted by kent in Branding, Interactive Strategy, Social Media

So the Old Spice Man backlash has begun.

Time (speaking of brands that could use an update), is calling the campaign a #fail because sales have reportedly dropped by 7% (comparing June 09/10 to the previous year. The blogosphere’s piling on, too, with BNet and Jezebel taking a few kicks at the Man Your Man Could Smell Like (and I don’t know about you, but I get ALL of my marketing advice from Jezebel).

So how could this be? The Man has had over 12 million YouTube views and counting, they’ve had thousands of people participate in their interactive video push, they’ve had more positive earned media mentions than anyone other than their PR agency can count. By every “soft” category of measurement — exposure, engagement, influence — Old Spice Man has been a HUGE success.

So why isn’t that translating into hard ROI?

Jezebel has a theory — it’s about gender (surprise) — and the industry is starting to play this as a repeat of the old “great creative doesn’t get results” story.

I’ve got another theory: the numbers are bullshit (for now).

Leaving aside the fact that the sales data exclude WalMart, let’s look at the time period. Years ending June 2009 vs June 2010.

Old Spice Man launched in February of 2010, so on the surface it makes sense that you should see some lift in the units sold data for year ending June 2010.

But The Man didn’t really start to go viral until May/June of this year (at least that’s when I first saw him, and I don’t think I’m THAT far out of the loop)[correction: i just looked it up -- I first saw The Man in February, although it feels a lot more recent than that]. And Proctor and Gamble (Old Spice’s parent company) didn’t make their REAL viral push — with their “get a custom message from the Old Spice Man” thing — until mid-July.

Last week I tweeted a link to 7 Social Media Lessons you can Learn form the Old Spice Man. Here’s the 8th lesson: social media marketing takes time.

It takes time to build relationships. It takes time for the people that know, like and trust you to develop the intention to become your customers. Heck, it takes time to run out of body wash and to need to go buy more.

Social media marketing isn’t a campaign. It isn’t something that you can flip a switch on and see lift from next week. It’s a process. A process that’s built on long-term awareness and engagement.

Old Spice Man is building that engagement, so I’m not ready to write him off yet.

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Think Like a Publisher (get more clients)

Jul 21st, 2010

Posted by Mitch Fanning in Interactive Strategy

In a recent blog post, I discussed the importance of making sure your home (on the web) was ready to entertain guests (generate leads).

If you’re past that point and are in the process of assessing your digital marketing efforts (or lack of) to investigate new ways to build influence and attract clients, undoubtedly you’ve run into the term content marketing.

Simply put, content marketing is creating and publishing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined target audience – with the objective of driving profitable action.

Think About It

How do you find useful information to make decisions?

Sure, you might call somebody you know (a “go-to person” on the particular subject), but if that’s not an option you (or someone who works for you) probably jump on a search engine, blog site you’ve bookmarked, or social network.

Well, according to Nielsen, that’s what you might do . The recent study revealed for the first time ever, blog sites and social networks are visited by three quarters of global consumers who go online – an increase of 24% over last year (Google and Bing were #1 and #2 respectively).

Are the people you’re trying to reach any different?

Maybe your prospective clients have been online today searching for you (or someone like you). Imagine for a moment, when they found “you” they spent 15, 30, 45 minutes consuming your online content (then contacted you).

This is the power of content marketing.

How To Adopt a Publishing Model

In almost every introduction to content marketing, you’ve undoubtedly heard (or read) phrases like, “you are the media” or “think like a publisher. Most people, however, have a hard time conceptualizing what this means or how they can successfully apply the concept in their business.

Here are the 4 crucial steps to consider:

Mind-Set

Often, the first step (or obstacle to overcome) to publishing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage your target audience is changing your mind-set on “what you do” as a business.

Companies that have made this mental leap see themselves as ‘publishers’ (first) who just happen to sell stuff (or provide services). They create content that teaches and inspires action. As a result, they build a tribe of profitable and loyal repeat clients.

Most importantly, however, small to mid-sized enterprises who change the way they think about content output start delivering content through multiple outputs and creators – i.e. tweets, videos, photos, podcasts, blog posts. Instead of just one output, there might be 5, 10, or even 20 pieces of content being created by multiple people in the company at the same time.

What if the entire company told your story online?

Listen

As a rule, when someone mentions “Fruition Interactive” online we want to know about it so we can comment. However, listening also helps to make better decisions on the kind of content that is important to your clients.

Set up Google alerts to target keywords that are important to your brand. Next, identify the blogs, social networks, and other places where your clients (readers) might hang out.

Now just watch and listen.

Recruit an internal champion

Adopting a publishing model for your business won’t just happen. You need an internal driver. Find someone internally to champion this initiative (someone with real passion for using social media). This person will be your lead trainer and evangelist.

Find content rock stars

Speak to your employees and determine their interest in becoming content creators. Set up the tools for each of your employees and develop a social media policy that will help employees tell your story.

Train each employee how to write effectively for the web and share their experiences through the web and social media. Next, consider recruiting key content creators (bloggers and subject experts) from your industry to align with your publishing brand (web site and media properties). Most organizations have just a few key content creators, why not have an army.

What did I miss?

About the Author:

Photo credit: purdman1

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Is JustCoz.org the REAL Influence Project?

Jul 19th, 2010

Posted by kent in Interactive Strategy, Non-profits, Social Media

Last week I wrote about the negative buzz that Fast Comany created with their Influence Project (nope, not feeding them another link) and the backlash from actual prominent influencers.

To quickly recap: with the Influence Project, FC is asking people to sign up to receive a personalized link to the FC Web site. Particpants send the link to their circle and ask them to click on the link. Each click counts as a vote, the most clicks wins “Most Influential Person Online” and gets on the cover of Fast Company. Critics, myself included, dismissed the project as a vapid attempt to milk people’s egos in order to generate more clicks (and therefore more revenue) and more links ( and therefore higher page rank and therefore more long term clicks) for the publisher.

It was the utter meaninglessness of the whole exercise that really got under people’s skin.

I think I’ve fou d the antidote or at least a really cool alternative way to leverage your online influence AND create some meaning in the world. It’s called JustCoz.org.

Co-founded byJeff Pulver, whose mega-resume includes co-founding VOiP pioneer Vonage, JustCoz.org asks participants to use their influence to spread the word for a cause or charity of their choosing throughout their community.

Here’s how it works:

Cause-based organizations — they need to be using Twitter as part of their communication strategy — register with JustCoz and create a listing to be posted to the JustCoz.org Web site.

Would-be influencers register with the site and choose a cause from the listings. From there, JustCoz.org manages the day-to-day mechanics of retweeting one message a day from the cause to your Twitter account.

It’s simple, it’s sweet. And best of all it’s a meaningful way to use your influence online. I think that’s worth a magazine cover.

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Is Your Home (on the Web) Ready for Guests?

Jul 15th, 2010

Posted by Mitch Fanning in Interactive Strategy

Ian Elmes (my father-in-law-to-be) is a distinguished architect for the Quartek Group. Like most traditional professions, when someone mentions they’re an architect, it’s inherently understood what they do.

For the most part, architects plan, design and supervise the construction of buildings for people to occupy and use. Most importantly, architects along with their team of planners, engineers, and designers bring “living space” to life. They create “destinations,” which meet both the requirements of the client and their guests and visitors.

We Create Homes Too

More and more, as the digital marketing landscape grows in complexity, I often remind people that creating a web strategy is very similar to building, decorating (re-decorating), and inviting guests to your home.

Before you ask people to come over, you need to get your home (website) ready. If you’re in the building or re-decorating stage your focus should not only be on your needs, but on the needs of your guests (entertainment & education) and what will encourage them to stick around (interactive media & content).

Next, start to think about the different rooms in your home and how they all serve a different purpose, from the decor and furniture (branding and design) to the living room (community and conversation). Once your home is ready for guests it’s time to show them how to get to the front door (advertising).

Lastly, before your guests leave, make sure you get permission to connect with them again to let them know when the next ‘get-together’ is (loyalty).

The point?

Before fiddling around with search engine marketing, social networks, email, mobile applications, wikis, widgets, and all the other buzz words you hear on a daily basis, make sure your home (on the web) is in order and ready to entertain guests.

So when can I expect an invite?

About the Author:

Mitch Fanning recently became VP of Strategy & Business Development for Fruition Interactive. He’s spent 10+ years (and put in his 10,000 hours) working with businesses of all sizes, from global brand (NBC.com, Nestle) to Canada’s fastest growing Internet companies ranked in the PROFIT 100, creating, selling, implementing both traditional and digital marketing opt-in strategies.

Photo credit Will Scullin

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