Marketing

Mar 23 1 Response

Social Media Boardroom Winners

In times of change learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. – Eric Hoffer

For many of us social media is brushing our teeth. We don’t think about it – it’s just part of our daily routine. We forget some of you are still trying to convince some of “them” that your organization is risking irrelevance. With no less than your company’s future at stake, here are three board room winners to help you fight the good fight.

If you want people to pay you, you have to pay attention to them.
People may not understand the warm fuzzy side of social media, but everyone understands money. A recent study shows users are 67% more likely to buy and 79% more likely to recommend if they follow you on Twitter. The game has changed whether “they” realize it or not. The 4Ps we learned in marketing 101 have been replaced by the 4Cs. Communication trumps Promotion, and this shift is growing more pronounced every day.

Facebook is not a country.
If it were however, it would be the 3rd largest in the world with over 400 million people, 200 million of which logged on yesterday. When grandma friend requests you, you know social media has become ubiquitous. There are several studies out there that show just having a link to your social network sites makes users feel you are more customer friendly. 93% want you to have a social media presence. People expect you to be on Twitter. If you’re not, you’re already not meeting your customers’ or your potential future employees expectations.

Interact with tomorrow’s leaders.
The Millennial Generation grew up in this always on, constantly connected world. These are the employees you’ve hired over the last few years and will be hiring for the next several. In order to hire, retain, and grow the best and brightest, organizations are quickly realizing social media is this groups primary method of communication. Understanding and implementing a social media strategy is more than just jumping on a growing trend. It’s insuring your future.

I hate to be the crazy guy standing on the corner with the “end is near” sign, but I’m confident if your organization doesn’t evolve it will be.

Apr 28 0 Responses

Black Hat Viral Video Marketing Tips

“Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody” – Mark Twain

In Part I, we discussed the rosier side of viral marketing. The “get out there, make a lot of good content, and people will find you” side. This side is taking that side’s lunch money.

Over here, we are working under the assumption that your goal is to make money, and if you have to manipulate the system a bit, that is ok. In order to rise above the masses, we have to make our viral video a bit less “viral”. You have 48 hours: Go.

Optimize your video’s title. If your video title isn’t interesting, people aren’t going to click it. Also, make sure your thumbnail is something interesting.

Pay to play. Bloggers are like most of us – they enjoy making money. Many bloggers with a lot of (targeted) traffic will post your video for a few bucks.

Hit the forums. Have several accounts on many forums (a good list to start from and find focused forums). Post legitimate information for a few months to build up your post count and credibility. Now when you see something “funny” or “interesting” (your viral video) you can post it these forums. If necessary, you can even start a conversation between your different accounts to drum up some conversation.

Hijack the social networks.
Twitter about the video; post it in other users’ MySpace comments; send it out to all of your Facebook friends. Ask them to push it forward.

Talk to yourself. Register multiple accounts on YouTube. Create a controversy or at least a heated discussion in the comments section of your video. If someone comes in and says something that is derailing your message, delete it.

Release everything at once. If you have multiple videos, don’t make people wait to see them. The more videos a user watches, the more likely they will click through to your website. Once the first 48 hours are over (and you’re ready to push the next video) delete the #2 video, upload it again, and then begin pushing it. Rinse, repeat for all videos you push up.

This isn’t cheating in the sense of doing something wrong; it is more just a manipulation of a system. You are creating the illusion of grassroots popularity.

Apr 27 1 Response

Viral Marketing Techniques to Dominate Your Competitors

“If the Internet can be described as a giant human consciousness, then viral marketing is the illusion of free will.” – George Pendle

Viral marketing is everything that is wrong and everything that is right about the internet. Aimed at those of us who have been beat down, worn out, and fed up with traditional advertising, viral marketing is designed to entice us into participation.

Whether it is the result of a few hours in mom’s basement or a targeted campaign by Mega Company, viral marketing is cheap and it works. It has the ability to explode in just a few short generations with exponentially increasing reach. Done right, you don’t have to spend money on advertising or time begging the media to cover you. If you make something people want, they will find you.

So you didn’t ask, “What is viral marketing?” You were looking for some tips and tricks to do it well. You wanted to promote your brand to fame and fortune. You wanted other people to tell your story. So here it is:

Make your message memorable. Whatever you’re pushing should be able to be summed up in 7 words or less. Write down your message then remove all unnecessary words – now cut it in half.

Evoke emotion. Have an opinion and express it. Make people love or hate you. Make them laugh out loud or cringe in fear. Make them feel like an idiot or a genius. Whatever you do, just make them feel something.

Never restrict access. If you want your campaign to succeed, it needs to get a life of its own. Registrations, downloads, unlock codes, are all huge “no no’s”. Viral marketing is a tightrope walk of exclusionary cool without actually being exclusive.

Keep it short. Videos should be somewhere between 20 seconds and 3 minutes. With millions of choices, users are here then gone. Don’t bore them.

Don’t beat people over the head with promotional content. Remember, this is the anti-commercial. Save your selling for your website. Viral marketing is to drive people not to sell them.

Have various content. And have it all available at once. You don’t know what will succeed, and if something does hit, a user is going to want to see more. That’s a good thing.

Nobody can – with certainty – tell you if something is going to succeed. In the purity of viral marketing, it’s really just a numbers game. Put a lot of content out there, and hope that something will hit. On the other hand, there is also the more nefarious side of viral marketing. Part II ‚”The Dark Side”