BarnRaisers

Some say social media is a lot like high school.  People follow the popular kids.

But most of us never were or will be ”most likely” to…succeed, funniest or best looking.  The popular kids represent a small segment in high school.

According to new data from eMarketer, there’s a greater asset available; trust and it has little to do with being popular.

This eMarketer data comes from Scott Monty, Global, Digital and Multi-Communications Manager at Ford.  Scott is one of the most trusted, “go-to” social media voices in corporate America.  He writes a great blog, The Social Media Marketing Blog.  I go to this blog because I trust Scott.

And the same applies to businesses and brands.  If you’re not #1, #2 or #3 in your category and are being outshouted, you can gain a stronger competitive advantage.

Here’s what the data says about trust and social media:

1. PEOPLE LIKE TO DO BUSINESS WITH PEOPLE THEY KNOW.  And who they know is who they trust.  That’s why social outposts with the most content and expression give people the chance to learn more about, know and trust you.  Whether it’s people or companies, blogs generate the most trusted information source, followed by Facebook then Twitter.

2. TRUST CAN’T BE BUILT BY POPULARITY; IT BUILDS BY BEING GENUINE.  It isn’t how many fans or followers you have; it’s how open, engaging and responsive you are with every connection.  So, unlike high school, you don’t have to worry about being outgoing and extroverted; you do have to listen, engage and be timely about it.

3. TRUST IS CURRENCY FOR AWARENESS THAT CAN’T BE BOUGHT.  Social media is different from traditional media where impressions, reach and awareness are a function of spending.  Social media is available to anyone, but only if you jump in, keep at it and show you care do you secure trust and awareness, the kind you can’t buy.

Good research tells a story.  This story here is social media is more egalitarian than high school.  Everyone gets the chance, every time they put themselves out there, to be trusted.  Anything stopping you?

Thanks to eMarketer and Scott for bringing this to our attention.

The meaning of this well-known maxim is clear: Some extra planning time upfront avoids a lot of uplanned time undoing and redoing mistakes.

The application to the internet is especially relevant, because once something is out there, it stays there, even if you abandon it, and time commitments to social media are very real.

With many available resources, there’s never been a better time to take this counsel to heart.  Here’s the “Measure Twice, Cut Once” Guide to Social Media with the available tools for those looking to build.

• CONTENT REALLY IS KING:  This may sound like a cliche but, if you can’t start with a passion to tell your story (or your business’s or brand’s) and convince your audience (with the content you bring) you do it better than anyone else, think again about starting.
• LISTEN:  Identify the topics, key words and phrases you’re going to talk about.  Investigate who uses them and how.  Learn from your colleagues and competitors.  There are many available tools.  Starting at 30,000 feet, there’s Google Trends.  Then, be notified daily of news with Google Alerts on primary keywords.  If you want to go where people say the most, which is usually blogs and consumer reviews, some great blog search engines are: 1. Google Blogsearch, 2. Technorati, and 3. Alltop. From there, social networks searches at Twitter Search and Facebook Search are good resources.  In addition to social media, it’s also valuable to see how these keywords and phrases rank with the online tools available for Search Engine Optimization but we’ll save that topic for another blog. 
• CONNECT: Look for the conversations (quantity and quality).  Determine where you will find others who share your interests and values.  For example, we recently did some listening for a company that makes women’s over-the-counter contraceptives.  We found the phrase, “birth control,” to be a magnet on blogs for passionate discussions with women looking for information on choices and product options.  But, we found on Facebook, this same phrase revealed groups that were cheap dating services with questionable content.  Same keywords.  Where would you want to place your client’s business?.
• BUILD:  Create your social media presence.  My advice is to be grounded in a blog because it’s where most of your content comes from, most of your measurement are and benefits to your business are big.  Start with an  ”open source” blogging platforms; one with a great selection of templates, design and custom features.  My favorite is WordPress, which Google owes.  They also have many plug-ins, widgets and the functionality and updates are advanced.  Regardless of the platform, the benefits of blogging are:  97% of businesses that blog have higher search rankings; 55% drive more visitors to their web site and 44% report increased revenues due to their blog.  Connect your social networks to your blog.  Customize background for social networks wherever possible.  Twitter has a helpful feature called Twitter Themeleon.
• BUILD-IN MEASUREMENTS AND ANALYTICS:  Equip your blog/website with Google Analytics.  Equip your blogposts with Social Network widgets and plug-ins to allow for Sharing and Re-Tweeting.  Use Short Links for your blogposts to publish on social networks for outreach.  Add a social network sharing feature like Add This so other can share with their networks. The combination of these tools allows you to measure: 1) Who’s coming to your site, 2) where they’re coming from, 3) how long they’re staying, 4) what they doing while they’re there, 5) where they go after they leave and 6) how many share your information with their friends/networks.  That’s more information than store owners know from customers who walk through their doors. 
• RECOGNIZE OTHERS (MORE OFTEN THAN YOURSELF):  A paradox of social media is, by recognizing the work of your peers (and sometime competitors), you draw greater attention to yourself.   Comment on the blogs of others, Share and Re-Tweet their work with some brief words on why it’s valuable to you.  Put a Blogroll on your blog to show where you go.  This step is relatively easy to do but it is also easy to forget to do, regularly.  
• MAKE IMPROVEMENTS:  Learn and put the learning to use.  Examine what your readers want, what builds audience involvement and what drives further engagement.  For example, I have one blog on this page with over 90 comments.  Another with 0.  I thought they offered equal value in writing them but, obviously, readers told be different.  That doesn’t mean I won’t write about what is meaningful to me but I have to understand the balance of what readers want and why.

I know many people reading this blog may use many of these tools, if not all and more.  But I thought it was worth putting down because I didn’t know about them when I started.  People like Chris Brogan, Amber Nusland, Jason Falls, Mack Collier, Mike Volpe at Hubspot and Mike Stelzner at Social Media Examiner helped me “Measure Twice, Cut Once.”

Social media promotes a culture of sharing so a refresher is worthwhile, occasionally, to help guide others.  Can you think of others tools or advice worth considering that has helped you “Measure Twice, Cut Once?”

Social media/PR maven and friend, Sarah Evans, let me know Armani paid Kim Kardashian $25K for 1 Tweet.  It drove 40,000 people to the Armani website in less than 24 hours.  Is she worth it?  I had some questions considering:

1. The amount of money for so little work
2. Kim may have more curves than a ski slalom course but she doesn’t have a real talent
3. The rest of us who tweet, blog and use social media to try to provide something of value don’t make anywhere near $25K for our tweets

Michael Corleone said in The Godfather, “It’s not personal, Sonny; it’s strictly business.” Maybe it is worth it when you consider:

1. Kim has 4,202,855 Twitter followers
2. 40,000 visitors to a website in less than 24 hours is a big response; it’s a better response rate than most other media channels and definitely quicker
3. Armani paid 59 cents per 1,000 followers, a very attractive price by media standards
4. 90% of all purchase decisions begin online and 75% are looking for a personal recommendation
5. The connection between the brand and the personality is strong

As Kim’s case demonstrates, you see results almost instantly.  It’s quantifiable and accountable.  My guess is to Armani it is worth it and we’ll see more endorsement tweets from celebrities.

But maybe there is something we can do to also advance positive values.

Right now, there are millions of people just getting started with social media who aren’t Kim Kardashian.  They are trying to find their voice, start a business and establish a reputation.  Maybe they’ve just written their first blog, started attracting a Twitter following and established relationships with experts in their field and potential customers.

We can help, offer encouragement and tell our followers about people to watch.  I read blogs regularly.  Today, I read a great 1st blog post from Jonathan Kay, entitled  The 3 Most Common Mistakes When Growing an Idea into a Business.  He’s really good and I look forward to more blogposts from him.  You should read what he has to say.

Maybe you already do this but by giving a little recognition to one person per week who is starting out and doing interesting things, we help raise the human value of social media.  Since social media has been so good to Kim, I’ve reached out to @KimKardashian for her help too.

Do you think Kim Kardashian is worth $25K a tweet?

You can’t swing a cat these days without hitting someone talking about the Old Spice commercials featuring the dashing, shirtless former NFL wide receiver, Isiah Mustafa.  The commercial, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” has been viewed on YouTube 15,535,845 times.  It proves the viewership potential for advertisers with social media and, most important, shows Old Spice’s connectedness and relevance to its target audience.

It also reminds me of the social media campaign for Blendtec blenders, featuring the cloaked CEO and everyman, Tom Dickson.  The commercials, “iPhone” and “iPad,” have been viewed roughly 8,000,000 times each.  Blendtec achieved a 500-to-1 ROI from this effort.

Developed so consumers watch and like so much they put on social networks for others to watch, these social media commercials are generating reach that rivals paid mass media.  You might think, based on this criteria, it’s better quality reach too.  If for some reason you’ve been living under a digital rock, you can view them at the bottom of this blog.

I don’t want to suggest rules or a formula to great creative but I can’t help but notice some similarities between these two campaigns.  Here are 5 best practices of social media commercials:

1. REINVENT THE RULES: Both begin as “talking head” commercials, the oldest and most basic commercial form, but then take this “tried and true” approach and turn it into something you’ve never seen before.
2. LIVE COMFORTABLY OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE:  Both presenters seem right at home and willing to take risks in situations that would cause much embarrassment to most of us.
3. GIVE A NOD TO TECHNOLOGY: Early Blendec commercials blended broom handles and golf balls.  But, when they started blending iPhone and iPads, viewership took off to the mega-millions.  For Old Spice, references to social networks and Tweets from Alyssa Milano have helped the interest and pass-along value spiral upward and upward.
4. CREATE LEGS TO THE IDEA, IMMEDIATELY:  Both benefit from multiple executions right off the bat making us appreciate the breath and commitment to the idea and looking forward to what comes next.
5. ENTERTAIN AS YOU SELL:   When consumers choose to look for you instead of you chasing them, there’s a new value exchange. 

I don’t know about you but I look forward to many more social media commercials.  I would think advertisers would too.  Do you see similarities between these efforts?  Can you think of other best practices?

Search Engine Optimization and Social Media are two relationships vehicles meant to work together.  We have Google to thank for making this happen and it’s a relationship built to last.

Google determined ”links” to be of primary importance for a high search ranking.  What matters to Google is who goes to your site and who goes to the sites of people who go to your site.  These links means your site has “authority” and authority means a higher ranking by Google’s standards.

Simply letting viewers know, on your website, they can follow you on Facebook, Twitter, etc. increases links.  Since Facebook and Twitter friends and followers can be substantial (130 and 129 on average), social media is important to search.  If you blog, publish frequently and readers follow, your site gains: Frequency X Links X Time spend on your site = A powerful effect on search ranking.

What this is doing is significant.  It’s changing online marketing for a monologue to a conversation.  In the old world of search, everything was focused on talking with and winning over Google.  Now, it can be balanced with talking with and winning over consumers.

For any business or brand, search and social media should support one another.  Here are 5 ways to use Search and Social Media for better results.

1. BALANCE KEYWORDS WITH CONVERSATIONS:  Keywords are the currency for search and social media but conversations around them matter.  Social media lets you listen to what people say, see how much conviction they have and understand what is their emotional involvement.  For your key keywords, do a little investigation on conversations around them.
2. LOOK AT DESTINATIONS WHERE KEYWORDS ARE FOUND:  Where keywords occur is important.  For example, we recently did a “Social Search” for a company that markets over-the-counter female contraceptives.  The keyword used most often to find contraceptives is “birth control.”  It is most  often found in blogs and communities for women like iVillage.  There, it is associated with passionate discussions around a “woman’s most fundamental right.”  ”Birth control” is also found on questionable Facebook pages that serve as cheap dating services.  Same keyword.  Same search value.  Where would you choose to begin a discussion about your brand?
3. FIND ADVOCATES AND BUILD RELATIONSHIPS:  There are online conversations happening about your business right now.  If you’re done #1 and #2, you can find advocates.  Engage.  Be human.  Show appreciation.  Build relationships.  I guarantee it’s worth the effort.
4. EXECUTE SOCIAL MEDIA “CONTENT SEEDING” WITH SEARCH “LANDING PAGES:”  In order to benefit from keywords, many companies build “landing pages” with content including important keywords.  This helps benefit from keyword searches, establishes links and avoids having to make frequent changes to website pages.  Now, social media gives an additional option.  Put these keywords in social conversations.  It adds reach and valuable connections in visible and targeted online destinations.
5. MEASURE RESULTS, LEARN AND REPEAT: Both search and social media share the same characteristics of giving real time results that are easy to modify.  For both, establish a schedule for measuring and increase what’s working and pull back on what’s not.

There are some great companies advancing the dialogue on Search and Social Media.  Some I find particularly helpful are Hubspot and SEOmoz.  They’ve taught me a lot so I hope what I can pass on helps.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week, in looking at the glass as half full or half empty, most of us see the economy as half empty.

Is it time for a Social Media Stimulus Plan?   Here are the facts why.

CONSUMERS AREN”T SPENDING AND BRAND LOYALTY HAS ERODED

• 59% of consumer still rate the economy as “poor;” 73% describe their sentiments as pessimistic
• Under $50K, 79% of consumers are cutting back on spending
• Between $50K-$100K, 73% are cutting back
• Over $100K, 66% are cutting back
• Less than 50% now buy “the brand I want most” when they shop
• 42% cite “unemployment/job security” as a primary concern followed by “rising prices” at 33%

ONLINE SPENDING IS GROWING FASTER THAN OFFLINE

• 8.1% of retail sales now occur online – double what is was 7 years ago
• Online sales are growing +80% faster than offline sales
• 60% of consumers say the internet is more important in making buying decisions; up +56% from a year ago
• Sales at all major retailers, even brick and mortar companies, are growing online:  Amazon (+19%), Apple (+25%), Best Buy (+7%), Home Depot (+3%), Lowe’s (+5%), Macy (+4%), Sears (+6%), Staples (+5%), Wal-Mart (+3%)

PEOPLE WHO USE SOCIAL MEDIA SPEND MORE MONEY AND TIME ONLINE

• Facebook and Twitter users spend 1.5X more time online than average internet users
• People who spend time on Facebook and Twitter spend 2X more money online than people who don’t use these networks
• Heavy online buyers spent $592 on average in Q1 2010
• More people are spending more time on Facebook; it accounts for 8.0% of the time consumers are online
• 23% of Twitter users use the service for retail purposes
• Cost per thousand impressions on social media are $0.55 versus $2.55 for paid online advertising

COMPANIES WHO USE SOCIAL MEDIA INCREASE THEIR PROFILES AND SALES

• 97% of companies report a blog improves their search ranking
• 55% say a blog increases site visitations
• 45% have gotten revenue from their blog
• 36% of companies see an increase in positive perceptions fom their blog
• Companies from Dell, Best Buy, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, Blendtec and AJ Bombers now have great social media case studies, particularly in the area of innovation, customer service and sales

Sources: comScore, U.S. Department of Commerce, Nielsen, Harris Interactive

A rising tide lifts all boats.  If spending continues to move online and people who use social media spend more, shouldn’t our administration take a hard look at the segment likely to lift us out of a bad economy the fastest; the one with the greatest likelihood to impact positive change?

Our administration has the experience too.  Let’s not forget, when Barrack Obama was campaigning, he used social media and it raised 87% of the funds he put to work to help get elected.

Wouldn’t you like to see the glass as half full again?

A first rule of blogging is to be helpful.  A second rule is if you need help ask for it.  Hopefully, in this blog, I can accomplish both.

A friend of mine has done very well in life. He has an important job, loving family and lives in a great town.  His daughter has a rare disease called Rasmussen’s Encephalitis.

Rasmussen’s Encephalitis is a rare, chronic inflammatory disease that affects one hemisphere of the brain.  It occurs in children under the age of 15 and is characterized by frequent and severe seizures, loss of motor skills and speech, paralysis on one side of the body and mental deterioration.  After the the first 8 to 12 months, most individuals with Rasmussen’s Encephalitis enter a phase of permanent, but stable, neurological deficits.

While this could tear anyone apart, in my friend’s case, it made him stronger.   He’s dedicated his life to a solution by founding the RE Children’s Project to increase awareness of Rasmussen’s Encephalitis (RE) and to support scientific research for a cure. The organization supports research toward the recovery process following hemisphrectomy surgery, a life altering surgery that is the only known “cure” for the disease.

I’ve offered to do what I can to raise awareness through social media.

I know first hand how powerful social media is in health care.  For conditions like Multiple Sclerosis and Epilepsy, patient communities on Facebook and Twitter offer support to one another with member numbering in the 10′s of thousands.  Studies in countries around the world have proven social support from patients with similar health conditions actually results in better health outcomes.

But for rare disease like Rasmussen’s Encephalitis, community creation is more difficult because there are less people to rely on for support.  There are valuable videos on YouTube.  One (below), less than 2 minutes, is factual and hopeful.

So I thought what if the blogging community and Twitter, the micro-blogging community, could help out.  What if, when you read this blog, you just re-tweet it.  In your re-tweet, you ask the next reader to re-tweet it.  If one person did this and so did the next person and so on, pretty soon, we would generate greater awareness of Rasmussen’s Encephalitis and the chances of finding a cure would be that much more likely.

What do you say?  The re-tweet button is at the top of the blog.  After all, it’s called social media for a reason.

7 Steps to More Effective Facebook Fan Pages. 5 Tips to Develop a Twitter Following. 11 Sure-Fire Ways LinkedIn Generates Business Leads.  8 Rules for Building Brands with Blogs.  Do these type of headlines sound familiar?  Do they get your attention?  I confess to sometimes writing them myself.

Unfortunately, we often pay more attention to tactics than the voice behind them.  Too bad because your voice in social media is your brand equity. 

Social media marketing is different from advertising, sales promotion or direct marketing.  It’s a conversation, not a monologue.  It won’t work if your constituents don’t believe you always have their best interests at heart.  Just try to tell someone to “Buy This Now” and see what happens.

So it’s not what you need to make someone do.  It’s how you have to be.  Here are 16 Be’s to finding a social voice for your brand that works.

1. Be helpful
2. Be willing to ask for help
3. Be informative
4. Be of value in teaching someone something new
5. Be willing to share
6. Be able to ask others to share in return
7. Be positive
8. Be forthcoming
9. Be inspirational
10. Be a good listener
11. Be able to carry on a good conversation
12. Be honest with your audience
13. Be able to express a point of view convincingly 
14. Be able to respect those who do and don’t accept what you have to say 
15. Be willing to give before you have to get
16. Be yourself 

The list is as long and as true as your most authentic qualities in relating to others.

So the next time you see someone or some business brag, boast, bring nothing new to the party other than an endless stream of press releases and company news either in a blog, tweet, comment or through a bit.ly link, feel free to remind them of this advice.

Do you have any “Be’s” of your own?  Please send them my way.  I’d like to hear so we can keep a running list together.

A frequent comment from businesses and people new to blogging is:  I have a website, so why do I need a blog?

Here are 5 reasons blogs pay off.

1. IMPROVED BRAND IMAGE: Positive perceptions of  a business or company increase +36% if there is a blog either on or linked to the website. That’s because consumers view you as accessible, transparent and willing to help (source: Nielsen) .
2. BETTER SEARCH RESULTS: A blog is a major asset for better search results, especially since you can link your blog to others (and visa-versa), a primary characteristic search engines use for determining relevance. For example, my name, Rob Petersen, is pretty common. In searching the name, this site, BarnRaisers, comes up 4th, ahead of a famous magazine publisher and a former running back for the Philadelphia Eagles (sorry, I’m not them).
3. STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS: 95% of people never read more than 5 pages or spend more than 5 minutes on a website (source: comScore). If your company or brand website has more than 5 pages, consumers are likely to get to know you better through your blog than the chance your website can beat these odds.
4. RETURN ON INVESTMENT: “Open source” blogging platforms are very good now and keep getting better.  To reveal a little about myself, seven months ago, I built this site with a little sweat equity and $7.50.  Given the platform capabilities, I also made it the company website and put 5 tabs on top to tell the story of our business (with great respect to comScore). Although it also took knocking on dozens of doors (well, dozens of dozens) to secure initial assignments and there was  time, travel and other business expenses, blogs played a critical role delivering the necessary ROI to  start and build a business.
5. SHARED OBJECTIVES:  Blogs and brand websites share (at least they should) the same business objectives; that is, to drive leads, provide useful information, be helpful, convert consumers, complete desired transactions (e.g. create inquiries, sign up subscriptions, make a purchase) and keep your audience coming back to build your brand. Can any business have too much of that?

I go to blogs, before websites, for inspiration, ideas and help.  Bloggers I admire keep me in the know and have graciously helped me, either directly and indirectly, be a better communicator, business person and blogger.  I also feel like I have a relationship with someone which is always preferable.  Just a  dozen of the many I turn to are:

1. http://www.chrisbrogan.com
2. http://sethgodin.typepad.com
3. http://mashable.com
4. http://www.marketingprofs.com
5. http://www.bloombergmarketing.blogs.com
6. http://www.tomhcanderson.com
7. http://www.marketersstudio.com
8. http://mackcollier.com
9. http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com
10. http://www.n2growth.com/blog
11. http://conversationagent.com
12. http://altitudebranding.com

A blog I also admire for its business acumen is http://www.singleservecoffee.com

The blog’s creator has smartly identified a topic that is also be a niche business in a big, crowded, competitive category.  The brand name/URL establishes category authority and comes up #1 on search engines for “single serve coffee” and “single serve coffee makers.”  The blog reviews products, has relevant ads (that generate revenue) and sells single serve coffee makers and accessories direct to consumers.  On the site, there is also social community on the subject.  The ROI must be extraordinary.

Does this help you see the value of blogs?

What are net promoters? Consumers who rate products on the internet?  Mommy Bloggers? People who Tweets about brands on Twitter? Fans on Facebook? Hold that thought.

For students of relationship marketing and CRM, net promoters are the driving force of Fred Reichheld’s book, The Ultimate Question. Fred studied and surveyed the customers of 100′s of companies and came to a singular conclusion: The most admired and profitable companies are the ones with the greatest percentage of net promoters – people who enthusiastically answer in the affirmative the question, ”How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?”

Fred developed the Net Promoter Score (NPS).  The NPS is the percentage of people who are “promoters” of a company minus the   “passives” and “detractors” (NPS = P – D).  Reichheld’s work is known for its statistical significance and high correlation with business success.  In 2006, the companies with the highest NPS were:

• USAA (82%)
• HomeBanc (81%)
• Harley-Davidson (81%)
• Costco (79%)
• Amazon.com (73%)
• Chick-fil-A (72%)
• eBay (71%)

By 2008, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, in Groundswell, delivered research showing 80% of people rate and review products favorably on the internet and their social networks. If companies with an NPS of 80% rank among the highest in Reichheld’s work, Li and Bernoff’s research is particularly good news for businesses and brands.

It means companies that use interactive ratings are reviews are likely to have a higher NPS, be more admired and have greater profitability. Li and Bernoff’s research also showed:

• 76% of customers use online reviews to make purchases
• 96% of sites that have them say they are an effective merchandising tactic
• Only 25% of e-commerce sites have them now

So, from Reichheld’s, Li’s and Bernoff’s viewpoints, we’re in the “net promoters era.”  If your company isn’t taking advantage of it, shouldn’t it be?