Paul Chaney - Internet Marketing, Social Media Consulting

Short videos from 140 Twitter Conference

I whipped out my trusty RCA Smallwonder during a couple of conversations at 140 | The Twitter Conference. The first is Diane Michlig talking about the three "mosts" of using Twitter.

This one is of Warren Whitlock and Jen Jantsch, the daughter of Duct Tape Marketing's John Jantsch, discussing lead generation-style marketing (direct response) vs. "shared idea" marketing (social media) and the intersection of the two.

Bringing my brand into line...the Social Media Handyman it is

UPDATE: Almost as soon as I posted this, I received an email from a Typepad staffer saying he had just visited the site to see if I wanted to be featured in their beta program. Said he wanted to talk to me today to see if there is anything he can do to keep me in the fold. I'm willing to talk about it certainly. I don't dislike Typepad by any means. Just trying to find the platform that best suits my needs.

To be honest, Thesis is proving to be more than I bargained for. It's not a Wordpress "theme," but a Wordpress "framework." Think of it as an added layer between the WP platform and the theme. Trouble is, there is currently only one theme designed specifically for Thesis that I know of (these are referred to as "child" themes btw).

While I think it's imperative that I learn the in's and out's of Thesis, I'm concerned that it may not be right for my purposes. Jury is still out of course. And it didn't hurt to hear the staffer say, "We’re coming out with an incredibly great new TypePad and I’d really hate to lose you. You’re exactly the type of thoughtful, helpful blogger we are building the new TypePad for." (What can I say? I'm easily influenced by flattery. :->)

I may know a few things about social media marketing (enough to write a book anyway), but I'm a neophyte when it comes to branding. That's why I enlisted the expertise of Cherie Hebert, principal with BBR, a local branding agency.

After some thorough Q&A, Cherie convinced me of the need to bring my brand under one banner, that being "Paul Chaney, the Social Media Handyman." So, that's what I'm doing. 

One of the things Cherie said was there were two Paul Chaneys, the, uh-hum, "serious" pundit at Conversational Media Marketing and the more kitschy character, the handyman. (I've always told you I was a bit schizophrenic.) 

At first, she wasn't sure the two could be married, but the more we talked the more it became apparent that the predominant brand, the one that would truly set me apart from other "serious pundits," was the handyman. 

Lest Cherie get all the credit, another person who deserves equal billing is longtime friend Debbie Weil. 

Debbie is someone I've admired and deeply respected for years. I've always thought she had the branding thing down, which is why I contacted her to consult with me about mine. 

Like Cherie, Debbie suggested I bring everything under one roof. In fact, it was at her suggestion that I contacted Cherie in the first place. 

Let me also pay homage to one other lady, Ann Handley. She's the one who got this whole handyman brand going in the first place, back when she said she needed a "handyman" to work on her blog. I volunteered and the rest is history.

And my thanks to a gentleman, John Moore, who has helped me shape the identity of the brand. The first time I met John, he was dressed in a lab coat, adorned with a stethoscope around his neck and handed me a toe tag as a business card! If anyone knows branding, it's John. 

Proverbs 24:6 says, "In a multitude of counsel there is safety." I have to tell you, I'm feeling pretty safe right now. I've been the grateful beneficiary of much counsel from some very sharp people. I want to thank each and every one, including many I'm sure that should be named here and are not. 

In keeping with this branding fruit-basket-turnover, I'm also doing something that I did once before years ago (and said I'd never do again), that's move from Typepad to WordPress. It pains me to do so, but TP does not provide the quite the level of flexibility to create a look/feel that I want. (And that's no disrespect to the folks at Typepad. It's just that my needs are different now.) 

So, I've set up a new Wordpress theme, Thesis, that I'm going to, over time, turn into something nice looking and highly functional. At the same time, I'm building a separate site for my book, The Digital Handshake, which should be ready shortly. 

Long story short, this blog will have its posts 301-redirected so as to not lose too much Google Juice and I am putting it to rest. (You can see I've already dumbed it down to a basic Typepad theme.) It will still live, just won't be updated. I'm also going to update my RSS feeds at places where the blog content is syndicated to reflect the new site. Just keep in mind, for the next few weeks this will be a work in progress.

I'm hopeful that this might be the last change I make for some time to come. But, I've said that before. As difficult a choice as it was, I know in my heart it's the right one. 

So, is this adieu and farewell? I'm guessing so. From now on you can find me over at the handyman's shop. I hope to see you there.

Is social networking the same as social marketing?

I have a dear friend, Cherie Hebert, who is an advertising executive and principal of BBR, a local ad agency here in Lafayette. (BBR, by the way, stands for Blond, Brunette and Redhead. Cherie is the brunette.)

Cherie uses the term "social marketing" to describe what I refer to as social media marketing. Another friend of mine calls it "social networking," though she means the same thing. But, is it? With no disrespect to my friend, I think the answer, obviously, is no, or at least, not exactly. 

Lots of people network socially everyday without any intention of using it for marketing purposes. For them, it's a matter of connecting with family and friends. For us, it's something different. We have a motive that extends beyond connections. We're interested in "transactions," those of a business nature. 

If social marketing and social networking are horses of a different color, how exactly do we use social networks for marketing purposes? 

I believe the answer is three-fold: Listen, Engage and Measure. 

LISTENING

By listening, we learn what people are saying about us, our brands, products, services, stakeholders, industry and competition. We also learn who's saying it and where they're doing the talking. We learn who the influencers are as well. All of that provides us with insights that lead to the second phase, engagement. 

Frankly, we put the cart before the horse if we simply jump into the waters doing things like creating Facebook Pages or blogs without having first done our due diligence by listening. With software tools such as Techrigy, Radian6 and Trackur, there is no excuse for not doing so. Even if you take a DIY approach and just use Google Alerts and Twitter search, you need to have your ear to the ground.

Listening is not relegated just to the inhabitants of the social media sphere either, but involves your own marketing objectives as well. Listen to your marketing plan as it were. What is it saying? After all, social media marketing is still marketing and has to tie to established goals and objectives. 

I think we still look at social media as a "curiosity" or novelty. It's not. It should be able to stand up under the same scrutiny applied to any other form of marketing. 

ENGAGEMENT

Once you know the who, what, when, where and why, then it's time to focus on the "how" and engage the marketplace via channels that will very likely be obvious by now. While I have to concede that Facebook and Twitter are givens in most respects, there are many other ways to approach this -- online video, podcasts, niche online communities, blogs, other social networks, and so on.

The one characteristic that separates social networking from social marketing at this stage is "intentionality." You have to approach every form of engagement with the intention of reaching precisely the audience it makes sense for you to reach. You don't need to connect with everyone. In fact, that might work against your purposes. 

Though we no longer merely target audiences, but also participate in approachable communities, we still have to have to create demographic and psychographic profiles for each of our markets. By creating what author David Meerman Scott refers to as buyer personas, we can better filter who would be a good fit for us and who would not. 

Again, it's not different than other forms of marketing. We're just using social media as the avenue. Sure, we have to play by the rules. That's a given. But, we can do that and still achieve certain objectives. 

MEASUREMENT

I admit that we're still in a nascent stage so far as measuring social media is concerned. However, because social media marketing is still marketing, it must also stand up under the same statistical scrutiny as other forms. 

I'll do some posts later on that go into greater depth where measurement is concerned. My point here is to suggest why and how social marketing is different than social networking. Measuring the return on investment or engagement is one such marker. 

I'd like to know what you think. In what ways do you see social marketing, as my friend Cherie puts it, as different from social networking?

Skittles.com social media experiment, what's really important

Yesterday, everyone was buzzing about what Skittles.com has done with its Web site.  Instead of directing people to a traditional destination site, Skittles created what amounted to an online "remote control," something resembling a widget that resides in the upper left-hand corner of the browser. If you ask me, it was designed in such a way as to fit nicely in the alongside Twitter search in browsers 1024 and wider.

The interface contains tabs that, instead of linking to pages on its own site, link to social media properties where the brand has a presence - YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Wikipedia and Twitter search. In fact, the index page, if you want to call it that, opens to Twitter search for #skittles.

Tweets were flying left and right with sentiment ranging from "What an incredible idea; I LOVE THIS! Website nothing more than aggregate of what everyone is saying about u," (my sentiment) to "What do Skittles.com and Modernista.com trend indicate at meta level in regards to SoMe?" IMO, it's fashion. No more, no less." 

(Skittles is not the first attempt at such a creative approach. Branding agency Modernista started the "trend" more than a year ago.) 

What is of most importance?

First, Skittles bucked conventional wisdom about what corporate brand sites should be, especially those of packaged goods companies. Compare, for example, Skittles to Tide, Clairol, Iams and more relevantly, Jelly Belly and Reeses.

Second, this move pays homage to the importance social media has on building a brand's reputation. Mashable's Stan Schroeder said it best: "We won't see all corporations do a complete social media makeover [à la Skittles] anytime soon, but we will see them give more and more importance to the various social channels out there."

Keep in mind, this is not a complete abandonment or acquiesence of control over the brand. After all, links go to sites where Skittles does maintain some level of governance - YouTube, Facebook (fan page) and Flickr to name a few. It is an acknowledgement that the brand and its consumers can and should partner in co-creating brand reputation and buzz.

What is most important is that Mars recognizes that the strength of a brand relates to how much conversation there is about it. And, right now, there's a lot being said about Skittles. 

It's a risky, gutsy move that some will pass off as gimmicky and unoriginal, given that Modernista has already "been there, done that." However, I think the real lesson here has little to do with the execution, and much to do with the philosophy behind it. 

Whether it will prove to be a win for Skittles remains to be seen. What it is is a win for the importance of social media and the impact it is having on commerce and culture. Thanks to Skittles the cat has been let out of the bag and it can't be put back in. 

Maximize your marketing dollars during the recession

Today's news is all about the economy and how we are in the worst recession since the Great Depression. The company I serve as marketing director, Bizzuka, wanted to put a "recess" to all the negativity and discuss some ways to use the Internet as a cost-effective marketing tool, not only during difficult times, but at anytime.

We interviewed some of the best and brightest people in marketing today, people like David Meerman Scott, Paul Gillin, Ben McConnell, Ann Handley, Todd Defren, David Alston and a host of others, gleaned their insights and created a nine-part series we've entitled, Nine Ways to Maximize Your Marketing Dollars During the Recession.

 

Each video is only a few minutes long, yet contains a wealth of information we know you will find helpful. Take a few minutes to watch, then share the videos with your network via Twitter, Facebook, your blog or email.

 

Click here to watch the nine ways video series.

Dateless and desperate: Why companies fail to attract customers

This is a guest post by Leili McKinley, an Internet branding architect and social media marketing strategist who enjoys the enviable benefit of living in one of the most beautiful places God ever created, Maui. 

I came across Leili through a comment she left in response to one of my posts, started reading her blog and was immediately impacted by her knowledge, expert opinion and writing style. A few sentences into this post and you'll know why I felt that way. It is my privilege to introduce her to you.

Imagine stepping into an elegant restaurant. You’re prepped and ready for a night out. Dressed in your best, you have primped and preened for the affair. You even know some of the things you want to say. Actually, you realize, you have an agenda. You secretly cross your fingers. You want everything to go right.

It’s a blind date. 

Doing business as a first time customer is a bit like being on a blind date. We have trepidation. We have made ourselves vulnerable in a universe of uncontrollable variables. We have unspoken expectations coupled with high hopes. It takes courage. But we pursue the event because we need to. Whatever the outcome, we have decided now is the right time “to buy.”

The outcome, of course, is decided by one thing and one thing only. Are we attracted to who is across the table? Not just physically, but do we believe? Do we believe they will know and understand us the same, as we believe we know ourselves? Do they have our values? Do they carry the same ambitions? In other words, can I trust you because you are like me?

We are attracted to what we know and value. Does this mean we are all a bit narcissistic?

Possibly...But, at it’s core attraction is based on our aligned beliefs. I will buy what you say, what you do, and who you are as a person, company or brand based on aligned beliefs. That alignment makes or breaks trust.

No trust, no sale.

So how does a company win customers? How do you increase sales?

Be true to your core values. Show you care about those values. Demonstrate them on a daily basis. Lip service won’t work. Trumped up PR events to make you look good won’t work either. You actually have to demonstrate a bit of self-sacrifice for it to mean something. Yes, give of yourself, as a person, a company, and a brand.

That’s magnetic.

Demonstrating the willingness to sacrifice for one’s core values is esteemed beyond measure. Look at any martyr for social proof. And what do martyrs have? Believers. They are followers who have aligned themselves to the cause. Evangelists, if you will.

If you want to attract the same, then understand what would motivate such loyalty. Speak to your market about it.

Pull people in.

Advertising in social media, what does the future hold?

Ever since Buddy Media CEO Michael Lazerow said "the app is the new ad unit" (paraphrase) during a panel at OMMA Social, I've been intrigued with the notion of how advertising and social media successfully converge, or whether they will at all.

Conventional wisdom says advertising and social media make for strange bedfellows. Nobody goes to their favorite social networking site to see ads after all. At the same time, advertising is not going away, no matter how badly we wish it would.

What seems to be happening is, rather than social media adopting to traditional ad models, advertising is adapting to social media in the form or "app-vertisements."

Two companies leading the charge toward a more engaging, shall we say "creative" form of advertising, is the aforementioned Buddy Media, based in NYC, and PopularMedia, based in the Bay area.

Buddy Media creates interactive Facebook applications for large brands and PopularMedia offers what it calls Influencer Ads, which are standard ad units with a social element.

A report released today by research firm InsightExpress says, "According to the social networkers themselves, opt-in advertising works best, while behavior-based campaigns and randomly generated ads are far less successful." It goes on to state that 40% of social networkers condone the practice of opt-in advertising.

"Recognizing the rapid growth of social networks and social networking audiences, advertisers have focused on creative engagement and how to apply their brands within a new environment," said Drew Lipner, vice president and group director of the Digital Media Measurement team at InsightExpress. 

Is this the future of advertising in social media? Is it a matter of creating a better mousetrap? It the app the new ad unit as Lazerow suggests? At this point, all I have are questions, but am watching this space to see if oil and water can indeed mix to generate profitable ROI.

Social network profile creation, best 15 minutes you could spend

 

Bizzuka recently brought on a new agency partner, Daniels-Brown Communications. In an interview with the owner, Stephen Daniels-Brown, I asked how they came to find us given that they're located in northwest Washington state and we're in southern Louisiana. 

I assumed his answer would be that they found us via search. I was hoping so, in fact, as we've spent quite a bit of time trying to generate favorable SERPs. However, his reply was unexpected and one that left me pleasantly surprised. It turns out, he found us at a site they frequent, Fast Company, via a profile I created over a year ago. 

I can't even recall what prompted me to set up a profile there, but it probably took all of 10-15 minutes and I'm almost certain I haven't visited the profile since. 

What lesson(s) can be learned from this? 

You never know where leads might come from. 

For example, I have profiles on a number of marketing-related Ning socnets that I rarely frequent, TheSWOM, Marketing 2.0, and InSocialMedia. While I genuinely wish I could be more proactive on each, at least I have a presence there. If you use the Fast Company case as an example, you never know when one of those might return the favor. 

It lends a sense of ubiquity.  

Regarding my presence in social media a friend recently said, "You're everywhere!" I think there's something that can be said for that. Pehaps that it implies credibility? Social network profiling give you the ability to be everywhere at once. 

Search engines include them in blended search returns.

One reason that may take precedent over any other is that search engines include social network profiles in SERPs. A search on the term Bizzuka includes results from Facebook, LinkedIn, BusinessWeek, Practical Ecommerce, AboutUs and a number of others. 

What actionable steps could you take?

Two come to mind:

• Ceate a personal profile on social networks where it makes sense. Again, you never know where business may come from.


• Create business profiles on social networks, directories and wikis. That includes sites such as Business.com, AboutUs.org, Best of the Web, Wikipedia (good luck) and Google Knol. Find vertically-related networks and directories and create profiles there as well.

The absolute best case scenario is creating a profile on sites where you can be an active participant. Short of that, you can at least have a presence via your profile. Showing up is half the battle afterall. 

What advice might you give regarding profile creation? Are there additional business-centric social networks, directories and wikis you suggest? 

Namecheap real winner in GoDaddy ad debacle?

GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons reports that "Go Daddy's 2009 Super Bowl campaign results shattered prior records for both new customer sign-ups and total orders, with 10 percent more new customers joining than last year's Super Bowl Sunday." 

Despite the salacious nature of the ads, Go Daddy knows its customer base and, in the domain name registrar bowl, it appears they are the clear winner. 

Or maybe not...

I think there is a sleeper that, thanks to their pro-active response to the issue via Twitter along with some creatively conceived and well-timed marketing campaigns, gained a measurable degree of marketshare as well. Certainly, they garnered plenty of buzz. If nothing else, they saw a 32% increase in traffic, according to Michelle Greer, social media marketing consultant for whom Namecheap is s client.

Who is this sleeper? Namecheap.

Look at this Blogpulse trend graph comparing Network Solutions, Namecheap and Dotster:

 

You'll note how Namecheap and Dotster were in a dead heat for second place well behind Network Solutions. However, thanks to their seizing an opportunity when it appeared, Namecheap was able to break out and place themselves in contention more closely to NetSol.

 

For example, the day of the Superbowl they created a "Make the Superbowl 43 Switch" campaign which asked, "Not happy with your current registrar or their advertising models?" The company offered a switch to their service for $6.99 per domain. 

If that's not enough, a few days prior to the game they came up with their own answer to GoDaddy's expensive Superbowl ads by creating the Namecheap Big Game Video Contest. 

"We are asking you, the NameCheap customer, to come up with a funny NameCheap commercial around the same time," says their pitch. "We can't air it during half time, but the ones we like will be published for others to see in our blog and of course, to our YouTube channel. Feel free to browse through them while drinking beer, eating chips and queso, and arguing offsides calls with your friends."

They went after user-generated content to build buzz and, while it's a spoof, the campaign is creative and fun. The contest winner gets the Creative Vado HD pocket video camcorder, a prize valued at $225. Not too bad for less than one minute's worth of video.

 

Finally, on game night and the day following they maintaned a strong presence on Twitter promoting the switch campaign and coupon code.

It will be worthwhile to track whether Namecheap can hold the ground they've gained. They spiked before in recent months, according to Blogpulse, but receded to previous levels of notoriety in terms of buzz created in consumer-generated media.

What do you think of my surmise? Is Namecheap a "sleeper" winner in the registrar bowl? 

Interview with Shashi Bellamkonda regarding Network Solutions' response to GoDaddy ad debacle

I had the opportunity to do a quick phone chat with Shashi Bellamkonda, Network Solutions' "Swami of Social Media," earlier today to get his reactions to the GoDaddy Superbowl 2009 ad debaucle. 

My intent was not to sensationalize or stir up controversy, but to try and view this issue through Shashi's eyes as well as to see what lessons could be learned and best practices gleaned. 

To give you some background, GoDaddy rolled out their usual tasteless, cheap, tawdry, tittilating, sexist, demeaning to women, <insert adjective of your choosing> ads, which featured Indycar driver Danica Patrick and other females showing off certain parts of their anatomy. (BTW, Patrick is an Indycar driver, not NASCAR driver.) A few years ago, it had shock value... you know, the first time they tried it... but, now, not so much.  

In fact, what it did was unleash a groundswell of negative sentiment within the social media sphere, namely Twitter. (Mack Collier did a pithy synopsis that I think best sums up the prevailing attitude, so I'd ask you to visit his post to learn more.)

Seeing Shashi on Twitter, I and a number of others (Connie Reece, KD Paine and Scott Monty to name a few) suggested he offer some type of discount to encourage people to transfer their domain to NetSol. Apparently, lots of people are taking him up on the offer too. 

To be clear, Shashi didn't "opportunize" this of his own accord. He responded to requests and suggestions being made by others he knew and respected. Not saying there's anything wrong with seizing an opportunity, mind you, which is why I suggested he do so. 

In response Shashi created a special offer for anyone wanting to transfer. 

Then, he waited and watched to see if the groundswell would respond in his favor, and it did. The post got retweeted numerous times (see Twitter search results on code here). Shashi's hope was that, rather than him tweeting about it, others would do so on his behalf and that hope seemed to be realized. 

Not only that, mentions of Network Solutions, which average between 6,000 - 7,000 per month normally, went up 10 fold, according to Shashi. 

Now, if you're a small business, you can pretty much do these types of things at a moment's notice. Not so if you're Network Solutions. 

Shashi had to alert his customer support and call center staff as to what was going on. Imagine the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing? Happens all too often in online vs. offline world. Shashi made sure that base was covered. 

There's something else he did that I appreciate. He didn't trash the competition just to drive traffic to his offer. Nor did he need to. This is a situation where a measured response was all that was called for. "Discretion is the better part of valor," as they say and Shashi certainly displayed that characteristic. If that is also the character of Network Solutions, I applaud them. 

It is too early to determine if there will be any discernable positive ROI for NetSol, or the adverse for GoDaddy. In tracking Twitter mentions of the two, GoDaddy is receiving tons more. However, most of those are of a negative tone and the conversation is beginning to morph over into GoDaddy's alledgedly poor customer service.  

If you think all this is overblown, I would remind you of what happened a few years with a small bicycle lock company called Kryptonite. (See Google search for background if you're unfamiliar with the story. It still lives to haunt them to this day.) Also, consider the Motrin Moms controversy as another case in point. 

If you think the same thing can't happen again, you're mistaken. It can and in spades. 

The saddest thing of all is that GoDaddy has at least one staff person assigned to monitor Twitter, GoDaddyGuy, who, at the time of this writing, had yet to respond to any of the commentary.  I think that's inexcusable! One thing is for certain, Twitter users are bombarding him with their opinions. 

I suspect there is much more to come before this issue becomes yesterday's news. Perhaps it is the controversy du jour, but I believe there are lessons that can be learned that having bearing on how companies do business in the era of the social web.