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Archive for October, 2009

The Social Media Revolution

by ConsumerSphereGuy on October 31st, 2009 in Engagement, Innovation, Videos, Web 2.0 Explained

The

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ConsumerSphere’s Week of Tweets

by ConsumerSphereGuy on October 30th, 2009 in Twitter

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ConsumerSphere’s Week of Tweets

by ConsumerSphereGuy on October 23rd, 2009 in Twitter

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What Makes A Good Blog

by ConsumerSphereGuy on October 22nd, 2009 in Engagement, Insight, Web 2.0 Explained

Great analysis from a recent post from Merlin Mann:

1. Good blogs have a voice. Who wrote this? What is their name? What can I figure out about who they are that they have never overtly told me? What’s their personality like and what do they have to contribute – even when it’s “just” curation. What tics and foibles fascinate make me about this blog and the person who makes it? Most importantly: what obsesses this person?
2. Good blogs reflect focused obsessions. People start real blogs because they think about something a lot. Maybe even five things. But, their brain so overflows with curiosity about a family of topics that they can’t stop reading and writing about it. They make and consume smart forebrain porn. So: where do this person’s obsessions take them?
3. Good blogs are the product of “Attention times Interest.” A blog shows me where someone’s attention tends to go. Then, on some level, they encourage me to follow the evolution of their interest through a day or a year. There’s a story here. Ethical “via” links make it easy for me to follow their specific trail of attention, then join them for a walk made out of words.
4. Good blog posts are made of paragraphs. Blog posts are written, not defecated. They show some level of craft, thinking, and continuity beyond the word count mandated by the Owner of Your Plantation. If a blog has fixed limits on post minimums and maximums? It’s not a blog: it’s a website that hires writers. Which is fine. But, it’s not really a blog.
5. Good “non-post” blogs have style and curation. Some of the best blogs use unusual formats, employ only photos and video, or utilize the list format to artistic effect. I regret there are not more blogs that see format as the container for creativity – rather than an excuse to write less or link without context more.
6. Good blogs are unpredictable. Blogs occasionally vex readers with the degree to which the blogger’s obsession will inevitably diverge from the reader’s. If this isn’t happening every few weeks, the blogger is either bored, half-assing, or taking new medication.
7. Good blogs make you want to start your own blog. At some point, everyone wants to kill the Buddha and make their own obsessions the focus. This is good. It means you care.
8. Good blogs try. I’ve come to believe that creative life in the first-world comes down to those who try just a little bit harder. Then, there’s the other 98%. They’re still eating the free continental breakfast over at FriendFeed. A good blog is written by a blogger who thinks longer, works harder, and obsesses more. Ultimately, a good blogger tries. That’s why “good” is getting rare.

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If Your Still Not Sold On Social Media

by ConsumerSphereGuy on October 22nd, 2009 in Videos, Web 2.0 Explained

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Google Wave Explained

by ConsumerSphereGuy on October 17th, 2009 in Innovation, Videos, Web 2.0 Explained

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Blogger Outreach- Simple Tips

by ConsumerSphereGuy on October 12th, 2009 in Engagement

1. Know Your Audience: you don’t need to know every intimate detail of the blogger, but you should clearly know the blogs audience. Readers can come for various reasons and it is important to understand them all. Figure out what the writer wants and deliver on it. If you don’t hit the nail on the head the first time, then try a different angle in a couple of months.

2. Message Delivery: Research the best methods to send your pitches. Ask the author and by all means don’t be pitchy

3. Embargoes: Many bloggers openly oppose them. As a rule of thumb, get a verbal agreement to the embargo before forwarding any proprietary documents.

4. Timing: Slow days are great days to offer demos and pitch company features. Many bloggers write during off-hours (Friday mornings and Sunday nights) despite the fact that few outreach efforts are pitched during these times. Know when bloggers are looking for stories.

5. Don’t Use a Template: It doesn’t matter how your pitch is formatted as long as it’s interesting. You could string together a thousand buzzwords and get lumped in with your competitors or you could stand apart with a simple paragraph explanation and a link. If you pitch in a voice and style that’s true to you, your passion will come through.

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Blueprint to Strategic Social Media

by ConsumerSphereGuy on October 8th, 2009 in Engagement, Metrics, Social Media Strategy

Audience>Objectives>Strategies>Tactics>Measurement

Audience: Who are you trying to reach?, Where do they congregate?, What motivates them? Clearly define demographics, psychographics and life-stream profiles.

Objectives: What your are trying to achieve?. Is it increase awareness?, drive traffic?, gain trial? Defining your desired goals upfront determines everything else. Social media is NOT a “build it and they will come” tool.

Strategies: This step is your action plan for accomplishing your social media objectives(Content creation, community functionality on site, network outreach, etc.)

Tactics: These are the actual initiatives and implementation programs developed from you strategies (UGC efforts, contests, Apps, etc.).

Measurement: The all important ROI metric. Social media brings a wealth of new metrics that correlate to you social media initiatives. Things like topic velocity, continuity, virality and engagement.

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Mobil, Coupons and Social Media

by ConsumerSphereGuy on October 7th, 2009 in CPG, Engagement, Innovation, Social Media Strategy

Social media is about sharing. Coupons are about shopping. Shopping is an extremely social experience. That is why a major social media topic in may discussions revolve around tips, advice, and sharing purchase information.

Mobile marketing requires that the participant opt in to your offers. Because of this, mobile coupons can deliver the Holy Grail for marketers, targeted prospects and customers that want your information, and revenue generation.

On-demand mobile marketing platforms provide you with low out of pocket costs and speed to market. With little risk, marketers can get their mobile coupon promotions lined up and running. Once you’ve got your strategy and integration into your traditional marketing mapped out, it takes just minutes to setup and run a mobile coupon campaign. With the open rates at 97%, it’s a no brainer to start using mobile coupons for prospecting and retention campaigns.

Major points to consider:

1. Coupon sharing is a major social media activity

2. The SMS marketing message space is relatively spam free and uncluttered resulting in a 97% open rate (83% within the first hour) for messages.

3. Mobile coupons work best when incorporated into your other social marketing programs, include your short code whenever and wherever possible. Also, give your program time to build, and get viral, your first few offers will serve to build your database.

4. Once you’ve got your communities created, consumers or groups react positively to exclusive coupon promotions. For instance, the clothing designer Armani held an exclusive in-store preview for their mobile clientele that had lines out the door and near record receipts.

5. Now is the time to start thinking about how you can incorporate mobile coupons into your marketing objectives. Your competitors are thinking about it or doing it, so don’t be left on the sidelines.

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