5 Ways to Prepare for a Social Media Disaster

by Mike Brown

I watched the @ThatKevinSmith and @SouthwestAir brouhaha erupt live on Twitter but didn't write about it last week. Bunches of tweeters and bloggers hashing out who was right and wrong based on second, third, or five hundredth-hand information simply wasn't interesting enough to warrant adding to the noise.

Getting ready for a social media presentation this week though, I've been thinking about service defects and service recovery in the world of social networking.

I sought an analogy to help think strategically about how a company prepares for an angry customer who wants to be heard and starts tweeting incessantly: handling a hostage situation is very comparable. Rather than a person though, it's a brand's reputation being taken hostage by a customer threatening irreparable harm unless demands are met. With the one-to-many communication capabilities of social media, this type of threat has never been more credible.

Here are five hostage negotiation principles and related implications for preparing to handle when your brand's good name is being held hostage:

1. Have a negotiating team ready - This means more than a single person monitoring Twitter and handling responses. In hostage negotiations, the primary negotiator, who is ideally the sole contact with the hostage taker, is joined by a coach/commander in charge of the situation and personnel along with a secondary negotiator to help monitor, listen, and offer input.


• Strategic Questions - Does your company have a pre-identified team and protocols for how it will work together in a social media-based service recovery effort? And how would you incorporate front-line employees when you're trying to recover from a service failure playing out both at one of your company's locations and online?


2. Gather as much solid information as possible right away - Beyond having standard questions to run through, there's added complexity in a social media-based service recovery effort. Suppose the customer issue IS taking place in-person. With social media monitoring removed from the scene, it may not even be possible from a customer's messages to determine where the issue is occurring. This creates an interesting implication for enacting rapid service recovery.


• Strategic Questions - If it's clear the issue is taking place in the presence of front line employees, what steps will you take to identify the location and establish communication with them immediately? Since multi-person communication with the angry customer is almost a given, how will you ensure your multiple contacts are speaking with one message?


3. Connect on a personal level - Social media throws a whole new wrinkle into this, especially when you want to move interaction with the customer to a private messaging stream. If it's even available, the company may have outdated phone information on the customer, making direct contact challenging to establish. A corporate tweeter may have to try to get a brand kidnapper to 'follow' the company so direct messaging can take place. And typically, the corporate tweeter is communicating under a corporate account without a personal avatar. It makes establishing a personal tone of, "I'm here to try and fix the situation," difficult when the customer is receiving tweets with the corporate logo.


• Strategic Questions - Are you following your customers on social media? Do you have multiple ways to reach out to customers? Do your company social media people have work-related, personal accounts they can use to reach out specifically in these cases?


4. Communicate openly and actively listen - When you have face-to-face contact, listening, and the silence that goes along with it, is easy to convey. It's a little tougher via phone. But in a medium geared toward short, back-and-forth messages, a pause associated with listening or contemplation comes across as being distracted or ignoring the other person.


• Strategic Question - Beyond having plans for migrating service recovery conversations to private channels, are you actively training your social media response team in dealing with the dynamics of these new service recovery situations?


5. Show empathy - One way hostage negotiators demonstrate empathy is by delivering on aspects of the demands that have been made. Granting small, detailed requests is done in real-life hostage situations to slow and drag them out, which is desirable. In a service recovery situation (especially one playing out in public), the last thing you want to do is extend it.


• Strategic Questions - Who is on your social media service response team? Have you included your best customer service people - the ones with strong understanding of what you can do to solve customer problems and are best at understanding issues from a customer's point of view?

No matter what your company is doing in social media, you have to address this reality. Even if your company doesn't want a proactive social media presence, there's a greater chance every day your customers will be talking about your brand via social media. When they do, and the discussion gets negative and brand threatening, you better have thought about your strategy, with a plan for what you'll do.


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Mike Brown is an award-winning innovator in strategy, communications, and experience marketing. He authors the Brainzooming TM blog, and serves as the company's chief Catalyst. He wrote the ebook "Taking the NO Out of InNOvation" and is a frequent keynote presenter.

Two Biggest Mistakes in Social Media

by Mike Brown


What are the two biggest mistakes in social media marketing?

1. Believing everyone sees your content

2. Believing no one sees your content

In the first instance, thinking you can simply dabble in social media and get lots of people to see what you're saying doesn't work. For nearly any traditional brand (and @shitmydadsays isn't a typical brand) wanting to talk about itself, audiences don't spontaneously emerge. It takes time to create an effective fan/follower base. Simply picking a fast-approaching date and saying "implement Twitter (or Facebook) by such-and-such date to get our message out" is asking for disappointing results.

The second mistake rests on the assumption you can ease your way in, make some mistakes, and find your social media footing. Maaaaaaaaaaaybe. But there are too many counter examples of brands that screwed up and got burned because of not knowing, understanding, or working within the evolving conventions of social media. If you've got a brand worth anything, you need to be ready for prime time the instant you step on the social media stage.

How do you avoid these terrible two?

Focus first on developing a solid social media strategy and ignore the ridiculous peer pressure you may feel to create a social media presence ASAP. This is a game made for deliberate, smart followers - not fast, unprepared, first-movers - to win.


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Mike Brown is an award-winning innovator in strategy, communications, and experience marketing. He authors the Brainzooming TM blog, and serves as the company's chief Catalyst. He wrote the ebook "Taking the NO Out of InNOvation" and is a frequent keynote presenter.

Five Nonprofit Marketing Fundamentals

by Matt Heinz

We've been working more closely with several local nonprofit organizations lately, and the more I speak with those responsible for fundraising and donor relations, the more I realize just how similar the process is to creating and managing a for-profit sales process.

I'm also seeing the same fundamental needs for those marketing a charitable cause or nonprofit organization. The below five fundamentals of nonprofit marketing are a starting point, but should be at the core of every nonprofit's strategy.

Donor Profiles: There are so many worthy organizations out there. Which prospective donors are going to be most predisposed to support your cause? What do those potential donors have in common - their associations, their history, their demo or psychographic make-up? You don't need to hone in on just one specific donor profile, but you should have a good sense for the 2-4 profiles that are your primary target. The more you know about them, the more self-evident the messages, channels and tactics will be to engage them directly.

Defining Your Product: What are you "selling" to prospective donors? It's not the tactics of what you actually do, but the outcome of that work. All too often, nonprofits tell their donors about the operations, or what additional infrastructure or materials they need. But what is all that for? What are you enabling? How are you making lives better? What's the benefit, the result, the outcome of what you're doing? THAT is your product, and that's the kind of vision your prospective donors will be attracted to.

Storytelling: Spend less time describing what you do, and more time telling stories about the differences you're making. Tell stories about the recipients of your work. Share the before and after. When it's an option, let the recipients of your work tell the story for you - in print, on video, and in person. Stories make an impression far longer-lasting than mission statements and operational descriptions. Stories can communicate the emotion behind what you're doing better than anything else.

Mobilizing the Community: Take your product definition, your mission, and think carefully about the ecosystem of people, groups, organizations, communities and businesses that relate to it. How can those various individuals and groups help you spread the word, or even contribute directly? If you're involved in transitional housing, how good are your relationships with local real estate offices? Are they giving directly? Are the individual Realtors involved, and getting their own buyer/seller customers involved? Be exhaustive and creative about mobilizing related communities on behalf of your organization.

Creating Evangelists: You have them already. Passionate donors. Highly-involved volunteers and board members. A variety of individuals and groups who feel strongly about what you're doing. No matter their level of passion, they won't help spread the word as widely as they could if you don't help them. Give them reminders to do so, give them content to pass along, give them the facilities and tools to share. This alone can be so simple, but so powerful. Identifying, arming and mobilizing the evangelists in and around your organization can be the very foundation of your marketing strategy.

Over the next several weeks, I'll go deeper into each of these fundamentals with more examples and suggestions for action.

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Matt Heinz is principal at Heinz Marketing, a sales & marketing consulting firm helping businesses increase customers and revenue. Contact Matt at matt@heinzmarketing.com or visit www.heinzmarketing.com.

Who Should Be Driving Social Media?

by Mike Brown

The title topic came up recently on Twitter, as it had at a B2B social media roundtable late last year: Who should be doing social media strategy and implementation for a brand - organizationally and individually?

My take is a strategic perspective is the foundation for a social media effort to build a sustaining impact. When it comes to questions of social media strategy "ownership," it's clear sole responsibility for it doesn't fit nicely into a box on today's org charts.

Stepping back from the discussions, I forced myself into three criteria which seem necessary for taking on social media responsibilities in corporations:

1. Ability to always be on message for the brand, which implies effectively linking brand strategy to messaging


2. Appropriate sensibilities for social media channels


3. Diverse communication skills that work across various social media channels

Sometimes those people are in marketing communications, but you may find them in other parts of a company as well. They may also exist outside a company's employee base; that's fine too.

Most importantly, given the rapid pace of social media, you want the best strategic writers crafting the communication. Where are these people located in and around your company? Find them wherever they may be!

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Mike Brown is an award-winning marketer and strategist with extensive experience in research, strategy, branding, and sponsorship marketing. He's a frequent keynote presenter on innovation and authors Brainzooming!

Do you have a relevant message?

by Mike Myatt

It is simply not possible to have a well received message that is not relevant. Think about it for a moment... when was the last time you bothered to read, watch or listen to a message that wasn't relevant to your needs? Great leaders understand the power, influence, and leverage created by relevant messaging. Do you ever find yourself sitting back and marveling at those leaders who always seem to have the right thing to say? Contrast this with the feelings you have when you hear an awful sound-bite that makes a leader look either uninformed or unintelligent. The difference between the two aforementioned examples is that great leaders have mastered the art of finding the right message (the relevant message) regardless of the medium, market, or constituency being addressed. In today's post I'll share some of the messaging secrets used by the best leaders to keep their message relevant...

So why is great messaging so important? In the business world, as a chief executive officer or entrepreneur, corporate messaging is the key to both your personal and professional positioning strategy. A leader's message has a direct impact on their personal and corporate brand equity, how they manage a crisis, marketing initiatives, investor relations, press and public relations, team building and employee engagement, customer loyalty and virtually any other mission critical area of chief executive responsibility.

The reality is that your messaging will often times have a greater impact on your career than your performance. I have witnessed on numerous occasions CEOs with average, or even sub-par performance histories fare well because they possessed great messaging skills. Let me be clear that I'm not advocating form over substance here. I'm simply pointing out that they understood how to message their shortcomings and flaws, while engendering confidence around their planning for corrective measures to critical spheres of influence. The message was on target, it was relevant and therefore it was believable. By contrast, I have also watched CEOs with excellent performance histories not do so well because they did not possess the messaging skills necessary to keep stakeholders engaged. They did not address the needs or concerns of the audience they were addressing, and therefore the message was irrelevant and subsequently ineffective. Simply put, the relevancy, savvy and sophistication of your messaging will have a direct impact on the sustainability of your tenure as a chief executive.

CEOs who become recognized as great leaders are prepared, articulate, consistent, and crisp in their messaging. They speak with authority, clarity, and certitude because their messaging is relevant. In fact, it is the relevancy of their messaging that engenders confidence and serves to inspire and unify. Perhaps most importantly, a great leader's message is never in conflict with their values. They will not compromise their core beliefs simply to manipulate the outcome of a specific situation. They rest in the comfort that doing and saying the right things will ultimately put them in a favorable position, and if not, they are comfortable in assuming any negative consequences that may come as a result of right thinking and decisioning.

When it comes to the construction of messaging, I have found that people will tend to fall into one of the four following groups.

1. The Medium "is" the Message: People that fall into this camp believe that the medium will do the work for them. They believe in the reach and power of the medium to overcome any flaws in the message. This view of messaging constitutes a numbers based approach where the business logic states that if you reach enough people with the message some acceptable percentage of the people reached will embrace the message.


2. The Market "is" the Message: This view of messaging values the target audience above all else. The message is so targeted and niche specific that it is sometimes almost unintelligible to those who fall outside of the intended target market.


3. The Message "is" the Message: This group believes that content is king. The emphasis here is that if the message is creative enough, or valuable enough, nothing else matters. This view of messaging is all about the teaser, the hook, the calls to action, the design, the concept, etc.


4. The Messenger "is" the Message: This is the branded approach to messaging. If the person delivering the message has enough credibility and influence, nothing else matters. This iconic, ego-centric approach to messaging places a high premium on the spokesperson.

My view of the aforementioned four theories is that their sum total value is greater than their independent stand alone value. Other than in matters of character and principle, I don't tend to be an absolutist. Over the years, and especially in the genres of marketing, branding, positioning, and messaging, I believe a collaborative and cross-disciplined approach to be the key to success. While content can create credibility, credibility can also enhance the view of content. Furthermore, the best content or spokesperson in the world communicating to the wrong audience, with the wrong message, or through the wrong medium is likely to miss the mark. It takes a blending of approach to craft the right message and this will not happen when operating in a vacuum. Following are a few final thoughts for your consideration when crafting your message:

1. It Must Be the Truth: The truth always comes out in the end. If your message won't pass public scrutiny over time, then you have the wrong message.


2. Use a Multiple Medium Approach: Long gone are the days of one size fits all mediums…the best messaging campaigns take place across mediums creating multiple touch points to various constituencies and demographics.


3. Know Your Talking Points: Don't allow the message to get lost in the medium. Remember that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. You must be consistent and convicted in your opinions and your positions. Be clear, concise and don't compromise on key points.


4. Know Your Audience: All messages should be tailored to the audience being addressed. This does not mean you should compromise your position, rather it means your message needs to relevant, timely, and of significance. While your talking points need to remain the same, they also need to address the concerns and areas of interest of those being communicated to. The message must be relevant to be successful.


5. Don't Forget Your Critics: The tendency is to believe that your audience is comprised of friends and allies. You need to assume that every message given will find its way into the hands of your worst critics, and furthermore, that they will attempt to use your message against you.

Keep the message relevant and real and you'll stand apart from the masses. Good luck and good messaging...

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Mike Myatt, is a Top CEO Coach, author of "Leadership Matters...The CEO Survival Manual", and Managing Director of N2Growth.

Do You Have Social Media Influence?

by Mike Myatt

Social media influence; the harsh reality is that you either have it or you don't. I'm going to tell you the cold hard truth about social media...what you need to know that most people won't tell you. While anyone can have a social media presence, not everyone possesses social media influence. It's clear to those in the know that social media is a universe of the haves and have nots. It's the difference between relevance and irrelevance, visibility and anonymity. You might have something to say, but without influence, nobody will be listening. Put simply, having a social media presence without influence is little more than an exercise in frivolity. In today's post I'll share some thoughts on the importance of social media influence in the building of personal and corporate brand equity.

The amount of influence, or lack thereof matters in all areas of life, and social media is no different. That said, before we go any further I think it's important to address social media critics and the naysayers by answering the questions: Does social media work? Is social media right for business? Can you generate an increase in revenue and brand equity with social media? How does social media compare with other mediums? Watch the video below and judge for yourself:





Okay, it should be clear after watching the Socialnomics video that social media can produce huge ROI, but only if you know what you're doing. The one thing that each of the personal and corporate brands profiled in the video all had in common is that they leveraged social media influence to accomplish their objectives. If you choose to dive into the social media world without a strategy, without understanding how to create social media influence, you will not be pleased with your results. Like anything in life, if you're going to do something, you're better off to do it right or not to do it at all.

There's nary a week that passes where I don't have a conversation with somebody who proudly proclaims that they created a Twitter page, to which I usually respond; "that's great, but why?" Don't get me wrong, recognizing the value of participating in the most powerful medium on the planet by getting in the game is a good thing, but it's an even better thing when coupled with a plan. Let me say this as clearly as I can...a ready, fire, aim approach will rarely find the target.

For all you well intended ad agencies, consultants, marketing managers, brand managers, entrepreneurs, and professionals ready to dip your toe, or your clients toe in the water that is social media, keep in mind that it does no good whatsoever to have a blog that only has one published post in the last 6 months, a Twitter page with 4 followers, a LinkedIn profile with 18 connections, a Facebook account with 7 friends, etc. It's like flashing a neon sign that says I'm irrelevant and nobody cares. It won't do anything to help you, it will only hurt you. In today's world no one wants to do business with a company that's not connected, has no influence, isn't engaged, and that doesn't get it.

While having little or no online following can easily brand you as being without influence, having legions of followers solely for the sake of amassing large numbers doesn't necessarily mean you have any real influence either. Anybody can amass tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of followers just by following as many people as they can and waiting for them to reciprocate. The important thing to understand is whether or not anything of substance or value underpins the numbers? Think about it for a moment...almost nothing can hurt a brand faster than constantly messaging irrelevance to a large constituency. Not a good move.

Who you choose to follow on Twitter, which blogs you read and comment on, who you add as a friend to your Facebook account, or which invitations you accept on LinkedIn speaks volumes about what you're attempting to accomplish online. Like most things, building and maintaining your social media footprint should be engineered by design, but the truth is that most people allow it to be constructed by default. In a perfect world you would build relationships with the largest possible universe of targeted constituents where you can productively engage and contribute. Just as you don't want to add to the noise, nor do you want to remain part of the silence. Having a relevant, highly engaged social media following means you have influence and can create action.

So, how do you start to build social media influence? The best way is to start off on the right foot by not tainting your brand or reputation. Don't begin by trying to sell something, but rather by listening, engaging in conversations, building trust, and adding value. Contribute knowledge and information to the constituencies that you want to build influence with. Become a part of them as opposed to a vendor to them...This is a difficult concept for old-school marketers to get their arms around, but a critical one nonetheless. I would strongly suggest reading two previous posts: "Shut-up and Listen" and "Stop Selling and Add Value" as support for these positions. Following are a few tips to help you build influence online:

1. Don't breach trust - you work far too hard to create a trust bond with your followers, so don't blow it by not following through on your commitments. I would also suggest resisting the temptaion to have all your communications be self-serving. Do this and you'll be viewed as just another sales broadcast. When you do sell, do it properly, and for the right reasons.


2. Don't be a jerk, hater or taker - People don't want to hear from those they don't like. If you want to build lasting social media influence you must be seen as valuable resource and not a taker of other's time, resources or ideas.


3. Have command over your subject matter - If you don't know what you're talking about, remain silent. Voicing your opinion isn't nearly as important as helping someone else refine their thinking with wise counsel. The easy rule is to stay out of conversations where you don't add value.


4. Listen and respond - If you're forcing an agenda rather than responding to the needs of your followers you'll lose any chance at creating influence. Remember that most people will go to great lengths to help someone who has been of assistance to them.


5. Publish quality content that adds value - what you produce in terms of content will be become synonymous with your online reputation. It will either serve you well, or be your undoing.

As I've espoused before, I'm not a huge fan of one-size-fits-all strategies, and this opinion holds true in regard to building your network as well. Despite countless opinions to the contrary, I've come to the conclusion that while no single 'right' methodology exists for building your online network, I regularly observe many 'wrong' approaches...

The bottom line is that you'll be successful in creating real social media influence when you take the time to seek out wise counsel, and implement an authentic approach to a well crafted social media strategy.

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Mike Myatt, is a Top CEO Coach, author of "Leadership Matters...The CEO Survival Manual", and Managing Director of N2Growth.

It is NOT who you know

Why Trust Trumps Volume

by Matt Heinz

The assumption that a big network - thousands of followers on Twitter, an enormous rolodex, a really big mailing list - directly translates into influence and performance is ridiculous. Anybody can build a big list of names.

The more important question is whether those people care about you.

• Do they respect you?


• Do they trust you?


• When called upon, will they help you?


• Will they buy from you?

The trick is translating that big list into an army of evangelists, a group of individuals who respect and trust you.

That's how to measure the value of your network. Not by sheer volume, but by trust.

Trust drives influence, and influence enables action.

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Matt Heinz is principal at Heinz Marketing, a sales & marketing consulting firm helping businesses increase customers and revenue. Contact Matt at matt@heinzmarketing.com or visit www.heinzmarketing.com.

Another Value-Driven Social Media Example

Click above to Enlarge
by Braden Kelley

Following up on my previous article - The Right Way to do Social Media - I wanted to share another value-driven social media example:

Wisk's facebook application called WiskIt.


"We thought perhaps we could take our stain-fighting heritage, and take it online to Facebook," according to Elisa Gurevich, Brand Manager for Wisk.


It's a great comment from the brand manager, and it is the way that every marketer should be thinking.


What value could we deliver to customers online that is consistent with our brand and our marketing strategy?


After all, despite what most people think, you don't really need a social media strategy that stands apart from your marketing strategy.

Though your approach to social media might be different than other communication channels, social media isn't this separate thing with mystical powers.

Social media should be an integrated part of your overall marketing strategy and something that every marketer has already educated themselves on how to use properly. Though it is never too late to learn!

What other examples of well-executed social media campaigns would people like to share?

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Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

7 Reasons I Joined the Local Chamber of Commerce

by Matt Heinz

Last week I finally joined the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce. I've attended a few events over the past year, but it was time for me to become an active member.

I know in an age of Twitter and LinkedIn and all kinds of alternatives to business networking, joining the local Chamber can sometimes be seen like less of a priority. Many young businesses believe there are better uses of their time and money.

I disagree. It may have taken me longer than it should have, but joining the Chamber was an inevitable no-brainer. Here are seven reasons why:

1. Pipeline Development

• For our clients, everything we do is about helping them accelerate sales & revenue. Everything is measured based on its contribution to sales & revenue growth. The way I operate my own business is the same. So reason number one for joining the Chamber is sales pipeline - meeting and acquiring new prospects and clients for us.


• My pipeline already has businesses met both directly at Chamber events as well as referrals from Chamber introductions. Two weeks in, and if one of those clients converts, it more than pays for the Chamber membership. That's already good ROI (and we're just getting started).

2. Networking

• Every business owner needs to devote a significant amount of time to marketing, and in my business that means a lot of networking. Networking with prospective clients, as well as fellow business owners who either might be clients or who know, work with, live with or otherwise associate with prospective clients.


• Networking is a numbers game, in which you treat everyone equally. Everybody knows somebody (or is somebody), and the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. A big part of joining the Chamber is having more opportunities to network at a local level.

3. Peer Group

• Other Chamber members are a lot like me. They have a business they're trying to make a success, and grow bigger/better than it is today. We all do different things, but we're struggling with many of the same issues - growth, operations, product set, sales channels, etc. Sometimes the best new ideas I apply to my business come from someone in an entirely different industry, selling to a very different customer. The more you spend with fellow business owners, the smarter you'll be about how to operate, optimize and grow your own business.

4. Credibility

• As a growing business, being a member of the local Chamber establishes credibility. It just does. It demonstrates to other businesses and prospective clients that we're a real business, and willing to invest time and money to be an active member of the business community.


• If I'm going to be a member of the local business community, I consider it an obligation to do what I can to foster health & growth for that same community. The rising tide will lift all boats. The health of the local business environment is a big part of why I'm in business today, so it's my duty to both give back and actively contribute to that community.

5. Introductions

• My participation with the Chamber has already created introductions for myself and our business to community, government and business leaders I otherwise would have either never had, or taken much longer to gather. Those new relationships are with influencers, "connectors" as Malcolm Gladwell would describe them, people who can open up huge new doors and opportunities for our business.


• If what you're doing or selling as a business has value, and you can clearly & succinctly articulate what that is, others who get it and need it (or know people who need it) will help you identify new opportunities for growth as well. That's what influencers and connectors can do. And you'll meet them through the Chamber.

6. Belly to Belly Relationships ("LinkedIn is not enough")

• I'm a huge fan of LinkedIn and other social networking tools. They make creating and fostering a network faster and more efficient than ever. But they're no replacement for getting out there and meeting people live. They never will be.


• Some of the smartest social media people in the world make a point of telling their followers to step away from the computer and get out to actually see people. They know that networking, at its core, is about people meeting people. And there's simply no better way to do that than belly-to-belly, looking at the whites of another person's eyes, and demonstrating in real time the value, credibility and trust you (and your business) represent.

7. Opportunities I can't even think about yet (but will discover and create)

• I mentioned above that networking is a numbers game. You meet some great contacts and occasionally some clunkers. Inherent in that belief is the knowledge that enough contacts will net you revenue-producing opportunities. Also inherent in that belief, I believe, is the knowledge that completely unexpected opportunities will come your way when you seek them out, keep an ear open for them, and explore them when they materialize.


• If I'm not a member of and active in the Chamber, I'm missing an opportunity to discover something I can't even fathom yet, an opportunity that could significantly change my business and my life.


• I can't afford to miss that.

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Matt Heinz is principal at Heinz Marketing, a sales & marketing consulting firm helping businesses increase customers and revenue. Contact Matt at matt@heinzmarketing.com or visit www.heinzmarketing.com.

The Right Way to do Social Media

Click above to Enlarge
by Braden Kelley

Unfortunately, more often than not I see examples of social media strategy gone wrong. So, it stands out when I see a company like Lufthansa doing social media the right way - at least with their MySkyStatus site. Let's look briefly at why this is a good execution of a social media strategy:

1. Easy to use


2. Gives the customer something of value with minimal effort


3. The value is something that people naturally want to share


4. Works just as well with the competition's product as with their own


5. Gives customer a visual idea of what they are going to get before they invest any time or effort


6. Brand impression is minimal, and no fear of mentioning the competition


7. It gives the user a choice of how much information they want to disclose

Now if we can convince the airlines that charging people for extra bags and other pointless fees are a bad idea (like Delta Airlines charging me $50 for the "privilege" of standing by for an earlier flight with open seats), then the world will be a better place.


What other examples of well-executed social media campaigns would people like to share?

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Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

Innovation Perspectives - Engineers, Marketers and Innovation

This is the third of several 'Innovation Perspectives' articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on "What roles do engineers and marketers play in an innovation setting, and what conflicts can arise based on their perspectives and approaches?" Here is the next perspective in the series:


by Jeffrey Phillips

First, let me say that I am ably suited to answer this question, since I am both an engineer (undergraduate) and a marketer (graduate degree). I've worked in the technical trenches and, frankly, left them as quickly as possible, and worked in a number of marketing roles since my MBA. I left the engineering world because it necessarily demands a level of specificity and exactness that I find boring and tedious, and demands attention to detail that I sometimes lack.

So, let's talk about engineers first. What traits are associated with engineers, and does their education, focus, attitudes and skills position them well for innovation? Most engineers I know are very interested in solving problems, which suggests they have a proclivity for innovation. However, the focus on getting to a solution quickly, and detailing a solution exactly, often hampers them from bigger picture or disruptive innovation. Engineers and accountants like things in black and white - no shades of gray. Innovation often happens and requires some ambiguity for success. Engineers like to build things, which again indicates a proclivity for innovation, especially prototyping. However, they are often more entranced by once concept or idea than they are the process, which narrows their thinking and focus too early. Good engineers can be excellent problem solvers, but don't often think of themselves as "creative" and too often don't have good understanding of market needs and trends.

The market needs, trends and opportunities should come from marketing, if the marketers are doing their job well. Unfortunately, as narrowly defined as many engineering jobs are, marketing suffers from the reverse - a too broad definition. Today marketing can mean public relations or PR, Marketing communications, trade show management, conferences and events, product management, social media and a host of other capabilities. Marketing has become too far flung, and to a certain extent has lost sight of the base purpose of marketing - to identify segments and customers who have needs, and understand how to fill those needs effectively. If marketers fill that function, then they are innovative in nature, because they want to know and understand customer needs. Too often marketers are more worried about the copy on a new ad, or who will be at a tradeshow, and they fail to understand customer needs and develop scenarios about the market of the future.

So, what often happens is that marketing is too distracted to do what should be it's primary job - understand customers and develop potential product and service ideas. Engineering and product development shows up and doesn't get much insight into actual customer needs, so the engineers go off to explore interesting new technologies that may, or may not, be important to customers. Neither, and both, are at fault.

Engineers should demand that marketers do a better job of defining near term customer needs and emerging customer requirements or markets. Without that insight, it is difficult to build interesting new products. Engineers on the other hand need to be more ready to engage the market with rough, fast prototypes, and work to an iterative model. If there is an issue in most firms, it's that we all have become too far removed from the customer, and fail to understand their wants and needs.

In my mind, that's marketing's job, to discover the needs and translate them into specific opportunities for engineers to build.


You can check out all of the 'Innovation Perspectives' articles from the different contributing authors on "What roles do engineers and marketers play in an innovation setting, and what conflicts can arise based on their perspectives and approaches?" by clicking the link in this sentence.

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Jeffrey Phillips is a senior leader at OVO Innovation. OVO works with large distributed organizations to build innovation teams, processes and capabilities. Jeffrey is the author of "Make us more Innovative", and innovateonpurpose.blogspot.com.

Innovation Perspectives - Engineering versus Intangible Value

This is the first of several 'Innovation Perspectives' articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on 'Roadblocks and the Critical Relationship Between Marketing and Engineering in the Cause of Advancing Innovation'. To kick it off, here is my perspective:


by Braden Kelley

Let me start off by recommending that you watch the movie I've embedded, as it does a great job of describing how there is often an engineering solution to a problem and a marketing solution to a problem. This in part explains why there is often a tension between marketing and engineering when it comes to new product development - they see different solutions, assign value differently, and view success in divergent ways. So, please enjoy the video, and my article will continue below it:





So in the future, with the problem at hand, you might want to ask yourself - "Is the problem best solved by changes to the real value, redefining the intrinsic value provided, or a bit of both?"

Of course it is very hard for people to ask these questions honestly as they have a default response, but asking them in a cross-fuctional environment may yield a more holistic and informed response. And after all, many of the barriers that people tend to erect in the achievement of something are often because they didn't feel involved in the decision-making process.

So, what are some of the barriers that people erect in a sometimes tension-filled environment?

1. Isolation - You just avoid communicating with the other side as much as possible


2. Stonewall - You just do what you would do anyways and ignore the input from the other side


3. Passive Aggression - You consciously choose to behave in a way that will cause the effort to fail, so that ideally you get your way instead


4. Build a Fortress - You build complex written rules of engagement for your department saying that it has to be this way because you're too busy and these rules will help you be more organized


5. Omission - You take the inputs but then you don't do anything with them (marketing doesn't promote a feature, or engineering doesn't fully develop it

The biggest danger to the cause of advancing innovation when it comes to the engineering and marketing departments is that the relationship develops into one without constructive conflict and without healthy collaboration. For innovation to be repeatable in an organization these two sides must share openly, have their perspectives valued, and contribute to a conversation. Marketing and engineering hear different aspects of the voice of the customer in their interactions with them, and they approach solutions to problems in different ways.

I would even argue that there is probably no more important set of cross-functional relationships than those between marketing and engineering, and that their health will determine the future success or failure of the organization. The executive team should consciously monitoring the health of these relationships, because when they start pulling in opposite directions, the entire organization could be ripped apart.

What directions are these two organizations pulling in your organization?


You can check out all of the 'Innovation Perspectives' articles from the different contributing authors on 'Roadblocks and the Critical Relationship Between Marketing and Engineering in the Cause of Advancing Innovation' by clicking the link in this sentence.

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Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

The Participation Economy - Part 1

T-Mobile - 'Life's for Sharing' Dance campaign

by Kevin Roberts

I was recently contacted by a journalist to talk about the Attraction Economy. What bad timing. I've moved on. From our experience with the T-Mobile "Life's for Sharing" campaign, a new shift is taking place. We are entering the age of the Participation Economy.

When watching or approving anything we make, my rule of thumb used to be: Do I want to see it again? But increasingly that's given way to: Do I want to share this? I've written about the dynamics of sharing before. It may sound like a lesson from Kindergarten, but sharing is powerful stuff.

The transformation of business and society is always seen through a collection of shifts. Power and energy changes direction and new dynamics rule the day.


The Participation Economy is an aspiration as much as it is a reality. The global recession dealt a blow to its development, perhaps. But a number of contributing factors lead to the Participation Economy, chief among them the web. Our real-time digital infrastructure is an empowering, entrepreneurial platform that lets you showcase your creativity like never before. We've seen this introduce a self-generating energy that we're just beginning to understand and harness.

All of this is an evolution. We're not totally there yet, so Attraction still plays a huge role. And the term is not my invention, as the Participation Economy has been around a while for the design of products. But it's much larger than that.

Participation is also about the health of society. The past decade witnessed rapid change in society. America doubled its consumption of antidepressants. 1% of the population is in jail. 48% of Manhattan lives alone. Social dislocation creates new channels for interaction and our need to participate and join together is going to grow in this regard.

Like the Lance Armstrong Flash Mobs I blogged on, the Participation Economy is more about sharing ideas than making purchases. It's about connecting us with ideas. When we participate, we join a larger community around an idea. That social dynamic is fluid and natural and it's a hotbed of innovation. More and more, we will see that the best ideas create an opportunity for participation. It channels the energy of a community. After all, Steve Jobs said: "Innovation is just connecting stuff."

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Kevin Roberts is the CEO worldwide of The Lovemarks Company, Saatchi & Saatchi. For more information on Kevin, please go to www.saatchikevin.com. To see this blog at its original source, please go to www.krconnect.blogspot.com.

Generating Social Leads

by Matt Heinz

Let's face it, the term 'social media' doesn't mean much. It's passive, and speaks more to the channel vs. the intent or objective of what's actually happening there.

Your customers are talking to each other. They always have. Only now, they have tools to do it faster, in real-time, and in front of everybody else. That's social media.

But social media, as we know it now, is really the new PR. It's your best channel to reach prospective customers in their current environment. You have less control than you used to, sure, but make no mistake - social media is at the top of your sales funnel.

So let's stop calling it social media, and start calling it social lead generation. At least amongst ourselves.

Today's buyers are presenting themselves to you like never before. They're sharing their interests, their needs, their feelings, their pain. They're telling you, in front of everybody else (including your competitors), exactly what they want.

It's a perfect opportunity to meet them, engage them, earn their trust and respect, and give them exactly what they're asking for.

That's social lead generation.

Don't treat it like lead generation. That runs the risk of ruining its authenticity. But as a core component of building credibility, attention and respect for your products and services, know that - in the end - what you do with this opportunity is measured by its value in engaging and creating new customers.

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Matt Heinz is principal at Heinz Marketing, a sales & marketing consulting firm helping businesses increase customers and revenue. Contact Matt at matt@heinzmarketing.com or visit www.heinzmarketing.com.

Seven Reasons Your Business Should Be On Twitter

by Matt Heinz

I can think of seven specific, revenue-producing reasons why most businesses should be on Twitter. If your customers are using Twitter, you probably should be to. But how, and why?

Here are seven places to start:


1. Get New Customers

What do you sell? There are prospective customers talking about it on Twitter right now. Do a search for that product or service or topic and you'll find them. Reply to their tweets, and engage with them directly as prospective new customers. Better yet, start sending your own tweets with the same keywords or hashtags (which is the keyword with a # in front of it to help others find it). That way you'll start attracting new customers to you with the same topics or products.


2. Keep In Touch With Customers & Fans

Find out which of your customers are using Twitter, ask them to follow you. Follow them in return. Share news about your business, your new products, and topics your customers collectively will care about. Reply directly to your customers & fans, and retweet their Twitter posts that would be interesting to the rest of your followers. Twitter is a great way to keep an ongoing, interactive conversation going with your customers between purchases.


3. Watch Your Competitors

Who do you compete with? They're either on Twitter too, or are being talked about there. Do searches for them directly, and you'll not only see what they're talking about to their customers and prospects, but you'll also see what their current customers are saying about them - good, bad and ugly. Not a bad way to find new prospective customers, but at minimum you'll keep closer tabs on the competition - including gleaning things you could be doing to grow your own business.


4. Announce Sales & Specials

Putting that summer line on sale? Tell your Twitter fans. Announce that anyone who retweets the discount to their own followers is entered in a drawing for free product. Send special coupons and offers exclusively to your Twitter followers (which will encourage more customers to follow you).


5. Generate Referrals

Contribute content or links that your followers will retweet to their own followers. This will drive new customers to discover and follow you. Run a contest for anyone who retweets about your business today - all new followers and those who retweet are entered in a drawing for a gift card, or free product.


6. Cross-Promote Neighboring Businesses

If you're in retail or a restaurant in particular, and physically sit with other businesses, you're in it together as far as foot traffic goes. Help promote your neighbor businesses to your followers - even if they themselves aren't yet on Twitter. The more business you help drive to them, the more they'll help drive to you - either directly or via the increased foot traffic to your general area.


7. Cross-promote Similar Businesses in Other Markets

You're a unique hotel in Seattle? Partner with similar hotels in other markets and cross-promote each other to travelers. High-end French restaurant? Do the same. Build a partner network via Twitter to quickly accelerate the volume of out-of-town traffic you generate.


What did I miss?


How are you using Twitter specifically to generate new customers and repeat business?

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Matt Heinz is principal at Heinz Marketing, a sales & marketing consulting firm helping businesses increase customers and revenue. Contact Matt at matt@heinzmarketing.com or visit www.heinzmarketing.com.

The Art of Seduction

by Matthew E May

Just a quick weekend note.

The idea behind the elegance element of seduction is very simple: limiting information creates intrigue and engagement. Why? Because not having the whole story leaves us without the symmetry we naturally seek. So our curiosity is piqued and our imaginations sparked, and off we go to chase closure.

My friend Iain Thomas of my favorite blog I WROTE THIS FOR YOU put it very elegantly in a recent note he wrote me, sharing with me of the story he heard designer Alexander Gelman tell. Says Iain:

"Alexander used the metaphor of a door. If a door is completely closed, no one wants to go inside the room because they assume that it's closed for a reason. If a door is completely open, there's no need to go inside the room because you can see what's in it already. But if you leave the door slightly ajar, you create intrigue and interest and they want to go into the room. People actually enjoy doing a bit of work now and again."

Exactly right!

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Matthew E. May is the author of "IN PURSUIT OF ELEGANCE: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing." He is constantly searching for creative ideas and innovative solutions that are 'elegant' - a unique and elusive combination of unusual simplicity and surprising power.

Start with the Why

by Matt Heinz

Too many sales & marketing messages, unfortunately, talk about "what" and "how". And at the front of the sales process, that's a shame.

You're proud of what you've built, which is great. You have six new features in the latest version, awesome. But if you lead your pitch with a description of what you're selling, or how it works, you're skipping the most important part of the conversation.

Why the customer cares.

When you write about why, you're addressing your customer's world. You're speaking their language, feeling their pain, building credibility by associating with the challenges they face. Those challenges, that pain, is what drives demand for your product or service. It's why people buy.

If your prospect doesn't have that need, or you haven't established or created that need, selling the prospect on what you have and how it works isn't going to help. You've done nothing to build value, and given the prospect no context for which to understand why they need to talk to you in the first place.

In the end, it all comes down to why. Yes, you may eventually get to a product demo and operational training of how to get started.

But the top of the funnel is all about why.

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Matt Heinz is principal at Heinz Marketing, a sales & marketing consulting firm helping businesses increase customers and revenue. Contact Matt at matt@heinzmarketing.com or visit www.heinzmarketing.com.

10 Rules for Small Business Success

I attended the fantastic first Small & Special conference one afternoon in July, with more than 100 other small business owners (some just weeks into their new venture) and several excellent speakers. The energy was palpable, and the agenda was inspiring.

It was clear throughout the afternoon that starting and succeeding with a small business involves a lot of hard work, but for nearly everyone that spoke it was a true labor of love.

Several themes developed throughout the afternoon, which I believe make up ten critical lessons or rules for succeeding with a small & special business. Here's what I took away:

1. Do What You Love (Follow Your Passion)

Fleurish was started with a $15K loan from a friend, and is now a highly-successful floral arrangement and consulting business. A gentleman whose business is laser engraving spoke at length about the history and usefulness of lasers, which culminated in a trivia contest about lasers for samples of his products. He's that passionate about lasers!

Moral of the story is to start and work on a business not because you think it's something that can make money, but because it's something for which you're truly passionate.

2. Past History, Education or Experience Doesn't Really Matter

Eric LeVine started CellarTracker.com without much experience or knowledge about wines at all. Just a growing passion for wine, and a knowledge of how he wanted to help other collectors organize their cellars. Rachel Venning now teaches sex ed in addition to operating four sex toy shops across the country, but admitted she didn't know much of anything about "that" (her word) when she started.

Others may know more than you now. But if you're passionate and willing to learn, it's your oyster.

3. Overnight Successes Take Years

The current revenue and margins for many businesses presenting today was impressive (to put it mildly). But most of those stories were preceeded by years of hard work oftentimes while still losing money or barely breaking even. Oliver Chin of Immedium spoke of hos important it was for his wife to have a "day job" to keep good health benefits for him and their two kids. Others spoke of difficult and lean early times (and early years) before they caught their stride.

If you're passionate and determined, you can get there. You just may need to be patient.

4. Be Open to New, Unexpected Opportunities

Joe Mansfield of EngraveYourTech.com stumbled upon an opportunity to do custom engraving on Moleskine notebooks. It was a new business like with hockey-stick growth until he realized the toxic PVC impact of lasering Moleskine covers. A promising, fast-growth business came to an immediate halt overnight.

Undeterred, Joe started experimenting with engraving on other media, including tech devices such as laptops and iPhones. He actively posts his new creations on Flickr, which generates significant new business on a regular basis.

Be open to new opportunities, especially when existing opportunities shrink or vanish. Your business likely won't evolve the way you think, but opportunities are everywhere.

5. You Can Start Now

Start it part-time. Several business owners spoke of doing research and starting initially during nights and weekends. Eric LeVine wrote code until the wee hours of the morning while keeping his day-job at Microsoft before deciding he was ready to take the plunge full-time.

Rachel from Babeland wrote a business plan, but really just got started. She said the advantage of "just doing it" gave her much better on-the-job learning, and better visibility into opportunities emerging in real-time. If you have a business idea or passion, start exploring it now. Do it for fun, start it as a hobby. You may be surprised how quickly you're ready to make it a full-time focus.

6. Ask For Help

Rachel had long admired a popular sex shop in San Francisco called Good Vibrations. She cold-called the founder to ask for advice, and that founder ended up serving as a quasi-advisor to Rachel and her partner as they launched and grew their own business. A successful founder helping a prospective competitor!

You'll be surprised who will help you - with advice, with their time, even perhaps with their products and services. It never hurts to ask.

7. Work With People You Love

Some speakers recommended finding a good partner. Steven Bristol from LessAccounting.com said his partner was critical to the success of the business, if for no other reason than they help each other "say no" to things they don't really need (helping them maintain focus and keep costs low).

What's more, working with people you love makes it fun! Andrew Bennett from Deneki Outdoors realized one day that he was working 50 weeks a year to spend two weeks a year doing what he really wanted. He now spends most of the year managing his fly-fishing lodges and working with people who share his passion.

8. Execute, Every Day

Jon Rimmerman from Garagiste talked about the importance of working hard, every day. You may occasionally hit a home run, but successful businesses are build from hitting a lot of singles. So, as the analogy goes, keep swinging. Keep a good attitude, keep your head down, and execute.

9. Embrace Competition

Steve Bristol loves competing against bigger brands like QuickBooks and Quicken. Competition is scary, he said, but it's important. When there's no competition, there's no market.

What's more, embrace your role as an underdog and you'll draw customers to you.

10. Focus On Your Customers

Last but probably the most important. Every single successful business speaking today not only had this as a central focus of their business, but they did it not as a proactive initiative but as a natural, critical part of doing business.

Jon Rimmerman talked about the conversation he has with his customers, not at them. He writes his wine emails (sent daily to nearly 100,000 recipients) as if he's writing a 1:1 correspondence.

Steven Bristol talked at length about the loyalty customers will have when you treat them right. Even if you screw up occasionally, loyal customers will stay with you if you treat them right. Make something people love, and you'll create long-term passionate users who tell your story to others.

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Matt Heinz is principal at Heinz Marketing, a sales & marketing consulting firm helping businesses increase customers and revenue. Contact Matt at matt@heinzmarketing.com or visit www.heinzmarketing.com.

What are you passionate about?

Visiting Panera Bread recently, I noticed employees' name tags now include the question, "What's Your Passion?" and the employee's personal answer.

Love the question, but I'm not sure about this application. It forces an employee to disclose what might be very personal information or fudge, sharing something more generic and not really a passion at all. For instance, the person taking my order, listed "food" as her passion. From the looks of her, that was no surprise. Yet the answer had to be so short and potentially bland to fit on her name tag it really wasn't the conversation starter I am sure the person who came up with the idea expected it to be.

Here's a great application of the question though: Answer it for yourself, identifying your own passions. Then make sure you're:

• Incorporating your passions into other areas of your life to enhance creativity.


• Figuring out how to share the creative energy of your passions with others.


• Exploring new passions to replace or augment ones that may be fading.

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Mike Brown is an award-winning marketer and strategist with extensive experience in research, strategy, branding, and sponsorship marketing. He's a frequent keynote presenter on innovation and authors Brainzooming!

Social Media and Music - Ideal Partners?

Quiet Company - "It's Better To Spend Money Like There's No Tomorrow Than Spend Tonight Like There's No Money"

I recently became aware of TheSixtyOne, an online music community where "artists upload their work for review, but, rather than allow a stuffy suit in a boardroom to decide what's good, thousands of listeners do." Since I canceled my Last.fm account after they handed user data to the RIAA, I've found TheSixtyOne to be the best way to learn about new bands that you otherwise wouldn't hear about.

One band I've gotten into from TheSixtyOne is Quiet Company from Austin, TX. Their music is a kind of wonderful, melodic piano-pop with lyrics that are optimistic without feeling cheesy. With songs like "It's Better To Spend Money Like There's No Tomorrow Than Spend Tonight Like There's No Money" (above), you know they're not taking themselves too seriously.

After playing the track list multiple times, I just HAD to share them with my Twitter stream. The best way to share music on Twitter is Blip.fm. I searched, found the song, and sent this:

That was the last I thought of it, until this morning. When I opened TweetDeck, I found this reply from @quietcompanytx:

They followed up with another tweet saying I could share that link with anyone I think would like their music, so here you go.

I downloaded the sampler, happy to get free music, and played the three songs about four times over.

Then something funny happened.

I went to the Quiet Company site, and bought & downloaded their newest album, "Everyone You Love Will Be Happy Soon", directly from the band.

What's so funny about that? I almost never buy new music. With the plethora of online music sites - from Last.fm to Pandora, to Blip.fm to TheSixtyOne and more - I can stream just about anything I want. For free.

But because Quiet Company used the tools of the internet - first, to showcase their music; then, to find and reach out to those talking about it - they were able to gain a new fan, turn that fan into an evangelist, and see a return on the time and effort they've spent.

This isn't something that only applies to music. Whether you're a band, a business, or a nonprofit, how can you excite people with your offerings? How can you benefit from listening to online conversations and engaging with those that are talking about your product or service?

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Gradon Tripp is the founder of Social Media for Social Change, an organization that uses the tools of online media to raise awareness for nonprofits. He writes about ways organizations -- both non-profit and for-profit -- can benefit from using social media at GradonTripp.com.

Incorporating Social Media into the Conversation

I came across an interesting Fast Company blog article from Steve Rubel titled "How to Captivate and Hold Attention in the Age of the Stream" that caused me to think about parallels between digital media and physical media. Here is an excerpt:

"Imagine for a moment that you're standing on an overpass high above a busy L.A. freeway like the 405 or the 5. It doesn't really matter which. Pick one.

In a span of a few minutes literally thousands of cars will speed by. Some will be loud. Others quiet. Some will be notable, but most won't.

At the end of the experiment, if I were to ask you to recall ten cars and trucks and what was memorable about them, I guarantee that you would be hard pressed to do so. What's more, none of the cars would have been "repeat impressions." You saw each car only once, and likely not every vehicle on the highway. That's precisely the same challenge that marketers face in the 'age of the stream.'" (article excerpt)

Of course you can't make exact parallels, but it struck me that when people view social media as a distribution channel (which it isn't purely that), the following parallels emerge:


Steve Rubel concludes his article by saying that the solution to the streaming challenge of social media is to be ubiquitous. That of course is easier said than done and I don't feel goes far enough.

In this new digital world, excellent marketing campaigns will require integrated physical and digital planning, strategy, and execution that streams "conversation starters" through multiple physical and digital 'channels' to lead naturally into longer conversations in both corporate and uncontrolled social media outlets, before circling back into new "conversation starters" informed by this customer dialogue.


What do you think?

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Braden Kelley is the founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.