Naming things is hard. I’ve been paid to create business and product names over the years and it is a big challenge. A great name must be unique, memorable, protectable and compelling. For a business it also really cannot be a common word or phrase. When you add in the need to own the name as a dot com URL you really narrow the field. Buying your URL has become a start-up expense for many businesses and it can get expensive.

Because my start-up is a project rather than a typical business, my title needs are a little different. The need to find a new title has worked out however because it helped solve another issue that came up. I was given input by a publishing insider that using the words ’social media’ in the title and sub-title was a problem as there are a rash of books out there on the subject. This jibed with my thinking as I’m increasingly realizing that social media is just a piece of the revolution, albeit a significant one. So right now my draft title and sub-title is: Real Time: Redesigning Your Business for a Socially Connected World.

Disclaimer: This title is subject to change at any time!

With the privacy controls a user can completely change Facebook to serve their own ends. If you only want to use it as a private club for your friends, set limits on everything. If you want it to take on a Twitter-like functionality, open everything up to a public conversation. By giving us these expanded options, Facebook has taken a direct shot at Twitter. Twitter is a public forum. Anyone following you can see your conversations unless you block them individually. This works great as an ongoing stream of news, opinion, links, etc., that can be tracked and searched. With the ability to open our Facebook privacy completely you can duplicate this aspect of Twitter with the broadly expanded capabilities inherent in Facebook: videos, pix, blog posts, links, conversational threads, etc.

For me this means I probably don’t need Twitter at all in the long run. As it stands Twitter is almost useless as a tool without a third party app set up to track certain keywords. Is there any reason I should be using both Twitter and Facebook if Facebook offers everything Twitter does and more?

All Facebook has to do is give me a stream on my page that lets me track keyword usage in all public conversations and I’m done with Twitter.

The Facebook strategy is to own the online communication space- and they are nearly there.

Forget everything you know about marketing

As a marketer this means that everything you know from the past is bullshit. Advertising, publicity, brand promotion, logos, graphic design, copywriting, hype, market research (the directed kind), everything. There are no logos in social media. No one really cares what a blog looks like as long as the info is interesting. Those people who fill their Twitter page backgrounds with pitches and links don’t get followed by me. Facebook is entirely about conversation, even photos and games are designed to encourage comment streams.

Marketing was a guessing game

Am I being glib with the ‘bullshit’ distinction? No, because its true- we never really knew ahead of time what marketing strategies and tactics would actually work. This was always the not very well-hidden ’secret’ of marketing: Marketers, in spite of all their creativity, focus groups, panels and strategic brand management, never actually know why some things work and others don’t. Until now.

The market tells us what to make and how to improve it, so listen up. Go beta.

To be a conversational marketer you have to be a part of the conversation, a participant. That means you start on the sidelines and listen to learn what others want, need, wish for and dislike. Then you go back to our company or client and you tell them so they can make those products. In the meantime you identify influencers and you share beta prototypes with them, emphasizing that these are beta because they still require the market to test them, to kick the tires, break the interface, find the bugs and suggest changes. Google, for example, excels at the beta release model, in fact they don’t take most products out of beta- they continuously improve based on input and how customers use the products.

Transparency is your only choice

During this stage you enter the conversation, making it totally clear that you are on the product team, and you convey the input back to your design team and your customer experience team. You also set them up to start listening and conversing. That’s the entire conversational marketing model.
No ads. No logo or branding. A simple name that’s memorable. No radio, TV, outdoor or banners. No girls in bikinis handing out freebies to drunken idiots.

Are we really abandoning creative? No, we’re substituting discipline.

Can you do videos and white papers? You can do anything you want as long as it adds to the conversation in a positive manner. If an ad gets you talking about the product with others then it may be valuable. However, that ad must have been conceived within the context of an existing conversation. Here’s an example:
Apple is running an iPhone ad on the back cover of New Yorker. It targets small business users and consists of an interface shot with application icons. There are call-outs to each icon that feature a quick description of the app and its small business value. I read the entire ad because I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with friends about using an iPhone to run my business from any location. Apple knows that conversation is going on and they made that ad specifically for me (and the thousands of mes out there participating in that conversation). It is a highly targeted, value-adding ad that supports the conversation.

I’d suggest that anyone in the marketing business think this through. It is not a change you have any control over. You can’t slow it down or influence it. You can learn from it and enhance it.
Join the conversation.

Lead Generation: The offer

The offer is something you give away that is very relevant to the conversation you are having within social media. Given that these conversations are public, you should assume that many people in addition to the person you’re communicating with will see that offer and that they share those interests. Because of this highly targeted audience it is critical that your offer be of high value and that you make it very easy to receive. The offer may be a white paper (not a sales pitch- they’re already interested), a webinar, some consulting time, a free version, etc. Something compelling and valuable enough that the recipient will tell others about it.

Utilizing URLs (web addresses) effectively

Assuming you have a great offer, the most important aspect of the lead generation process is the experience your prospect has while acquiring that offer. The experience starts with the URL in your conversation. You’re going to build a dedicated landing page that you use for all your conversations, a landing page that specifically communicates information about your offer and is only used for your engagements. You want a unique URL so you can track the effectiveness of your communications on that level. If you have multiple individuals out there engaging on your company’s behalf in social media each should have their own URL and landing page. This allows you to track the scope and effectiveness of their efforts.

The URL itself is ideally on your domain. However, if you have a long domain name it will take up too much space on Twitter. Using a URL shortener like bit.ly has several advantages. First, it shortens that number of characters required. It also keeps track of the clicks from each place you use the URL, giving you a good idea of how viral each instance is. Again, virtually everything in social media is measurable.

Use your URL consistently in all social media interactions

Where do you use the URL? When commenting on blogs be consistent in using the URL in the website field on the comment form. Register with Disqus, Intense Debate and Backtype (commenting platforms) to track comment threads on sites that use those platforms. Always offer up the URL in Twitter exchanges and do this publicly rather than via Direct Messages.

Landing pages are not home pages

So you’ve got your URL and you are spreading it around. No matter how good you are at engagement if the URL does not deliver the user to a great landing page you’ve wasted your efforts. Here are some factors that make a great landing page:

• It is not your home page. Home pages are too general and require the visitor to search for the offer that enticed them to click.
• It is a dedicated page that briefly and compellingly, in plain English (no biz speak!), describes what they are signing up for.
• It clearly states that you will not share their information with anyone.
• It contains a form requiring the minimal information you require from a lead. In a recent lead gen program we required only the email address but asked for name, title, company and phone number. The email was required for delivery of the offer. You can require all of those elements, however nothing stops them from filling in fake info. And the more complex the form is, the more there will bail out on you.
• Always have a contact option that says: ‘Need More Info? Call (or email) Martin Edic now at 585-727-3119′. You don’t want to let a hot prospect slip through.

That is all. No nav elements, no graphics, no pitches for other products or services. They are there to sign up for your offer. The completed form is sent to your sales group or automatically entered into your CRM app as a lead.

Don’t pitch, participate

Effective landing pages eliminate all roadblocks to acquiring the valued information that turns a social media conversation into a qualified lead. Never spread your offer out generically by posting the same pitch over and over. You want to find motivated and qualified leads. This requires an effort on your part, an effort that is worth it when you consider the value of such a lead (I’ll be covering how to value a lead in the near future).

Need help getting your social media lead generation project up and running? We should talk. Contact me at martinedic.com

Without these organizing and search tools, Twitter itself is a confusing hodgepodge of conversational snippets, especially when you are following hundreds or even thousands of fellow Twitterers. You can put your hand in the stream but the water you touch is never the same. This is the essential flaw in Twitter: There’s too much of it.

I’d like to believe that the Twitter developers are building a better interface that give me tools for sorting and tracking by keyword phrases. This interface needs to be a part of my Twitter home page for Twitter to morph to the next level of usefulness.

And no, I won’t be following Oprah. However it will be interesting to see how many followers she acquires and how fast.

This is the real value of FB and the reason it has grown so rapidly- it is a closed network. Only those you choose to associate with are in the loop of your social interaction. The other major social platforms like Twitter and blogging are open, public forums where anyone can participate. It is appropriate, where you add relevant value, to  be businesslike there. But not in my ‘living room’.

Twitter is a business tool

The reason you should get to know Twitter is that it is becoming a critical tool for business. You can monitor Twitter for mentions of your brand and related keywords, including competitors. My former employer offers a powerful online tool for doing this and there is a usable free version. Once you’ve set up your keywords you can have an Alert sent to your inbox every time someone Tweets about you or your products, services, competitors or business sector. Let’s look at how powerful this becomes as a marketing tool.

Keyword mentions are qualified leads

Because of search, keyword phrases are the key marketing tool of the new economy. You don’t need advertising, cold calling, direct mail or any other marketing tactic if you have a clear understanding of the keyword phrases associated with your business. Developing your keyword list can be a tricky process but it’s worth it ( I can do this for you on a contract basis, contact me for info).

Keyword mentions in social media are pointers to qualified leads. A person talking about your product or service in these public forums has self-identified themselves as being very interested in your business, even if their comments are negative. This is the ultimate targeting. Simply respond to their comment on Twitter with something helpful. They will respond positively if you add value to their conversation.

Social media exposure is exponential, one to many

But isn’t this too labor-intensive? No, because of an incredible aspect of Twitter and other public social media platforms: Everyone following the person you respond to will see your response. They are following that person because of shared interests. And if they like what you’re saying they can Retweet you to their followers, spreading the word virally. And you can include a URL in your Tweets (use www.bitly.com to shorten URLs and track clicks- it’s free)

Is the light bulb going off yet? Through Twitter you can reach a highly targeted group of prospects for your products and services instantly and globally. These people are asking for information! And you can reach out to them by following them and using a Twitter feature call Direct Messaging that sends a message from you into their inbox. Pretty cool, eh?

Commercial interruption: I do contract marketing for growing businesses

If you want to know more or need help with setting up your social media marketing, contact me at www.martinedic.com.

Resources:

Good beginner’s guide to Twitter, Part One and Part Two

Young entrepreneurs and social media

Yesterday I spent an hour and a half with a high school entrepreneurs group, discussing their business concepts and how they could launch them without a budget and with limited time (high school kids these days have insanely crowded schedules!). The fifteen kids I met with were in a suburban high school in a fairly upper middle class area. Their product ideas were remarkably sophisticated and they had gone through an intense planning process, probably more than they needed.

With web 2.0 and social media you really don’t need money to start a business

After talking broadly about what makes a good product for Internet commerce (small and high value, no bags of dogfood!), I went from person to person and we did a quick marketing triage for their concept. In each case I was able to point them to a free site or resource that they could use to bring their ideas to market. The products and my resources included:

• Unique T-shirt designs. I pointed him to Threadless and Cafepress
• Interior design E-book for teenagers. Lulu, SketchUp and Amazon
• Card game with stories. Build a site in Weebly or Wetpaint where gamers can add to the stories, outsource the card printing and drop-shipping to an on-demand printing company
• Buying and selling used farm equipment. Combine Flickr with model number keyword tags and Ebay for the transaction
• Custom dress designs for teenagers. I suggested she lurk on some trend sites like coolhunting.com and add comments mentioning her designs
• Battery-powered soccer shoe dryer. Track keywords on Twitter for soccer moms and participate in soccer blogs, asking for product design input
• Jewelry from recycled materials and hemp coverings for earbuds (this one had already sold 20 pairs at $40/each!). Green blogs and Etsy

In every case no one in the room had heard of these resources or thought of them in this context. There was a lot of notetaking, and when I was leaving, the laptops were coming out.

The great thing about this for me was the understanding that these web 2.0 and social media resources are just beginning to be understood. This means that the impact of social media is just beginning to affect the way we do business. This verifies my belief that we’re on the cusp of a major revolution in marketing. Every one of these kids’ businesses could be started with virtually no cash. Market research can be done via search and social media monitoring. Crowdsourcing can be used to develop product designs and find resources for manufacturing and distribution. You don’t even need a phone number, though that is not an issue when every kid has their own phone.

Age is not an issue in social media awareness

The final takeaway for us grownups is that kids don’t have an edge on us in understanding these resources. Everyone is learning at the same time, regardless of age.

At this point? Yes, because there is certainly some overlap going on. I could blog on LinkedIn and I could use Facebook to microblog instead of Twitter. Eventually one of these platforms is going to absorb the full capability of one or more of the others. However, right now there are very good reasons for keeping them separate. Here’s how I use each for different things:

Twitter for business

Twitter is a business tool. My followers follow me because I have a shared interest in marketing and social media. I don’t follow people that don’t share that interest (especially those incredibly annoying multi-level marketing people!). I am strict about this because I need to stay on a focused message in my Tweets to keep my reputation strong. I don’t have thousands of followers because of this focus. If you share these business interests please follow me and I’ll follow you.

Facebook for friends

Facebook is just what is says it is: a social network. FB for me is a place to unwind, joke around and learn what my social friends are doing. Sometimes I hear about a death or illness, a relationship change or find a friend I haven’t heard from in years so it’s not all fun and games. I don’t do any business here at all- in fact I’m guessing a lot of my friends don’t even know what I do for a living. Facebook’s revenue model is going to be dictated by this aspect and I think they should treat groups of friends from a geo-localized perspective, serving up local entertainment or restaurant ads for instance. Otherwise advertising on FB will not work.

LinkedIn for experience, references and referrals

LinkedIn is an entirely different thing. It is a resume/reference source, i.e. Who is this guy and what do other people think of him? Who is he connected to and is he willing to make an introduction? Business networking, in other words. I’m all for relevant conections on LinkedIn because bigger networks increase its value as a tool. Connect with me and mention this blog post.

WordPress for publishing

WordPress is a content management platform. It enable a non-programmer like myself to publish my ideas. User-generated content is the heart and soul of social media, in fact it defines social media. I’m a writer by background so having a powerful tool like WordPress is amazing. To be able to instantly publish to a global audience is any writer’s dream.

Do we need another social media platform?

My platforms help me communicate in different ways. At this point I don’t need another platform. I could see myself adding YouTube at some point and I have used Slideshare in the past, however I can easily embed those items in my blog, on my LinkIn Profile, in Facebook and point to their URLs on Twitter. I see them as plug-ins rather than standalone platforms. What I don’t need is another platform that duplicates the functionality of those I currently use. Plaxo, for example, duplicates too many things that FB and LinkedIn do well. No Plaxo for me, no offense Plaxo people.

There are lots of attempts to link all these platforms together with one centralized dashboard. I haven’t seen that works they way I’d want it to yet but I’m certainly open to the concept. If you’ve found one that works well let me know in the comments (which in themselves constitute another platform if you’re using Disqus, Backtype or Intense Debate- another post for that one!).

Though we throw the phrase ’social media’ around as though it were a clearly defined thing, the reality is that social media is an extremely complex mix of sources, platforms, authors, responders and more. Each has its own unique characteristics- Twitter is very different than a blog which very different than a Ning network which is completely different than a wiki or YouTube. Yet each is defined as social media because they all provide a place users to post and respond to content.

Social Media Monitoring Is A Complex Process

My background is in social media monitoring and measurement tools, specifically SM2 from Techrigy. SM2 is a complex piece of software that performs, IMHO, far better than most of its competitors. However I do hear all the time from users about issues like repeat results, spammy results, irrelevant results, etc. That’s because the complexity described above means that a software designer must build a collection system that is tailored for each different kind of social platform and they must also create universal metrics specifications that make meaningful comparisons between sources possible. And they must continually adapt these designs as source providers change their software, servers and APIs, among other things.

Understanding Your Keywords Is The First Step

Another factor in the quality of the results from social media monitoring searches is the user’s expertise. These searches are built on keyword phrases that must refined to eliminate irrelevant or spammy results. The use of Boolean operators like AND and OR, excludes and avoiding very general phrases like “Google” is critical to getting relevant and useful results. If you’re searching Delta faucets for instance, you’ll want to exclude references to rivers and airlines. You might want to do a search on phrases like “delta” and “faucets” to find results that specifically include both keywords together. Unless you have experience in SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing), you probably haven’t spent time refining the keywords associated with your business, brand or reputation. In the new world of social media marketing, developing a sophisticated keyword phrase list is the first marketing activity you should be pursuing.

Social Media Analysis and Metrics Help You Understand Massive Numbers of Conversations

Another problematic aspect of social media monitoring is the sheer quantity of results you may discover. That’s why I am so positive about SM2- it offers the most powerful analysis and sorting tools available. When you have hundreds of thousands or millions of results from a major brand search, understanding what they mean is a daunting task, especially if you’re tasked with explaining the results to a group who are not familiar with the implications of social media. The metrics tools enable you to make estimations of demographics like gender, age and geo-location, of tone, sentiment and emotive content, of buzz by date or individual keyword and more. You can extract themes, see how social contributors tagged their own posts, measure the relative reach of the sources and make comparisons.

The sorting tools are equally important. You can sort by source (Twitter, Ning, Blogs, Wikis, etc.), by keyword phrase, by any metric category, by things like Political, Legal or Religious and by any custom category you create. Those sorted results instantly are parsed and charts built to analyze just that subset of the total results. Want to know the sentiment of female Twitterers using a single keyword phrase? No problem.

Look for Indications of What People Think Rather Than 100% Accurate Measurements

All of these metrics and analysis tools are indicators, not 100% accurate. The software depends on the quality of information provided by the source user. It only collects publicly available information and makes best guesses on what it means. Thus, things like sentiment analysis are guesses based on negative or positive terms in proximity to your keywords. Because software cannot (regardless of what semantic software people tell you) understand irony and other complexities of human communication, no one can do accurate sentiment analysis without humans reading and marking the results, a very costly option (marking individual results is an option in SM2).

Becoming A Social Media Monitoring Expert Now Puts You In A Leading Edge Position

Social media monitoring and analysis is critical to your social media outreach campaigns. While imperfect, it is being improved constantly and will be your primary marketing toolset in the very near future. My advice is to skip the freebie tools out there because they simply cannot provide any degree of accuracy or capture all the relevant conversations. Buy the tool that works for you and become a power user or assign that role to someone in your group. You’ll automatically be at the forefront of this new marketing paradigm.