Original Content

5 Ways to Use Vine for Business

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:08:00 +0000

I will first have to admit that I've only briefly explored Vine, so this is very much a first impression. However, I liked what I saw and think that it will expand the way that we think about video.

Other than the ethereal whispers that I heard of it on Twitter, the first real exposure I had was Ann Handley's review over at Marketing Profs. She’s got her finger to the pulse of content creation, so I figured it was worth looking into.

I don’t think that Vine stands alone as a social network. It doesn't allow for enough navel-gazing because you literally have to point the camera at something else. Of course, you can still take video of your food (or how to make it) but without an easy way to video yourself I don’t see it as a platform for conversations in 6-second snatches. Plus, since it’s linear media, you can’t go back and edit down to the perfect short expression (if you've ever spent 10 minutes editing a tweet, you know what I mean).

If producing videos with Vine does not necessarily mean distributing them to a Vine network, then what’s the point? For me, it’s not the platform that looks most interesting, it’s actually the App, the tool with which you create your videos. Vine works differently than other video recordings because there is no “Rec” button, it only records as long as you are touching the screen.

The real power of Vine isn't in creating 6-second videos. It’s in using your 6 seconds to capture multiple snippets of video (animated GIF style) that work in a bigger context. Taking advantage of the quick start/stop ability within the same clip means you can capture something that could take a rather long time.

This is why Vine is interesting to me.

Professional video looks good because non-linear editing can take multiple shots and stitch them together. Because of this, the video can be planned - what should the composition be, how should the lighting be set up, which angles should be used. Then more footage than is needed can be shot and editing finds and uses the best pieces. (I should say, this is skilled work and having been around some good video producers I realize that I’m oversimplifying their work.)

Vine doesn't have editing capabilities but it allows for ‘non-linear shooting.’ Now, the consumer can do the same kind of planning and use Vine’s unique capture method to get multi-shot flexibility. Suddenly, you have to think about things more of the technical aspects of video, and I believe that will raise the overall level of competency (for those that take it serious). Admittedly, you cannot take the best few seconds from multiple takes, but you can quickly throw away takes that don’t work and hone in on what does.

What does this mean for business?

Well, I think that artists are going to take the lead with Vine because it gives them a lot of room for expression. But, business can take advantage of the format too.

Product Videos - There have already been a few examples of companies showing products with Vine. It’s definitely less polished than what a professional video company can do, but it puts tools closer to the front-line to get video created. And, it could have potential for user-generated product videos.
Culture Videos - Company culture has become a significant driver of customer loyalty and recruiting. Vine can provide a simple way to share some of the “who” behind the corporate walls.
Social Content - Vine provides another tool you can use to create more content that’s easy to push out to social channels. It can be ephemeral and light, something that captures a moment and then disappears as the stream continues.
User-generated Content - Customers can generate videos at the point of interaction with a business. Or in other situations where they are using a product. It may not be spontaneous but smart businesses could find some interesting ways to use this.
Advertising - Is this the rise of the 6-second spot? Short video ads that can be promoted to other social channels.

A few things that you’ll want to keep in mind

Looped videos - You can’t think linearly because your video isn't going to get to stop at the end. It will repeat forever (unless you touch or click to pause it). Think about how it’s going to look the second time through.

Sound of Silence - Sound does get captured with your video. Even if you stay quiet, you’ll have the white noise of video. However, it seems that videos embedded on the Web default to ‘mute’ so you might not want to count on your voice-over to convey your point.

Video off Vine - While you can distribute your video within the Vine app, it seems that the expected distribution channel is through Twitter. (Caution: If you don’t post it at the point of creation, you don’t get the option later.) If you do tweet out your video, you can then grab the URL and embed it. Or, you can use the local copy on your phone and upload it to YouTube (Vine’s vertical video doesn’t look great in YouTube’s horizontal player though.)

I’ve browsed around the Vine app’s curated tags to see what people were doing. If you have the app, I recommend spending a bit of time scrolling around. Look at the good, look at the bad, and decide if it’s something you think would be worth trying out for yourself.

Turning your Product Documentation into Compelling Content

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 06:28:00 +0000

Product Documentation. Everyone has it. Often it's in the format of a thick manual, many-megabyte PDF, or online knowledge base. Every detail about your product is included... somewhere.

And that 'somewhere' is exactly what your users are trying to find. Most end-users go to the documentation in two instances:

They are new to the product and need something to provide them with a way to get started.
They have an intermediate to advanced knowledge of the product and need to find information on a specific feature.

But when you look at how documentation is presented, it is primarily clustered around product menus and runs through everything possible within that section. Going into too much detail for the beginner and compiling more information than the advanced user wants to sift through.

(And we'll just gloss over the sterile language that most of this documentation is written in.)

So how does a company go from producing this kind of documentation as a necessary evil to making it an integral part of their user-experience and a rich source of content that can be mined for other uses?

Content Strategy for Product Documentation

Many of the principles of content strategy are applicable here. While the work isn't easy, it is possible – especially if you have a resource that you can dedicate to transitioning your existing documentation into new, compelling content.

(Another piece of good news, you probably already have the first step done.)

First, identify your audiences. Who are the end-users of your product? What makes them log in to your software every day? What areas are they currently struggling with? Your internal search is a gold mine for the last one.

Next, you want to look at your external facing content, do an audit of your marketing collateral, and understand the story that you are telling. Where are the similarities between prospective audiences and customers? How does your story evolve in the context of your customer base? What story do you want to be telling your customers?

The clear sense of audience and story will give you the foundation for the tone and style that you should use for your content. With this in place, you can move onto the next steps to determine the structure of your product content.

Classification and Taxonomy

Creating your product documentation structure includes creating a classification system and taxonomy. This will provide a framework for both your current and future content needs.

The classification typically falls along lines similar to your navigation. Features can be grouped according to where they fall within the menus of your product. Your primary objective in the classification is to ensure that you can account for all the buttons a user may need to push.

But, you know there are additional attributes that define features beyond where they appear in the navigation. This is the purpose of developing a taxonomy. These are the additional axes that provide context and will allow you to serve up content that pinpoints your users' needs.

Some of the additional information we may want to associate with features are:

User Experience Level – Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Customer Type – Solo, SMB, Enterprise; or along pricing tiers

Use Case Processes – Getting Started, Search Engine Optimization, Etc.

Related Features

Other concepts as relevant

You are now able to create a flexible taxonomy that accurately represents the context of content needed for each product feature.

For example, you might determine that one feature should be listed as:

Beginner, All Customer Tiers, Getting Started

While similar feature may be:

Advanced, Gold Tier, Getting Started

How does this taxonomy help with content creation instead of making it an unwieldy process that already looks out of control – and you haven't even written a word yet!

(Spoiler: The answer is that you can determine the taxonomies as you go and they will allow you to group content contextually later on.)

Creating Content Form and Function

The taxonomy then allows you to separate form from function.

First, is the form. Chunked content built it in pieces around a specific feature, or feature-set, using the taxonomy to determine the content objective, depth, and format.

Second is the function. 'Playlists' of content that connect elements of the taxonomy.

For example, a Beginner's Getting Started guide, or an Advanced Search Engine Optimization guide. Users are provided with a context-rich experience that targets both features and intent.

These playlists can also be generalized to form the basis of additional external information – completing the circle of using your product documentation as another source of compelling content.

Stages of Social Media Adoption

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:07:00 +0000

I was having a conversation with Peter Kim the other day and we were talking about how it doesn't seem like people are talking about social media as much as they used to. Is it possible that we've left the echo chamber?

As I was thinking about this, I wondered if there was a model for the phases people go through in their social media conversations. This is what I would propose to show how people progress as they use social media platforms.

1. Awareness

This is when someone has initially heard about a new social platform. They may talk about it with their friends or read what people are saying about it on a different platform. It's unlikely they've tried using the platform yet; they may even go as far as to claim they won't use it.

2. Discovery

After someone has joined a social network, they start to feel out how to use it, connect with other people, get down the 101 basics for the platform. They also start to look for influencers on the service, the people that have already forged a path.

This is also the phase that people are likely to abandon a particular platform if they don't feel they're able to 'figure it out.'

3. Sharing

This is the phase when people start to publish content about the platform. As they have learned the 101 lessons, or started to get their own insights, they want to share with other people how to get into the platform. This stage does reinforce people's use of the platform but can also create the echo chamber effect where original content gets drowned out.

At this phase, people are still talking with their friends or other people interested in the platform. This tends to drive the topics of conversation towards mutually shared interests -- typically social media -- rather than content about their business. In fact, people that skip this step and just start broadcasting all about themselves are usually ignored.

4. Use Case

For me, this is the threshold that indicates long-term adoption of a platform. When someone understands how they can use the platform effectively for their personal or business purposes. They stop spending so much time talking about the platform, or sharing the 101 tips, and begin to use it for the reasons that make sense for them.

This is also why it is difficult to find (or create) social media content that moves beyond a 101-level. Once you start looking at deeper use cases for a social media platform, it becomes specific to the needs of your business. That is hard to translate into general practices that other people can follow.

At this stage, people have figured out where the money is and they are going for it.

I would say that most people who have incorporated social media into their professional role, and have been doing so for a while, are more likely to be in this phase, and for those of us connected with other social media professionals, this may account for why we aren't seeing as much content being published about the platforms. We have figured them out and are using them for business now.

5. Integration

Once someone is familiar and comfortable with the tools, it starts to get integrated into their other social platforms. I don't just mean cross-posting, but really creating a value network for their own business that allows their customers to find consistent messages, response, and personality across different social media platforms.

This is happening quicker on a personal level where people manage their own 'brand' across all the platforms, but I believe that we are starting to see - and will continue to see - this happen with brands. Smart brands are looking for how they can take the successes from each social media initiative and use them to improve their presence elsewhere. The lessons don't translate directly from platform to platform, but the power of working cohesively across social media channels is the next frontier in social business.

Making Excuses - For the Right Reasons

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 20:39:00 +0000

I had a very positive experience this week with Apple. Let me relate the story.

The backlight on my iPod Touch went out and I'd been meaning to get it checked for about a month. I finally took it into the Apple store to ask if there was anything to be done. As I was passing it over to the Apple Genius, he dropped it about 4 inches to the table we were standing by.

He checked out the iPod, cleaned out the connection area, basically tried the simple things to see if it could be coaxed back into working. When this failed, he said he'd check what it would cost to replace. He came back with a quote that was more than I really wanted to spend, and he recognized it before even giving me the number.

So he said that he needed to check in the back again. When he came out he told me that because he had dropped it, they would replace it for me at no charge. In essence, he found an excuse to provide me with over-the-top customer service. This was more than I had hoped for and expressed how thankful I was for that.

They didn't have any in-stock yesterday, so he took my number to call me when it arrived. I got that call today. And I'm now in the process of re-downloading everything to my new iPod.

Sometimes you do want your customer service reps to find excuses, just make sure they're looking in the right direction when they do. I will definitely be going back to Apple for the next shiny new device that they come out with.

Kelly Stonebock Interview

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 19:32:00 +0000

I had the chance to grab a quick video from my friend Kelly Stonebock a little while ago. She shares her experience coming to Austin and getting involved in Twitter.

And, if you haven't read her blog, it's got a great voice. Try it, you'll like it.

As someone who has found a job through Twitter, I can agree with the power of networking that she's talking about.

Interview with Bryan Person

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:51:00 +0000

I had the chance to sit down with my friend Bryan Person a little while ago and ambushed him with my Flip cam to answer one question about social media marketing.

He handled it without hesitation and had this advice about using facebook as a marketing channel.

I want to expand just a little on his point about consistency.

Consistent publishing is a challenge because it requires dedication after the 'honeymoon' phase of kicking off a new social media project. After you've gotten approval to launch a new channel, it's very exciting, and you want to prove that it's going to be effective. The motivation to produce content is high -- and because it's a high priority the time to produce it is easier to block out.

But once you've proved that it works, or you've built a decent community base, then other priorities start creeping back in. The channel becomes another project to manage among multiple priorities and it's easy rationalize scaling back on content creation.

What you should keep in mind is that content creation is a self-feeding cycle.

When you are producing, your community is going to remain more engaged. They will be more likely to add their own input, generate additional content, and share what you have created. You are then able to build on what the community is doing with more of your own content.

On the other hand, when you slow down your publishing schedule, the community expects less from you, they become less engaged. Your metrics start to dip, which may raise internal questions about the value to spending time on the channel. At it's extreme, this leads to abandoned pages, leaving a constant reminder that you've given up on it.

How can you maintain your publishing consistency?

1. Create an editorial calendar. Even if you just have a list of topics that you want to cover during the month, a sense of direction will help you stay motivated.

2. Read other people's work. The ability to comment on, or make a short post with a link, to news, entertainment, or other opinions can be an easy way to keep content flowing.

3. Cross-post from other channels. If you've got events happening, or are posting to other social media channels, find ways to re-use that content. It helps you extend your reach and reduces the volume of new content you have to produce.

What are you doing to keep up your consistency?

Building the Right Fences Between Marketing and Sales

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:01:00 +0000

Good fences make good neighbors

Traditional wisdom stands up because it's proved over time. In the case of this quote, it conveys the significance of setting clear boundaries and knowing how to respect those boundaries.

This is often a challenge for Sales and Marketing teams. Neither wants to give up control over the fruits of their labors but each has expectations of what the other will do when leads or prospects are "passed over the fence" so to speak.

This post is going to talk about the theoretical boundaries and then how to implement real fences. Both pieces are important and many companies get through the first step. Let's start with that, see what it looks like and if you can see why it's not enough.

A couple of specific criteria that Sales and Marketing should define are:

What triggers a lead passing from Sales to Marketing (MQL)
What actions must Sales take with every accepted lead (SAL)
What triggers a stalled lead passing back to Marketing (Lead Nurturing)
Who decides which current Prospects to include in Marketing campaigns
How can Sales remove Leads or Prospects from Marketing campaigns

Once you have those, or other definitions that make sense for your business, you need to build fences. Fences means you remove ambiguity from your database about who owns what and what actions can be taken.

I'm going to use Salesforce.com for my next set of examples because it's what I'm most familiar with.

Lead Owner -- The Lead Owner should be assigned to show who will primarily will be interacting with the person.
Lead Status -- Each value should be "owned" by one team or the other. There should be clear reasons when a lead status should change, and who is responsible for doing it.
Lead Score -- If you are scoring your leads, make sure you can act when a score reaches your defined thresholds. Who takes ownership and what is the next specific Touch that needs to happen to these leads
Opportunity Stage -- Marketing doesn't typically contact "Open" opportunities on which the salesperson is actively working. However, for Stalled opportunities that would make good candidates for nurturing, marketing should help retain and re-activate these prospects.
Customer by Segment -- Once a customer has purchased, the relationship likely changes again. By setting up some clear marketing tracks around segments you can define and mark in your database, you can help your existing customers learn more about other products, upcoming events, and other opportunities to continue interacting with your company.

So, as a marketer, how do you know if you've got good fences? An easy litmus test is if you have to get your lists approved by Sales, 0r if you send them a list, and they return it with "Include/Exclude these...", then you have not built good enough fences. Giving each team responsibility for keeping their own data clean will make it easier for both sides to work together.

How are your fences? And what can you do to make them better?

Why ROI Matters to Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 03:36:00 +0000

Marketing can be seen as either a cost-center or a revenue-generator.

Which makes tracking the return from our marketing efforts of utmost importance. You are integral in the perception of your organization towards marketing.

In a recent position, I was the first full-time marketing hire for the company, and one of my primary tasks was to step up demand generation. After a few months, I had successfully increased the size of our database and had a decent response rate to our campaigns.

But, looking ahead, I could see that executing lead gen activities wasn't going to be my objective. The sales team was going to look at how many opportunities they got out of the leads, how many deals they got from those opportunities.

If I kept my focus on putting new leads into the top of the funnel, I'm wasn't going to be aligned with the rest of the organization.

That was when I started tracking the metrics that Sales was going to be looking at - Opportunities they worked on that came from Marketing Leads, and percent of new business that was generated by adding a marketer.

How are you looking forward to the metrics that will be important next quarter or next year?

ProductCamp Austin -- Content Driving Sales Process

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:40:00 +0000

The first session that I attended at ProductCamp over the weekend was by Fernando Labastida about using Content to Drive the Sales Process.

Fernando made some excellent points, starting with one that particularly stuck out to me at the beginning of his presentation.

He said that companies should not forget the role of relevant outbound marketing (getting your message into the right hands) or the tenacity of a Sales 1.0 mindset (making judgments about prospects and pursuing those that are most likely to close). The rise of content as a marketing tool, should not derail the objectives of marketing and sales.

The second point that was about creating a "buzz piece" of content. This is a piece that requires more effort, goes deeper on a topic, looks at a serious industry problem, or produces new research. When you have put in the time and work on a buzz piece, it becomes a foundation for your content strategy.

With this foundational piece, you have something that can easily be distributed by other people. It's not an advertisement for your products but content that makes the people sharing it look smart for passing it along. It gives you a piece to break smaller chunks of content out from -- allowing content re-use and enabling you to get the message into channels that might not have worked for the original. And, it builds your credibility simply because of the effort required to produce it.

How are you using content to make a big splash in your space?

On Symbols, Value, and Shared Meaning

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:15:00 +0000

The purpose of media is to facilitate communication. The purpose of media is not to deliver messages. That can be done in-person, a slower but effective method. What media does is intermediate - allowing communication to scale, asychronous, repeatable, and add elements like video or audio not possible in-person. Different media channels have taken advantage of different strengths of media. The broadcast model of the 20th century focused on scale but required audiences to consume what was presented to them. This was true for traditional media (print, radio, television) as well as non-traditional sources -- movies, plays, museums. This model distributed content which was then used to star between other people (e.g. think 'water-cooler' conversations). Social media, in contrast, lowers the barrier of intermediation because it focuses on enabling person-to-person communications. (Because the tools are flexible, it can also be used similar to broadcast media but the consumer landscape has changed enough to make this less effective.)

Social media is also different from other media channels in a distinct way -- distributed, near-real-time interaction. This creates an immediate feedback loop, allowing not only for instant reaction to content but active audience participation in creating the direction of future content. The purpose of social media is to facilitate communication. Trying to adapt the tactics of broadcast media tools simply cannot be successful. We must bring a fresh set of eyes and learn anew how to use these media effectively.

On Symbols

The point has been argued that we are not able to distinguish the symbol from the thing the symbol represents. I agree with the argument and would add Social Media to the list of places we confuse the symbol and the meaning. As I mentioned above, the purpose of social media is to facilitate communication. This is a deliberately broad meaning because the diversity of social media allows for significantly different kinds of communications to take place. The most common symbol in social media is a connection -- often called following or friending. These connections (the symbols) signify both parties willingness to communicate with each other (the meaning).

What frequently happens in social media is that the symbol (the connection) is seen at the reason for joining a social media network. The number of connections then changes from an expression of how interested they are in listening to and communicating with diverse voices to a symbol of broadcast-era authority based on how widely they can distribute their content. The pursuit of the symbol fails to recognize the value of the meaning behind it.

On Value

The immediacy of the social media feedback loop as well as the volume of connections being made on social networks is leading to a culture that makes snap judgments of unsolicited connections. Social networks are considered to be the potential next step for search, in which the network of connections filters content and helps the searcher arrive at their answer. This is happening with the connections themselves as well, the network acts as a filter. A connection from someone through a shared network is more likely to be accepted than a request from someone unknown.

The way to gain acceptance in these networks is to look past the symbol (the connection) and begin with an understanding of the value you can you offer to create meaning. The ethos of sharing in social media requires all participants to have some value they can add to the communication. The definition of the value is co-created by the connected parties but requires each participant to join prepared to share what they consider to be of value. This often takes the form of information but it can also be notifications -- as pointers to information or to transactions.

By considering the value that can be added to a social media channel, the participant is forced to look past the symbol of being connected and into the meaning of how they can facilitate communication.

On Shared Meaning

Related to the immediacy of feedback through social media channels is the concept of 'shared meaning.' I feel this term is more accurate than 'relationship' because not everyone wants to join a toothpaste community. In some cases, the need for close, personal connections is neither necessary nor desirable. Rather, the connected parties co-create a space in which they are able to provide value in a way that is meaningful in that context. Again, this is one of the strengths, and differentiators, of social media -- successful experiences are created by both the producer and consumer of content. Where in a broadcast model, the producer of content would look at measures of consumption and make assumptions about what the audience is willing to accept, under a social media model the consumers are much more likely to state their preferences directly.

The greatest challenge facing participants in social media -- especially as social networks include more company/consumer connections -- is tempering the desire to push one sides desired meaning onto the other. The mantra of "Listen First" is not a platitude; listening intently to the other participants in social media helps you understand what value they have to offer and where they are looking for added value. The strongest ties are created when shared meaning is truly co-created by the community. And when a community reaches this point, people can remain active for years.

Sustainable Content Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:55:00 +0000

Content creation has exploded. The ability for anyone and everyone to generate their own blogs, videos, podcasts, pictures, articles or conferences has given rise to a culture of creation that is constantly pushing out some new piece of content.

Content has also been a driving force behind marketing as a way to get more involved with social media, drive inbound marketing, or add depth to their corporate website. But, companies are facing ever-increasing competition around content.

A content strategy enables a company to rise above the crowded marketplace of ideas and make an impact. There are three main areas companies should pay attention to when creating their content strategy.

Context

Readers are not interested in your content. Content is readily available. What they do care about is the context you can provide for them around the topics that interest them.

Companies are well suited for providing context because the collection of people in the organization provide a bigger picture of what is happening in the space. The ability to look at trends, offer insight into upcoming changes, or give readers enough information to act on something immediate will establish a company as a reliable source.

Developing context does require effort. It requires a strong internal moderator who can look across different departments to synthesize information and keep the voice of the organization consistent.

Once that credibility is established, readers are more likely to continue consuming your content and engaging when they want to know more from you.

Accessibility

Many content creation platforms default a chronological organization scheme and rely on search engines to determine the relevance of that content based on user keywords. That is not a strategy, that is abdicating responsibility for understanding your audience.

One benefit of being a company, rather than an individual content creator, is that you have products or services for specific, defined markets. You know the types of people you want to keep interested after they've found your content. Creating entry-points based on customer profiles will lead to more time spent on your site and a more engaged audience.

Entry-points into your content do not have to be complicated. A simple way to start is bundling content assets that related to a topic or theme and presenting the reader with a quick way to access them. A reader that finds an area with multiple pieces of content that are relevant to their needs is less likely to leave and head back to a search engine.

Re-Use

Content completed should not be content ignored. Content should be used throughout the buying cycle and companies should be taking a proactive position in getting it into the hands of their audiences.

Re-using content is built on the foundation of your audience profiles. When you have provided someone with an easy access point, and they reach out for more information -- either through a web-form or some other mechanism -- you should have in place a clear content path that you can provide. Re-packaging existing content to be delivered at an appropriate time, and prompt the next desired action, extends the usefulness of your content assets.

This area is one that many companies are lacking as part of their content strategy, yet it has proven to be one of the most effective tools in lifting rates of prospect conversion, reactivating stalled leads, and maintaining positive customer relationships.

Conclusion

Content marketing will continue to succeed for companies that understand how to position themselves and their content towards the needs of their audiences. With a clear strategy and consistent effort, the goal of improved content is well within reach.

Know Who You Are Writing For

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:07:00 +0000

I listened to a webinar recently by Bulldog Solutions about building buyer personae. This was a service they were rolling out when I worked there, and I wanted to see how it had evolved over the last year. It looks like they've made great strides with their tool.

My biggest take-away was the challenge companies face in selecting specific audiences to address in their marketing. It's very easy for companies to want public-facing information to be applicable to any reader. The downside to this approach is that the content must be so broadly understandable that it loses it's impact.

The buyer persona becomes valuable in directing your content development is knowing which audience you want looking at your content. When you've determined the right audience then you can provide information that is meaningful.

With a clear sense of audience, your content can then focus on:

Specifics -- What does your reader need to learn from your content?
Motivation -- How does the content move your reader further down the sales funnel?
Call to Action -- How can your reader to take the next step?

Man's Search for Meaning

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:31:00 +0000

Alternate title I considered "John's Search for Work"

As I prepare for myself to look for new career opportunities, I'm grateful to friends that have already helped me refine how I should be searching and what I'm actually looking for.

To that end, I'm going to post here the three short bullet points about what I'm looking for in my next opportunity.

Company - I'm looking for a company that has established itself but remains agile enough to execute new ideas -- ideally between 150-2,000 employees.
Department - With 8 years of experience in communications and marketing, I'm looking for a position in a marketing or social media department.
Role - My passion as a marketer lies in content development. Creating valuable content starts with a clear understanding of audience, requires skillful execution, and ends with measuring results. I have experience across this entire cycle.

For more information about me, please view my LinkedIn profile or contact me at jljohansen at gmail dot com.

Why the marketing funnel is not dead

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:31:00 +0000

The marketing funnel is not dead. It cannot be dead because it is not a thing.

People in social media especially like to pronounce the death of everything old. We have to make way for the new. But we have to be careful that we aren't throwing away what's important just because it's not shiny.

The marketing funnel has become the standard but it is just a representation of marketing's effect on the organization.

The actual thing is measurement. Getting rid of the funnel, as a model, is fine. It doesn't matter. However, if you are going to remove one model, then be sure you have a new one to put in place.

Considerations

Building a new measurement model is going to be unique to your company but some high-level concepts you should include are:
- Raw marketing reach. It is important to know how far your marketing reaches. Or how many people are responding to your outreach.
- Qualified marketing leads. You need to know out of your entire audience what subset of fall within your traget market and are, or could become, sales ready.
- Bottom line. Measure the ROI for your campaigns. It's difficult to track marketing from start to finish but when you can create that path, it helps to show the value of marketing.
- Proxy measurements. Following on the point above. Marketing isn't responsible for the revenue coming in - that's the role of sales. But it introduces some variability into measuring your effectiveness. Attaching revenue amounts to activities that marketing does control, allows you to rate how well your different efforts are doing.

Inbound Marketing Summit Wrap-up #IMS09

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:01:00 +0000

I took notes during the Inbound Marketing Summit (IMS) in Dallas so that I could post about each of the individual presentations. I also decided to do something that I've feel doesn't get enough emphasis coming out of conferences -- what are the immediate actions you can do to start taking advantage of what you've just learned. These aren't intended to be full plans but just the first thing to break the interia of doing something new.

So, here is my list of the presenters, their presentation, and my action take-away. You can click through to any of the individual posts to see more of my notes.

Aaron Strout - I'm Your Customer and I Can't Hear You
Take Away: Listen to your customers are talking (not just what they are saying).
Panel: Innovative Marketing Programs Using New Media
Take Away: Discover what niche communities your customers are already participating in.
Chris Brogan - You Shall Know Us By Our Dialtone
Take Away: Create a main, central location that you own to use as the call to action.
Mike Volpe - SEO 101
Take Away: List the terms you want to be found on in Google. Be realistic! (Remember the ninjas)
Tim Marklein - Advocacy, Badvocacy, and Upsetting the Apple Cart
Take Away: Inoculate your legal team against the shock of using social media.
Chris Kieff - Best Practices for Listening and Engaging Consumers in Social Networks
Take Away: Pick a community and find a way to engage with them.
Bill Tolany - Q&A with Whole Foods
Take Away: Give guidelines/direction in social media to the people closest to your customers.
Panel: Listening and Monitoring – The new way to market
Take Away: Find a conversation that is happening about your company in a space you haven't been monitoring before.
Chris Bowzer - Art of Persuasion in the New Content Marketing World
Take Away: Pick at least one landing page -- Does the page lead your users deeper into your site? How can you create a path to lead users into your site?
Rick Frantz - Discover what really works in optimization
Take Away: Write down your value proposition. Compare it to your compeition and evaluate if it's a real differentiator.
Mike Walsh - Discovering the Power of your Community
Take Away: Look at all your social networks and determine where you can focus your attention.
Mike Moran - Internet Marketing by the Numbers
Take Away: Determine what your conversions are and your current conversion rate for those.
Greg Matthews - Social Media from the Inside: A Case Study
Take Away: Start a personal blog so you get familiar with the tools for when your business is ready to jump in.
Paula Berg - Nuts about Online Communication
Take Away: Make a social media fire-drill plan. Practice it!
Greg Cangialosi - Extending the Reach of email
Take Away: If you haven't segmented, look for at least 2-3 segments you can create for your lists. If you haven't tested, pick one area you can start doing A/B testing on – subject lines are good to start with.
Jake McKee - How LEGO Caught the Cluetrain
Take Away: Determine if you have customers outside your normal demographic that are high-value.
Giovanni Gallucci - From 0 to Social in 50 Minutes – Extreme Social Media for Business

If you attended IMS09, or have heard any of these presentations, or thoughts on social media, share what you would want someone to know as they try something new.

Giovanni Gallucci - From 0 to Social in 50 Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:56:00 +0000

Presenters: Giovanni Gallucci of Giovanni Gallucci

Title: From 0 to Social in 50 Minutes – Extreme Social Media for Business

Notes:

Zappos didn't get huge because of Twitter. They got huge because they changed their culture to trust their employees and providing more customer service than anyone else.
Search Engines – especially Google – still love social networks because amount of traffic is still important to them; context is important and soc nets have groups for everything; and search engines link out to other sites.

Jake McKee - How LEGO Caught the Cluetrain

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:49:00 +0000

Presenter: Jake McKee of Ant's Eye View

Title: How LEGO Caught the Cluetrain

Main Point: Embrace what your community is doing without your help. Also look at highly-engaged but small segments of your market – they might provide a new way for you to do business.

Take-away Action: Determine if you have customers outside your normal demographic that are high-value.

Notes:

Lego didn't accept “unsolicited” product ideas. This turned into a culture that Lego couldn't talk with their customers at all.
Lego noticed that Adult Consumers had created a large secondary market for trading/purchasing pieces. And that community had already created tools that the community wanted/needed.
When you have community members committed and they come to you for acknowledgment, you should ask what you can do for them.
Talking with the highly engaged minority can provide a lot of good information.
Changes to social media engagement starts with a change to culture inside the company.
Core of Lego community effort focused around their shift from selling boxes to creating a creative medium (i.e. what you can build)
Lego has a tool that you can design an object, submit it, and have just the pieces you need to build that model sent to you.
Take advantage of consumer evangelists can be more effective than your own PR.

Greg Cangialosi - Extending the Reach of Email

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:40:00 +0000

Presenter: Greg Cangialosi of Blue Sky Factory

Title: Extending the Reach of email

Main Point: Look for the low-hanging fruit of email marketing to make it better.

Take-away Action: If you haven't segmented, look for at least 2-3 segments you can create for your lists. If you haven't tested, pick one area you can start doing A/B testing on – subject lines are good to start with.

Notes:

3 Types of Email: Social, Marketing, Transactional
Make it easy for people to subscribe. Don't put up barriers or ask for too much information
Segment your audience data (demographics). Segment what content your users get. Allow users to manage their own content preferences. Segment on behaviors (especially good for follow-up segments)
Email provides an unbelievable opportunity for A/B testing to optimize your marketing
- Subject Lines
- Copy & Creative
- Call to Action
- Time of Day
When people stop responding to your emails, find a way to re-engage them. Or, if they won't engage, start putting them into a drip campaign that is different than your master list. Maybe quarterly, or a specific request to confirm their interest.
Email is the common currency of Web2.0; All social networks require using email to sign up.
Email can be a key driver of social content. Convert your email lists into your community on social networks. It is a good way to jumpstart those efforts.

Paula Berg - Nuts about Online Communication

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:35:00 +0000

Presenter: Paula Berg of Southwest Airlines

Title: Nuts about Online Communication

Main Point: Establish yourself in social media channels before the crisis hits

Take-away Action: Make a social media fire-drill plan. Practice it!

Notes:

Picked 30 employees from all over the company who oozed pride about working at Southwest
The blog has continued to increase in readership over the last 3 years
We can't control the conversation but we can lead with our POV and facts about what we are doing. Try to make sure we are staying ahead of current news trends so we can talk about what is relevant to people.
Being a human being during blogger relations really got a positive response from bloggers
Blogs allow the public to share positive views of your company, something that media usually isn't looking for.
Southwest posted a video of their rapping flight attendant. They didn't wait for a consumer to put it up, they took the opportunity to show their commitment to flight attendants personalizing the experience.
Social media presence has started to boil down to the people who really want to engage with us.
You have all the talent you need already in your company.

Greg Matthews - Social Business from the Inside

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:30:00 +0000

Presenter: Greg Matthews of Humana

Title: Social Business from the Inside: A Case Study

Main Point: Experiment, Experiment, Experiment

Take-away Action: Start a personal blog so you get familiar with the tools for when your business is ready to jump in.

Notes:

We are changing from an information economy to a collaboration economy.
Business is like a small town. They are building pieces that help them work better as a corporate community.
Use social media (like Twitter) for taking meeting notes. Something that is immediately posted and public for people to check afterwards. (And contribute?)
Take what's fun and then make it healthy. That's how Humana approaches making games.
“We don't know what the long-term benefits of our projects will be, but we are working to find out.”

Mike Moran - Internet Marketing by the Numbers

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:26:00 +0000

Presenter: Mike Moran at Converseon

Title: Internet Marketing by the Numbers

Main Point: Marketers must measure their website and online campaigns. When you measure, you are responsible for making things work. All the Internet stuff you know won't do any good if you don't get ROI from your site.

Take-Away Action: Determine what your conversions are and your current conversion rate for those.

Notes:

Internet Marketing is more about marketing than the Internet.
Numbers have found you. You don't have to calculate the numbers but you have to be the person that makes decisions based on the numbers.
Transactional – If someone buys something, was it profitable to get them to that point
Relational – Each customer acquired is measured individually
Management doesn't care what goes into the execution; They want to know what the results of the execution were.
Know your business to know if you should calculate your conversion rate by dividing by Visitors or Visits.
Conversions are the metrics that you should be tracking. “What do you want people to do?” That's the question that matters most.
In relation to setting up source tracking “Why did we go through that much trouble?” Answer: “Because it's the only way to measure how your marketing programs are working.”
Every sale does not cost the same amount. It costs far less for you to sell more to existing customers. Make sure you understand the lifetime value of your customers.

Mike Walsh - Discovering the Power of your Community

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:13:00 +0000

Presenter: Mike Walsh of Leverage Software

Title: Discovering the Power of your Community

Main Point: As you get older, especially when you join the workforce, the noise level in your life increases significantly to the point of overwhelming distraction

Take-Away Action: Look at all your social networks and determine where you can focus your attention.

Notes:

Everyone wants to be in the Discovery space. Both Twitter and Google think that they do it but the other service doesn't.
Social networks within the enterprise allow for internal discovery – feeds that provide news about what company-centric projects are going on.
Be a Kid Again! Simplify, Simplify. Don't worry about what's not relevant to you.
Minimize your trusted sources of information to get more signal
Communities have two sides – need to be aware of what both need
- Host
- User

Rick Frantz - Discover what really works in optimization

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:59:00 +0000

Presenter: Rick Frantz of MarketingExperiments

Title: Discover what really works in optimization

Main Point: If something you are doing doesn't work, doing more of it won't change that.

Take-Away Action: Write down your value proposition. Compare it to your compeition and evaluate if it's a real differentiator.

Notes:

Hitting the ketchup bottle on the bottom doesn't work.
- There has to be a better way to do other things in life
- When something is not working well, doing more of it won't produce better results
- Obvious solutions are not the best solutions
- Measuring and Testing are the only ways to discover what works better
Starting an argument doesn't help you persuade, it only helps you hurt someone.
Landing Page Optimzation Meta-Theory
- People don't by from websites, they buy from people
- You don't optimize pages, you optimize though sequence
- To optimize though sequence, you need to enter a conversation
- Then guide the conversation to a value exchange
c = 4m + 3v + 2(i-f) - 2a
- C = Conversion
- M = Motivation
- V = Clarity of Value Prop
- I = Incentive
- F = Friction
- A = Anxiety
- Value Prop and Incentive are Value Contributors
- Friction and Anxiety are Value Inhibitors
- You need the Contributors to outweigh the Inhibitors
If you don't have something that differentiates you (the Value Prop) then you are just getting by on the ignorance of the market.
When you advertise on something people are looking for, make sure that you're giving them what they want when they come back to your site.
Every page on your site should have a Primary Objective and should stick to it!

Eric Bowzer - Art of Persuasion in New Content Marketing World

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:43:00 +0000

Presenter: Eric Bowzer of SiteCore

Title: Art of Persuasion in the New Content Marketing World

Main Point: Tracking and evaluating content leads to success sooner.

Take-Away Action: Pick at least one landing page -- Does the page lead your users deeper into your site? How can you create a path to lead users into your site?

Notes:

Land pages need to deliver on ad's promise
Keep telling stories as they move deeper into your site
Understand what your sales process is
Learning to Listen
- Score your content – Give scores to content so you can start building different profiles of your visitors.
- Score your actions – Lead Scoring
- Test and Validate with content and score engagement
The show isn't over after the first dance
- Episodic delivery of content
- Build assets that can be subscribed to
- Us the crowds to help filter info for other users
Traditional segmentation doesn't work anymore
- Use community as magnet and microscope to understand what your segments should be
- Allow self-segmentation
- Match content to emerging segments
- Find ways to bring people in past the landing page of your site
Pick Your Pitch
- Understand your intimacy level with customers
- Understand how to make that window of consideration longer

Panel - Listening and Monitoring: The New Way to Market

noreply@blogger.com (John Johansen) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:38:00 +0000

Presenters: Amber Naslund of Radian6, Blake Cahill of Visible Technologies, Gabriel Villablanca of Brafton

Title: Listening and Monitoring – The new way to market

Main Point: Just because you aren't listening, doesn't mean people aren't trying to talk to you.

Take-Away Action: Find a conversation that is happening about your company in a space you haven't been monitoring before.

Notes:

Amber – Companies are getting dragged in to SM whether they like it or not.
Social Media is like the phone, people are trying to call you and you wouldn't just let your phone ring and ring un-answered?
Use listening to inform the content development strategy. Customers don't necessarily want to hear marketing that “align with your core brand messages.”
What is the language that your customers are using when talking about themselves and your company/products.
When you can't act on the flow of information coming in, you need to scale up to a better tool.
Blake – Companies are seeing the transparency of the negative experiences customers are having and that scares them.
Companies have had access to this kind of data for quite a long time but may not have known what to do with it.
If there is no conversation, that's a huge opportunity.
Most of the conversations are neither positive nor negative. They are just neutral. Companies are mining the neutral to determine why people don't have a stronger opinion.
Gabriel – We do end up being like therapists because we uncover areas that company doesn't have strengths and isn't sure how to handle those areas.
Big companies can put the resources behind doing more listening. But smaller companies need to be flexible with the tools and roll with shifts in the market.