My wife and I are expecting twin babies in late November, so I like to post Facebook photos about all the newborn gear we’re bringing into the house, like the Diaper Genie.

Once a picture hits the News Feed, people begin liking it and commenting with their own opinions of the product and how it’s affected their lives (Thanks to this phenomenon I’ve learned what a “Blow Out” is…yuck). Every product picture turns into a conversation that highlights shared experiences, fondness and frustration.

Business owners speak with me every day about the frustration they have trying to get more reviews for their companies. “Joe, we try to get our associates to encourage people to write online reviews for Google, but usually they forget or aren’t motivated to do so,” I heard recently. It’s not easy to build an audience on any social network — that takes consistency and quick, genuine response — but there are some easy tweaks that could improve local review participation:

People Like Photos and Videos

When I traveled to Florida for a conference two years ago, I got a terrible case of food poisoning. While I was sitting in a hospital bed with an IV in my arm, I began searching for reviews of the establishment I visited and was kicking myself for not doing my homework in the first place. Now, wherever I go, I use apps like Foursquare (awesome ‘Explore’ feature) and UrbanSpoon (tons of menus and check-in votes) to guide my food choices.

Increasingly I won’t visit a restaurant unless there’s a corresponding listing on Foursquare of UrbanSpoon that don’t have user submitted photos of their favorite meals. It’s just too much of a risk that bacteria will hit me when I need to perform. So why no in-review pictures on Google+ Local?

Users do have the ability to upload a photo to the businesses they review, but this requires someone to click a separate ‘Photos’ tab that doesn’t make the process very obvious. If there were user submitted photos injected into comments, G+ could be my default review app while traveling.

Even better, make it easy to cross-pollinate other social networks with your feedback, and build a conversation killer for the people who complain about the lack of incentives for making time to write a review.

Here’s that Diaper Genie photo I mentioned posting to Facebook:

The photo doesn’t even tag Diaper Genie, but it’s nonetheless giving away free impressions of the product.

Google could inspire shared experiences in a number of ways, such as using their Google Offers product as an ‘on-ramp’ for soliciting reviews. Here’s how this might work:

• Let business owners sign-on to Google Offers with the promise of soliciting reviews from buyers pre and post sale
• Prompt buyers — yes, the people who are putting actual money on the line — to add photos and tag friends in reviews
• Think about the disincentive problem — People usually write a review when they’re pissed, but what if you could gain a ‘Mayorship’ for writing the most helpful reviews in your city that local businesses provided tangible benefits for (Or benefits like ‘First Review Karma’ badges, etc?)

Facebook is starting to get there.

For example, last week I noticed a 1-800-Flowers Offer on Facebook, claimed it and bought a nice blue diamond orchid for my wife. Facebook then had permission to use my ‘vote’ for the offer in the News Feed, creating a message to my friends that reads, “Joe claimed an offer from 1-800-Flowers” and encourages them to claim it too. Heck, Facebook requires businesses who participate in their Offers program to buy at least $5 worth of advertising. The business has to spend money advertising, and they are rewarded with an Offer that uses the power of the Facebook effect to gain massive relevant awareness from friends-of-friends.

Back to the main point, though: If Google+ Local allowed users to post in-review photos and videos, encouraged conversations and direct sharing to multiple social networks, it would make the home screen of my iPhone apps.

Do you use Google+ Local? If so, why, and if not, what’s your favorite alternative?

This morning I logged into my AT&T Wireless account to learn when I’m eligible for a full discount on the new iPhone 5 (Not until November 2 — dammit!).

So I logged off and started thinking.

Apple offers three variations on the iPhone 5 — a 16GB, 32GB and 64GB model — priced at $199, $299, and $399, respectively. Should I buy the $299 model that will hold 32GB worth of podcasts, eBooks and media? Does it make more sense to splurge on the 64GB model since I’ll likely own the device for 2 years?

“Wait…what amount of storage do I have on my iPhone 4,” I thought.

So I navigated to ‘Settings’ ➞ ‘General’ ➞ ‘About’ to learn that I am using a 32GB model (This was the maximum capacity available at time of purchase, if memory serves). I kept scrolling down to learn more about my device and noticed the ‘License’ option, which I tabbed over to.

Here’s a snippet from the first paragraphs of the license agreement (Which I couldn’t find replicated on the Apple site, even when I followed the link provided):

IMPORTANT: BY USING YOUR iPHONE, iPAD or iPOD TOUCH (“iOS DEVICE”), YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE FOLLOWING APPLE AND THIRD PARTY TERMS:

A. APPLE iOS SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
B. NOTICES FROM APPLE
C. GOOGLE MAPS TERMS AND CONDITIONS
D. YOUTUBE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

APPLE INC.
iOS SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
Single User License

…

1. General
(a) The software (including Boot ROM code and other embedded software), documentation, interfaces, content, fonts, and any data that came with your iOS Device (“Original iOS Software”), as may be updated or replaced by feature enhancements, software updates or system restore software provided by Apple (“iOS Software Updates”), whether in read only memory, or any other media or in any other form (the Original iOS Software and iOS Software Updates are collectively referred to as the “iOS Software”) are licensed, not sold, to you by Apple, Inc. (“Apple”) for use only under the terms of this License. Apple and its licensors retain ownership of the iOS software and reserve all rights not expressly granted to you.

Wait, what?

I get that it’s illegal to reverse engineer the iOS software or sub-license a copy of it to a friend (also helpfully pointed out in the user license), but what does it mean for the thousands of contacts stored on this device when an individual user can’t even claim ownership over the object they spent hundreds of dollars to obtain?

Well, yes, I guess technically I do retain ownership of the physical iPhone I bought, but it’s not worth a crap unless I’ve got access to iOS. Don’t get me started on jail-breaking or alternate operating systems.

The facts surrounding Apple’s OS are more interesting with the recent development involving Twitter updates.

Today, Friday, September 14, 2012, Twitter agreed to share “about three months’ worth of tweets to a judge overseeing the criminal trial of an Occupy Wall Street protester.”

Why does this matter?

First, there’s an argument to be made that Twitter is not vigorously defending the rights of its 100,000,000+ users. But I’m far more interested in the potential for misuse by organizations who desire to learn about an individuals location and friend data. Can you imagine being arrested for suspicion of a crime just because your location data — logged by Twitter — indicated you were close in proximity to the crime when it supposedly happened?

Yikes.

In the meantime, there’s a 99.9% likelihood that I’ll keep quiet and pay my hundreds of dollars for an iPhone 5 once I become eligible for a full discount in November. But I can’t help feeling nostalgic for the first day of my freshman year of college, when I didn’t yet own a cell phone (let alone smartphone), and all of the nights activities remained stored in a single memory device — my brain.

“Native Advertising” is the latest buzzword floating around the tech community.

Simply put, native ads represent sponsored content that seeks to fit into the flow of your news feed or information streams, drawing positive reactions, without obviously indicating their paid status.

In other words, how can a brand looking to promote itself break out of the sponsored results along the right rail of your news feed and Timeline (or stream, etc) in order to quasi-blend into your organic conversations?

The Marines have this saying, “Don’t fall in love with your plan.”

So why is it that businesses and associates pushing ‘solutions’ are so captivated by their product that they forget to focus on whether the prospective client views it as necessary? Does the local bakery you’re trying to sell a social media marketing package to really need a ‘squeeze page’ design on their Facebook Timeline?

Maybe, but here’s a sample conversation reflecting what often happens between small business owners and solution-minded salespeople:

[START]

[Solution Seller]: You’re going to love the functionality of this social media optimization package. We’re going to design a custom Facebook Timeline that encourages new people to ‘like’ your page. Imagine the hundreds of people who could be fans of your shop within two months!

[Bakery Owner]: Hundreds of new fans? (I wonder if any of them will visit the shop or live in my community. It sure would be nice to figure out how to find some people who really like Kalamata olive bread and pastries, unlike the coffee jockeys who spend $2 and clog up my tables for hours).

[Solution Seller]: Yes! Hundreds, maybe thousands! And we can help incentivize people to shop here by offering them daily deals in order to walk through the door. Now you’ve got new customers instead of just new fans. Our proprietary software ensures that people click the ‘like’ button before claiming your offer, too.

[Bakery Owner]: Daily deals? I’m not sure that’s the best way for me to grow sales revenue (There’s no freaking way I’m offering a daily deal after reading some of the horror stories about deal sites and food service businesses. Plus, shouldn’t I try to grow a compelling reason to buy instead of throwing half off deals at people? I bet there’s a way to make a loyalty deal work though…like the ones Foursquare offers with their check-in process).

[END]

What are the false assumptions that derailed this hypothetical conversation?

• Optimization and Fans – It’s curious when people lead off a conversation about social media opportunities by focusing on proprietary software and ‘likes’ instead of the product offered by the business and how it can build a following based on the ideals/practices that have kept the doors open so far.




• Like With a Purpose – Fans are important, but ‘likes’ are fleeting. I can like a page without building any meaningful relationship with the owner. Someone who’s invested serious cash and sweat equity wants to learn how to connect with local customers in ways that encourage them to learn about their company, not just like it. Focusing on the storytelling mechanisms your product creates is more powerful than the number of likes it can drive (Especially since comments and shares often have more of an impact on EdgeRank than just clicking the like button).




• Test Drive in a Real World Environment – Showing someone how to create and schedule a story or building a local loyalty-based offer could be compelling enough to make a sale, if those actions match up with their primary goals for growth and community engagement.

The best salespeople know how to learn on the field and adjust as needed during a mission, just like the Marines do.

Problem: You want to read The New York Times without shelling out for a digital subscription. There’s a story about the Apple-Samsung verdict that interests you, but the following message is holding you back from the news you crave…

Possible Solution: Clear your cache! That will reset your browsers cookie, allowing you to read 10 more New York Times articles for free. Of course, this also screws with your settings, meaning you’ll have to log back into Facebook and Gmail and, well, you get the point.

Stealth Solution: Hit up Twitter, find the link you want, click and read for free! Check it out, if I notice the authors name — Nick Wingfield in the article depicted above — then I can search “Nick Wingfield Twitter” and scroll down to the tweet where the author has no doubt posted a link to their article (Important to spread the word about your brand to followers). Nick retweeted someone else’s link to his article:

Click the link to the same article via Twitter and voilá:

Give it a shot, there are lots of NYTimes reporters using Twitter, and you can head straight to the NYTimes Twitter feed for the latest news.

Of course, this might not be worth it considering the rise of well reported tech and news sites like VentureBeat that are growing in popularity, are well curated, and require no subscription fees.

Happy Reading!

“How can my client get tons more Facebook likes?,” a colleague recently asked me.

Wow, I thought, I’m surprised you haven’t asked yourself the questions behind the question, such as why they want more likes or where they find most key influencers reside in their community. The problem with questions like the one posed above are that the person asking usually wants a really quick fix, such as ‘Make their logo bigger’ or ‘Add a Like box to their blog’.

You want to know the simplest way to get more likes on your Facebook brand page? Here it is:

ASK PEOPLE TO LIKE YOUR PAGE

Use Facebook’s built-in tools to request more likes and I guarantee they’ll come. Once you’ve reached a certain critical mass, however, then you’ll want to focus on encouraging these fans to become advocates on your behalf by sharing the content you deliver (and attracting a relevant, interested audience instead of people who like your page and never return, putting a dent in your EdgeRank scoring).

eBooks as a Revenue Stream, Proof of Authority and Conference Invite

There are currently more than 63,000,000 eBooks labeled as ‘discovered’ (added to customers ‘To-Read Shelf’). That represents more books than are housed in the combined collections of the Library of Congress, NYPL, and Boston Public Library. Clearly, eBooks are growing in popularity even as amateur publishers become a larger part of the marketplace.

One of my favorite publishers, James Altucher, is a savvy eBook author who charges $0.99 per copy and gains lots of positive reviews (Online reviews are hugely valuable currency as social, mobile and local technologies become more important to digital shoppers). His book, “I Was Blind But Now I See” has 45 mostly positive reviews, more than any of his hardcover editions have achieved.

So how does this help you gain more Facebook fans?

First, you want to make sure the eBook has links to your Facebook brand page and a simple message/enticement encouraging them to do so (i.e. “You can get access to articles and content I share exclusively on Facebook by liking my page).

Next, consider quoting reputable sources in your publication (and providing them a free copy, of course). Then you have an opportunity to ask these folks to share your message with their own Facebook communities. Really, people love to feel important, so this step can’t be underestimated. You might even ask them to contribute to your book prior to publishing so these people have more of an incentive to see your work succeed.

Reviews are important too, so make sure to pre-solicit these contributors to write a favorable review. This is because people will be more inclined to purchase if their peers (or perceived peers) vote for it with 4 or more stars out of a possible 5 star rating. Now that you’ve goten some traction, you’re well ahead of most people who write a blog post or comment on Facebook, since you have been formally (self) published.

Now it’s time to turn your eBook, which takes a couple of hours to write and upload (instructions here), and build social and real currency off it. First, make sure to offer a free sample chapter/s to your Facebook community and those of your co-authors in the interest of helping them solve a problem.

IMPORTANT: You have to solve a real problem or otherwise provide written content that people will want to read and share. This could be showing someone how to identify a potential leak in their fuel lines or giving them a laugh that makes them reflect meaningfully on life.

As you gain more exposure by way of likes, reviews and sales, your ‘Proof of Authority’ gets established and you can use this real-life success in submissions to speak at conferences. Hell, try to get your desired conference gig included in the publication and then ‘@’ mention them in Facebook posts to seed the likelihood they ask you to present.

Isn’t it fun when a question from a friendly colleague inspires a blog post? If you’ve got questions or comments, drop a comment below, which will be posted to Facebook so we can have a discussion.

Social Media Day was founded in 2010 by Mashable.com, a resource for social news.

Burlington’s social festivities this year included workshops focused on children’s use of the social web, lots of conversation with savvy young media pros, and a beautiful morning TweetUp captured by the talented Stephen Mease:

Don’t Tell Me Why, Show Me How

Heather Winther is a doer.

When I asked her what she was up to lately, it was terrific to hear her describe the specific actions she took recently to gain more business opportunities for a client via the social web. Too many people like to delve into the latest theory when discussing social media, but Heather applies critical thinking to find solutions.

Liz Muroski and Alicia DeMartini are also doers. These intelligent, hardworking ladies both have jobs with Vermont’s — and soon to be Boston’s — PR firm, PMG Creative (The PMG stands for ‘People Making Good’, in reference to their mission working with socially responsible companies). Liz and Alicia actively manage the social presences of national brands, including their Facebook pages and Twitter profiles. When I asked Liz what a typical day looks like for her she said, “Well, no day is the same. We invest lots of time and care communicating directly with clients, working with the media to secure placements and building buzz around new products. It’s a fun job!”

While we’re talking about fun, it behooves one to thank Jodi Whalen and Phil Merrick for hosting the awards ceremony at their delicious bakery, August First, with sandwiches from their newest creation, Stacks.

Trailblazers in Burlington include guys like Rich Nadworny. He’s been running a highly successful digital firm for years and has an incredible aptitude for capturing the essence of a conversation and distilling it into a tweet, blog post or video.

There are many people who helped make Social Media Day a success.

Of course, the person we all need to thank for bringing Social Media Day to Burlington is Lara Dickson. She manages and designs the website, creates all of the graphics, hosts events and shares details about workshops with everyone who participates.

Lara is a terrific freelance designer of marketing materials, websites and digital presences. If you need help bringing your own social media or digital brand to the right audience, check out her Deep Dish Creative website.

Finally, thanks to all of the people who voted Joe Mescher (me) King of Social Media Day 2012. It’s a humbling experience and I appreciate the support!

Tomorrow morning I’ll be hopping a 5:42am flight from Burlington, VT to Newark, NJ, and I’m so excited that it’s going to be hard to sleep tonight.

The conversation is going to focus heavily on display advertising and one of its subcategories: Remarketing.

Think about the last time you sought to learn about tools like remarketing. What was your state of mind afterwards? I’ll bet you were a little confused (at least at first), since so many digital learnings rely on industry jargon or assume a high level of previous digital knowledge.

To be clear, remarketing is simply a method for showing ads to people who have previously visited your site as they browse the web. I’ll show you a (real life) example of how this form of advertising can make for a compelling customer experience in just a moment.

What Oatmeal, Comics and Microphones Can Teach Us About Effective Ads

This afternoon I checked my Facebook news feed and discovered a new comic featured on my favorite website, called The Oatmeal. Instead of trying to read it via the news feed, I clicked the link to see it on The Oatmeal’s website. Here’s the headline that caught my attention:

Not exactly a polite or politically correct comic, but it cracks me up. I’m such a die-hard fan that I check for other new comics I may have missed at the bottom of each post, which looks like this:

Notice the advertisement (red highlight mine) on the left hand side of the page?

Since The Oatmeal sells ad space via the Google Display Network (GDN), I was served an advertisement highlighting a microphone and preamp I browsed two hours earlier on Amazon.com.

This display ad had significant stopping power for me. Here’s why:

1. Time — I’d invested 10 minutes searching podcasting equipment earlier in the day, so the ad was incredibly relevant at the moment I viewed it.
2. Reassessment — Amazon wasn’t the primary merchant I visited in my search for gear (that award goes to B&H Photo), but they were the only company to remind me about the mic I could be ordering soon, so they win the battle of ‘last man standing’.
3. Path to Purchase — I didn’t buy the mic, so the ad failed, right? No way! Amazon’s ad made me replay the podcasting decision in my head and displaced B&H Photo as my go-to shopping destination (Besides, display ads are about growing awareness — Pay-Per-Click ads should tackle me again when I’m “in-market” and perform a Google search).

The title of this post references the word ‘affinity’. That’s because I have great affinity for The Oatmeal, which was then transferred (at least to a small degree) to Amazon.com when I viewed their ad on my favorite website. The same is true for an ad featuring something relevant, based on previous website visits, that I notice along my daily browsing sessions.

In other words, if I come across an ad for the Nike’s I looked at last week on ESPN.com later in the day, that ad will have stopping power too.

Warning: Not All Remarketing is Created Equal

A good web designer will tell you they dedicate lots of effort to building a site that looks simple and effortless to use.

The same is true for remarketing ads. You’ll need to invest time and attention matching the products you sell — and pages those products live on — with the correct advertisements. For example, Amazon.com has millions of products for sale. If they serve me an ad for an iPad instead of the microphone that I viewed on their site, that’s not as relevant to my specific experience with the brand.

Let’s reiterate the point of remarketing: To show users who have previously visited our website an ad displaying the products or services they showed interest in.

Now, what if I were to visit the website for a BMW dealership? Let’s say this dealer has multiple stores, including Honda and Acura locations. If I don’t add the right code to every page of my websites, my remarketing ads will go bust.

The reason for all of this code and the effort that developers put into remarketing campaigns is simple: Making the best use of your investment. Google AdWords dollars can go pretty quick if you aren’t diligent in targeting the right user. And if you don’t target effectively, say goodbye to the social affinity we discussed above.

Finally, consider the value of ‘qualified’ viewers.

Remarketers can target people who have visited their website but not converted. That means I visit and then leave without filling out a form (or performing the specific action you define as triggering a conversion). These people get served up your ad when they browse the web.

Maybe I don’t want to keep advertising to people who already bought the microphone from Amazon.com or requested more info from their local BMW dealer, though. In this case I ensure my ads — and my ad dollars — don’t chase someone who already committed to my brand. Again, all of these goals require a hell of a lot of code, but the end result is more interested advertising audiences having the opportunity to transfer affinity to your brand, leading to eventual purchase.

If you’re interested in learning more about the GDN or display advertising in general, check out Google’s Ad Innovations.

“Most people don’t know how to write a value proposition,” one of my colleagues told me. There are two rules I’ll share with you that will make it clear this is the case.

The problem facing most business owners and individuals is they confuse good intentions with a unique ability to help customers in ways no one else can.

Know Thyself

What is truly different about your business that can’t be replicated? There’s got to be something you do better than the rest, otherwise what’s the point, right? Here are the two rules for creating a value prop the title of this post refers to:

1. If someone can replace the name of the person or business at the beginning of the value proposition with the name of another person or business –and the statement is still true– then it’s not one.
2. Customers have to agree with the statement, otherwise it’s not a real value proposition.

Chew on that for a minute.

Then start reading some of the statements put out by companies like Zappos.com:

Formed in 1999 to “WOW” consumers with a dazzling variety of shoes and other products sold exclusively online.

If we break down this statement, it’s clear the real value is derived from the “WOW” experience and not selling a variety of product in an online-only store. Amazon does that. So does eBay.

Make no mistake, though, Zappos’ statement cannot be replaced with either of those two other companies. I like Amazon, but I (along with many other customers) LOVE Zappos. The unique combination of convenience features like free shipping on orders and returns, plus a rock solid reviews database, are great — but these aren’t what make the value prop unique.

It all comes down to the people.

People who care about making sure orders are shipped and returned as ordered, and that issues/complaints/confusion are taken seriously by employees who are offered $1,500 to leave the company during training if they decide the job isn’t for them. Seriously, Zappos will pay new hires to walk right back out the door.

People who spend money with Zappos aren’t shopping for the lowest price, and they tend to agree with the statement wholeheartedly. You’re probably thinking about a company that you love in the same way right now.

I’m taking the “Build a Better Value Proposition” seriously, to the point I’ve incorporated it into business projects and workshops in the field. How will you make use of the two rules to craft a better message to prospects, write a more compelling LinkedIn profile, or pitch to investors?

“Are recommendations helpful for LinkedIn profiles?,” a young lady asked today during the workshop I was leading.

“It depends,” I said, “on the type of recommendation — meaning is it well written, and does it make use of concrete examples of your skills in action? If so, then yes, recommendations are helpful to potential employees whose profiles are viewed by a prospective employer.”

“Uh, yeah…but it also depends on who writes the recommendation. When I’m hiring for a position it’s important for me to see recommendations written by business partners as opposed to just friends. Anyone can convince a friend to write a nice review,” said a manager sitting in the back row.

Do yourself a favor…open a new tab right now in your Internet browser and check out the recommendations on your LinkedIn profile. What’s the ratio of comments shared by people you’ve reported to or done work for versus friends lending you a helping hand?

If it’s more than three to one in favor of your friends, it’s time to rethink your game plan. Here’s why…

Employers Want To Know Your True Fan Count

Can we all agree that it’s easy to spam Facebook by paying a third party to goose our total number of ‘likes’, but that a truly savvy brand focuses on user engagement in addition to their total audience reach?

LinkedIn has the same attributes when it’s used by people who want to learn more about you. If you can score a salient recommendation from someone who paid you money for a specific service (or relies on your expertise to help their cause), then you’ve struck gold.

This real life example comes from my colleague Will (He works for an agency that my company has a strategic relationship with):

You could say I owe Will a couple of beers for such a thoughtful recommendation written, unsolicited, on my behalf. But what if you’re new to LinkedIn or just don’t have a library of reviews to display yet?

Try using the following approach:

1. Start With Colleagues — An employer might not view a recommendation as being noteworthy if it comes from someone who does not describe the business relationship you share, but it can help to find a recommendation from someone in a different department at your company (These are ‘internal clients’, after all).




2. Don’t Hope For a Compelling Write-Up — Sometimes you will work with people like Will who are naturally gifted in written and spoken word, but that’s not always the case. If your reviewer is asked to think of something to write without a meeting or guide, they will typically take the path of least resistance: “Joe is a well-liked speaker who is always professional and has minty-fresh breath.” Make time to share a particularly compelling recommendation with your advocate or at least share your hope they will use specific examples in their message.




3. Don’t Peg Your Recommendations to a Ratio — Earlier I wrote that your ratio of friends to colleagues/partners who review you shouldn’t be more than three to one. The point is you want to share good content, but don’t go crazy with the mathematical modeling. You don’t need 5 recommendations for every 100 connections. A few particularly compelling votes on your behalf are worth more than 60 lukewarm comments (Remember, if someone cares enough to check out your recommendations, they won’t stop at the number, they will behave like the manager in the workshop scenario does and weigh the merits of each).

LinkedIn has a learning center that can guide you through the path to a ‘complete profile’, including videos with helpful tips for the technical process of requesting recommendations:

…And so long as you’re not trying to sell me a Nigerian oil barge, feel free to check out my LinkedIn profile and request to connect…