The Life of Randy Ksar

Choosing a Social Media Software Solution

Randy Ksar — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:45:27 +0000

If you are anything like me you get approached by social media software companies every week selling you a solution. Some are brand spanking new (less than 1 year) and others have been in the business for 4 years. Some promise data, some increase engagement but which one do you choose for your company. Your company is already hired a social media manager, got the engagement and fans but what next. What should your goals be? Lead generation! Focus your efforts on not only expanding your social reach but leads from those. How do you get people back to your website? A lot has to do with your content strategy but if the funds are available there are great solutions out there that focus on a social user experience. Until next post where I cover some of those companies. Ping me if you want a sneak peek.

Social Media Fundraising – Strategy that works!

Randy Ksar — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:26:20 +0000

A few weeks ago, I gave a talk at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s office in San Jose, California about social media fundraising. Within the SF Bay area, they have over 1,000 athletes that are training for an endurance event and fundraising in honor of the Society. Of course, with tough economic times you need to get creative and use all available channels to fundraise including (you guessed it!) social media. Here is the presentation that goes over a typical 3 to 5 month training schedule and what your social strategy should be. If your non-profit is interested in me giving a similar presentation click on the “contact me” link above.

New Video: Top 5 Tips on Creating a Kickstarter Campaign

Randy Ksar — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:56:11 +0000

Earlier this week I interviewed Chuck Freedman, co-author of the Plow Family Adventures, a children’s book successfully funded on Kickstarter. In 30 days he hit his goal of $5,700 which helped him and wife his publish the next edition of their children’s book. Our conversation focused on sharing best practices on creating and marketing a Kickstarter campaign going over topics such as video tips, rewards, updates to your backers, and marketing via social media.

0:00 – 3:55 Intro to Myself and Chuck Freedman

3:56 – 08:30 Overview of Plow Family Adventures Kickstarter Campaign and Book

8:31: – 10:31 What should be included in a Kickstarter video (show that you are committed in doing the project & why is it important)

10:32 – 12:10 What is the recommended project timeline for a Kickstarter campaign?

12:11 – 17:30 What should be included in your rewards (fun & simple + create a graphic for your rewards)

17:31 – 18:15 How long was the campaign for and what timing does Kickstarter offer (30 days is recommended)

18:16 – 20:30 How do payments work with Kickstarter and what should your goal be?

20:31 – 21:15 What are the prerequisites do using Kickstarter’s content management tools?

21:16 – 23:50 What should be included in updates and how often should they be sent out?

23:51 – 29:25 How should you market your Kickstarter campaign?

29:26 – 30:21 Who is the illustrator of your children’s?

30:22 – 33:23 Do you recommend to send out a press release? (is it going to improve the quality of life for people – if yes then press release would be recommended)

33:24 – Recommendations on the amount you are going to raise (are you going to run out of money before you produce your product? shipping costs need to be factored in)

33:58 – 36:34 Demo of Kicktraq – Kickstarter analytics to measure the funding throughout the duration of the campaign

36:35 – 38:29 Chuck’s contact info – plowfamilyadventures.com

38:30 – 48:48 Featured Kickstarter Campaigns: Memoto (lifelogging camera), Bullet Proof (my friend from high school, Richie Yau) GoldieBlox (engineering toy for young girls)

Kickstarter Campaigns: Interview with Martin Källström, CEO of Memoto

Randy Ksar — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 02:18:36 +0000

In prep for Wednesday Nov. 14th Google+ Hangout / Blyve event titled Top 5 Tips on Creating a Kickstarter Campaign, I reached out to Martin over at Memoto whose campaign is 17 days away from being funded approximately $500,000 for his company’s lifelogging camera. Martin gave me some great insight into his campaign and what made it so successful. Read the Q&A below and remember to tune in Wednesday Nov. 14th at 9am pacific / 12pm eastern to talk with another successful Kickstarter, Chuck Freedman and his children’s book The Plow Family Adventures.

Q. Tell everyone a little bit about your company.

A. We’re Memoto, a Swedish startup developing the worlds smallest wearable lifelogging camera – allowing you to record your every moment and navigate through them via our cloud service and mobile apps.

Q. Why did you choose Kickstarter to fund your company and product?

A. Crowdfunding is the perfect entrepreneurial launch tool – for us it meant an opportunity to do a market estimation (or at least validate product demand), pre-sell units and get customer funding for production in advance (solving the liquidity equation), as well as mobilize our supporters and get media coverage as well as incredible engagement in social media and directly on mail. We have implemented many product design suggestions coming from our backers, everything about the process feels very open source, direct and honest.

Q. Were you surprised on the outcome of your Kickstarter campaign being successfully funded even before the deadline?

A. Yes. We had no idea. We thought we could (pre-)sell a few hundred cameras – at the moment it’s over 2000. We’re amazed and humbled by the positive response, and working hard to fulfil our promises to all our wonderful backers.

Q. What was the most important content for your campaign? the video, your rewards, product details?

A. The most important part was PR. The work started long before the campaign, with setting up a blog and engaging the Quantified Self movement, sharing good content and showing a commitment to the market space. That foundation also helped us strike up genuine, ongoing conversations with the backers and media once we launched the Kickstarter campaign.

Q. Do you have any tips on creating a great video for a Kickstarter campaign? Do you need a huge video production budget?

A. The most important thing with your Kickstarter video is that it is honest about your product, your team and your abilities to fulfill what you offer to the Kickstarter community. That might require a professional video producer to achieve but it’s probably not always necessary.

Q. What do you recommend be included in a reward(s) to your backers?

A. You should offer rewards in both ends of the price spectra: something low for the ones interesting in keeping in touch and helping out with what little they have, and something really high for the ones that really want to be a part of the project and make a difference. And of course everything in between, where you offer your actual product packaged in a good deal for the Kickstarter backers.

Q. How did you promote your campaign outside of Kickstarter?

A. Targeted PR and ambitious community management. That is, speak with the right media and present the project in a way so that it matters to them and at the same time invest many, many hours and hard work in engaging people that you see might be interested in your coming product: the Kickstarter community, people expressing interest in products adjacent to yours and people of general “early adopter” kind.

Q. What are the next steps of your campaign once the campaign is over?

A. To get the product out to the backers! It’s more or less the one and only objective from the day the campaign is over.

Q. When will the product ship? How much will it cost?

A. Shipping to Kickstarter backers starts in February, there are still units left on the $249 backer level including free worldwide shipping. The price for a Memoto camera after the campaign will be $279 USD.

Q. How do people find out more info about you or back your project on Kickstarter?

A. memoto.com/kickstarter is the place to go! We also try to reply quickly to every message we get through twitter, facebook, kickstarter and email (support@memoto.com).

Interview with Beth Rogozinski, Co-founder of Matchfactor.net #socialgaming

Randy Ksar — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 17:54:08 +0000

I’m just loving the blending of gamification into all verticals these days. In the past social media marketing hangouts I’ve talked with the folks from Badgeville and they’ve provided some great insight into enterprise adoption (watch this episode). In the most recent episode of our social media marketing hangout we chatted with a new startup in San Francisco called Matchfactor.net and their CEO Beth Rogozinski. Their platform provides a way for brands to engage with their fans/influencers by playing a game to determine their preferences and then recommending a solution which for brand’s is a call to action (e.g. coupon, purchase link, etc..). Watch the interview below to learn more.

Timeline:

0:00 -2:11 Intro to Beth and her background in filmmaking, gaming and digital marketing

2:11 – 4:16 Definition of Social Gaming and what the latest trends are

4:16 – 5:40 Why would businesses want to incorporate social gaming?

5:40 – 15:55 What is Matchfactor.net and how it helps brands increase fan engagement

15:55 – 22:30 What is Transmedia?

22:30 – 25:45 Measuring Social Gamification Campaigns

25:45 – 28:00 Transmedia SF meetup info including Nov. 27th Producer’s Guide to the Galaxy & January 18 Transmedia Startup weekend

29:00 – 30:52 What are the next steps for businesses to add social gamification into their user experience

31:36 – 33:00 Demo of iOS Transmedia & Social Game called Lost Spells

33:01 – 34:31 What do you think of Zynga’s predicament

34:32 – 36:40 What is the better business model – subscription vs. freemium?

36:55 – 38:24 What is the target audience / demographic of social gaming consumers?

38:24 – 41:02 Contact Info and Next Social Hangout topic: Kickstarter Campaigns

Top 5 Tips for Presenting at Hackathons

Randy Ksar — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:30:15 +0000

I attended the Sprint developer hackathon this week and the one skill set that was missing in 80% of the teams were presenting skills. Here are a few recommendations on how to present at a hackathons based upon my talks at conferences, Toastmasters classes and attending several events over the past 8 years:

1. Make sure your hack is ready to be displayed
Sounds obvious doesn’t it? But what I am saying is getting “all your ducks in a row”. Make sure the smartphone is ready or your computer is setup to be displayed on the projector. So many times I watch these presentations that are only allowed 3 minutes and it takes 2 minutes to get setup. Be prepared, get in line so you can present right when the timer starts and practice your demo.

2. Don’t rely on wifi
Like you might know, wifi at a conference is not reliable. I’ve had times where right at the last minute wifi doesn’t work and I’m wasting a few minutes of my 3 minute time slot trying to connect. If you can build a p2p app or wifi direct using the Android SDK then do it!

3. State the issue/problem and show how your hack solves it

Not all hacks need to have slides but prepare your presentation from an organizational standpoint. Make sure that you state the issue that is out there in the industry/world and how you went about solving it.

4. Don’t show a PowerPoint presentation just skip to the demo
The judges have to sit thru 20+ PowerPoint presentations so instead show your passion for the issue, target audience and solution and then head straight into the demo. If one of the judges works for a company that you’ve integrated their APIs or SDK then definitely show that particular feature.

5. Watch your time
Goes without saying but make sure you finish your demo in the time allocated. If you have 3 minutes then you should be concluding around 2:30 at the latest to leave time for questions or technical difficulties. Usually within a hackathon there is someone with a timer and will announce when your time is almost up but have a good understanding of how fast your demo takes when you practice it before hand.

Hope those tips help you out in your next hackathon presentation. I’m sure you have some tips too so make sure to add yours below in the comment section.

-Randy

New Video: #socialmedia Marketing Hangout Episode 5

Randy Ksar — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:00:07 +0000

Joining me this week was Alexia Nielsen from Odesk.com (@odesk on Twitter). She is the social media manager managing all the social channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest. Odesk provides a platform to find contractors of all types throughout the world – whether you need social media marketing help or web engineering help odesk is the place to go. Companies can find the contractor, get bids and pay thru the platform as well as contractors can create a profile so companies can find them.

The agenda for episode focused on the following topics:

Odesk demo (3:02) – Alexia’s gives us a demo of Odesk. Questions we answered: How does Odesk provide? Does it manage the payments? How much does it cost? How can contractors use it?
Hootsuite Conversations (7:10) – new tool from Hootsuite to allow internal collaboration of your social mentions. Questions we answered: What problem does it solve? How do companies deal with internal social collaboration now? What are the pros and cons of using the tool?
The new James Bond movie Skyfall and the movie website (19:19) – Coming out in the U.S. on November 9th this appears to the best Bond movie yet! Questions we answered: How did the movie website incorporate social within their user experience?
Beats by Dre cover photo promotion (28:45) – New promotion launched recently which I’ve been seeing a lot of press about and other companies doing. Questions we answered: Does this help with brand engagement with the current fans or does it only bring in new ones? Does their need to be an incentive? How do you track the performance/ROI of this campaign?
Interscope’s redesigned website incorporating social feeds of artists (37:00) – We took a look at the design and feeds from Lady Gaga’s Interscope artist page. Questions we answered: What value does this bring to the artist’s website? Do fans visit the record label website? How can this social design be applied towards other industries?
New online live event blogging tool from Blyve.com (45:00) – I gave a demo of Blyve showcasing the moderator tools, polling tools, video integration and the user experience. Questions we answered: How do companies manage all the social conversations during a live event? How do you moderate a Google+ Hangout on AIR?

Watch the video below and comment below with any questions and feedback:

New Video: Episode 4 of Social Media Marketing Hangout

Randy Ksar — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:17:44 +0000

Episode 4 was filmed yesterday and what a great conversation with our panelists. Joining me to talk about the latest in social media marketing were:

Erin Korogodsky from Lithium Technologies @erinkoro and www.lithium.com
Luis DeAvila from Idea Nerd, Inc., a mobile app development agency
Ramsey Ksar from Blyve @ramseyk and blyve.com

I brought up two topics to discuss: Twitter’s new header image and LinkedIn’s Company pages. We came to the conclusion that Twitter’s header image really doesn’t add value to small businesses but potentially the larger enterprises when combined with the enhanced profiles (apprx. $25K). Second we spent time on LinkedIn’s Company Pages, new follower pages/content and endorsements. Company pages was something that Erin wanted to know what are some tips to optimize engagement and eventually lead generation – our collective answer was content strategy. We all followed Sir Richard Branson and I had a question can follower content be shared across a company page and the answer was no unfortunately (LinkedIn if you are listening put this in the product roadmap). Hope you enjoyed the conversation and stay tuned to the next hangout that you can join on October 17, 2012 and noon pacific.

-Randy

New Hangout: Social Media Marketing Discussion on Wed Oct 3 Noon PT #socialmedia

Randy Ksar — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:57:26 +0000

Join me and other social strategists for a Google+ Hangout on Wednesday October 3, 2012 at noon pacific.

We’ll cover the below topics and your questions:
-Twitter’s new header images – why are they making a big deal of it? is it worth it?
-LinkedIn Company pages – share your company page and best practices
-Hootsuite’s new internal collaboration tools
-and anything else in the social media world

Watch the Hangout on AIR, join the conversation, and share your social media expertise and/or questions with the panelists at http://blyve.com/event/a3cc6950e0bfb40300000000

FYI, if you are interested in being on the panel / Google+ Hangout, ping me at randy.ksar@gmail.com.

-Randy

I Voted for SXSW Panel on Google+ Hangouts w/ @sarahmido

Randy Ksar — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:54:08 +0000

I love how Google+ Hangouts brings a sense of authenticity and real-time to people’s social status updates. Whether you are on your smartphone or tablet, you can start broadcasting to the world and sharing the news from your location. One industry that has seen tremendous benefit is the news broadcasters. It adds a human, conversational touch that is so used to traditional broadcasters reading the teleprompters. Sarah Hill is one of the first (that I know) who started using Google+ Hangouts live on the news broadcast that she is apart of in Missouri. She curates content from those around the world – whether it is topic experts or just those that happen to be on location tuned into her Google+ Hangout. Really fascinating use of technology that turns a local, traditional news broadcast out of Missouri into one that has a global reach.

Sarah Hill and a few of her counterparts have submitted a panel at the awesome SXSW festival in Austin, Texas to share best practices on creating a hangout, moderating the discussions, and curating content. She needs our help in making it onto the official agenda – Vote for her panel at http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/7485 , create your account and click “thumbs up” on the panel on G+ Hangouts as your Free TV Station.

I voted! Did you?