• Relevance - Content needs to be both relevant to your audience, and relevant to your brand.  It also needs to align with your main business objectives.
• Evidence - Consumers are suspicious of any claims they think are biased.  Using evidence from independent industry authorities, testimonials, and research can counter this concern.
• Brand Alignment - All content needs to be carefully aligned with your brand identity. This also gives you an opportunity to check that your brand identity is properly documented.
• Channel Optimization - Your content needs to be tailored for various specific channels.  For example, the content you create to be effective on Facebook will not be the same as content that will be effective on LinkedIn or your blog.  Your strategy has to be specific across each channel.
• Metrics - Success cannot be assessed without measurement, and adaptations to strategy must be based on the findings of those measurements.

In its infancy… marketing was designed to grow and push the curiosity of the consumer. It was monumental to the buying of billboards for the increase of market share in a given location or product line. In the technology driven world of today… where marketing is drilled down to a dull roar and people are ignoring… practically everything… curiosity will always reign supreme.

Curiosity (in the marketing sense) can be defined as a GAP in the consumer’s knowledge (Check out Made to Stick, page 84). The curiosity or knowledge gap has the potential of being completely debilitating for the individual. The debilitation happens when the individual understands they are missing something.Learning is… fundamentally… the pursuit of knowledge and is a universal trait in most human beings. When you feel the knowledge gap you scramble around trying to find something to fill it.

So many times companies try to throw the facts at their consumers without telling them why they need to learn it in the first place. “This is what makes our product work! It is a semi-conductor flex conductor.” Eventually they get to the need statement but.

I don’t care about the flex mumbo jumbo. How will it make my life easier!? Tell me a story. Give me example. Fill my knowledge GAP with education that matters… lives and breathe…. not a brochure.

Functionality is only a piece of the puzzle. Everyone can say they do something… it is the stories that matter.

Because soccer is the most popular sport in the world, advertisers’ have been flocking to get in on the soccer action. The teams, tv spots, and players have the ability to reach people all over the world in one sitting. Soccer almost touches every individual in the world. At the ExactTarget Social Media Lab, we wanted to understand the true impact of the Champions League game on the social media landscape and the opponents, Chelsea and Bayern. And on Saturday, we took notes.

Enthusiasm appears to be building among investors for Facebook’s impending initial public offering (IPO), when shares of the now privately held company will be sold to the public on Wall Street.

Consumers, on the other hand, are less than thrilled with their Facebook experience. According to a computerized sentiment analysis of more than 88 million comments posted on social media over the last year, Facebook has struggled to maintain a positive net sentiment in the low 30% range — hardly a ringing endorsement.

The company has raised its expected IPO share price from $29 to $34 to $34 to $38. The company, which operates a social networking site with more than 750 million members worldwide, is expected to officially price its stock Thursday.

While investors see the stock offering as the next big thing, many of Facebook’s members have offered a litany of complaints about the site as it has rapidly grown in size, as reflected in this snapshot of comments by those 88 million members who posted to Twitter, Facebook and other social media:

Some users who’ve written to ConsumerAffairs complain that Facebook seems to arbitrarily interfere with their activities.

Do I know you?

“Once again, I’ve been blocked for 30 days for requesting friendships with people I didn’t know,” Bev, of Springfield, Ohio, wrote in a ConsumerAffairs post. “This statement is false, anyone I request as a friend is either family, a friend, or someone I went to school with.”

Customer Service

Ola, of Cairo, Egypt, finds customer service lacking.

“I can’t log-in to my account because of the security check,” Ola writes. “There was no massage sent to me, the phone call gives me a wrong code and I sent my government ID but they didn’t respond to my mail.”

Some of the complaints obviously stem from Facebook’s enormous size. With 750 million “customers,” operating call centers or even responding to individual emails just isn’t going to happen.

Censorship?

Some Facebook users, like Shannon, of Vilonia, Ark., complain about political censorship.

“Facebook is discriminating against my posts,” Shannon writes. “I support Ron Paul and Facebook kicked me off for three days. Whatever happened to our constitutional rights? Our freedom of speech has been cut off by Facebook.

While law enforcement officials have expressed concern about online security for young users, Facebook has initiated procedures to identify problems and deal with them. But Jeff, of Toomina, Australia, says they don’t seem to work very well.

“I reported three sexually explicit posts, very explicit for a 17 year old girl (her account was obviously hacked),” Jeff writes. “I clicked on the ‘report story,’ did this three times for the three different stories. Now Facebook has decided to block my account. This was as soon as I clicked submit on the third complaint. I no longer have access to my phone that was used to register. This profile is my business account and I would like to sue Facebook for this as I have done nothing wrong.”

The hundreds of complaints about Faceback in the last year in the ConsumerAffairs database may be a drop in the bucket when compared to the company’s massive membership. But the lukewarm postings of 88 million consumers, combined with the ConsumerAffairs postings, may be indicative of the kinds of problems a social networking site faces when trying to manage such a large number of “customers.”

Still, it’s not likely to dampen the enthusiasm for Facebook stock. Many analysts see it as the next Google, whose share price is now well over $600. Arvind Bhatia, the interactive media analyst for investment bank Sterne Agee, is bullish on the Facebook IPO, giving it a $46 price target and estimating the company will triple revenue over the next five years.

This post is content that was originally posted on ConsumerAffairs.com

From a guy’s perspective, social media leans feminine.  On the whole women are much more apt to post personal pictures, share craft ideas and tweet about their emotions. Even though the Generation Y shares their personal lives more than ever before, YAYA (youth and young adult) men are hesitant to gush over social media.

As a member of this population segment, I have observed how my peers think about and use social media. Here are three tips for reaching YAYA guys through social media:

1. Forget about Pinterest. If there is one thing that epitomizes the point of this post, it is how girls fawn over Pinterest while guys just roll their eyes. Guys see Pinterest only as a way to share recipes, fashion advice and craft ideas. I looked on the Pinterest homepage and saw one post from a guy among at least 99 by gals. Guys on Pinterest definitely earn an eyebrow raise. The only way I can see Pinterest shaking its feminine stigma and appealing to young men is if it created a separate “Menterest” site where guys can talk about car renovations, sport feats and action movies. Young men do have things they talk to each other about, but we aren’t about to do it on a site that lists trendy ways to wear your hair. If you are trying to reach consumers through Pinterest, you are only reaching half the population.
2. Advertise competitions. It’s in the nature of young men to love showing off their skills and see how they stack up against others. I see any competition as a way to prove myself. Use social media as a means to promote competitions, sweepstakes or quizzes your company uses to promote its brand. Setting up March Madness Bracket pools through Facebook or Tweeting about your company’s fantasy sports leagues are great ways to get guys’ attention. Competitions are an easy and fun way for guys to interact with your brand and talk about it with others.
3. Provide a brag board. Millennial guys may hesitate to show emotions, but they are don’t hesitate when it comes to pumping themselves up. Impressing friends and girls is always a plus for young men no matter if they admit it or not. They love talking about the huge fish they caught, how many beers they downed and all the phone numbers they picked up last night. If your product or service allows guys to brag about how great they used it, then give those customers a forum for boasting about themselves (and therefore your brand). It could be as simple as tweeting for people to tweet at you with their biggest fish stories, but you’ll get attention. Then if you retweet them, they will love it even more.

Although we young men do not naturally enjoy sharing everything we do with the world, there are ways to get our attention and incite our conversation. If you can provide a competition, a place for guys to brag about themselves or even a way to share about common experiences that ties into your brand it can offer you access to an elusive segment of the population. Your skillful use of social media can help you crack a very tough nut: YAYA men.

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Today’s guest post was written by Cole Donelson. He is a member of YAYA Connection, a student-staffed consulting agency guided by professional staff from the Missouri School of Journalism.

I wanted to give you a sneak peek into new research and a presentation I am giving at a couple of conferences in the next week. This information is based on the changes in retailing and the customer engagement strategy of old.

The ways in which email subscribers and social media fans interact with brands are evolving rapidly. Today’s struggles is not only to build this “earned” audience but also to retain their attention in today’s noisy marketing landscape. Check out the insights and strategies obtained after analyzing the offline and online marketing behavior of NRF’s 100 fastest growing retailers.

Twitter is a great marketing tool for most companies. It brings recognition to your brand and allows customers to share their love for the brand. Unfortunately, the publicity that Twitter brings is not always positive. Sometimes it brings along a lot of negative attention towards a brand, ruining its reputation. Companies should take the following tips into consideration before they even create a Twitter account to advertise their brand:

1. Be vigilant – Always keep an eye on your Twitter account. It is a good idea to hire someone just to maintain your company’s Twitter, as well as to make sure that a Twitter war is discovered, and defused, in the beginning stages. People are on Twitter at all times of the day, in all time zones. So do not leave your company’s Twitter unprotected even in the middle of the night. A social media expert should be watching all of your social media accounts at all times.

2. Be knowledgeable – Do not deny anything that you do not know for sure. For example, if the Twitter war started because of a rumor about the company’s president, it is not best to deny the rumor without knowing that it is untrue for sure. Make sure that you confirm or deny the accusations through the proper sources before responding to them publicly on Twitter.

3. Have a plan –Determine a plan of action in the event that a Twitter war begins, before it happens. Every company’s marketing department should figure out their plan of attack in advance. A Twitter war can start about anything, such as rumors of sweatshops, lay-offs, or a tainted product. Try to anticipate the issues that consumers may bring up on Twitter, and figure out how your company will respond. Being proactive really does make a big difference.

4. Have a sense of humor – A lot of the time a sense of humor is the only tool that you need to disagree any argument, whether it is in face-to-face conversation or online. Take complaints seriously, but be lighthearted when appropriate.

5. Do not try to cover it up – The internet is written in ink, not pen. Whatever is posted on Twitter is there forever, whether or not you try to cover it up, make it invisible to your Twitter followers, or try to get the person to remove their negative statements. It is better to confront accusations head-on then it is to try to make the problem disappear.

A brand’s most important asset is its reputation. Once a company gets a negative reputation, it is nearly impossible to fully restore it. Some consumers will never be able to see past certain misdoings or false rumors. That does not mean that you should not attempt to mend fences, however. Sometimes an apology really does go a long way. The great thing about Twitter is that your company can respond to the consumers directly. Never underestimate the power of social media. It has been said that any publicity is good publicity, but that simply is not true when you consider the irreversible damage that a Twitter war can do.

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Sam is a social media specialist and blogger with an interest in Internet marketing. He believes there are a variety of ways to boost your ecommerce conversion rate, improving landing page design is one valuable piece.

Last week I presented the Fierce Loyalty model in a half-day workshop and during the Q & A, a gentleman raised his hand and said “I totally see how the pieces come together for fierce loyalty. I’m just wondering, is there a way to make them come together faster?”

This is far and away the number one question I get. Even though everyone understands that creating a fiercely loyal community takes commitment and time (just like any other relationship), we can’t let go of our need for speed.

And I have good news. Yes, there are what I call “Fierce Loyalty Accelerators”. While they cannot replace the essential elements, they can absolutely help your community get to the fierce loyalty space much much faster.

Here are three of my favorites:

1) Create a culture of “We”.

Traditionally, the relationship between a business and its clients is based on an “us” and “them” paradigm. What if there was no “us and them”? What if there was only “we”

No one does this better than Harley-Davidson. Their entire brand culture is built around the idea that everyone from corporate employees to customers is first and foremost a Harley rider. Creating a community based on this idea of “we’re all in this together” breaks down the traditional walls between customers and companies, and gives customers an ownership stake in the success of the brand.

2) Build in exclusivity.

Let’s face it. We all like the feeling that we belong to something that is exclusively for us and people like us. Customers and clients who belong to an exclusive community know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it will deliver value that is specifically designed for their interests and their needs.

Weight Watchers recently launched a program and a community exclusively for men who want to lose weight. Men know this community will speak directly to them and their specific weight loss challenges and they don’t have to worry about sitting in a room full of ladies. Weight Watchers can target their messaging and product delivery directly from men to men. When clients know they absolutely belong, it’s much easier for them to feel Fierce Loyalty.

3) Stand for something bold.

Taking a bold stand 1) allows you to rise above all the noise in today’s marketplace and 2) attract a very distinct group of customers who want to be associated specifically with you.

Hands down the best I’ve seen at this lately is The Dollar Shave Club. Their instantly viral YouTube commercial was an incredibly bold move with an incredibly bold message. Their right customers immediately identified with them and their not-so-right customers tuned them out. The payoff for the incredibly bold stand? Twelve thousand new customers in 48 hours (plus a community of people who can’t wait to see what they do next).

These three accelerators: creating a culture of “we”, building in exclusivity and standing for something bold, don’t cost a lot or money or involve a lot of manpower. They simply require a shift in approach. Put one, two or even all three of them into play and watch the Fierce Loyalty temperature rise in your client community.

What are your thoughts? What “fierce loyalty accelerators” have you discovered that strengthen your community?

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Sarah Robinson is President and CEO of Sarah Robinson Co. She is a seasoned business coach, strategist, advisor and speaker who helps business owners set their companies apart from the pack. Based in Birmingham, Alabama, Sarah advises her international clients on how to build a thriving, successful community, how to increase social media effectiveness, and how to develop a remarkable online and offline business presence.

You can learn more about Sarah and Fierce Loyalty at http://www.fierce-loyalty.com

Motherhood hit like a ton of bricks.

Nearly 10 years of experience in marketing, media, and startup business management, meant nothing being thrown into a trade with no training. I’d be lost if not for the strong network of women I had built in the field of motherhood.

I think marketing professionals face similar challenges. The rules and applications are always changing, with new responsibilities added daily.

After returning to work post-maternity leave, I realized that my new life at home wasn’t all that different from my life as a marketing consultant.

I’ve learned that nothing is one-size-fits-all for any client, mom or child. That’s why individuals need to take a strategic approach to their careers, lives, and personal brands, no matter how their job description reads today.

The Parenting Parallels

So what other parallels run between motherhood and the modern marketer?

• We’re always on the clock, working on a 24/7 media cycle, with a schedule built around deadlines.

• We choose our vendors wisely.
• We practice the 4 Ps. Yes, product, price, promotion and place, but also patience, principles, perseverance and potty.
• We’re masters of the SWOT analysis through our research and decision-making: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and toys. Yes, toys on its own, because you can basically throw out any logical thought when it comes to the amount acquired, the bells and whistles (and lights) involved, or the leverage they offer in crisis situations.
• We’re socially networked and organize the big events.
• We deliver a combination of practical solutions we need, and crafty, creative projects we want.
• We demonstrate transparency with our willingness to share our stories from the field.
• We maximize budgets and are master negotiators.
• We’re obsessed with the competition and constantly analyze our performance.
• We foresee PR crises and proactively plan for them.
• The client is always right in our eyes, but we know when to say no.
• It can be a thankless job, in an endless cycle of success and failures, but we do it for the love, and frankly it’s what we are destined to do.

It’s a new day for marketers, and moms and dads alike can take advantage of the same tools companies are using to build their brands, to achieve a greater return on the investment in future generations.

What do you find common in your marketing job and parenting? I can only speak from the female perspective but would love to hear from dads too!

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Christina Schmitz is vice president of PR 20/20, and founder of TheOnMom.com, a new blog and community dedicated to helping moms execute strategic parenting plans, market themselves for success, and connect with others “in the field.” Connect on Twitter @christinacs and @theonmom, and LinkedIn

I’m really pumped for this webinar because of the content and because of Jay Baer. It is going to be awesome and it is free!

Register by clicking here.

Acclaimed author and social media strategist Jay Baer will join global interactive marketing provider ExactTarget (NYSE:ET) for a live webcast at 2 p.m. April 24 to give marketers exclusive advice on how to build better marketing across email and Facebook.

Featuring case studies and the latest research from Baer and ExactTarget, the exclusive webcast will explore the similarities between marketing on email and Facebook and offer practical advice on how to integrate the two channels to drive consumer engagement and deliver marketing results.

“Facebook has become one of the most powerful online communities for engagement, sharing and interaction,” said Tim Kopp, ExactTarget’s chief marketing officer. “Our exclusive webcast with Jay Baer will help marketers understand what’s driving Facebook’s meteoric growth, what it means for brands and how to apply online marketing fundamentals of relevancy, personalization and permission to extend the power of Facebook into email.”

Key topics to be explored in the live webcast include:

• Similarities between consumer expectations on Facebook and email
• Examples and quick tips for integrating Facebook and email
• How to integrate messaging and content across Facebook and email
• Best practices in measuring performance across email and Facebook

Marketers can register for the webcast by clicking here. All registered attendees will receive a complimentary copy of Baer’s latest eBook, Facebook Marketing: Email’s Next Frontier.

More than 70 percent of online Americans use Facebook at least weekly, and 20 percent of those have made a purchase after receiving a marketing message on Facebook, according to ExactTarget’s recently released 2012 Channel Preference Survey. The survey of nearly 1,500 consumers found nearly a third (32 percent) of teens (ages 15-17) have made a purchase after receiving a marketing message on Facebook.

The announcement of the April 24 webcast follows the introduction of ExactTarget’s SocialPages application. Built as an application on the ExactTarget Interactive Marketing Hub, SocialPages provides a drag and drop interface that allows marketers to create and manage branded Facebook tabs and monitor real-time performance and cross-channel engagement across email, mobile, social media and the Web. SocialPages is generally available for ExactTarget’s clients in North America, Europe, South America and Australia. The application is also available through the company’s network of more than 500 marketing service providers worldwide.

Register by clicking here.