Social’s best sleep aide.

In my line of work with a very large public relations firm, I am am privy to many conversations that are essentially centered around the age-old question of  ”what do the people want?” As I read through blogs and websites from social media ‘gurus’ and ‘rockstars’ , I read on site after site, assessments of answers to the same question. When I am pulled aside at conferences and presentations inevitably someone is asking the same. Seems everyone in social media is on a quest to figure out what people (and by people I mean consumers and customers) really want from their brands online.

Sometimes, the answers are easier to find if we equate our digital conversations to ones in real life.

And there is one quality that seems to rise above all others, in every situation that is always appreciated; it’s sincerity.

Whether being pitched on a new car, or being given condolences for a loss or even listening to an apology; sincerity is always the thing that brings it home for us. It makes us listen more, believe more and in the end feel that the conversation was intentional, honest and transparent.  Without sincerity in our messaging we are not able to connect with our communities in real ways. Sincerity is the fastest way to bond with your community members. And it is that ‘bonding’ that builds brand loyalty.

So the next time you are crafting a Facebook update, sending out your email newsletter or providing customer service online– think about your sincerity level. Do you mean what you are saying? Is it as pure a message as possible? Would you use the same words with your best friend? With your mom? Being sincere is one thing, but being sure your written words SHOW you are sincere is another. Always run your copy through a mental sincerity filter- and if any of it sounds like you are just spinning words to make a pretty story- try again.

Sincerity not only breeds success but it helps you sleep at night.

You wont have to feel guilty for being insincere, dishonest or not forthcoming.

As you put your head on your pillow, you will know that you have provided real value to your community- and it is that value that will make your loyalty base grow.

Sweet dreams.

Sincerely,

The Media Socialite, Marcy

Does Klout Matter to Chris Angel’s Kitty?

Breaking News people (insert sarcasm here) you can not measure charm, animal magnetism or influence no matter how fancy your algorithm is…somewhere in your head YOU KNEW THAT ALL ALONG.

Like watching Chris Angel and knowing HE ISN’T REALLY floating. No matter how badly you want to believe he has gravity licked.

Klout measures activity and popularity. And despite what you think- activity and popularity ARE PRETTY OKAY ways to judge people. WHEN THERE IS NOTHING ELSE TO JUDGE. Those are the only real bucketable data to be able to rate people online.

Does it show you how INFLUENTIAL people are?

NOPE.

But does it show you how much they use the platforms and how many other people like the way they use it?

YES.

So stop writing meanie anti-klout posts. If you are disappointed it is not some magical Chris Angel of the SoMe world- well, THAT IS YOUR FAULT. You put too much faith in it. Don’t buy a cat and be disappointed when you get it home and find out it can’t talk. Cats can’t talk. Influence can’t be measured. You know that. You are smart.

However, if you want to see if someone is using the social platforms and in ways that others find worthy to follow- then Klout Rocks.

Pet the kitty.

(TALK ABOUT FREAKY-CREEPY. I HAVE A HIGHER KLOUT SCORE THAN CHRIS. PRETTY SURE I CAN FLOAT TOO NOW. OR HOLD MY BREATH FOR 3 DAYS. OR WHATEVER SCAM HE IS PULLING THESE DAYS)

The 6 Reasons Why We Use Social Media.

Given our current state of digital immersion, it no longer feels sufficient to just call it the ‘world wide web’ and might be better renamed the ‘web wide WORLD’. And social media is the internets easy portal into a digital spectrum of no return. Adoption rates and usage numbers for all things social are thru the roof. Did you know that 82% of the WORLD’S population uses at least one social networking site?

Clearly social media is more than just finding old high school boyfriends and wasting time at work. It is fulfilling very real human need in our society.

So what are the real reasons people are using Social Media?

• Self presentation: Social Media is now our identity,personal passport and calling card all rolled into one.
• To belong: Collective activity breeds self validation. In other words it feels good to know you are not alone.
• The addiction: Constant adulation and affirmation is addicting in a very real way.
• The power: Having the ability to publish at-will, makes us all as important as Gutenberg.
• Communicate: Social Media acts as the venue replacement for email and phone.
• We’re lazy: Because the adoption rate is so high- opting out of social media is often harder than being in by default.

x

Understanding the why should help to define your channel strategy to motivate your communities to behave in ways that benefit your brand.

In other words- now that you know WHY they are there- you should have a better idea what will make them happy.

And happy, satisfied community members are the key to any brands success- both offline and on.

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Do bloggers still matter?

It is hard to image that about 7 years ago, this whole ‘bloggers are the best thing to ever happen to brands’ was really just starting. And since that time we have watched brands attempt to find, court and entice bloggers in a manner that at times has felt a bit like wrangling unicorns; brands used unproven techniques to attract a breed of media that they didn’t really believe in. Eventually brands and bloggers learned more about each other. Bloggers learned about impressions, and media sheets and quoted their UPVs on que. And brands started to learn that product, experience or cold hard cash motivated the blogger to promote everything from lipgloss to airlines. Things were pretty comfy there for a while. Until now.

There has been a bit of mind shift on the brand side recently- wanting to pull back from blogger engagements feeling the level of influence has been diluted and is mostly immeasurable. And while there is some validity to that thought- what has really happened is the blogger has grown into something else entirely. The blogger is no longer ‘just’ a blogger- the blogger is now a CONTENT PUBLISHER.

If we think in those terms, and frame up the idea of reaching out to people- any people- who are creating CONTENT and pushing it out to the internet- we see that this is still an important sector of brand message broadcast. We need to think beyond the blog post impression and page views. We need acknowledge the Instagram photo shared with 200 followers, we need to see that a re-pin on Pinterest of a brand link can have a powerful ramifications. In other words- we need to broaden our understanding of what it means to be influential. The influence that a blogger had with only their blog has been diluted, but the influence hasn’t disappeared- it is simply being directed into more niche markets and platforms.

So the answer to my lead in question is that ‘bloggers’ don’t matter the way they used to…but in many cases, when their digital footprint has become diverse- they matter EVEN MORE.

Contact the author on Twitter @MarcyMassura

Your blog is a TV channel, not a show.

Many times I hear about bloggers and brands starting entirely new blogs to be able to express themselves about a hobby or interest that they have determined isn’t the right ‘fit’ for their current blog. And I laugh when this happens. Have you forgotten? Bloggers do not have bosses. We do not have critical editors or focus group reports or corporate big wigs breathing down our back and telling us what we can and can not write about. We run this show. And we can write about ANYTHING.

But should we?

Instead of thinking about your blog as a TV show (to use an antiquated reference), think of your blog as a TV channel.

I give you a second to let that sink in before I elaborate…

TV channels offer  a wide variety different programs on a wide variety of topics. The provide consistency by creating well branded series, that are broadcast on a predicable schedule, and keep the over arching themes that appeal to the target audience of the channel in mind for all programming.

For instance, we might know that Lifetime TV is trying to reach moms age 25-45, and they do so by creating romance movies. But they also have talk shows, news programs and cooking. They seek out parallel content that speaks to the many sides of their audience. And they make sure they whatever they do- they do it with ‘Lifetime’ flavor.

As a blog publisher you should do the same. Understand that a blog is a personality driven publishing format, and the reader has come to your site, in most cases to get to know you better. They want the content to reveal more about you and your interests and in the end they want to know YOU. Blogs fulfill an odd kind of voyeurism. We are drawn in to the mom of triplets and her challenges, the divorced dad running for political office or even the anxiety driven nut job who cusses up a storm for reasons you can’t understand. Blogs let us see into lives we might never have experienced.

A blog ‘audience’ can not only handle- but enjoys- a wide variety of post topics- as long as they all are filtered with the personality of the blogger.

But what about consistency?

Creating well branded categories that re-appear on a regular basis (ala TV series) on a predicable schedule is one way of getting that consistency. Your readership begins to expect a crafting post on Fridays, a photo of your kid on Mondays and a long Social Media advice post on Wednesdays (ahem).

Now go out there, and be the TV star you always wanted.

The infinite power of Ppushu Ppushu marketing

Over the weekend, we made a family pilgrimage to a few collectable places talk with some Pokemon Card collectors to see if there was any interest in buying my older sons collection that has sat in a drawer for years now. Since he has his eye on fancy gaming computer equipment – he asked if he could sell. Turns out (as I suspected but didn’t have the heart to tell the kid)- no one we talked to was interested. On the way home, my younger son asked ‘how did Pokemon get popular anyway?’. I did my best to explain trends, and influencers and how the world of marketing works. How something can one day be nothing, and the next be the hottest item ever. Until it saturates the market of course and returns to being nearly nothing.

He looked confused.

We stopped for lunch, and Tucker spotted an Asian market in the same center and begged we go inside to by ‘his all time FAVORITE snack’. I was absolutely boggled.  What the heck is he talking about?

“Duh! ppushu ppushu Mom!”

Um, okay kid whatever. We stopped inside and navigated our way to what appeared to be the snack aisle. He yelled in delight. Turns out ‘his all time favorite snack’ is some Japanese version of uncooked ramen noodles. And I learned, he has been trading the Ding Dongs and Doritos (yeah, I am a cool mom) I pack in his lunch for these Asian delights all school year long.

I took opportunity to try to finish the earlier conversation.

“So who started with these at school?” I asked.

“Oh some of the kids, the girls mainly. They were always bragging about how great Ppushu ppushu was to everyone. So I tried it and started trading them for it. They brought in extra too. Pretty soon everyone cool was eating it at lunch.”

“So you tried it because they told you it was good?”

“You know how it is mom, sometimes when certain people say something is good you just HAVE to try it.”

So there you have it Internet. The next time you are trying to come up with a complicated plan to utilize influencers to help push your product, or are attempting to explain the power of ground up marketing….remember the story of Ppushu Ppushu.

Influencer marketing is happening all around us our entire life.

We already know this stuff people.

Do what you know, don’t over complicate things, this really isn’t THAT hard and…

Harness the power ppushu ppushu marketing.

Handling Brand Pain

Somewhere between getting my luggage at the baggage claim and unpacking in the hotel, my back went into full-on spasms. The kind of back pain that makes walking to the shower look like climbing Mt. Everest. It hurt of breathe. To move. To think. And while I considered calling room service to come blow dry my hair and wondered if the concierge had a back brace I could borrow, I took about 4 Tylenol PM and tried to sleep it off.

Turns out back pain is not like a hangover, and in the morning I was no better. So I was faced with a problem. Pain. Lots and lots of pain- but I still had a presentation and meetings to do that day.

So Marcy why are you telling us this?

In my Advil haze it occurred to me that managing pain is nothing new to brands. Brands are faced with challenges, crisis and economy woes and need to push through. So how do they handle it?

1. Stay Calm: Panic is the end of productivity. Given a rough patch (low sales, PR crisis etc.) you need to remain calm and facilitate clear thinking. Clear thinking is your way to get past this bump in the road.

2. Prioritize: When you get slowed down, and bogged down by dealing with a challenge stop and re-think your priorities. In other words, throw out the old ‘to do’ list and start over. Look closely where you are putting your energy. Make sure that everything you are doing is going to help propel the brand past the challenge at hand. Let other priorities shift to the bottom of the list.  For example, if you suddenly lose a large contract for distribution your old priority of opening up a new sales region should be replaced with managing your cash flow while you secure a new distribution deal.

3. Take corrective action: While much of what we do in business is out of our hands; trends, economy etc. There is plenty that is still in the hands of the brand. Work to identify what you can do to fix your situation. Don’t sit around and wait for it to heal itself. You have to do something to move the business in the right direction again. So do. Something.

In the end, I re-prioritized what I really needed to do that day (getting dressed mattered, but curling my hair didn’t etc.)I took action by getting stronger medication and doing some back stretches on the hotel floor. I sent a series of tweets like “Your phone drops on the floor and you think ‘oh well I will just buy another’ to avoid picking it up #youknowyourbackisoutwhen” to help me stay calm.

Yes, I was able to push through the pain to do what needed to be done.

And so can you.

Promoting your brand with influencers. Or not.

Influencer. Advocate. Promoter.

Do you know the difference?

So much talk has been given about ‘working with influencers‘ – but what does that even mean? The assumption is that someone with a larger digital footprint have the potential to be influential over their followers. After all if a guy is THAT popular then people must listen to what they have to say right? Well not necessarily.

Working with influencers to help promote your brand only guarantees you one thing; that the influencer has the potential to broadcast his message to more people than the average person. But do broadcast abilities alone make someone influential? Of course not. The key to being influential in any community is truth, trust and throttle. Sending out brand messages, product endorsements and reviews every chance possible only makes the average followers tune out. One might argue that – some ‘influencers’ of this nature could affect brand sentiment ADVERSELY.

So who should brands really be looking to work with these days?

First work to identify your true brand promoters. Those individuals who are already busy spreading the positive message about your brand. Now- return the love; REWARD them. Give them more product/services for free. Ask them to join an advisory board or advocate group. Encourage them to post on your social channels. Make them feel LOVED.

Next, try to get more specific in the influencers you work with by setting up real consumer parameters and having a better understanding of your target consumer. They may not have the world’s largest footprint- but they will have stronger influence over their own communities. It will be easier for these individuals to recommend your brand- because they will fit the profile of the average user. They become your advocates. Not only broadcasting your message- but also representing the ideal consumer. They will have influence by example.

Remember, influence by example is the golden intersection of all market magic. Do I want to by the yellow  sweater because a popular person outside the store is yelling at me and saying I should? Or because someone who I aspire to look like is wearing it and they look  fabulous?

Sometimes bigger isn’t better. It’s just bigger. And more full of itself.

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Visit with Marcy and contact her HERE.

Very good chance she is wearing a yellow sweater : )

To conference or not to conference…

If you are in business, ANY business -you are probably over run by invitations to conferences. Conferences are as hot as Google stock right now.

Conferences exist because they offer the perfect combination; employees who want a valid excuse to leave their cubicles and companies who feel obligated to ‘stay current’ who are willing to pay for their employees attendance. And then there are the conference planners- who are more than happy to take the companies money.  So it is a win-win-win kinda situation.

Which is one reason why I adore conferences.

Conferences feel so old school and vintage to me. After all, not much has changed in 50+ years. Organizers today still follow a similar formula for success: pay a speaker with some recognition in the particular field to keynote (that is the big ticket draw), then you get loads of more talented people to speak for free. Book the hotel in a desirable area (Vegas, New York etc.) and set up banquet rooms with chairs and a mic. Next plan evening ‘networking’ cocktail nights and let the fun begin.

Then comes the conference; People go to the sessions, act terribly interested but many are basically buying time until they can hit the bar that night to find someone to flirt with and boost their ego before they have to return home to their husbands and wives and cubicles. Yup, conferences are pretty much the same as they were in the 60’s I imagine.

And I love them.

Because you know what can happen at one of these conferences? Sometimes, while people are sitting there fidgeting in their seats, a wonderful thing happens; they get inspired. They get motivated and jazzed up and excited about their line of work again. Even by sitting through a session that feels elementary to them, they can walk out and think ‘wow, I know as much as that speaker- I really know my industry’. Yes, a good speaker at a conference can have a real impact on a conference attendee.

But as conferences grow, so do the audiences and topics. I see more broad sweeping conferences like ‘Good Business and You’ kind of thing. What KIND of business? Can you imagine how many demographics, experience levels and industries that would attract? And the speakers would have no choice but to speak in generalizations that merely whitewash their advice to give it some mass appeal.

But recently, I have been pleased to see a few conferences attempting to narrow their focus, and drill down to specific demographics (This new conference for “20-somethings” happening next month) or to highly defined topic areas (such as a social media conference discussing the legal risks). Sure- as a speaker we all want to be on the BIG stage and  look out to a sea of people….but sometimes a smaller, more targeted audience can reap better reception of your message. And in turn, your impact as a speaker is more likely to be broadcast outside of the room.

So I encourage you to re-think your conference choices this year. Sure go to the biggies to see your friends and live it up like a mid-life spring break…but don’t forget the smaller ones. The ones that have real laser pointed content. Who knows? You might learn something.

Ironically-at the time of publishing , Marcy is speaking at the Social Media Strategies Summit in Las Vegas.

For more information on hearing her speak in 2012- visit MarcyMassura.com

Hey brand marketers. It’s time to focus.

It seems like just yesterday when life was simplier and deciding how to market your business to your customer was so much easier doesn’t it? Can we afford print advertising? Is there any chance we can do a television ad? What about flyers on doors? Back then it felt as if we had already too many options and then came the digital revolution and you were asked to split budgets between traditional marketing  as well as create a strong online presence. Some of you might remember the moment you looked up to see your boss walking with purpose towards you saying “Newman- we gotta have a web site! Today!” and so it began…

So where are we NOW? As brands and businesses realize the power (and cost effectiveness) of reaching the consumer where they play in the digital space, more and more budgets are being shifted from things like mailer inserts to Facebook advertising. The low budget cable commercial (although often entertaining) is replaced with a webisode for Google+. Yes, things have changed- or have they?

Many brands, instead of replacing marketing and PR efforts,are still trying to do it ALL. Remember good marketing isn’t about just BEING EVERYWHERE and hoping your customer finds you…it is about being where your customer base is already engaging and making meaningful connections in their space. Which might be on Facebook, or it might be a commercial break from watching re-runs of Huell Howser explain yet another amazing part of California. But in order to make these choices effectively- you have to  understand your customer, where they go for leisure, what is their digital comfort level and more. Once that is established you will know exactly where to invest your dollars.

The  lesson here? Look before you leap and research before you invest.

And yes, it’s time to focus.