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Online Marketing Tips from the Farmer’s Market

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

My wife and I have been attempting to hit the local farmer’s market every Sunday. Our intention is to eat healthier and support some local businesses. This last Sunday marked our second trip and being quite the “people watcher” I had a few observations that struck me as having similarities to how marketing on the web works. For instance, compare the throngs of people browsing the stands of fresh produce to the eb and flow of the world wide web. Many of the stands sold the same items as their competitors who were only feet (read: clicks) away. Vendors with more easily accessible product layouts, a wider variety of items and better prices were seconds away from any of the patrons. I saw some interesting parallels to the world of online marketing. Here my tips based on my observations during my visit to the farmer’s market: Show your wa res & give them a taste It was surprising to see just how many vendors at the market did not have samples to share with customers. Those who did had sliced up fruit and samples of their best baked goods on hand and within reach. Customers who might have been reluctant to snag a bag of peaches two stands down seemed persuaded to finally shell out some dough after tasting a succulent sample available at a more generous vendor. Circle Back: How could you do the same to attract potential customers who are riding the thin line between consideration and purchase? Do your competitors display their “wares” or do they hide them behind sign up forms other other “hoops”? Try listing out some of your products that your customers might be able to “taste” and lower (or remove) the barrier to do so. Display your credentials While there were quite a few vendors that had big banners hanging from their stands displaying which farm they were from and where it was located seized the opportunity to take it a step further. I’m not sure what it takes to be “ certified organic “, but those who had earned the title had their certificates visibly mounted where customers could see it. Same for those who received an award for their cupcakes or fresh flowers. Either printed next to their name or displayed on a sign nearby and in view. It added an extra level of confidence in these folks and I had a feeling that they were serious about their work. Circle Back: Does your business have any awards, certifications, or industry recognitions it could put front and center on the homepage of your website? How much added confidence would this give your customers? Try finding a spot on your homepage, above the fold , where you can proudly display at least 3 of your credentials. Social proof is a powerful influencer. Do you have testimonials from customers or trusted experts in your industry that you can add to your website or social media profiles? Engage with your customers and be remembered There was one produce stand in particular that stuck in my mind. My wife was nabbing some plums and one of the guys working the stand walked up and asked me “How’s it going there sir?.” I replied “Good. Just grabbing some plums here.” He proceeded to chat with me while he helped other customers bag their items. Although our encounter was very brief, I will remember that friendly vendor each time I revisit the market (and probably grab more plums). Moments later his co-worker approached me and asked about the zombie themed design on my t-shirt. He recommended a movie that he thought I might like based on the Bruce Campbell like motif of it. I think I might check that movie out and report back to him what I thought next time I’m there. Circle Back: Social media provides a variety of ways for businesses to reach out and connect with their customers. Do you engage with your customers before, after, and during the sales process? Do your conversations revolve only around your product/service or do you take the time to discuss things other than “YOU”? How can showing a genuine interest in your customer create an opportunity to be remembered when they are ready to spend money? Besides yourself, do you encourage your staff to be themselves and engage with customers whenever possible? Try to be less reactive and more proactive using your social media channels. When an opportunity arises to be helpful, friendly, and conversational … take it! Being social takes dedication Interestingly enough, this experience was directly related to a vendor who was using social media to market their product at the farmer’s market. One of the first things you notice when you get out of your car near my local farmer’s market is the aroma of freshly popped kettle corn. Upon arrival I checked in using the popular location base service Foursquare . I noticed that someone had left a tip at the location . “Look for the Gold Rush Popcorn stand. They sell deliciousssss kettle corn. Also, if you follow @goldrushpopcorn on Twitter , they post a password daily that will get you a free bag of popcorn!” said someone named Lee (read on to learn who Lee is). I quickly jumped onto Twitter, found @GoldRushPopcorn and followed them only to find that not only had they not posted any secret password that day, but they also did not tweet anything since July 18th. I shot a message their way and still have not heard back from them. Since then I also discovered their somewhat inactive Facebook page and another recommendation by Lee on Yelp regarding the free popcorn password tip. With a little investigation I was able to find out that the helpful Lee happened to be a tech savvy teen living in the area who happened to have a penchant for Gold Rush popcorn. So much so that he wanted to share it. Unfortunately the crew at Gold Rush Popcorn seemed to have given up updating their social profiles shortly after the word seemed to really start spreading about their insider offer. Even if they didn’t have the offer for free popcorn available it would be nice to see a little engagement spring up with people (like me) who had reached out and asked about the offer. Circle Back: Leaving your social media channels dormant for extended periods of time is akin to not being present at all on the social web. Don’t spread yourself thin by engaging in more social channels than your staff can handle at once. Better to be active in one place than to have dormant profiles in 3. Identify and reach out to people like Lee who are helping you spread the word without compensation. Especially those who seem to understand the medium. One or two of these folks might be willing to dedicate a little time posting and engaging with others on your behalf as community managers. Have you shown your special channels and company advocates some love lately? That about wraps it up. Which tip resonated most with you? Anything you might go try today? I’d like to hear what you think.

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Online Marketing Tips from the Farmer’s Market

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Tags: business, credentials, customer, customers, facebook, Gold, Insider, Internet Marketing, mind, online-marketing, sales, Social Media, tips, Twitter, work

Starting Fires

Monday, September 6th, 2010

Two weeks ago, I posted a call to arms for anyone who wanted to be a regular blogger here at Social Media Explorer. It was a call-to-arms for, “smart thinkers, status-quo challengers, tool reviewers and people who understand social media marketing better be about business or you’ll be flipping burgers soon.” I put an exclamation point on the post by saying, “I want to share this platform with thought fire-starters.” Today, I have my fire-starters. Twelve new authors join Social Media Explorer now, each with a unique perspective, experiences, insights and attitude. (Yeah, I dig attitude.) I’ve asked them to challenge themselves, me and each of you, too. It’s a challenge to raise the level of conversation and discourse here, to make Social Media Explorer an intellectual stimulus for conversations around social media marketing, public relations, digital marketing, online communications, advertising and branding and more. My challenge to you is to hold us accountable. Sure, there will be posts or topics that don’t stir the pot or challenge our thinking as well as the day before, but what I think we all want is content that doesn’t follow the crowd a chow time but still delivers smart insights to running your business or serving your clients or organization. We want to be helpful, but thought-provoking. Insightful but pot-stirrers. I think that’s what I’ve delivered in the last three years and what you expect of me. My new colleagues will have to be held to that standard. And those colleagues are stellar. Each was chosen carefully. There are no social media gurus here. They’re all experienced and proven in business, not just blogging. They’ve served their companies, clients or passions with great thinking, smart doing and even smarter questioning over the years. We have category expertise in everything from strategic planning to humor writing, from design to coding. But more importantly, we have 13 people with a passion for learning as well as teaching. More on how they were identified in a moment. First, and in no particular order other than ladies first (because that’s how my mother raised me) and without me, here are your new contributing authors for Social Media Explorer: Angela Maiers @AngelaMaiers Angela Maiers Heather Rast @heatherrast Insights and Ingenuity Stephanie Schwab @socialologist Socialologist Eric Brown @Eric_Urbane The Urbane Way Jordan Cooper @notaproblog Not A Pro Blog Mark Dykeman @MarkDykeman Thought Wrestling Broadcasting Brain Andrew Hanelly @hanelly Engage (TMG Custom Media) Really Bad Parenting Advice Adam Helweh @secretsushi Secret Sushi Jeff Larche @TheLarche Digital Solid Ike Pigott @ikepigott Occam’s Razr Mark Smiciklas @intersection1 Intersection Consulting Tom Webster @webby2001 Brand Savant And Helweh has already compiled an SME Author Twitter list for those interested: http://twitter.com/secretsushi/socialmediaexplorer-team The authors were chosen carefully. I published the call-for-authors because I wanted people who read SME and authors who wanted to write for me. I didn’t want to go begging people to contribute. I established some expectations in the post and reviewed each applicant (I wound up with over 50) for those qualities. Some of the ones I chose I was familiar with (and thrilled they raised their hands). A couple of them I didn’t know well but quickly discovered they had the qualities and experience I was hoping for. I would humbly submit that I will push them to be better than they are. They, in turn, will push me. Each of you, however, will push all of us. And as an aside, I am not going to stop blogging. No, I won’t write every day in addition to these fine folks. My blogging will be more sporadic, but I’m not going to stop or even slow down. Having more authors means I can focus on diving deeper into some subjects and not worry that missing 2-3 days of posting will affect your expectations. What I’m doing is finding a way to provide you with more excellent content from smart people. Thank you for continuing to count on Social Media Explorer . Hopefully these new colleagues will further your confidence in us and help you continue to learn and grow as a communicator.

Thoughts on Community, Particularly Seattle’s

Friday, July 30th, 2010

I spent a few days in Seattle this week and was sincerely overwhelmed. Though I was jokingly told I came for its annual one week of summer, the weather, the people, the Social Media Club, the community … everything about the trip was perfect. Typically, I don’t blog about the trips I take. I take far too many of them, am not a travel blogger and me talking about what I’m doing has to be monumentally boring for you, as Twitter-esqe as that concept might be. But Seattle is one of those communities that when you walk away, you think, “I’ve got to tell people about this place.” Image via Wikipedia I was there to speak to Social Media Club Seattle , a local chapter of SMC that was started by my friend Kevin Urie . At dinner on Monday with Joann Jen , Shauna Causey , Eric Berto and Urie, they told me that the 225-seat event sold out in eight hours and they had 110 people on a waiting list to get in. (Clearly, they don’t realize how unimpressive I really am, my wife was quick to remind me.) It’s not the number of people that’s important here, it’s actually the quality of the people. SMC Seattle has grown to perhaps one of the more active chapters in the umbrella organization’s network. I was assured several times that the audience wouldn’t tolerate 101 content. This was a 301 audience. They needed to be pushed. Thank God! And I was told they would push back. Double Thanks! I was asked a tough question or two from the crowd, which I appreciate. When everyone walks away with, “Great talk.” I get frustrated. I want people to push back, get uncomfortable and maybe even be a little mad. It makes them think about the issue more which produces more clarity of thought moving forward. You don’t have to like me for me to be useful to you. Often times, I’m more useful if you don’t. One question I was asked had me perplexed. I’m still chewing on it and will probably blog it soon. More later. Perhaps its the fact that everyone seems to have some Microsoft connection in Seattle. They either worked there or work for someone who works with them. Perhaps its because they have Starbucks here like most cities have fire hydrants. But there exists in Seattle an awesome tech community. And those here who are passionate about social media are passionate AND knowledgeable. There’s also a cohesiveness in Seattle’s social media enthusiasts you can sense. The people I encountered unknowingly showed me how it ought to be done. Ironic since Urie insists my co-founding of SMC Louisville inspired him to do the same here. I walked away from SMC Seattle wishing SMC Louisville could be more like them and that we could all have the benefit of such a passionate, smart community just outside our door. Maybe you have that in your community. Cherish it. From my hour talking to Neil Crist and Pete Mannix from ValueVine to hanging out with Jeff, John and the gang at the Whrrl offices , to getting a Windows Phone demo at the gdgt event I crashed, to the chic and social media hip Hotel Max , to Shauna Causey trying to cheauffer me around town in a car the size of my left thigh, every bit of Seattle made me smile. I even got a big-time save from Alaska Airlines when my crazy schedule put Wednesday’s PRSA Independent Practitioner’s webinar (of which I was a speaker) butted up against my return flight. Elliott Pesut, Bobbie Egan and crew snapped a few fingers and booked me a board room in their elite traveler’s lounge so I could be on the call and not have to race to the airport after. Thank you, Seattle. You reminded me this week what it means to have a community that oozes its essence. I got a little on me. And it’s nice. Note : I have to give a shout out to Blake Cahill who really started the ball rolling to get me to Seattle. Blake, you’re a saint. Thank you for inviting me. A video of the event (SMC Seattle live-streams their events and run them like a TV show … very cool) is online at UStream .There are some great pictures of the SMC Seattle Event taken by Berto here . Tac Anderson recaps my talk on his blog as well. And I uploaded m y snapshots from the trip to Flickr .

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Thoughts on Community, Particularly Seattle’s

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Tags: events, flickr, Seattle, Shauna Causey, Social Media, space, starbucks, trip, Twitter, windows

A New Chapter In Personal Brands

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

This is Frank Eliason ‘s last week at Comcast . The poster boy for leveraging social media for customer service and, in the process, turning around a struggling company’s image, will no longer be @ComcastCares on Twitter. Eliason is moving on to Citi where he will head up their social media efforts. On the surface, it’s a neat, new plum job for a great guy who is a leader and pioneer in corporate social media. But there’s a lot more to the story because it writes another chapter in the personal vs. company brand playbook. Frank Eliason. Image by Randy Stewart via Flickr Yeah, Charlene Li and Jeremiah Owyang left Forrester and are now reunited at the Altimeter Group . But those two were analysts at a tech-oriented company who branched out to be analysts at their own tech-oriented company. (Yes, they serve non-tech clients, but they’re tech/social analysts.) Robert Scoble ? Same thing … tech to tech. Different deal. Eliason leaves a cable company to go to a financial services company. It’s a bit different when it is out of the tech bubble. Eliason is also, intentional or not, the face and voice of Comcast customer service, not just a shining star on a team of content providers. Frank Eliason is many people’s personal connection to Comcast. Losing him will be a blow to the cable company, and one more impactful than other personal brands moving on have been. You would think that Comcast would realize that and make every effort to keep Eliason in that position. Not so says a friend in the know at the company. I’ll also be watching Eliason’s move to Citi because the position there, as I understand it, reports to marketing and isn’t a delineated customer service initiative. Eliason is a customer care and quality assurance guy, so he’ll stir the pot at the financial services company, I’d bet. More importantly, though, I’m interested to see how @FrankEliason evolves as a face and voice on Twitter. Will Citi position Eliason as an employee handling social media or a personal brand speaking for the company? Ford’s Scott Monty oversees many social media efforts, but is perhaps most effective for the company on Twitter as himself. Yet, in many ways he has leased his name to Ford. (Not a criticism. Ford is his job. And it’s not my opinion. Look at his Tweet cloud .) What happens if Monty were to leave Ford? Yes, their social media efforts would go on, and perhaps largely unaffected. Monty has wisely built a robust social presence for the Ford brands there and the company isn’t as dependent upon him as Comcast is on Eliason. But what about the Scott Monty brand? If he moves to, say, Sony, and suddenly becomes Sony fan boy number one, I worry that his personal brand may become the Rent-This-Space of the social world. What happens to Frank Eliason’s personal vs. company activity is going to be interesting to watch. What could happen if Monty ever leaves Ford might be more interesting, but we may not see that any time soon. My guess is that Ford won’t let him go easily the way Comcast allegedly has Eliason. But this new chapter in personal vs. company brand is being written now. How will the chapter end? What challenges do you see Comcast facing in the coming weeks? What challenges does Eliason have before him at Citi in terms of him vs. the company? The comments are yours. NOTE : Frank Eliason and Scott Monty are both friends but also semi-public figures in this space. I did not contact either of them about this issue before writing it. I only offer the questions and scenarios here as what-ifs for us to consider about personal brands and company presences in the social media space. I wish Frank the best at Citi and know he’ll be as terrific for them as he was for Comcast. I love Scott Monty like a brother and, though I’m perhaps more critical of him as a result, think the world of what he has done at Ford and before. I also consider him perhaps the best corporate social media lead on the planet.

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A New Chapter In Personal Brands

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Tags: branding, comcast-cares, eliason, Financial, flickr, Frank Eliason, Monty, opinion, research, Scott, Scott Monty, Social Media, Twitter

Pure Michigan’s Online Marketing is Driving Success – PR Newswire (press release)

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Pure Michigan’s Online Marketing is Driving Success PR Newswire (press release) Additionally, Pure Michigan now has over 5000 followers at @PureMichigan on Twitter . On both Facebook and Twitter , fans find up-to-date information on … and more

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Tags: driving, driving-success, facebook, fans-find, Michigan, newswire, online, pr newswire, press release, Pure, table-border, Twitter, up-to-date-information

Prophetic Marketer