Sazbean» Marketing

Facebook MBA: Behind the IPO Everyone’s Talking About

Sarah Worsham — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:00:08 +0000

Kickstarter No-No’s: How to Avoid Botching Your Kickstarter Campaign

Guest Post — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:00:51 +0000

Imagine if bank loans worked like this: You need $10,000 to launch your graphic design company. You’re low on collateral, so you promise the bank that you’ll give them $10,000 of design work (at your usual rate) once you’re up-and-running.

With few questions asked, the bank gives you $10,000, but takes a $500 fee. With a smile, they tell you to be in touch whenever you’re on your feet and ready to get them that design work. That’s a pretty good deal, right?

In the past two years, Kickstarter.com has redefined the way that start-ups and small businesses raise capital. The online fundraising portal takes a 5 percent cut, which can be a sizeable chunk of change, but they also work with you to promote and market your campaign and make sure it’s successful. And once it’s funded, they’re out of the equation.

Just in case you’ve missed the phenomenon completely, here’s how it works: Businesses, bands, entrepreneurs, and people with good ideas create a video explaining what they want to do and how much money they need to do it. They then create a series of rewards for people that contribute at different levels. If you’re a band raising money to record a new album, $10 might get backers a copy of the CD when it’s done. $25 might buy a CD and poster, while $2,500 gets a house concert.

The Kickstarter team reviews the campaign before it launches and helps to ensure that it’s got a good chance of succeeding. Once it goes live, backers can pledge at whatever level they choose. Their credit cards and PayPal accounts are only charged if the project meets its pre-determined financial goal.

When the campaign ends, the project’s founder collects their money, pays Kickstarter 5 percent, and with their now fully-stocked bank account, gets to work on creating the rewards they’ve promised their backers.

Sound intriguing? Here are a few errors to avoid in making sure that your Kickstarter campaign doesn’t fall short of its goals:

Don’t Be a Panhandler

Kickstarter campaigns that fail to meet their goal often have a common theme: they don’t make financial sense for the backer. I’ve been sent links to several campaigns that offer next-to-nothing for as much as $20. Last week, I supported a friend’s project to film a documentary about the sport of kiteboarding (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1148654711/with-a-kite). I gave $25, which seemed very reasonable for a signed DVD once the project was completed. 56 people agreed with me and backed at that level. However, only three people gave the minimum $5 backing, which included only a “virtual fist bump.”

If you’re not a non-profit organization doing charity work, don’t seek out altruism. Give your backers a deal for paying up front for your work. When paying ahead-of-time saves money, people will do that, but if your prices are the same (or higher) than the finished product, you’ll be hard-pressed to find support.

Don’t Overlook the Video

A Kickstarter campaign is defined by its video. If you’re hawking a quality product or service, you want to present it at the highest possible level.

You don’t have to create a Super Bowl commercial — people are already at your page to learn about what you’re offering, so it’s not necessary to hook them in with dancing polar bears and talking babies.

In 2010, the LunaTik watch became one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns ever (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunatik-multi-touch-watch-kits). After setting a goal of just $15,000, the company raised nearly a million dollars ($942,578), vastly surpassing their initial mark.

How did they do it? First of all, their video showed detailed images of the watch, which allows an iPod Nano to snap into it and work as a wristwatch. The four-and-a-half minute video leaves no questions about what the watch is and what it will do. Secondly, the rewards saved people money. 2,432 backers agreed to pre-order a watch for $25 that would later retail for $35. (Notice again that only 128 backers gave $1 just to support the product and receive nothing — why bother taking the time to type in credit card or PayPal info?)

Don’t Forget to Market

Yes, Kickstarter has a built in platform to get the word out about your venture. There are lots of people who browse the site, finding start-ups that they have no connection to and deciding to back them.

However, the great majority of backers will come via your own online networks. Most funding comes in the first day of a campaign. Launch with alerts on Facebook, Twitter, and every other platform you use, and implore your friends to spread the word.

First, get people to your Kickstarter page. Once they’re there, if you present a clean video and rewards that save them money for a product or service they’re intrigued by, you’ll find success. Skip any step in that process, however, and you’re likely to fail. Remember that with Kickstarter, you only get paid if your project meets its goal.

About Anita Brady

Industry veteran Anita Brady is the President of123Print.com, a leading provider of high quality customizable items like customizable business cards, letterhead and other materials for small businesses and solo practitioners.

Chris Brogan Interview – Video creation for business – Future of Publishing

Murray Newlands — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:24:08 +0000

Customers do not listen to sales pitches from people they don’t know like they used to. That’s why it’s more important than ever to use trust agents, people who are seen as experts in the field or whose opinion is otherwise trusted by consumers, to make pitches and get people to buy your product. This has been done in traditional media by celebrity endorsements but online media almost anybody can build themselves up as an expert by starting a niche blog and growing an audience. In this Future of Publishing interview, Chris Brogan talks about how companies need to go beyond broadcast and genuinely engage with their customers. Check it out below:

Future of Publishing is sponsored by VigLink. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to Like Future of Publishing on Facebook!

The 1 Billion Dollar Question: How Can I Use Instagram for My Business?

Guest Post — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:00:55 +0000

The last few weeks have no doubt been filled with questions about Instagram—a tool many businesses never gave a second thought. This mobile picture taking tool was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion just two weeks ago, and people are starting to take notice. According to Macstories, the Android app has nearly 30 million registered users, 1 billion photos uploaded so far with 5 million photos each day and 575 likes per second on average. With the recent explosion of Pinterest, it seems that more and more customers are responding to images.

The great thing about Instagram is the fact that a user can utilize the tool just like anyone else. While some picture taking services and sites, such as Pinterest, are best used by advanced designers and are usually only looked upon by the average Joe, Instagram is easy to use for anyone who knows how to point and shoot. This tool also has what are called “filters,” which change the picture color and tone slightly and often add borders in order to change the look of the image.

Consider the following example:

As you can see, different filters give the “normal” photo a different look. This puts a little bit of editing power into the hands of non-editors. According to co-founder Kevin Systrom in an interview with TechCrunch, Instagram is really a “storytelling service. It’s the way you go out in the world and tell a story about your life.” Because Instagram users can connect with other Instagram users, it makes it more than just a picture taking tool. Naturally, this leads many to scratch their heads and wonder: So how can this be utilized for businesses again?

Top 5 Ways to Heed the Power of Instagram

Instagram can be utilized by any business in any industry, but I would be lying if I said that it would yield great results for every type of business. The truth is—B2C businesses that sell a concrete product, such as restaurants and clothing stores, as well as bands and those in the entertainment industry are much more likely to benefit from Instagram. Companies such as law firms or Internet marketing firms will have a much tougher time taking advantage of Instagram. Nonetheless, below lists a few ways that a business can utilize this tool and get in on the phenomenon while it’s hot:

Find Your Fans – Know who is mentioning your brand. Go to your Instagram account, hit the profile button, hit “search Instagram,” and then hit “tags.” Once you type in the name of your company, you will be able to see all of the people who have already been using Instagram to take photos of your products. This will help give you an audience and help you identify where your power with Instagram users lies.
Geo-Tag – Geo-tagging photos means adding a location to every photo before putting them onto your Instagram account. Many people from out-of-town are actually beginning to use Instagram as a way to see what cool things are in a given area (much like Foursquare). Make sure that your cool photos are uploaded with your location so that out-of-towners can get some awesome local food or funky foreign outfits.
Contests – This is probably the most popular way that brands are leveraging the tool. Hold a contest and ask fans to take pictures using your product or hanging out in your store. Levi’s even held an open casting call on Instagram for models, and Starbucks simply asked fans to use Instagram to answer a question (completely unrelated to coffee). Ultimately, it’s all about the interaction.
Event Markting – This is one way any type of business can take advantage of Instagram. If you hold a seminar or an office Christmas party, take a few photos and post them to your Instagram account. Ask those attending your event to also take photos using Instagram.
Social Media Sharing – You can post any photo you take onto social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. If you’re starting a business and feeling overwhelmed with social media, this makes it easy to hit all of the bases in one fell swoop. Many major brands have already started their Instagram story. These brands include fashion brands such as Puma, GAP, Gucci, and Nike, and restaurant brands such as RedBull, Ben and Jerry’s, and Starbucks. Music stars such as Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber also love Instagram, and sport teams like the Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia Eagles are taking advantage. To get a larger list of brands taking advantage, visit the Instagram Notable Users Directory.

Has your business started using Instagram? How do you leverage the tool, and have you had any success?

Photo Credit: phandroid.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to phone systems. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including business credit cards to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

What are Google Hangouts on Air? Future of Engagement

Murray Newlands — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:00:27 +0000

A few days ago, Google (GOOG) launched its extension of its Google Hangouts feature. Google Hangouts are essentially Skype calls over Google Plus, but unlike Skype they’re easy to use, it’s free to call people anywhere, and you can have more people in the same videochat. What Google did a few days ago was lift the cap on the number of simultaneous viewers so that it’s either non-existent or sufficiently large that it usually doesn’t matter. This lets content producers use Google Plus as a broadcast medium so that they can reach more people than if they use it as a purely social medium. Check out what Murray Newlands has to say about it below in Future of Engagement.

Alerti social media monitoring graph on social media chatter surrounding the Google Hangouts on Air release:

Social Media in Business – A Historical Perspective – Future of Publishing

Murray Newlands — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:00:51 +0000

In 1998, Ramon De Leon’s Domino’s franchise started using AIM to communicate with customers, which De Leon says was social media “before the word even existed.” Now, De Leon creates video content for customers of their product, their pizza, being made and delivered. The customers frequently upload it to social media, which creates more sales. In this Future of Publishing episode, Murray Newlands interviews De Leon for some for some interesting insights on how social media developed and how businesses today can create and deploy social content:

Future of Publishing is sponsored by VigLink. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to Like Future of Publishing on Facebook!

Social Media Monitoring Tutorial in Plain English – Future of Engagement

Murray Newlands — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:00:48 +0000

Many social media monitoring tutorials are confusing and do not address the needs of the people reading them very well. Others are quickly produced, content-free pieces designed to rank well for search engines and deliver searches to pages plastered with AdSense ads. Seeing a lack of good videos about SMM, Murray Newlands decided to make a series of tutorials in plain English for his series, Future of Engagement. See what he says below:

Highlights:

Integrate SMM tools into your social marketing campaigns.
Analyze the data they give you to improve those campaigns.
Try tools that fit your budget and needs!
Newlands recommends Alerti since it has good analytics and a free 90 day trial.

Affiliate Marketing Tips part 3 – Future of Publishing

Murray Newlands — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:00:10 +0000

Sazbean is proud to bring you the final part in the Future of Publishing series on affiliate marketing (next week’s episode will be on a different topic). In this episode, Oliver Roup focuses on an advanced topic that challenges the advertising side of affiliate marketing: Affiliate fraud. Oliver and the panel explore how to identify fraud, how to extinguish it, and how to mitigate damages. Watch more below:

Highlights:

Counterfeit data sticks out like a sore thumb…
If you pay attention to detail …
Even with very little background in statistics!

Future of Publishing is sponsored by VigLink. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to Like Future of Publishing on Facebook!

Earth Day 2012 – Future of Engagement

Murray Newlands — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:00:05 +0000

Earth Day is celebrated every year in April as a way to spread awareness about the growing plight of the environment and encourage people and governments to care for it better. As a result, many corporations us it as a branding opportunity to show that they care about the environment too. In this Future of Engagement episode, Murray Newlands looks at how brands like National Geographic and even American Airlines helped promote Earth Day on social media:

Graph by Alerti social media monitoring tool:

Affiliate Marketing Tips part 2 – Future of Publishing

Murray Newlands — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:00:50 +0000

Affiliate marketing tips on Future of Publishing: Part 2. Last week, we aired an episode of Future of Engagement about affiliate marketing tips that was intended to give publishers some tips on how to make money off their publications. This week goes into more depth, focusing on specific technological methods of optimizing affiliate campaigns, among other topics. Find out what VigLink’s Oliver Roup and guests have to say!

Highlights

Redirecting within your domain can increase your conversion rate…
Which means you make more sales…
And make more money!

Future of Publishing is sponsored by VigLink. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to Like Future of Publishing on Facebook!

Social media marketing and social networking tips by Foursquare – Future of Engagement

Murray Newlands — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:00:36 +0000

Foursquare reached out to their users by making April 16 4sqDay. In this day, companies are encouraged to offer extra promotions to people who visit their businesses. Foursquare gets to thank their users and companies get extra Foursquare customers who are looking to cash in on extra deals. It’s a textbook example of using social media marketing to bridge the online and offline worlds. In this Future of Engagement episode, host Murray Newlands analyzes 4sqDay from a social networking perspective and has a few tips for brands looking to promote themselves on social networks. What he says might surprise you:

What can brands learn?

Make your customers feel important and appreciated…
Reach out to them offline even if your product is partially or wholly online…
Engage with the people who use your product!

Graph by Alerti social media monitoring tool:

Learn about image monetization (part 2 of 3) in Future of Publishing

Murray Newlands — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:00:31 +0000

Last week’s Future of Publishing episode was the first part of a series of episodes about image monetization. The producers split the interview into more than one part so that it wouldn’t have to be watered down. Here’s part two:

Part 2 highlights

People don’t click on display ads anymore…
The way around this is to put ads within the content…
Interactive, in-content image ads are very effective in producing revenue for publishers!

Future of Publishing is sponsored by VigLink. Be sure to Like Future of Publishing on Facebook!

Social media monitoring tool video: Why should I monitor social media?

Murray Newlands — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:00:48 +0000

Social media monitoring tools have become widespread among many sorts of businesses. For example, even offline businesses like clubs and restaurants have started using social media monitoring tools. But why? Well, social media monitoring allows businesses to do many things, such as:

See what competitors are doing
Target competitors’ customers
See how effective your branding campaign is

and more! As a result, the benefits of using a good social media monitoring tool far outweighs the drawbacks. Some businesses simply utilize “drive by” social media, but this does not work. They are too results-oriented with their initial efforts and see it as a broadcast medium instead of an interactive medium, so they quit posting to their Facebook wall or quit making tweets when they don’t “see sales” coming from their content. Frequently, they simply aren’t grabbing customers’ attention. SMM tools can be used to find out what to write so that you can grab the customer’s attention effectively. In this Future of Engagement episode, host Murray Newlands looks at how to use social media monitoring tools well:

Social media monitoring tool: How can they change social media?

Social media monitoring tool use among tools like Alerti has skyrocketed at a faster rate than the growth of social media itself, and they are showing that they can have a direct effect on how businesses use social media. For example, when businesses realize that their marketing campaign does not work, they can shift gears and become more interactive or produce different content. Also, the act of monitoring itself lets them directly engage with users who like their product so that they can target them more effectively. They can then use these people’s profiles as high quality leads at which to aim well-targeted marketing campaigns.

Learn about Image Monetization (Part 1 of 3) in Future of Publishing

Guest Post — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:00:34 +0000

This week’s Future of Publishing episode is part one of a three-part installment. In this part, Murray Newlands and Oliver Roup interview Rey Flemings and Chas Edwards, two leaders in the image monetization sector. Rey and Chas discuss what their companies can do to help bloggers make money online from their images, an area of their blog that has traditionally not been monetized very effectively:

Highlights

Images in almost every niche are monetizable…
But the images need to be relevant to what they’re trying to sell…
and focused at the people they’re trying to market toward!

Future of Publishing is sponsored by VigLink. Be sure to Like Future of Publishing on Facebook!

How did social media cover the Nike Black and Tan fiasco? Find out in Future of Engagement!

Guest Post — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:00:10 +0000

In the United States, a black and tan is a popular drink made with a dark beer, usually a Guinness. So, in anticipation of St Patrick’s Day, Nike released a trainer that was also called the Black and Tan. But in Ireland, the Black and Tans were a loyalist terrorist group during the Irish Revolution that killed Irish civilians. Nike apologized swiftly, but there was still a strong response on social media. Find out how it played out:

LinkedTube

Click here to see the video if it doesn’t appear.

Highlights

Nike apologized really fast, which helped negate potential damage…
However, over a quarter of the social media coverage was negative anyway…
And a lot of the coverage was in the form of images on Facebook…

Graphs courtesy of Alerti social media monitoring and management

Blogger Relations: Learn why they matter on Future of Publishing

Sarah Worsham — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:00:55 +0000

While knowing other bloggers face-to-face is frequently the best way of meeting them and
continuing a relationship, much of the time this form of blogger relations simply isn’t feasible due to logistics. As a result, social media can be used effectively to meet other bloggers and stay in touch with them, but there’s a problem: Lots of bloggers are great writers, but many of then haven’t mastered blogger relations. In this episode of Future of Publishing, host Murray Newlands interviews Dan Rowse of Digital Photography school about why relationship-building can be more
important than link-building.

Highlights

People respond to pitches best when they know you personally…
Sometimes this creates win-win relationships…
Where everybody benefits.

Future of Publishing is sponsored by VigLink. Be sure to Like us on Facebook .

How is South by Southwest getting covered in social media? Find out in Future of Engagement!

Guest Post — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:05:36 +0000

South by Southwest draws film professionals and enthusiasts from throughout the United States to
Austin, Texas for the week-long festival. This year’s festival started on March 9, and there was already
lots of coverage of it before that. In this week’s Future of Engagement, host Murray
Newlands analyzes how coverage of SXSW grew across social media platforms, both before the first
day and afterward. What he found may surprise you!

Highlights

There was a jump in coverage the day before March 9.
Coverage on the #SBSW hashtag is so widespread that that tag gets lots of unrelated posts.
But there was a high negative-to-positive coverage ratio, with 6% negative and 14% positive.

Coverage of South by Southwest by platform:

Graph by Alerti social media monitoring service.

Get Alerti for free for 3 months using
the alertivideo promotion code!

Good Example of Local Social Media Outreach & Engagement #socialtestdrive

Sarah Worsham — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:00:53 +0000

One of the biggest problems businesses run into when they try to use social media is that they use it as just another marketing channel to push sales & marketing messages through. This obviously misses the biggest opportunity with social media: to have conversations with people who are interested in your products, and to encourage conversations between other people about your products. Using social media as a local business can get even trickier with a more niche audience. However, it can be done, and it can be done well. Here’s a great example…

The Suburban Collection, who owns car dealerships in the Detroit area (for all sorts of brands), has been running a Social Test Drive campaign where they put local bloggers and social media influencers in the driver’s seats of cars for a few days, and ask them to use social media to talk about their experiences. Here’s what makes this campaign especially good:

There are no requirements about how many tweets, pictures, posts, etc. each driver has to make or what types of social media to use. Zac, the Online Marketing Coordinator for Suburban, just asks that you talk about your experience and followup with at least one blog post or video or some type of content summarizing your experience.
Equally important, there are no requirements that you only post good things about the car. Zac makes it clear that he just wants you to post what you think.
Every test driver is recommended by a previous driver. As a test driver, you get to recommend others who you think might enjoy the experience, so it’s a nice perk to give to your network, and it’s equally nice to receive a recommendation.
Most of the time when you go to test drive a car, you get it for about 15 minutes. The Social Test Drive lets you take the car for a weekend, giving you a better understanding of how the car handles under different conditions. Not only does this give you a better feeling for the car, it helps you give a more balanced opinion to your network.
People trust what their friends and colleagues say more than what a company says. By putting cars into the hands of people with strong networks, The Suburban Collection, is providing the opportunity for people to have a conversation about the cars (and about the dealership brand).

Now, about the car. I drove an Acura RDX for a weekend:

The RDX is a sporty little SUV/Crossover that has nice luxury features and ride, but also handles pretty well with good pickup. It also has quite a bit of space inside considering how compact it looks on the outside:

You can fit full load of groceries in the trunk and both the backseats fold down for more cargo room:

The inside styling has a rich color palette and fairly user-friendly controls (very similar to my Mazda CX7):

Unfortunately, the RDX doesn’t get great gas mileage: 22-24 mpg highway depending on if you have an AWD or FWD model. I believe city is around 18ish. But the car does have a nice ride and good pickup for the size (turbo, which probably is also the issue with the gas mileage). I took it down a bumpy country dirt road and it was the smoothest ride I’ve ever had on that particular stretch of non-pavement.

I hadn’t really considered Acura before as a brand, but I would definitely look at their products when I’m ready. The gas mileage may be an issue when I’m ready to look for another car, but I definitely would put the RDX on my short list of contenders based on the ride, pickup and amount of interior room (we need to travel with stuff for a kid and 2 dogs, plus I like to kayak & bike).

Yelp IPO: Did social media inflate Yelp’s stock price? Find out in Future of Engagement!

Guest Post — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:00:31 +0000

Store review company Yelp is not profitable and it hasn’t made money since it was founded eight
years ago, yet social media was aflurry with positive responses when Yelp announced that it would go
public. On the day of the IPO, Yelp’s stock price rose almost 60%, from $15 to almost $25. Was this a
result of social media buzz, and how can other companies use social media to create and benefit from
similar buzz? Find out in this episode of Future of Engagement!

Highlights

Yelp’s IPO got almost entirely positive social media coverage…
And its stock price rose 60% over the day of the IPO…
Even though Yelp isn’t even profitable.

Graphs courtesy of Alerti Social Media
Monitoring and Management

This is a guest post by Murray Newlands, CEO of Influence People.

5 Resources for the New Facebook Timeline for Businesses

Sarah Worsham — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:00:31 +0000

Facebook is changing how businesses can use it’s platform. Starting on March 30, 2012, all active Facebook business pages (Fan pages) will be changed over to a new design called Timeline (which has been rolled out to most individual users already). Facebook is also creating guidelines and rules on how businesses can use their new pages. Here are 5 resources to help you stay ahead of the changes and leverage them for to help your business:

7 New Facebook Changes Impacting Businesses (Social Media Examiner)
5 Tricks that Every Marketer Needs to Know to Exploit the New Facebook Page Design (Duct Tape Marketing)
The Complete Guide To Facebook Timeline Pages (All Facebook)
The Complete Guide to Setting Up the New Facebook Page Design (HubSpot)
14 Ways New Facebook Betrays Small Business (Convince & Convert)

How are you handling the new Facebook changes to Timeline for businesses?