With almost 14 thousand views, my dog Max might qualify as a "D list" YouTube rock star! His circle of friends (not to be confused with a Google+ circle) includes people, dogs and cats (totally ..watch his video!). His howling "song" is a throwback to his wolf ancestory.
Oh yes, his breed is White West Highland and at 10 years old the vet is calling him a "senior" dog. Shh .. please don't tell him that he is sure he is still a pup.
Did you notice that when I described Max his breed and age (demographics) came last?
When you think about your customers how do you describe and catorgize them? What comes first in your customer profile: age, sex, income .. traditional demograhics? Or do you take into consideration their interests, networks and passions beyond your product or service?
Let's spin this into social media marketing. We frequently use social media "listening" to learn what customers are saying about our products and services, to identify trends and to build relationships. All good.
However, we have amazing opportunities to also see into the lives of our customers and prospects that go beyond tradtional research and our own company/product information. We can learn about our customers' passions, see who is in their social networks e.g., friends, likes, follows, circles. The clues we discover can lead to exciting new opportunities.
For example, would you think that Max's friends included kitty cats? Now you know. What would that mean if you were in the pet industry? Are there more dogs who like cats? What products might you create to tap into that market .. friendship collars? Treats for both cats and dogs?
Here's another great example. When you think about Grandmamas what comes to mind? Blue hair ladies drinking tea and baking cookies? How about motorcyle riding mamas?!
What would have happened if Kathy had focused on demographics only instead of the passions of her customers? Would she have tapped into women over forty? Over fifty? Over sixty? Roar has a social media presence that (I would assume) helps Kathy continue to understand the interests of her customers. (Hmm..thinking Kathy would be a great guest for All The Single Girlfriends' Girlfriends Helping Girlfriends series.)
Motorbikes are not so much my deal, but If I were to ride I'd want the biggest, baddest bike on the lot. Max, of course, would be uber cool in a little back jacket and helmet!
Are you taking advantage of Social Media Listening beyond your product or service? If so what have you learned about your customers?
Note: Yvonne DiVita, Lipsticking, has a cool contest going .. you can win $100 for your comment about why women should own and ride motorcycles.
Update: See how KLM is listening and learning about their customers. In a strategy that turns little kindnesses into big smiles and I'm betting results in loyalty.
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
Part 2 of my interview with Alex Brown explores how he incorporated social media to create awareness for his book, the Barbao community, horse slaughter and Laminitis the disease that killed Barbaro. (Part 1 tells the back-story of why Alex wrote the book and how he created an engaged community of thousands.)
Diva Marketing/Toby: Let’s talk about the book, which by the way, I loved! Greatness and Goodness Barbaro And His Legacy may be an extension of the digital world that Fans of Barbaro built, however, it is still an entity on to itself.
How is your approach towards marketing/creating awareness different with the book versus the site?
Alex Brown: This is something I am learning as I am going along. With the book I had an initial advantage, I already had a large community. Many of those within the community were waiting to buy the book as it was launched. And I added a facebook fan page for the book to keep people updated with its progress.
I also created an extensive schedule for book signings, visiting many racetracks and timing the launch around the excitement of this year's Triple Crown. So there was a traditional component to the marketing campaign. This year marks the five year anniversary since Barbaro's great win, so that timing helped also.
I was able to get some pretty good media exposure. I also had a few reviews of the book done, which helped. Each time there was a review, or article about the book, or a book signing event to talk about, I would update the facebook fan page, my own profile page, the main AlexBrownRacing.com site and so forth. I was busy, getting good coverage, and also able to use the social media tools to make it all look busy and successful.
The major downside is I self published (great advantages to doing that) which means I really don't have access to the major retail stores. The book is on Amazon, we recently eclipsed 500 sales on Amazon.
Diva Marketing/Toby: In terms of general marketing, and of course social media, what tactics/tools are giving you the biggest impact for time you invest?
Alex Brown: I don't think there is one tactic which has proven most successful. The key has been to keep the community constantly updated with progress with the book, keep the interest front and center. Going quiet about the book would potentially be fatal.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Let’s talk the “C” words .. content creation. Are you leveraging the content from the book, social platforms, and even online media, to support the book promotion (and feed your social networks)? If so how?
Alex Brown: I have a book excerpt that I have made available on the internet. I think that has helped. I have promoted its availability through the many channels I use. As I noted earlier, anytime there is a review, or feedback on the book, I push that out through the channels.
It is funny though, as hard as I try, and as deliberate as I am about push all the content back out, there are many in the community who do not see the content. I guess it is like traditional marketing, your customer has to see something multiple times before it truly registers.
I am also exploring e-version ideas for the book, and hoping they help cross-sell the hard cover book.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Your own story is fascinating and inspirational. The digital platforms you created, as well as your book, have turned into catalysts for several “for the greater good” purposes: the legacy of Barbaro, dreaded Laminitis disease and education about horse slaughter.
What extent did the internet and social media play .. wondering if this could have been accomplished without a digital presence?
Alex Brown: Its role has been fundamental. This could never have happened otherwise. That's the short and long answer.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Alex, you get the last word .. wrap it up any way you’d like my friend.
Alex Brown: Thanks for all your support. I cannot remember how long ago it was when you started speaking to my class at Udel (over the internet), it would be fun to revisit what we talked about then.
The fascinating aspect of social media it is keeps evolving and improving. Now I have to figure out this Google+ thingy!
Continue the Conversation with Alex!
Even if you are not a horseman (or horsediva) Great and Goodness Barbaro and Legacy is an inspirational from the heart read.
When I think of the world of social media and blogs what I will forever remember, and be greatful for, are the amazing people who walked through my virtual door. One of my favorites is Alex Brown.
Recently Alex wrote a book .. a beautiful book .. an inspiring book .. a book that touches the heart. I must admit it moved me to tears. (The amazing photographs and sketches make it a wonderful coffee table book.)
It is the story of Barbaro the gallant racing horse and the people who trained, nutured and cared for him.
It is also Alex's story of how he used social media to create a structure that encouraged a community to form that supported Barbaro and each other.
About Alex Brown: I am a horseman, who is also an internet marketing "geek." I have ridden horses all my life, and I have been using the internet for teaching and marketing since 1992.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Before we explore some of the social media marketing initiatives that support Greatness and Goodness Barbaro And His Legacyand alexbrownracing.com please give us a bit of understanding why you felt compelled to write this particular book about Barbaro?
Alex Brown: I had spent the better part of three years supporting an online community which had emerged as it followed Barbaro's attempted recovery at New Bolton Center, and which merged into a horse racing and horse welfare community.
I had used many social media tools to support this community. I decided to then use a more traditional medium, a book, to write about the experience in a broader story about Barbaro and his lasting legacy.
Diva Marketing/Toby: To help frame our interview, would you tell us the back-story of why you created a site for/about Barbaro?
Alex Brown: I was already running a web-site for a racehorse trainer, and friend. We decided to use his site to update race fans of Barbaro's preparations for the Preakness Stakes after he had won the Kentucky Derby so easily, to remain undefeated.
Tragedy struck in the Preakness as we now know, but the site became useful to keep his growing fans abreast with his daily attempt at recovery. He very nearly made it too! (Photo of Barbaro)
Diva Marketing/Toby: While your friends in the equestrian world know you as a dedicated and passionate horseman, I know you as an innovative marketer who stepped into blogs long before the term social media was popularized.
So let’s turn the clock back to 2005 – 2008 when you were Sr. Associate Director of Admissions at Wharton and then marketing prof at University of Delaware. What lessons did you learn during those early days that helped you create the blog for Barbaro?
Alex Brown: I think we are always learning, so clearly all my prior experiences, which include teaching Internet Marketing at the University of Delaware, running the first blog at the Wharton School (for MBA admissions), managing a very active online discussion board for MBA applicants, and so forth, allowed me to understand how communities can work.
I also read geeky books on game theory and stuff like that. But as much as I learned, and thought I knew it all in terms of managing online communities, I have learned twice as much managing this project.
Diva Marketing/Toby: You had huge success with that blog (and subsequent message board and wiki), from hundreds of thousands of comments, to rich content and wonderful search rankings. Recently you changed domains from timwoolleyracing.com to alexbrownracing.com.
Obviously, the blog drove traffic to the Tim Woolley Racing web site. Did you have an agreement with Tim Woolley Racing that you would “own” the site and might even change the URL? How was that relationship structured?
Alex Brown: Tim Woolley and I have been close friends for a very long time. At one point the site was overwhelmed with Barbaro and horse welfare and racing content and it made sense to let Tim have his site back. At that time I was also leaving Fair Hill where Tim and I worked, and was planning to travel for a couple of years to do further research for the book.
Changing domains helped mark that occasion. Maintaining Google rankings and so forth was not really a problem, and we were able to copy all the content over to the new domain.
What I felt was super important was to leave the design of the sites the same. I am a huge believer in the value of design usability, and once your community is used to how things work, only change things if there are super critical reasons to do so.
My interest and experience with web design usability was also something I brought to the design of the book, an aspect of the book of which I am very proud. I do think the designer wanted to kill me at some points of the book project though!!
Diva Marketing/Toby: For the geeks in the audience, did moving the domain impact your search results and/or traffic to the site very much?
Alex Brown: A slight hiccup perhaps. No more than that.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Barbaro captured the hearts and imagination of people from all over the world. The site provided what Mike Jensen, Philadelphia Inquirer said was “.. real-time updates from the principles and they were able to form a community.” (p 85)
In the social media world, you had 2 critical elements: content and emotional connection. However, the big social media win goes beyond just the number of “likes” “followers” “circles” or subscribers that comprise a community but to engagement. You knocked that out of the park (oops wrong sport!). We’d love your insights on how to take community to the level of “tribe.”
Alex Brown: Yes, certainly this became a community of action. They have raised well over $1 million to rescue horses from slaughter, and done so much more too. I think it is hard to absolutely determine how that happened, but there are one or two things I have learned from this that might prove useful.
Firstly, mistakes happen, a community needs to be able to learn from those mistakes and grow from those mistakes. Making a mistake once is fine, as long as you do learn from it. Not making any mistakes really means you have not tried hard enough.
The other thing that I think is super important is how the community is led. I did not decide we should get active on the horse slaughter issue. Members of the community did, and others followed, and it all bubbled up. This is the same with other projects the community has undertaken. My job, along with other moderators, has been to observe, nudge, and keep the conversations on target.
I once told someone, when describing the most important aspects of managing the community: "When I get up in the morning I just hope I don't mess it up." There have been a few occasions, over the 5 years, that I nearly did mess it up.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Can you share some and how you recovered?
Alex Brown: The most sensitive aspect of running a large community is what actions you take if inappropriate content is posted. As the moderator you have to have a set of rules for your community, and you have to adhere to those rules.
This can create short term reactions, but you have to keep your eye on the long term welfare of the overall community. If you have to ban someone (a user ID), typically that person has his / her own network, and belongs to other communities.
On top of that, the banned user can easily connect now (especially with facebook) to "discuss" your actions with others. Honestly it can get nasty, and as we know, if two people say the same thing about you on the internet, it has to be true! You need a thick skin to manage a community like this.
To be continued .. more about how Alex is using social media to create awareness for the book, the community, horse slaughter and the disease that killed Barbaro.
A hip urban "Indie" alternative to a traditional restaurant meal is (literally) hitting the streets. From the City of Angels to Hot'lanta to cities across the United States food trucks are validating our less formal life style with a unique sense of fun. (Photo of Atlanta pink food truck Yum Yum cupcakes)
However, don't think for one second these food trucks are like the old corner prezel stand. They're part of a growing luxury food trend. Ray Choi, owner of the Kogi (which draws an almost cult following in LA), was awarded the Food & Wine 2010 Best of New Chef award.
In our tight capital investment economy, entrepreneurs are getting creative with parameters of limited cash flow and investment dollars. Food trucks have become one of the hottest small business ventures.
MSN's News On Main video highlights a few of the approximatley 600 (!) food trucks in Portland OR. As Chris Cashman reports, "Every food truck owner has a unique story." One of my favorites from is Ziba from Bosnia who sells pitas based on her family's 100 year old recipe.
This is not a cupcake walk nor for the faint of heart. Developing a successful food truck business takes more than passion and talent. It takes as much hard work and savvy as any company plus add to that the challenges of a roaming location. Oh sure, at the end of the day it still has to be all about the food but ..
As you would expect, social media marketing plays a huge role in not only creating awareness but in building the brand and a loyal customer aka fan aka like aka circle base. For food truck owners it is especially critical for their customers to feel they are part of the entire experience. Here are a few ideas (many can be used in any business setting).
Six Food Truck Marketing Tips
1. Concept On The Tweet Street
The concept must be easily understandable without a lot of explanation. If people find you through Twitter the first (and sometimes only) introduction to your culinary point of view is your name. Does it confuse or hinder or intrigue?
2. The Truck
The "wrap" should support your brand concept with unique visual interest. In addition, the cleanliness of the exterior is as important as the interior of your kitchen. Don't forget people can see into at least part of the back-end of your operations.
3. Pressure Cooker Service
How you and your staff relate to your customers is paramount in creating loyal fans. How will you let your Twitter followers or Facebook likes know you care and appreciate them? Success can lead to long lines = a long wait = unhappy customers. Consider taking orders while people are waiting in line (before they reach the truck window). A few .. "glad you're here" "thanks for waiting" "we promise it will be awesome" .. is a good idea too.
4. Presentation
Do your serving plates reflect your brand or are they just a boring (yawn) white? Boston based Roxy's Gourmet Grilled Cheese uses bright yellow checked paper linings that reinforces the retro and the yellow in their truck.
Social Media Marketing
5. Facebook: If your menu is consistent build out a "menu tab;" status updates are great when adding new items to your menu. Photos .. photos .. photos and a few videos too. Encourage your customers to post their photos to your page .. don't forget the tags!
6. Twitter: Talk to your customers .. just don't message out your menu. Make it easy for your customers to find you. Google map link your location.
Business on Main/Diva Marketing Food Truck Marketing Contest
Let's have some fun. MSN Business On Main is providing me with $100 to run a monthly contest. Thank you kindly. Here's the deal. Let's create a list of marketing ideas for food truck owners. The suggestion that Max & I choose will win 100 dollars.
Rules of The Business on Main/Diva Marketing Food Truck Marketing Contest
2. Identify your post on Business on Main with the words Diva Marketing
3. Winner is at the pleasure of Diva Marketing
4. Contest ends midnight July 31, 2011
5. You must be at least 18 years of age
6. A valid eMail address must be included on the "Post a Comment Section"
That's it .. now it's your turn!
Update! Excited to tell you that James DiSabatino, Roxy’s Grilled Food, finalist on the Food Network Foodtruck Race will be our guest judge. Toss a pink boa to Dorothea Bozicolona-Volpe for the intro.
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
As we take a deep breath, blow out the candles and take the last bite of 235th birthday cake of the United States, I hope you are inspired, and at the same time, just a little humbled.
Note: Lemon blueberry cupcake with lemon sorbet .. so good, if I do say so myself!
Looking back on my day, I had an ah ha moment. New media, old media, offline and online were integrated seamless in creating the tapestry of inspiration for my July 4th, 2011.
My morning began with a tweet from Max Gladwell which presented an unexpected insight about the men who founded America. They were the brave ones who lived the life of their dreams so others could live theirs. The Peachtree Road Race is a much loved tradition in my adopted city of Atlanta. This year 60 thousand people ran down Peachtree Street to Piedmont park to show the world, and themselves, that they could. It's an unusual race that combines competition with companionship.
My girlfriends proudly modeled their coveted T-shirts at our, most definitely, offline BBQ! Not only were Paula, Bobbi and Lynn inspirations but our hostess, Hillary was as well. Hillary's love of family and friends showed as she opened her home for our fun celebration.
I seemed to come full circle from Max's tweet to Bonnie's post. Dreams change .. life throws us curve balls; but the opportunity to travel your own road is yours if you are brave to take the risk.
Then as I was wistfully (how often do you get to use the word wistfully?) watching the (Boston) Pops on the (Charles River) Esplanade, wishing I was back in Boston, Carrie Underwood sang There's A Place For Us .
From traditional media (TV) to Shazam (mobile/iPhone app) to online (YouTube) the words from this song were an explanation point! in my Fourth or July travels.
We can be the kings and queens of anything if we believe. It’s written in the stars that shine above, A world where you and I belong, where faith and love will keep us strong, Exactly who we are is just enough,
To paraphrase Bonnie .. Let's celebrate the opportunity to live the lives of our own choosing .. for me that includes many ways to connect with friends, colleauges and our community. I find it amazing that with a click I can be Skyping with friends in India or tweeting with cousins in Virgina or Facebook-ing with clients across town. (Notice how social media platforms turn into verbs?)
What about you? What inspires you to live the life of your dreams?
...the world is becoming too fast, too complex and too networked for any company to have all the answers inside. Yochai Benkler. Yale University from The Wealth of Networks
Just One Crowd Sourced Question
Yochai Benkler's quote (above) reinforces the idea that many people hold the answers to a question. Bringing people into the mix from outside of your organization, or your blog, can open the discussion to new ideas and paths that you have yet to traveled.
Just One Crowd Sourced Question is a "sometimes" series where I reach out to people in my social network and invite them to reach out to their networks to answer .. just one question. It's a quick turn around .. a few days to respond. The goal, of course, is to bring you diverse opinions so we can learn together.
Recently one more agency was fired for an inappropriate tweet. We're not talking kids, but adults from politicians a la "Weinergate" to PR and advertising agencies who seem to be "misusing" Twitter. I just don't get it. These are smart, savvy people who seemingly don't understand that the digital world is an open network.
A few months ago I had the privledge of conducting a workshop for the 18th Annual Larry Brickman Educational Conference sponsored by JF&CS. The event supports mentally disabled adults and their families. My session was on how to ensure saftety using social networks.
I structured the time to ensure the session was mostly discussion, so I had the opportunity to interact with all of the attendees. Let me tell you, every person who was particiating in social networks -- Facebook and Twitter -- totally understood the concept that what goes out into the online world can be passed along even in the most highly gated platforms.
Keeping that in mind, here is the question I put out ..
Question: Why don't people "get" that Twitter, in particular, and social media in general, are public forums where the world is not only listening but can respond back, pass along (online & offline) and often find its way into main stream media?
As for the Redner twitter gaffe, he should have listened to his mother, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't tweet at all." Redner did get that social media is public forum and knowingly used twitter to publicly vent. Any agency representing a client has to learn to "think before they tweet." – Danica Kombol@danicakombol
I don't think this issue is restricted to social media. Absolutely everything we post electronically can be retrieved and come back to haunt us. For example, if workers use their business e-mail addresses for frivolous purposes, they may get reprimanded.
If they use it for unsavory purposes, they may get fired. On social media and other Web sites, pages appear to be stored forever. What one says today, may be viewable in five years from now. One never knows. That's why it is of utmost importance that people self monitor their posts, photos, videos, and comments. Forget George Orwell. Big Brother is watching us all NOW! :) - Elaine Fogel@elaine_fogel
Bottom line (at least to me): these blunderers don't take their assignment seriously. I am sure they "get it" (with regard to the seriousness of the media), but they don't seem to "get" THEIR responsibilities. It's really quite simple: RESPECT yourself, your role, your assignment, the tools, and your client. When you do that, you behave appropriately, and establish systems that help you eliminate errors. These people aren't doing this.
I always ask this simple question, "If you were accused of blogging/Tweeting/Facebooking with the utmost propriety, care, respect, and skill, is there enough evidence to convict you?" - Rick Short @RickShort21
We have less privacy now, and I think that's a good thing. The reason nobody used to throw rocks through Church windows was because we lived in small towns and you'd get caught if you did something like that. People like Anthony Wiener are realizing that, because of the transparency of the internet, we live in a Digital Mayberry and if you do something wrong, you'll get caught. It won't be long before everyone realizes this. Until then, we'll have the occasional Wienergate. - Anon
I think individuals feel bolder behind their computer as opposed to in-person. 1. They lose tact. 2. There is lack of maturity. One has to be mindful at all times, whether in person or online. One has to ask: Will something I write hurt someone? 3. Some people are risk takers: Every once in a while some people might want to take risks with a thought or a comment, hoping it will go viral without the community backlash. Murphy's law comes to mind here. If something can go wrong, it will. 4. Sometimes Newton's Third Law applies to social media - Action and Reaction are equal and opposite in direction. If you rub the wrong person (someone with a huge following) the wrong way you can expect a strong reaction.
That does not mean you don't do it - the instigator may not always be right but again go back to #2 > Be mindful and also make sure YOU have support. 5. Written words often get misconstrued. The black and white medium especially twitter which is limited to 140 chars does not allow asterisks to explain. 6. A lot of times people don't really know you and know that you are well intentioned but were just careless. 7. It's easy for others to take offence and share it. Often times in person you might mind something and forget about it. But online, the retweet and share buttons are only a click away from the itchy clicker finger.
Be mindful and mature, Look before you leap. Be honest but be tactful and be prepared for big reaction to a big action (or little one). – Prashan Kaw @prashantkaw
They call it social media for a reason. If it's something you'd to say to everybody, say it. If it's a secret you'd tell only a few, think before you speak; it might not be a secret very long. Rob Petersen@robpetersen
Most people don't get that Twitter is real-time and world wide. Twitter is like no other social media. It's so misunderstood that it's often under used yet over rated. In most cases the value of a tweet is in the moment, unless you're a high profile person. In that case every tweet has mass media potential.- Bernie Borges@berniebay
Perhaps this is a question about people's capacity for self-control, especially egotistical ones. Twitter and social media in general simply make it easier than ever before for someone to have their rants or manifestations of ego get out of their control and blow up on them. Hence, the issue is age old...human frailties but in a world where nothing remains hidden very long. – Anon
I recently started mentoring my nephew-in-law, a graphic designer, teaching him to create WordPress websites. He started his first site that day and put a header on it and one post and that night he posted to Facebook a message about having done his website and about the services he would offer, which by the way were not even on the site yet.
I saw it because of course I am his friend on Facebook. It was weird because he was in no way ready to do any of that. When I saw him the next day, I mentioned that I saw his post and I thought a better approach would be for him to wait and get everything polished up before he "presents" himself to the world, ready to work. He laughed it off saying he just wanted to show his buddies what he had done.
This is an another example of this same myopia. I know at least five of my friends are on his Facebook friend list since I introduced him to some of them. Some of these people work in social media or digital agencies and are in positions where they could someday hire him or help him to find a position. It is not just "his buddies" that are seeing what he puts on his page.
We all need to be cognizant that nothing anymore is really private . It is hubris or immaturity to not see how small the world is today. We had we better live our lives in a way that we are showing the same face to everyone because ultimately you cannot hide out. The dirty secrets, the stolen copy, the way you look when you go to the grocery store after working in the yard, are all up for prime time. Are you ready for it? Judi Knight@judiknight
Now .. it's your turn .. Why don't people get that social media is not a private communication?
