Monthly Archives: March 2012

In 5 words…

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In 5

 

In 5 words, can you describe your brand someone?  This past week, I’ve been in full Advertising mode reading Jason Falls and Erin Decker’s No BullShit Social Media and finally watching Morgan Spurlock’s Pom Wow Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

One of the key topics that both the book and the movie hit on, is can you discribe your brand?  It’s a key factor and something that most of all seem to forget, well you’re chasing that dollar.

As marketers we should be able to describe to both our friends and our customers what our brand is and if we can’t we’re failing as marketers.  We have to remember that our companies are transparent and are entities in their own right.  Just like you and me, our companies are talked about and do have both good and bad characteristics.

As marketer’s it’s our job to manage this line of communication, through social media and other marketing initiatives.  What do people say about us?  How do people interact with us?  We affect all of this from our communications to our brand design.  As a marketer we’re all a part of it.

What about you?  Can you describe your brand?  If you can’t, I”m sure your fans can.

Getting lost in the Maze

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A friend of mine recently turned to Facebook to help build his online audience, but soon found the application to be much harder to manage than he originally thought.  His follower count stayed in the lower teens and after a few months, he just stared at the account dumbfounded, not knowing what to do with it.

“How do I get friends?” He asked me over and over again.

I took a quick look at his social media accounts and realized a number of mistakes he was making, including he had no social media buttons on his website and he was not updating the account regularly.  His customers were simply getting lost in the maze, that is now the social media bubble.

ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS LOST IN THE MAZE?

When building a social media platform for your customers, your first priority should be why are you going to be there and how are your customers going to find you there.

There is tons of social media channels out there, so if you’re going to be on one, you have to make it easy for your customers to find you.  Post your social media buttons everywhere and constantly remind your customers that you are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

Then post to your accounts.  Once your customers are able to navigate the maze and find your social media accounts, let them know that they are arriving at a prime destination not at a Sahara.

Don’t let your customers get lost, like my friend Michael did, because when they get lost they might just find another destination to go to.

 

 

Are you a Trust Agent? A Book Review.

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If you live in the Social Media sphere, you’ve probably heard of Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s Trust Agents.  If you haven’t though, that’s fine.  My copy’s been sitting on my bookshelf since Christmas and last month, I was finally able to spend some time with it and finish it.

For those of you unfamiliar with Trust Agents, it’s considered to some the original social media bible.  The book refers to a Trust Agent, as someone we trust not only on a personal level, but on a social media level as well.  We trust what these people say and take in every tweet that they send.    In the book, Smith and Brogan, give us 7 easy steps on how to be respected and trusted, and ultimate how to be a trust agent.

I highly recommend this book and Brogan/Smith give plenty of real life examples of how a trust agent can not only affect a person but a community as a whole.  The book is not just for social media people but for anyone who wants to better captivate a person, community, audience.

3 TIPS TO BE A TRUST AGENT

1) Be Agent 0 - If you can connect people to each other, people will remember you.  Connect people to hiring managers, funny experiences, or to loved ones and they will remember you.
2) Be one of us - Simply put, act like an important figure now.  Don’t geek out or be nervious, but act like you’ve been there.
3) Create an Army - Build your network.  If you work in the social media sphere, create an army of social media people who will help you navigate your audience.