Measuring Influence With Bacon

December 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Social Media and Bacon Collide for Another Important List: The Bacon Index.

Bacon

Thanks, cookbookman17 on flickr; photo used with CC license

Another day, another list.

First there was this kerfuffle about the website Klout and its digital privacy – now it’s a discussion of just who is “Influential” on Twitter, with the launch of a tool called PeekYou. (That’s a link to the Forbes article about PeekYou, and the Digital Influencers they rank.)

PeekYou, Forbes, even Klout, are missing the point.

Being influential AT social media, or IN social media or even ABOUT social media does no one any good at all – unless there’s a point to this influence.

As a for instance, Gary Vaynerchuk is awesome, he’s passionate, and he’s the only one allowed to say “Crushing It.” (Because he IS Crushing It.)

But his influence in social media stems from the fact that he developed deep domain expertise in wine – investing well above the required 10,000 hours to know his stuff. (10,000 hours being Malcolm Gladwell’s number – that’s how much time you need to invest in a subject to truly have expertise.)

The point to Gary’s influence? Sell more books, sell more wine. Get speaking gigs. Buy the New York Jets someday.

Wine Influence > Digital Influence > Global Influence. That was the progression for Gary. What’s your progression?

This Brings Us to the Question: Who Is Most Influential About Bacon?

Does it matter?

That. Is. The. Point.

Off the top, there are guys who we know who are involved in cookbooks about Bacon. (Gary Unger.) There are Master Sommeliers who can tell you which wine to drink with bacon. (Rick Bakas.) There is even a company that can sell you the rights to use its copyrighted recipe for the Bacon Explosion.

We have to start this off with a binary question:

Do you care about bacon?

If the answer is no, it doesn’t quite matter who is the most influential about this subject – as you are officially not interested.

There Is No OFFICIAL Bacon Index. And There Shouldn’t Be a Social Media Index.

“Influence” is one of the most peddled buzzwords of 2011 – and it shouldn’t be. Just like “community” and “social media.”

Lists will come and go: today’s influencers are tomorrow’s front-line employees who need to get approval to tweet. Today’s entrepreneurial wunderkinds will move up or move on. Some of the most real, genuine, likable people on the planet – a couple of whom who are on the list, like Chris Brogan and Scott Stratten – are unknowns to 99% of the population – and that population might be struggling with finding the next client, getting the next gig, paying the next bill.

They may be hungry for some bacon – or they may be an Orthodox Jew who refuses to go near the stuff.

Human. Connections.

That’s ALL that counts. Who are you? What can I do for you? How can I help you? What makes you tick?

Go ahead: make a list of your OWN influencers. Use it, or toss it aside.

Even better, make a list of those 50 people – bacon lovers or not – you are connected with and have yet to meet in real life. Then make them your targets for 2012.

That’s Your Bacon Index.

PS: Be sure to give us a whirl over at 12 Minute Marketing – where you can watch one of the free lessons by using this link: Holistic.

Filed Under: 12 Minutes, Bacon

Why Automation Is Awesome

November 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Act Now

This button automated

Before you say “Automation is Bad” when talking about Social Media Marketing, let’s dig a little deeper.

Confession: I have automated my social media posts. I will do it again. And here’s why…

Automation of Social Media isn’t a bad thing when done right.

Let’s get real for a half second: who really can spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? I sure as heck can’t – and I’m pretty sure you can’t either. You can’t be everywhere at once, so what’s wrong with a little automated content?

Not looking for a Webster’s Dictionary definition of automation – but, instead, how about a show of hands?

Have you ever used Aweber? Get Response? Infusionsoft?

These are tools that automate your email marketing. They automate your response to people visiting your site and asking for more information from you.

Saying “Automation is Bad” is a Dangerous Blanket Statement.

Ever used a Facebook fan page, asked people to “Like” your brand, then turned around and sent them something automatically because they clicked the Like button? You’ve automated, dear friend. Don’t sound out against it unless you’ve never used it.

Some People Need to Build a Platform – Automating SOME of their Social gives them that chance.

Okay, I’m probably being a little harsh here – of course, there are some marketers and people who call themselves celebrities who automate every piece of content they have ever produced – more often than most of us floss our teeth, there seems to be a post coming from them, automated by one of the tools anyone has access to.

And if you have ever used an email system that says you’re going to send a message at a specific date or time – you, my dear friend, have automated.

One thing you can’t automate? Relationships.

Real, human relationships are built a tweet, a Facebook post, and an email at a time. Sometimes you NEED to automate parts of your social life in order to get to the point where there’s a fighting chance you’ll be heard.

So don’t Robocall your friends, pick up the phone.

Don’t blindly email those people you want to call friends – put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and get in touch.

Don’t automate relationship building…build relationships through a good old fashioned combo of hard work and being a real authentic human.

Thanks.

 

Filed Under: 12 Minutes

3 Weeks, 3 Months, 3 Years – Got a Plan?

October 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
333

Image by Leo Reynolds, used with Creative Commons license

Area 224. 12 Minute Marketing. So Why Would We Talk about Threes?

We’ve found that, without a plan, no matter what your business is, you’re gonna be lost.

You also need to execute against that plan.

AND, in some cases, you need to ask yourself if the thing you’re working on right now should be done RIGHT NOW, or if it should wait a few weeks, months, or years.

GOP Presidential Candidate Herman Cain talks about “9-9-9.” We want to talk about “3-3-3.”

3 Weeks, 3 Months, 3 Years.

What Needs to Happen in the Next 3 Weeks?

Let’s say you’re talking about setting a Social Media Strategy for your organization. (Something we, of course, touch on in our 12 Minute Marketing program.) Since Rome wasn’t burned in a day, you can’t honestly expect to tell the boss that you’re going to have all the answers tomorrow. But, in 3 Weeks, can you develop the framework of a plan? Can you do a Situation Analysis to be able to report back to the boss?

Also, what are the tools that you need in place now so that you can point back to some examples of tactics that will support your strategy?

Three Weeks – there’s a sense of urgency there – but there’s also an understanding that you cannot possibly get it all figured out. Your focus sharpens on those things that are absolutely necessary to support your strategy.

What Needs to Happen in the Next 3 Months?

Since Area 224 is not just a blog about Social Media, let’s talk about things like Sales Goals.

You do have Sales Goals, right?

Unless you’re in an eCommerce gig somewhere, you will probably have to incorporate the real world into your Sales Goals. It might take you a week to get a list of prospects together, and another week to figure out the right messaging. Do you think you’re going to reach every one of them in the next couple days after that?

Here’s where a CRM comes in handy – moving prospects along the process, or through the funnel – is going to take time, and you’re going to want to handle that appropriately.

Watch this 12 Minute Marketing Lesson on WIIFM Selling for some more ideas.

The bottom line here is this: some things do take time. Even if you’re in a Long Sales Cycle business, you need to figure out what has to happen when, and put the wheels in motion.

What Needs to Happen in the Next 3 Years?

Blue Sky Plans. BHAGs. Exit Strategies.

Trying to look out over the Horizon beyond 2012 and into (gasp) Fall of 2014 might not be something you’re thinking of doing.

But you need to do it – for your business – and here are a few questions to ask:

  • What does success look like to me?
  • What does my business look like – is it huge? Is it small? Do we have a dynamic culture?
  • What skills do I need to acquire – what tools do we need to have on staff – do we build, buy or partner?
Start getting into the long-term mindset – even if it’s difficult to think beyond the next three weeks or months – and ask those important questions.
Filed Under: 12 Minutes Tagged With:

Content, Community, Engagement, Influence, Milk Duds

October 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We’re out to prove a point with today’s post: Content, Community, Engagement and Influence are overused terms.

Milk Duds

Photo by vox_efx - Used with CC License

If you think about it, saying that your company or your department needs a “Content Strategy” makes lots of sense. Since everyone is talking about Content, you should be talking about Content, too. (Content with a capital “C,” of course.)

“XYZ Company will use Content to Build Community, Drive Engagement and reach out to Key Influencers.”

Congratulations, that will be $5000. (Actually - we charge $5000 a day for sessions with companies to help them better market their products and services. If this was the result of the day-long session, you’d get your money back.)

If it were that gosh-darn easy to put together a Fill In The Blank Strategy for your company, everyone would be doing it, and you’d see literally thousands of companies out there making things happen with Content, Community, Engagement and Influence. But it’s not, and here’s why:

Developing a Strategy for ANYTHING without an Eye Toward Business Objectives is a Recipe for Disaster.

Your Content Strategy? Guess what, if you’re putting out white paper after white paper, writing countless press releases (or, preferably, using PitchEngine), and doing corporate videos interviewing key executives, there’s your Content. But it’s not your Content Strategy, it’s your Content Tactics.

Building Community is Great! We’re seriously all for it here at Area 224 – yes, we’re building a community around 12 Minute Marketing, and yes there will be more information on that in the days to come. But that community needs a common thread – not just an idea to “build a community.”

The Brand Builder, Olivier Blanchard, has a great piece on Social Media and Social Business Myths. Read them all, but #1 is the one we’ll point you to.

If you’re building a Community around your Awesome Product…Make Sure Your Product is Awesome FIRST.

Engagement is even more puzzling these days. Scott Stratten wrote a book last year called UnMarketing and the subtitle was “Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.” So, magically, everyone did! They stopped Marketing! And they started Engaging! (If you can’t sense the sarcasm there, take a look at my Twitter background. My eldest child asked me the other night “why is there a unicorn on your Twitter background?” For reasons like this, my dear.)

Actually, the story in the UnMarketing book about the guy at the Wynn who stopped his carpet cleaning duties to give a genuinely friendly greeting to Scott and get him to return? Uh, that’s engaging. In that they guy likes what he does, likes people, and genuinely wanted them to enjoy their stay.

Segueing to Influence in 3…2…1…

Does it matter that Scott is an Influencer? Not one iota – and that’s probably the biggest pain in the a** about this whole Content, Community, Engagement, Influence discussion:

Your Own Potential to Influence in Your Business Trumps That of Any External Influencer.

You’re passionate about something. That something gets shown somewhere in your business – now the potential to Influence comes through. Right? Does It?

We’re not going to claim to have all the answers here – we think we’ve built a dynamite Business Marketing and Coaching Course called 12 Minute Marketing, but there’s no way that our course, or any other course out there, is going to do you a bit of good unless you, frankly, give a crap about your business.

So…what’s the point behind the Milk Duds?

There’s a restaurant in Chicago called Lou Mitchell’s. They give out Milk Duds when you leave, after you pay the check. It’s a nice touch.

The Milk Duds are not their Content Strategy. The Milk Duds might help them build Community. The Milk Duds could make them ace a test on Engagement. And hey, Influencers LOVE Milk Duds, right?

It’s the food, the atmosphere, the ambience, the kitsch, all that stuff rolled into a bucket. That’s their Business Strategy.

Avoid the Buzzword Bingo and Focus on Making a Real Difference, on Real Passion.

Go!

 

Filed Under: 12 Minutes, Influencers

Social Media For First Graders

October 20, 2011 By 1 Comment
Happy Children

Photo courtesy lightruth, used with CC license.

A simple assignment – create a primer on Social Media, but write it for First Graders. It’s an idea whose time has come, hasn’t it?

Actually, no, we don’t really NEED a Social Media for First Graders book. Do we?

Social Media is Child’s Play.

We run the risk of over-simplifying this whole Social Media thing in our groundbreaking new book, which you can download for free right now.

Social media for first graders

View more presentations from Dave Walle.

Social Media For First Graders

Love to get your comments. Even better, you can use this book to answer the question that every parent dreads hearing from their young ones:

Daddy, What’s a Twitter?

Filed Under: Books Tagged With:

Thrive In The Maybe

October 19, 2011 By 2 Comments

Indecision is awful. You want a yes or a no…not a maybe. So how do you turn the maybe into an advantage?

This might be one of the more counterintuitive posts you will ever see here. As business people, we want you to say Yes. And, if you don’t say Yes, we want you to say No. Not leave us hanging.

Maybe

Thrive In The Maybe

Binary decisions. 1 = yes, 0 = no. Code gets written that way. You click the button, good stuff happens. You don’t click the button, nothing happens.

Limbo isn’t fun. I’ll get back to you. Let me call you later. I’m waiting on someone else to weigh in.

Time to Thrive In The Maybe.

We’ve beaten the Integrated Marketing drum over and over here, and we’ll continue doing so. Because Maybe is Marketing.

Maybe Is Marketing.

We worked with a client a couple years back whose initial goal was to “get going on Twitter.” (This happens quite a bit: there’s not a real reason to be there, except for the fact that everyone else is there. See our post on Holistic Social Media.) We got them going on Twitter. It was fun, too; as a lifestyle brand it was important for them to start engaging with the influencers in their space.

Here’s Where Maybe Came In.

These were decision makers – but the Yes/No question couldn’t be asked on Twitter. And it couldn’t be answered on Twitter. That would have looked stupid – we knew it, the client knew it, and our original plan to “get going on Twitter” had to include an element of non-sales. Of un-marketing.

If we spent all of our time getting people to constantly answer the Yes/No question – “do you want this product?” – we would have missed out on some actual real life experience.

“I love your stuff! I just wish I could get it in Singapore – I have to settle for the one time each year I make it over to Hong Kong.”

This is Maybe. Maybe I’d buy it if it were near me. Maybe you should consider selling it here. Maybe I should fly over to the States and come work for you. Maybe.

Thrive In The Maybe.

We’re so busy asking for the sale that we’re not busy enough paying attention to everything that happens in-between. Yes is great, and you want that. No is sudden and can be stunning – but sometimes you want that, too.

Maybe will drag you along, sure, but possibly teach you a lot about what you’re doing wrong, or what someone else is doing right.

New Marketing Funnel = A Whole Lot of Maybe.

We have had quite a few discussions about how the New Marketing Funnel is quite a bit different than the old one. (It’s one of the lessons in 12 Minute Marketing and you can check out the 12 Minute Marketing Sample Lessons here.) Old funnel was more up and down than New Funnel – which has a much wider opening (thanks to New Media) and is gonna have so much more Maybe.

Maybe I’ll take a look at the email. Maybe I’ll visit the website. Maybe there’s a mobile component. Maybe I’ll watch a video. Maybe I’ll want to try the product for a little while first.

These aren’t just maybes – they are opportunities for dialogue, to build (there’s that word) “community.” To strive for (here’s another word) “engagement.”

Old marketers will just shrug their shoulders and move on to the old tried-and-true ways.

New Marketers?

Thrive In The Maybe.

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