Podcasting for Business: What You Need to Know
In this video I interview Cliff Ravenscraft, podcast producer and founder of Podcast Answer Man.
Cliff explains why businesses need to consider getting into podcasting and the opportunities podcasting offers. He tells you how to share your expertise on podcasts to bring in more business.
Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.
Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:
- What podcasting is and how businesses use podcasts
- Where people listen to podcasts
- How podcasting can open new business opportunities
- How podcasting has changed and what this means for your audience
- How to start audio podcasting
- What businesses should expect to spend to start podcasting
- The basic outline and format for your podcast
- Tips to get people to listen to your podcast
Connect with Cliff on Twitter @gspn and check out his two websites: LearnHowToPodcast.com and PodcastAnswerMan.com.
Do you have a podcast? What tips do you have to share about podcasting
?
How to easily create subtitles and captions for YouTube SEO [Creator's Tip #15]
![How to easily create subtitles and captions for YouTube SEO [Creators Tip #15]](http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.seotips.org.uk%2Fseo-videos%2Fhow-to-easily-create-subtitles-and-captions-for-youtube-seo-creators-tip-15.html&source=newseotips&style=normal&b=2 "How to easily create subtitles and captions for YouTube SEO [Creators Tip #15]")
Adding subtitles and captions to your videos on YouTube can greatly influence their ranking in search engines. It’s one of the finest search engine optimizations you can do to improve viewership, obtain an audience, and give your videos more exposure. Plus, when you have transcription files in many languages, it causes YouTube to feature and highlight your videos in even much more spaces in other nations.
But the cause most of us possibly don’t create transcripts of our videos and convert them into caption and subtitle files is since it sounds time consuming, difficult, and we don’t know how to do it in the very first spot. Thanks to a tool referred to as, CaptionTube, it’s now simpler than ever to generate subtitles for your videos. In this video I give you a tutorial on how to use CaptionTube and create captions for your YouTube videos. captiontube.appspot.com SUBSCRIBE FOR OTHER VIDEO Suggestions AND NEWS! www.youtube.com Creator’s Tip is a weekly show that assists on the internet video producers with tips, tricks, advice, secrets, and suggestions for how to make their videos stand out on the net. LET’S CONNECT! www.facebook.com twitter.com www.reelseo.com
Read MoreWhy Google+ Will Become a Social Media Powerhouse
In this video I interview Jesse Stay, author of Google+ For Dummies and Facebook Application Development For Dummies.
He has a unique experience with both Facebook and Google.
Jesse shares insights behind Google+ and how it compares to Facebook. You’ll discover what Google is doing, how Google+ is different and why Google+ is a social media powerhouse.
Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.
Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:
- How Google’s focus on Google+ impacts social media
- What Google is getting right and what their biggest challenge is
- How Facebook’s approach is different
- Tips to get your Google+ strategy right
- Discover the opportunity today for businesses on Google+
- Why you need to group your audience into different Circles on Google+
- How mobile impacts Google+
Connect with Jesse on Twitter @Jesse and check out Jesse’s Google+ For Dummies Facebook Page and blog.
Are you on Google+? What tips do you have to share on using Google+ for business? Please leave them below.
Read MoreYouTube Analytics: This Week in Social Media
Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.
What’s New This Week?
YouTube Releases YouTube Analytics: YouTube Analytics now gives you a quick overview and more detailed reports for tracking your audience building and retention statistics. Be sure to check out the updated YouTube Creator Playbook to learn how to take full advantage of the new YouTube Analytics features.
Use the new Analytics to build and engage with bigger audiences, earn more money and make better videos.
YouTube Reaches 20 Billion Video Views per Month: The latest comScore statistics for online video rankings show Google-owned YouTube had a record 20 billion video views in October 2011.
The Google Sites are "driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com."
The New Google Bar Incorporates Google+ Features: Note how this new toolbar enables you to navigate quickly among Google’s services, as well as share the right stuff with the right people easily on Google+. This means marketers will probably notice more Google+ listings in Google search results.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSIMpFfNLEA
SlideShare Redesigns Their Presentation Pages and Names Them “Bigfoot”: SlideShare presentation pages are cleaner and increase the footprint size of your presentations. You can now discover presentations related to what you’re viewing and it’s easier to share with your friends on SlideShare, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
"Someone on the team nicknamed the new design 'Bigfoot' and the name stuck!"
Foursquare Adds a “Save to Foursquare” Bookmarklet: Use this new Save button on any page on the Internet to add it to your Foursquare list, and Foursquare will remind you about it the next time you’re ne arby
and searching for a recommendation in Explore mode.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhRheQ_vBeQ
Here are a few interesting infographics worth noting:
Check out the Inbound Marketing Ecosystem!
Social Media Tactics in B2B Marketing:
Notice how Pardot's study show LinkedIn as the best source of social media lead generation for B2B marketers.
SlideShare: The Quiet Giant of Content Marketing:
And don’t miss this:
Social Media Examiner presents Small Business Success Summit 2011! (online conference)
Join 25 experts, including including John Jantsch (author, Duct Tape Marketing), Anita Campbell (founder, Small Business Trends), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner and author, Launch), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Jesse Stay (author, Google+ for Dummies), Hollis Thomases (author, Twitter Marketing), David Siteman Garland (founder, “The Rise to the Top” and author, Faster, Smarter, Cheaper), Joe Pulizzi (founder, Content Marketing Institute and co-author, Get Content, Get Customers), Brian Clark (founder, Copyblogger Media), Lee Odden (founder, TopRank Online Marketing), Ramon Ray (founder, Small Biz Technology and author, Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses) and Lewis Howes (co-author, LinkedWorking)—just to mention a few (scroll down to see full list)!
What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.
Read More5 Tips to Sell Your Blog
Do you wonder if your blog has the potential for a big payoff?
Here are 5 tips to position your blog to attract corporate buyers.
The $ 315 million–dollar acquisition of Huffington Post by AOL definitely raised some eyebrows as bloggers started to realize that they’re holding “real” assets that can attract top-dollar investments.
But for many, it may seem like selling your blog isn’t even a remote possibility. Perhaps you’re still trying to figure out how to make it attractive for readers.
As you consider what’s next for your blog, start thinking like an entrepreneur and recognize that your blog has the potential to earn income like any other business.
Here are tips to take your blog to the next level, while making it more attractive for corporate buyers.
#1: Develop the right “mix”
In business it’s all about finding the “right stuff” to get the job done. Companies don’t buy blogs because they don’t have enough money to develop their own, they do it because the blog has already done a lot of the legwork of attracting the right audience, developing the right content or building a content distribution model that would take the company too much time to achieve on their own.
Think about the type of companies that would be interested in your readers. What type of content strategies could you develop to better serve your audience? How can you extend the reach of your content? How can you build your email list? How can you get your content to rank better in search engines?
With the acquisition, AOL is buying into the new publishing model that the Huffington Post represents.
#2: Establish trust with your readers
As a blogger, your voice is what establishes trust and resonates with readers even after corporate acquisition. This trust is a valuable resource for the corporate buyer and is something many times they do not want to lose after the acquisition.
Ultimately, if you have successfully established trust, you will be more likely to continue to play an active role in the blog even after the acquisition.
What does that mean? It means you could get a paycheck when they acquire you and then an ongoing salary for continuing to be actively engaged. That’s a win-win!
An example of what can happen when a blogger had developed trust with his readers and then left can be found with the departure of Michael Arrington from Tech Crunch. Arrington’s departure was bittersweet for AOL and his readers, which required AOL to quickly reestablish trust with the audience they paid a lot of money to acquire.
Poynter reported, “Readers come to TechCrunch for the latest information, but what makes a blog stand out is the trust in the people running the site, the editorial voice, and a site’s adherence to its own standards. That same trust wouldn’t automatically transfer to AOL’s appointed editor in this era of blended norms.”
Make sure that every step of the way you are establishing a genuine relationship with your readers. Figure out what they need from you and do your best to deliver it. When a corporate buyer comes along, make sure you protect your readers and your integrity to the best of your ability.
#3: Determine where your blog fits into the competitive landscape
What’s your blog’s competitive advantage
? What do your competitors do really well?
Companies will look at your blog and compare it to your competitors to determine which has the best chance to reach their audience, so it is important that you survey the landscape and work on building a differentiator that will help you stand out.
To illustrate, we’ll look at a few blogs from the personal finance industry. WiseBread provides a wide variety of content focused on frugal living. Likely, the site is focused on providing a superior distribution channel for content and driving organic rankings.
WiseBread provides a variety of perspectives with multiple authors.
Man vs. Debt provides tips and personal finance education through compelling and authentic personal stories of getting out of debt and being financially aware. The author’s tips hold a lot of credibility with readers because he has been there.
Man vs. Debt brings the power of a personal story to personal finance.
Budgets are Sexy provides readers with personal finance tips with flair. The blogger is known to rock a Mohawk and talk about finance with a friendly, down-to-earth tone that makes it all seem much simpler.
The blog Budgets are Sexy brings a rocker's edge to personal finance.
With just these few examples, you can see there’s a wide variety of blogs that are operating in industry verticals, and each has unique, but attractive, qualities to a corporate buyer.
As a blogger, think about what makes your blog unique, how you would describe your relationship with your readers and how your differentiator can be leveraged by a corporate buyer. Ultimately, it’s important that your blog fills a need. It should fill a need for the buyer and for the reader.
#4: Test the revenue waters
A corporate buyer wants your blog for a reason. And ultimately, it’s to help generate revenue for the company.
There are two primary ways of generating revenue from a blog: selling advertising space or leads to third-party advertisers or advertising the buyer’s products/services. A great way to better position your blog for sale is to be able to show a consistent revenue stream from advertising.
Start testing different types of advertising mechanisms on your site to see what will work to convert readers into buyers. If you don’t have third-party advertisers knocking down your door, start by advertising products that you have developed for sale. If you don’t sell “products,” look at developing an information product like an e-book or training course.
Man Vs. Debt offers a series of e-books for $ 47 and an online training course called "You Vs. Debt."
#5: Be prepared to let go
Don’t kid yourself and think that you’ll sell your blog to the highest bidder and continue running your blog like you always have. It’s common for bloggers to maintain a strong management presence in the content on their blog after a corporate acquisition, but that doesn’t mean that it comes easily.
Heather Starr Fiedler, the former owner of Pittsburgh Mom, which was purchased by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, said, “the hardest thing for me has been trying to maintain ownership of the voice of the site, but recognizing that I don’t own it anymore when I’m asked to take a different direction or add a feature to the site. It’s about forming a good partnership with the people you work for.
Heather Starr Fiedler blogs about her sometimes serious, sometimes profound and often humorous thoughts on life.
“I’ve had a ‘few different bosses’ and each has had a different philosophy of what the site should be, so I’ve had to be flexible, but also stand up for what I built the site for. Ultimately, it’s your name on the blog and you have to be comfortable with what’s there.”
Heather has worked with her management team to create revenue streams through sponsorships that are organic and natural for her readers. She says, “the big challenge is trying to do it respectfully… that is the big debate. So far we haven’t had any negative feedback from the audience so I think we’ve achieved that.”
Whether you started blogging because you loved it or started with a payoff in mind, there could be an opportunity to reap the rewards of your hard work. There are two sides of this fence: those who feel that bloggers are “selling out” and those who respect and understand the economics of the decision. Whichever side you are on, it’s hard to ignore the potential.
Even Perez Hilton, who recently offered his blog for sale on Howard Stern, stated that he would sell for $ 50 to $ 100 million depending on whether the deal included a TV project.
For the right deal, entertainment blogs can be sold.
Whether you ultimately decide to entertain offers on your blog or not, these tips will help you strengthen your following and establish your brand.
The best way to position your blog for sale is to build a rock-solid following. To help you get there, check out 17 Ways to Grow Your Blog From Top Bloggers and Michael Stelzner Explains How He Built Social Media Examiner to Be a Top Blog.
Did you sell your blog? Are you a company that has acquired a blog? If so, what tips would you offer readers? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.
Read MoreAn Internet Marketer’s Guide to Tumblr
I’m hitting a few social channels as part of the marketing campaign for Redomestication. Claude asked about my strategy:
Tumblr was specifically chosen because it’s growth curve has skyrocketed during the past year.
Tumblr received $ 85 million in VC this September (part of that from Richard Branson). Tumblr receives more page views than Wikipedia, with 1/10 as many individual visitors – that speaks to how highly engaged their audience is. It surpassed WordPress.com months ago in number of blogs powered by the service.
But more than any of that, I was impressed by Tumblr being one of the few – if not the only – social networks where people still share and link freely with one and other. Now that Twitter is mostly a broadcast medium (less engagement there these days) and Facebook Fan Pages aren’t as novel an idea in the consumer’s mind, Tumblr is an exceptional way to get down in the trenches and to see and be seen.
And that’s what an initial social campaign is all about – beginning to be seen.
Attracting Tumblr Followers
I’ve followed quite a few other Tumblelogs who are in similar niches as me, and when they post something that’s a good fit for my audience, I use Tumblr’s “Reblog” function to re-post it on to my site.
Consider the Reblog as what a quote and linkback used to be in blogging (although so few bother with it anymore). It re-posts the content on your site with a link back to the original Tumblelog, and alerts that original poster that you did so.
In the way that leaving intelligent and helpful comments on others’ blogs can be a way to get attention from the blog owner, Reblogging can be a way for you to gain the attention of other, more experienced Tumblr members. And, of course, once they see what you’ve got going on they might start Following you as well.
People still Follow on Tumblr with abandon. People Reblog. People search tags and curate and “Like” posts. It’s very participatory.
What To Post to Tumblr
As I wrote, I follow quite a few other Tumblelogs that I appreciate and will often “Reblog” the posts I enjoy from them.
I also make sure to post links / pics to any of my Redomestication posts on my Tumblr as well.
Tumblr moves quickly, and as such, posting just about everyday is pretty important unless you’ve got an audience already there. The Reblog helps make this managable – you don’t have to, nor are you expected to come up with all new content all by youself multiple times per day.
You can schedule posts for the future or you can use the “Queue” function, which will post a 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. times per day automatically for you.
I use to Queue to get my posts published and schedule them to come out 3 times per day.
As of today, my queue is empty (which means no new posts!) so I’ll spend an hour or so this evening with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on in the background, scrolling through others’ posts and queuing up new pieces for my Tumblr. Because this is a site and niche I wanted to start, it doesn’t feel like work, I enjoy it very much.
Tumblr vs. Squidoo
To answer the tail end of Calude’s question – why am I not using Squidoo? Squidoo is fine for building a lens and getting a linkback from, but it’s not much of a social platform. By that I mean that engagement across lensmasters is the exception, not the rule. I may well do some linkbuilding with Squidoo one day, but there’s just not enough ROI to bother with new friends and followers through it.
The Bigger Tumblr Marketing Picture
1. The ultimate goal is to attract a following on Tumblr that I can then parlay into blog visitos – as I post links to my Redomestication blog posts, the Tumblr followers will click through to my site.
2. Google also knows that the Tumblr is associated with me, and that it’s associated with Redomestication. The more shares the items I post get the more authority I get in my niche, in Google’s eyes. And author authority is a ranking factor.
(Can you be an “authority” in Google’s eyes in two niches – like internet marketing AND women’s interest, as I’m doing – I think so, but I’m not certain. That’s part of why I’m testing it!)
3. Finally, I’m also building links to my original Redomestication content as I post back to it from my Tumblr.
I’m also doing a Facebook Fan Page and a Twitter account for Redomestication, and will talk about their individual strategies in my next post.
Related posts:
- New Niche Site: Revealed
- Squidoo Income: How Much?
- It’s Not Me, It’s You: Three Pillars of Social Media Marketing
Attacking the Myths of Social Media: An Interview With Jason Falls
I recently met with Jason Falls, the founder of Social Media Explorer and co-author of the hot new book, No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing (Jason co-authored this great new book with Erik Deckers).
Jason also has a past with Social Media Examiner. He was one of our founding contributors.
Mike: Some might think the title of your book is a little edgy for the business world. Share how you came up with it and what you are setting out to accomplish with this new book.
@JasonFalls
Jason: Well, when Erik and I sat down last December and started talking about the concept for the book, I was really dead set and determined that we needed to write the “No Bullshit” guide to social media marketing.
The reason that I came up with that concept is that over the past few years, as I was giving talks around the country about social media, I’ve always tried to be very simple and plainspoken in how I explained social media, social media marketing and technology to people.
I’ve also tried to be very sensitive to the fact that businesspeople don’t have time to mess around on social networks. They need to know: “How do I get in? How do I set it up? How do I start using it so that it shows me some results?”, because they’re trying to run their businesses. If we as social media consultants and practitioners and advisors say, “We just want you to experiment and play for six months,” nobody is going to give us the time of day.
I’ve always had that sort of no-nonsense attitude. I would come offstage from talking at conferences and whatnot and people would say, “I really appreciate the fact that you’ve got a really no-bullshit style—that you just get right to the point and tell it how it is and don’t make any apologies for it.” So I listened to my audience. They said, “You’re the no-bullshit guy,” so that’s how the title of the book came about.
Mike: Let’s talk a little bit about the implication of the title, which is that there’s a lot of crap—misinformation—out there. Maybe you can share a little about why you felt the need to cut straight to the problem that’s going on right now with social media.
Jason: I guess we should take a step back a little bit. We’re calling “bullshit” on what I call the “social media purists” who have been preaching at us for however long this industry has been an industry.
They’ve been preaching to us that social media is all about joining the conversation, it’s all about engaging with your customers, it’s all about listening first and it’s all about providing value to your audience.
Now, this is where we need to draw a very firm line. Erik and I agree with all of those points and pieces of advice. I consider myself to be a social media purist in line with that philosophical thinking. And I have said those things before, and Erik has too, and we believe in them.
But that’s where the social media purists stop. And if you add the word “marketing” to the phrase “social media,” you’re talking about business. You’re talking about making money. You’re talking about driving business. You’re talking about revenue. So where the social media purists stop, we have to take a step further and say, “No, no, no. There’s a lot more to it.”
There are some social media purists over the years who have said things like, “You cannot or should not sell using social media channels.” We’ve got a couple of case studies in the book showing they’ve said things like, “Well, you shouldn’t be pushing marketing messages on your personal Facebook profile because that’s an inappropriate place for that to happen.”
So we went out looking for stories of people who had gone against this social media puritanical advice and had been successful in doing so—to illustrate the point that if all you think social media is about is joining the conversation, engaging, holding hands in a circle and singing “Kumbaya,” then you’re not going to be in business very long. Because if you’re not thinking about revenue, if you’re not thinking about approaching it strategically, if you’re not thinking about measuring it, then you’re probably going to fail.
Mike: You and I have had multiple discussions about this over the years, and I’m very glad that you’re addressing this. I believe 100% that there is a place for business, marketing and sales specifically in social media. I think that, hopefully, a lot of those purists will eventually wake up and see that there’s a place for that.
You mentioned “Kumbaya,” and in your book you mentioned the Kumbaya Effect. Can you define what that is and maybe we can dig a little deeper into what we need to know about it?
Jason: The Kumbaya Effect is where a person or company gets lost in the warm-and-fuzzy of social media: “Oh, we love engaging with our customers, and we love sitting on Facebook and Twitter and chitter-chattering all day.” That’s fine—there’s nothing wrong with enjoying it. Part of what makes social media fun is that you’re having one-to-one conversations and you’re engaging with your customers.
But if you get lost in the euphoria of being social and forget to be aware of your business, then you lose traction, you lose market share and you lose the opportunity to make money.
Every single business owner out there will tell you, if they know anything at all about their own business, “If I’m not doing something every moment of the day that’s going to lead to revenue, then I’m failing myself. I’m failing my business.”
So in terms of providing content and having conversations with people online as business folks, we need to make sure that we are consumer-centric. I’m not saying that we need to immediately just start dropping links to buy our stuff all the time. That’s not the point.
The point is we need to continue to be social, we need to continue to join the conversation and we need to continue to be consumer-centric. But we have to be business-aware—because if we’re not and we get lost in the euphoria, if we fall victim to the Kumbaya Effect, then we lose sight of our goals and we lose sight of what we need to do to drive our businesses.
Mike: You and Erik have done some research and discovered some businesses that are doing things that go against the grain of the purists. Can you mention one example of a business, big or small, that you think is doing something positive that’s actually generating results?
Jason: Last year for Christmas, my mother, Sara George, wanted a remote car starter, so she wouldn’t have to go out and sit in the car for 10 minutes on cold mornings. So my wife and I sent her a check and said, “It would be better if you have it installed where you live as opposed to us doing it here in Louisville,” which is three and a half hours away. “So here’s your check. Go and get your remote car starter.”
A few weeks after Christmas, she wakes up one morning—it’s really cold—and she goes on Facebook to check what’s going on before she goes to work.
She sees a message from a gentleman by the name of Greg Tackett. Now, she and Greg Tackett are acquaintances probably at best, but they live in a small town in eastern Kentucky. So in a small town, the context is a little different. They probably would say hello to each other walking down the street. They know each other well enough to do that, and so they’re connected as friends on Facebook.
Well, Greg Tackett posts a message on his personal Facebook wall, not on a brand page or anything like that, that says something along the lines of, “Come and get your remote car starter for these cold mornings at Tackett’s Custom Audio Car Stereo Place.” I can’t remember the exact name of the business.
Immediately, social media purists who had seen that flipped out: “Oh, you can’t sell via social media. You can’t put marketing messages on your Facebook personal profile. That’s against the rules. That’s wrong. You can’t do that. You’re a spammer!”
How would you think she responded to that message?
Mike: I think she probably would have said, “Wow, that’s exactly what I need!”
Jason: Exactly! She responded to the message with: “Can I make an appointment for Thursday?”
Even better, the viral nature of Facebook (and this is what you have to really think about) and the context of this man, Greg Tackett, putting that post on his personal wall, increases his likelihood of generating business.
Most of his personal friends live in the same small town. They know him, they know he has children to feed and they know he runs an auto aftermarket shop. And they know it’s cold outside, right? They saw his post and they saw my mother’s activity, and I think there were 12 or 13 people in that conversation thread who said, “I want one too.”
We did the math on that one Facebook wall post on Greg Tackett’s personal page, which was against all the rules of the social media purists. If all of those people had come and purchased a remote car starter that week—which I know my mother did, and several others probably did too—that one wall post generated about $ 4,000 in revenue for him.
Mike: That’s cool. You mentioned one of the myths earlier: that you can’t sell and you can’t make money with social media. Give me another big myth that you see businesses falling prey to when it comes to social media.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf7neIONxVs
Watch this video from the authors
Jason: I think that probably the biggest myth of them all is that you can’t measure it.
Despite the fact that there are a number of people out there now finally talking about the measurement, quantification and qualification of what all of this means, you still have businesses out there asking, “How can I measure how much I’m getting out of Twitter or Facebook? I don’t control those websites. I’m not selling anything there. I’m just having my employees spend time there. What does it all mean?”
I think that obviously asking the measurement question first is missing the point because typically you don’t measure what you don’t have. So you have to start out by saying, “First of all, what do we want to accomplish?” You need to set your goals first.
In the book, we talk about that myth of not being able to measure social media return.
The case study that we use in the book is actually about a brand that people have maybe heard about, but it’s a different scenario. Some folks have maybe heard of the Fiskateers website, which is a scrapbooking online community for the Fiskars brand of scissors.
Without going into too much detail, basically it’s a community of scrapbookers, a branded community, by invitation only. They have about 8,000 members who are avid scrapbookers. Fiskars, the scissors company, sends them samples and gets feedback from them, and so on.
Fiskars developed an 8,000-member community of people passionate about scrapbooking and almost equally as passionate about Fiskars scissors because Fiskars was providing this community for them. Fiskars thought, “We’ve got 8,000 people online who will do anything we ask them to do. Let’s send prototypes and have the community test them. Let’s get product and feature adjustment ideas from them, and let’s let the community decide what the next version of our scissors is going to look like.”
Because they have an 8,000-member focus group at their fingertips, they’ve cut and trimmed their research and development budget. They no longer have to go out and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars with intricate market research focus groups and whatnot, figuring out what people want out of their scissors, because they have those people right there.
So, you can measure it. You just have to have a plan first. You have to know what you’re trying to accomplish so that you can then say, “Okay, how much money did we make? How much money did we save? Are our customers happy?” Those are the three things that CEOs really care about.
Mike: You mentioned earlier selling with social media, and you made it very clear through your examples and discussion that yes, businesses can sell with social media. What I’d like you to do is share a tip or two about how to sell with social media.
Jason: The first thing you need to think about and understand is that when you’re selling things, you’re not just selling through social media, so you want to make sure that you have a comprehensive go-to-market sales strategy. Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar store, you sell virtual products, you sell things online or whatever, you need to think of this not in terms of a social media strategy, but also as a sales strategy overall.
Within the confines of social media, as it were, what you need to think about is that you want to have a point to every communication. The point is always: what is your call to action? What are you trying to get people to do?
When you’re in an informal conversation with a customer, it doesn’t mean you need to drop a link, “Click this and buy,” on everything you say. But you need to make sure that throughout your day, you are constantly following through with the point of your communication.
Maybe that’s to register for an upcoming webinar, download a white paper or sign up for your e-newsletter. It’s moving the consumer further down into the marketing funnel.
You have to think about a point that drives people to action—to buy, download, reserve, call or something of that nature. I think that you can do that both in calls to action on your blog and calls to action on Facebook posts.
A perfect example is Dell Outlet, the Twitter account for Dell’s overstock situations. They’ve treated that account differently over the years, but at times, it’s just been a never-ending stream of links for you to click on and get discounts on products. But they have enough people out there who are interested in their products that they can do that. If you have an audience that says, “Pizza joint, I just want coupons and that’s all I want,” then just make your Twitter stream coupons.
Mike: Jason, it’s been a very interesting discussion, to say the least. Where can folks go to learn more about your new book, No Bullshit Social Media, and to learn more about you?
Jason: The book website is www.NoBullshitSocialMedia.com. We tried to make that pretty easy for people to remember. There, you’ve got links to where you can purchase it at Que Publishing, Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
You can also get a free sample chapter as well, so if you read the first chapter and decide that it’s not for you, then you can save a little money and not buy the book. But I think most people will probably find it appealing and will want to buy it.
Kindle and Nook versions are out as well. The electronic versions can be purchased on various websites and apps where you get those. And it should be in most bookstores across the country now as well.
Then as far as I go, I’m @JasonFalls on Twitter. I’m typically Jason Falls on most social networks. I’m happy to connect with folks there. And then www.SocialMediaExplorer.com is my blog and company website where a couple of other writers and I try to keep us all on our toes thinking about the issues of the day in the social media world.
Mike: I encourage everyone to go out there and read the sample chapter of Jason’s book and pick up a copy.
Jason, thank you so much for making time for me today. I really appreciate this interview.
Jason: Anytime, Michael. I love you, and it was great being a part of helping www.SocialMediaExaminer.com get off and running a couple of years ago and I love coming back.
Listen to our complete extended interview below to hear more about Jason’s experience writing the book and his thoughts on Google+ and Facebook competition.
What do you think about Jason’s no-nonsense attitude? What are your thoughts on his “No Bullshit” guide to social media? Leave your comments in the box below.
Read MoreAre You Disclosing? What You Need to Know about FTC Rules and Social Media
Have you wondered about U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) disclosure regulations? Wondering whether you’ve been compliant?
Keep reading for a detailed understanding of FTC rules and regulations on endorsements and testimonials in social media.
Some background…
Any time the US Government implements new regulations, there is discussion, debate, information and plenty of misinformation.
Nearly 2 years ago, in December 2009, the FTC revised, for the first time in 3 decades, its rules and regulations about endorsements and testimonials in advertising.
The prior rules were made long before the Internet and needed to be updated to account for this new type of media. Since implementing the new FTC Disclosure Guidelines PDF for endorsements and testimonials in advertising, bloggers have been given a multitude of interpretations, rules, best practices and how-to’s. Sadly, most of the information has been more scare tactics than useful.
Disclosure: Good for you, good for your audience. Image: iStockphoto
When do you have to make the disclosure?
The FTC guidelines for endorsements and testimonials in advertising say if there is a connection between the endorser and the seller of the product or service, full disclosure is required.
What is a connection?
There’s no specific definition of what is meant by connection. However, if there is a contractual obligation—whether written or verbal—to post something about a product or service, there is definitely a ‘connection’ that should be disclosed.
If, however, you bought the product and just wanted to talk about it, that might not be sufficient to establish that there is some connection with the seller of the product or service. If your readers (or viewers, if you’re doing a video; listeners, if you’re doing a podcast) believe you may have received a product or service for free or are being paid to talk about it, a simple reference that you paid for the item, while not required, would help the reader understand that a connection to the brand or company does not exist.
What is an endorser?
An endorser can be an individual, group or institution. By providing information about your experience, belief, findings or opinions, you are now taking on the role of “endorser,” and therefore you would need to somehow communicate your relationship with the product or service you’re sharing about.
When you think of an endorser, you may immediately picture celebrities or people in those paid infomercials shown late at night. Just like those compensated celebrities or actors, each of us takes on a similar role of spokesperson many times a day. In talking to our friends and family about the things we like or don’t like, we’re the same those celebrities.
Here we see Colonial Penn Life Insurance is endorsed by a television celebrity.
Companies, educational institutions, civic groups, professional groups and the like communicate with their public. If they share information about a product or service, the organization itself—in encouraging its public to use or buy the item—may be taking on the role of a spokesperson.
Even though we may not think an organization can give a recommendation about a product or service, they do and would need to disclose any relationship. For example, a dental practice only recommends a certain brand of toothpaste. Maybe it’s just a personal preference of the dentist. If, however, the toothpaste company pays the dental practice or provides free product, the practice would need to tell the patients about their relationship.
What is full disclosure?
FTC guidelines do not give example of what full disclosure means. There are no magic words or specific phrases suggested. It also does not say if the disclosure must be within the text of a written post or at the end, or where specifically it must be. The language states that the disclosure must:
“… clearly and conspicuously disclose either the payment or promise of compensation prior to and in exchange for the endorsement or the fact that the endorser knew or had reason to know or to believe that if the endorsement favored the advertised product some benefit, such as an appearance on television, would be extended to the endorser.”
As you can see, there’s a lot left open for interpretation as to the “how” and “where” this disclosure must be made. The focus is on what the consumer or average reader understands to be a disclosure. The average reader is not going to know that he or she needs to click on an icon and navigate to other pages or read a page of disclosures to try to figure out if the link is an affiliate or if the awesome widget you’re telling them they can’t live without was given to you for free.
To quote the marketing genius Joe Dirt from the 2001 movie of the same name, “It’s not what you want, it’s what the consumer wants!“ This couldn’t be truer.
To whom do the rules apply?
The FTC guidelines apply to both traditional advertisers and those of us in new media. There is no significant distinction between a major brand and blogger. If you talk about products or services (either in written form or spoken word), then you are either providing advertising or a testimonial and these rules apply to you.
These voluntary guidelines apply to anyone who’s providing an advertisement or testimonial. In addition, though, social media strategists, consultants, gurus, masters, superheroes and PR agencies and their employees should be well-versed on this topic because they, too, may become liable if they are advising clients or bloggers to engage in action that is clearly contrary to the guidelines.
What does voluntary mean?
While we’d all like to think that voluntary means you can choose not to comply, that’s a bit of a misunderstanding. Voluntary in this sense means that there is no police system that will come after you.
However, advertisers and those providing testimonials do run the risk of having administrative action taken against them for noncompliance. This is not like other laws where failure to comply means a bright line consequence. Keep in mind, though, that choosing not to comply can produce a number of expensive consequences.
Why did these rules come about?
Complaints: A way to hold businesses accountable. Image: iStockphoto
As with most laws, these disclosure guidelines came about because the FTC began getting complaints from consumers who felt duped or misled. Enough people complained that bloggers and those with websites were leading them to purchase products or services because the writer was getting some type of compensation to give their review, insight or testimonial.
Rather than getting honest information, consumers felt they were being lied to by what was portrayed as an unbiased source. In fact, though, the bloggers and content providers were hawking goods and services and singing their praises while being compensated. Were they lying? Probably not. Did the consumer feel lied to? Many did.
As a result of the desire for what was seen as greater consumer protection, after almost 30 years the FTC updated their rules. They now apply to pretty much anyone who would be deemed an endorser of a product or service.
Consequences of noncompliance
As with most governmental regulations, noncompliance carries with it some sort of fine. The FTC administrative procedures are handled within the Commission. Penalties for noncompliance can range from a written warning and request to provide full disclosure to the maximum of an $ 11,000 civil fine (per incident).
Noncompliance is a failure to follow regulations. Image: iStockphoto
Keep in mind that the FTC must follow due process and that an alleged violator will not just get handed a bill for $ 11,000. First he or she will receive a written letter detailing the FTC’s position regarding noncompliance. In addition, the $ 11,000 fine is a maximum penalty. There are many other options for compliance enforcement.
Is the FTC reading my blog or visiting my website?
With millions of blogs and websites under the jurisdiction of the FTC—these include all US-based domains, hosts and servers—the task of monitoring every one of these sites falls on a small number of people. Because these are real people who work for the FTC, even on their own time they are often on the Internet. As such, they may come across your blog by happenstance.
When compliance is your job, everything you encounter is often read through that lens. This means that even if the FTC monitors are not coming to your site based on a complaint, they may very well be checking out your site for other reasons.
What should bloggers do?
There has been a lot of discussion about how to comply with these disclosure laws. I’ve heard of bloggers hiring lawyers to get guidance, I’ve seen companies start up just to provide some type of third-party notification system and I’ve listened as bloggers lament feeling like they’re losing a competitive advantage because they disclose but their competitors do not.
The problem here is that so many want to comply but don’t really want to be “clear and conspicuous.” The rule is not aiming for sending readers on a scavenger hunt around your blog to find a disclosure page; using icons that are neither standardized, recognized nor understood by the consumer to be a type of disclosure; or burying the disclosure.
Disclosure is evaluated through the eyes of the consumer, not what we think we can get away with while being as vague as possible.
The “how to” is tricky because much will depend on your readers, your content and how the information is presented. The basic KISS principle goes a long way with this, however. Keep it simple, smarty! If not for our readers, we’re nothing. Why not trust that they want to support the site?
What exactly should a blogger do? Just tell your readers in some way how you obtained the product, if you were provided a complementary service or if clicking a link within your post could somehow mean you get a commission or some type of compensation.
Honestly, it’s not very complicated. If you can seamlessly disclose within the text (e.g., “Company A sent me this widget to try,” “I received a complementary or reduced-cost stay at Hotel XYZ,” “Affiliate links are used and I may receive a commission if you click”) that is the best. However, including a disclosure at the bottom of the post is easily done as well. What I don’t think is a best practice is the use of incomprehensible icons or a generic “see my disclosure policy” link.
The disclosure policies I’ve seen on a vast majority of sites are inadequate. Using a general boilerplate disclosure policy is fine if you actually read it and understand what it says. One of the 26 ways to enhance your blog includes having a good disclosure policy. A succinct and accurate disclosure policy, if nothing else, can go a long way in offering some protection if ever the FTC reviews your blog.
As of this writing, no individual bloggers have been fined or sanctioned by the FTC. That’s not to say everyone is complying or that what is happening now is acceptable to the agency. All it means is that the FTC has chosen not to formally sanction bloggers at this time.
Why brands and PR reps need to know about disclosure rules.
First, education is key. In my experience, brands and PR reps take a hands-off stance when working with bloggers. To ensure that bloggers have autonomy in what they write, brand and PR reps often provide little direction. In fact, those running a campaign should set out the requirements very clearly. A simple disclosure at the end of a post would be all that is needed. Although, I think icons such as these might just make disclosure much more interesting.
A humorous way of disclosing you were paid cash for your testimonial. Image: Louis Gray
Witty disclosure about stuff we all get. Image source: Louis Gray
Shortly after implementing the guidelines, the FTC began an investigation of a blogger outreach program by Ann Taylor stores. The company held a private fashion preview for select bloggers and expected those bloggers to post content in exchange for gifts.
After an investigation, the FTC did not recommend enforcement action against Ann Taylor. The decision was based on a number of factors; one being that during the investigation process Ann Taylor implemented a blogger disclosure policy. It’s important to note that Ann Taylor had engaged a PR agency to carry out this blogger outreach program but the FTC chose to deal directly with the brand.
More recently, though, the FTC fined Legacy Learning Systems $ 250,000 for having affiliates write reviews under the guise of being ordinary consumers or independent reviewers. While the Legacy situation was unique because it involved a company specifically soliciting its affiliates for what were advertised as “unbiased” reviews, it is important in that no affiliates were fined.
Rather, the company was held responsible and must, in addition to paying a significant fine, monitor many of its affiliates for a period of time. Whether the company knew of the disclosure laws pertaining to its affiliates is irrelevant. The fact is the company was held responsible for its actions in directing compensated affiliates to pose as unbiased.
For brands and PR agencies, the key to compliance is setting standards. Some bloggers do a great job with disclosure. For the most part, though, they don’t. Ultimately, it is your brand or your client, and you should feel comfortable setting out basic expectations as to how you will protect your company or your client.
Do the disclosure rules apply to social media?
Absolutely! While it is slightly more complicated because there are often character or word limits, some type of disclosure or notice to readers is required. When anyone other than the brand itself touts a product or service, the FTC disclosure laws require disclosure so that the potential consumer knows there is some relationship and the recommendation or information could be biased.
Twitter is the biggest challenge because of the 140-character limit. There have been suggestions to use certain hashtags such as #sp, #spon #ad, #aff or the like. There’s no single set standard though, which makes it difficult for consumers. So far, the FTC has not gone after allegedly misleading tweets. They may in the future, so it’s something to be mindful of. That being said, given the pervasiveness of pushing blog posts to Twitter, using retweet buttons, retweeting and losing space it might be a bigger challenge than anticipated.
Facebook offers more characters, so there should be no excuse not to include some type of disclosure. However, as with Twitter, there are a multitude of automated programs that post blogs, tweets or other types of status updates or shares that make disclosure standards difficult. They key here, though, is if you can make a disclosure in some way, you should.
Location-based and location review/rating mobile apps bring a new set of challenges. When the FTC disclosure rules were promulgated there were one or two, if any, location-based mobile apps. Checking in to a location may lead someone to believe you are endorsing it. You may even write something or offer a tip to others who go there in the future. If you’re compensated to write about the location or experience, that should be disclosed.
In addition, while some mobile apps of this sort will prevent you from checking in or offering recommendations if you are not actually at the location, keep in mind that if you don’t actually have the experience, don’t write about it regardless of whether the app allows you to or not.
It's important to follow all disclosure guidelines in social media. Image: iStockphoto
Final Thoughts
The reason the rules exist is to protect consumers. Consumers have a right to know the information they read online is truthful and accurate. The FTC disclosure guidelines are not onerous, overly detailed or difficult to understand. There are few ethical standards when it comes to blogging. In some ways it’s still the wild west on the Internet. Brands and many PR agencies were already aware of disclosure needs for advertising and testimonials when it related to traditional media. The new guidelines moved those same standards into the new media realm.
Readers are essential to every blogger’s success. FTC disclosure rules for bloggers are easy to comply with, if you’re willing to trust that your readers want you to be successful. This is an opportunity to raise the bar. We just have to be willing to see this as a good thing.
What are your thoughts? Do you think the FTC disclosure rules are easy to comply with whether you’re a blogger, a brand or a PR rep? Leave your comments in the box below.
Images from iStockPhoto and Louis Gray.
Read MoreHow to Produce Timeless Content That Helps You Today, Tomorrow and Forever
In this video I interview Paul Colligan, expert in content creation and podcasting, who can be found at PaulColligan.com.
Paul explains why you need to avoid creating content that is “here today, gone tomorrow and a week later makes you look bad.” He also shares why it’s good to invest in creating content with a long shelf life and how to create timeless content.
Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.
Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:
- How to produce content that is good 10 years from now
- How to avoid giving cues dating the content you create
- Why the shelf life of your content matters
- How to match your content with when and where your audience consumes it
- Discover which content is “never-green”
- Why you should consider taking the dates off of your articles
- What you need to know before you start podcasting
- Why podcasting’s power is in the channel and not the media format
Connect with Paul on Twitter @colligan and check out Paul’s website.
Is your content timeless? What’s your favorite content creation tip? Please leave your comments below.
Read MoreDo You Need A Professionally Designed Facebook Page?
Do You Need A Professionally Designed Facebook Page?
With over 500 million active users, Facebook has more users and subscribers than any other website in existence – more even than the search engine giant Google.
But it’s only recently that businesses have begun to incorporate Facebook into their marketing plans. More and more people are investing in professionally designed Facebook fan pages for their business, and they’re reaping the rewards.
Your clients are using Facebook – and they expect you to use it too As of March 2011, almost half of the UK’s population have signed up for Facebook. And that’s small fry compared to the USA’s Facebook population, which comes in at well over 100 million users.
And those figures should tell you something about who’s using the site. It’s not just something for teenagers, students and nerds. People genuinely expect everyone to use Facebook, and that goes for businesses too.
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Just like with the search engines, if you’re not where your clients are looking, you’re missing out on business.
More people are using Facebook to inform purchasing decisions Of course, unlike Facebook’s teenage users, you’re not going to join the site to show off how many friends you have. And you’ve got better things to do than spend your afternoons poking people or playing Farmville.
The majority of people on Facebook are adults that are more interested in information than drunken photographs, and more and more of them are using what they see on Facebook to influence what they buy. So if you can show these potential clients a professional, sales-focused Facebook presence, they’ll start to buy your products.
It’s an affordable way of reaching a wider audience Finally, Facebook is a very affordable way of complimenting your search engine optimisation campaign and reaching an even wider audience.
Many web designers are branching out into Facebook page design, using the site’s inbuilt FML language to create stunning, interactive pages. Many blue chip companies have taken advantage of this move too, and more and more television advertising campaigns are starting to make reference to Facebook pages. But this need not be prohibitively expensive.
Because if you know where to search, you can get a professional Facebook page for only £250!
So, what are you waiting for
? There’s never been a better time to put your business on the world’s biggest website.
Andrew Nattan is Communications manager at FirstFound, the UK’s leading Search Engine Consultancy. He’s also involved with FirstFound’s Optimise Magazine.
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