Ideas for Business

If you run a local business then you might be tempted to write a marketing blog just like everyone else does, but is that the right approach? It might not be. But I wouldn’t say that categorically.

There are times when, as a business, you might want to do something a little more out of the ordinary – like write a blog that is a community-oriented, community-driven hyperlocal blog. The big question is, Why?

Think about your audience for a minute. Let’s say that you are a service business that can only deliver its service from a storefront. You can’t do it online, in other words. Therefore, your customer base – your target market, if you will – is inherently local. Why not target local geographic keywords, in addition to your niche keywords, to attract your local audience.

Suppose, for example, you run a local body shop. You work on automobiles. You could write a blog that keeps tabs of local accidents – in Minneapolis-St. Paul, for instance. If you could get photos and video footage of local automobile accidents, or run accident reports picked up from the local police and fire departments, and comment on those then that might be something people would read. Instead of promoting your business, you promote safe driving. Be sure to put your business logo all over the blog and let people know you are the primary sponsor. You could even sell advertising to other businesses related to auto body work such as auto mechanics and auto parts stores.

I think the idea of hyperlocal blogging is almost here. It’s just a matter of time before it takes off like a rocket. And it could be sooner rather than later.

I’ve just had another very busy few months. Recent work has included: Print collateral copy for engineering firm Air Manager Marine; Tone [...]

Sponsored by JenKaneCo, well known social media evangelist Brian Solis recently gave a presentation to an enthusiastic group of marketers in downtown Minneapolis to introduce the concepts behind his new book:  Engage! The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate and Measure Success in the New Web. The following is an overview of his presentation:

Relations vs. Relationships

There’s something interesting that’s happening right now on the web:  relations are starting to matter more than relationships.  The key lesson for marketers, and what the rest of this overview discusses, is that people will engage around content that compels them in networks where that content spreads.

We are all going to have to shift from relationships to relations:  having more thinner (but still relevant) connections is starting to matter more.  As a marketer, this shifts the power balance.  People are connecting around psychographics rather than demographics, and this means four degrees is the new six degrees of separation.  In plain English:  we’re all becoming better connected and users are vitally important to the equation of how information spreads.

A way for your marketing to succeed is to take the approach of a sociologist, an anthropologist and a philosopher rather than a traditional marketer.  That’s because it is people who are in control of the ideas that spread.  The web has changed things and marketing and PR have changed along with it.

Context Becoming as Valuable as Content

The challenges go deeper than marketing approaches.  When you join a company, you’re not given a Facebook page and Twitter account like you are an email account.  You already have those things.  And companies aren’t sure what to do or how they can leverage their own team members to increase their digital presence.  Your team members are vitally important because “content being king” is evolving into an era where context is king (yet, content still remains quite the powerful queen).  Context is proven to show who you are connected to and why around every conversation.  Your team members are a key ingredient to providing context, their actions equating to a type of social currency for your brand.

Speaking of content, how people react to your company’s content (something now public) equates to the stature of your community.  Reputation, trust and relationships are earned through these reactions and how you connect contextually is the experience prospects seek.

Content and context define the future of successful marketing.  You’re no longer marketing to individuals, you’re now marketing to “an audience with an audience.”  And every time they react to something you do, it shows the power of relations vs. relationships.  But without remarkable content and relevant context, you can never reach “an audience with an audience” effectively because you’re missing part of the equation of why people share ideas.

Getting Started

One of the easiest things to do is see what’s happening right now.  An approach that can be used is a “30 day window” to see a snapshot in time of what’s happening around a brand.  For a brand unsure about how much conversation was happening around their products – a sample search can reveal a staggering amount of messages across social platforms.  In many cases it’s a shock and can result in disbelief from management teams.  A social media monitoring service should be required for every brand to monitor the situation in an ongoing fashion.

Getting at least a snapshot is a good first step, and ongoing monitoring is even better, but equally important is to consider the data in perspective.  Or to put it simply:  share of voice vs. share of conversation.  Share of voice only gives you a partial view as it assumes everyone is talking about companies in a given industry.  A more relevant approach is to look at share of conversation.  As an example, consider  Old Spice – in the discussions on the social web regarding “body spray,” how well did they do?  While the overall conversations and reactions generated, putting it into context truly provides meaning of share of conversation.

Share of conversation matters more than most consider.  People are actively using the social web as part of the decision making cycle, and so this is the socialization of more than just marketing, but business as a whole.

Conclusion

How are you adapting to the socialization of business to help move these things in the right direction?  You need to extend divisions so that they are responding to consumers at the right point to become trusted and a part of the community.

All companies need to realize the fact that they are now in the media business, and that every company is now a media company.  This strategy is potent enough several companies embracing it have developed brands of media so popular they’re putting out best-selling books.  The influence they have over their markets is that big.

Influence is the ability to inspire desirability and measurable action and outcomes.  It is more than a click or more than a view.  As marketers, creating content and context to ultimately form influence is how to achieve long term, sustainable social media success.

For more on getting started in social media, consider creating a social media roadmap to plan your social media strategy.

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Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz has a great video on the process of finding content writers when you are ready to outsource. But let me say that outsourcing may not always be your best option. If you can find an in-house writer who can do what you need then you have some advantages that you won’t have through an outsourced writer. On the other hand, an in-house writer might cost you more in the long run. You’ll have to make sure you give them enough work to keep them around. Otherwise, they’ll leave and you’re back to planning your content again.

So if you’ve decided that you want your website to grow and you don’t have a budget for a full-time in-house writer but you know that you need content then outsourcing could be the way to go. Rand breaks the process down into four easy and useful steps.

• Requirements Gathering – Take some time to outline your goals. Know what you need before you hire someone to provide it. Otherwise, you’ll end up going north when you want to go south.
• Locate potential resources – I like his idea of chasing long tail bloggers. And I agree that you could end up with a less expensive and higher quality content on your website by seeking out those sources. I’ve been successful finding writers through freelance sites like Guru. Just be sure you get samples first and get a writer who can take feedback and make adjustments.
• Research writing quality and voice match – It’s very important that you get a writer who can create content in a style that is similar to yours. If a writer can’t match your voice, particularly if they’re taking over content that you’ve been writing yourself, then there’s a good chance that the experience will be bad for both of you.
• Scale, evaluate and track – You want to make sure you’re staying on target.

I would add one thing to these. Treat your writers as a part of your team. The more you can make your content creators feel like they are producing something of value then the more value you can expect from them. Be sure you communicate your needs clearly.

I agree with Rand’s statement at the end:

(Source) Remember, from both an SEO and from a human perspective, writing is about quality over quantity. Having one great article that engages readers and earns links far outweighs 100 poorly written articles.

Quality is more important than quantity, but if you can achieve both then you’ll reach the pinnacle of content creation.

Enjoy the video!

Whiteboard Friday – Outsourcing Content Creation

I don’t know that I buy the argument that location-based social networking is still a small group. That is, in the sense that they shouldn’t be marketed to.

(Source) So the question becomes, how much of your time and money should be spent marketing to this group? Parrish says very little.

I disagree. Location-based social networking is still in its infancy and hasn’t caught on yet, but it’s just a matter of time before it does. And when it does, look out!

Twitter and Facebook are really precursors to the location-based social networking idea. Especially Twitter.

Facebook has the set up. You can network with other users in your geographic location. Facebook has the local groups you can join.

While Twitter doesn’t have local groups you can join, there are search tools that allow you to search for other Twitter users in your geographic area. And you can establish or join a Meetup group of Twitter users in your local area and network offline as well as online. Plus, Craigslist has its own version of local networking too.

But these examples do not really reflect the reality of location-based social networking. Forrester recommends holding off until there is a proven market, based on the data that the number of users is still small. The above-quoted article also mentions Foursquare, one of the more popular location-based social networks, and does so in not so much of a flattering way.

My take is this: If your customers are there then you should be there. Whether it is Foursquare or one of the other location-based social networks emerging. ChannelWeb highlights eight of them. Just as FYI, here they are a nutshell:

• Brightkite
• Citysense
• GyPSii
• MobiLuck
• Loopt
• Plazes
• Whrrl
• iPling

I think the time to start your location-based social networking is now. While this will get better in time and the tools will become more sophisticated and scalable, I wouldn’t wait until it is perfected. You can network with others in your area right now – if you meet them in the right places and through the right channels.