Small Error

I meant to say that the Super Bowl was watched by 106.5 Million people and not 160.5 Million. 

Oops!

Super Bowl Follow Up

It was the most watched television program in history with 106.5 Million viewers.  Half a million more than the M*A*S*H finale which aired nearly 30 years ago when there were really on 3 channels to watch.  So it's a truly amazing feat.

The game was great.  I was in a room full of Saints fans and I'm guessing I was in a country full of Saints fans too.

But what about the commercials?  As you saw, I posted my personal research about the ads last week.  Here we are now, a few days post big game and there is a lot of commenting on the quality of the ads as well as the commentary had about the commercials via Social Media.  I read a good perspective today from David Berkowitz who works for digital marketing agency 360i and who writes a column for Mediapost's Social Media Insider. Let me share it with you now...

The Antisocial Bowl
by David Berkowitz , Tuesday, February 9, 2010

 If social media has finally gone mainstream, where was it during the Super Bowl? It wasn't visible in many of the spots.

With Facebook passing the 400 million user mark and so much of the buzz about the ads happening on Twitter, you'd expect more social media love from the ads. Instead, the Web site URLs at the end of the spots tended to go to the advertiser's main site. Where were the callouts to become a fan, follower, or friend?

Here are ten reasons why social media wasn't front and center during the Super Bowl ads:

1) Social belonged elsewhere in the architecture. Marketers must make decisions on where social media fits within their digital architecture. Frequently, their main site serves as the hub that links out to their social presence elsewhere, and those social properties link back to the site.

That doesn't have to be the case; a social network, blog, or microsite could serve as a hub, or it may be a decentralized approach without a hub but with the pieces still connecting together. For Super Bowl advertisers, their hub tended to be either their homepage or a page within their main site. Brands with an active presence in social media had an opportunity to direct consumers to their social channels from their sites, yet that's where a number of marketers fell short.

2) The spot was just the beginning of the experience. Volkswagen best illustrated this by running a punching commercial with a callout to "play punchdub at vw.com," where a Facebook-centric game allowed visitors to send virtual punches to friends. The TV spot works on its own without a Web component, but the social addition may extend the life of the campaign much further.

3) There was a failure to integrate. Integration of any sort remains a hurdle for most marketers. I'm referring to integration broadly because it's a stumbling block in just about every possible way: traditional and digital, paid and earned media, paid and natural search, bringing various agencies together during the planning - the list can go on. It's a safe bet that the challenges of integration and a lack of communication prevented some of these ads from being more social.

4) Social media informed which ad ran. I love this quote from Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Google's blog (which I found out about through MediaPost's Online Media Daily): "We didn't set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search. Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But we liked this video so much, and it's had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience." In short, Google did its market research and felt it could boost the impact of its videos by running it on TV.

5) The ads themselves were use- generated. I'm referring to the Doritos ads, which outnumbered the total of touchdowns from both teams last night. The user-generated and selected ads could have had more social tie-ins, but that's missing the bigger picture. It's also telling that the whole concept of user-generated advertising hasn't taken over. Overall, the spots were more of the same professionally produced sketches of anthropomorphized animals, celebrity guest stints, ironic slapstick, and near-nudity (from Megan Fox to guys in tightie whities) that we've come to know, love, and forget about two days later.

6) The focus was on listening. Here's a headline I hope is never again newsworthy, via Computerworld: "Intel to monitor social networks on Super Bowl ads." I give Intel credit for sharing what it's doing. Intel spokesperson David Veneski told Computerworld, "It's the first time [Intel has] gauged audience reaction around an event by using social networks." One would think that with an investment of $2.5 million per half minute, this is part of the cost of doing business . The cost of one second of Super Bowl airtime ($83,000) can buy a year of premium access to most social media monitoring tools, and several months of analysis from most service providers. This is the last year to let this story pass for news.

7) The order was reversed: social media promoted the ads. A funny thing happened on the way to the Super Bowl: brands from Coca-Cola to Bud Light used social media to plug their Super Bowl spots. This can seem counterintuitive; this year's Super Bowl was watched by over 100 million viewers nationally, so it's not like the ads need promoting. Yet brands took advantage of their social channels to extend the experience, whether by pushing out Facebook status updates, live tweeting during the game, or using digital word of mouth to spread the word before and after.

8) The ad was about social media. In one ad Megan Fox used mobile social media to cause worldwide havoc, while in another Vizio plugged getting Twitter and Flickr on your TV (giving Twitter a potential new slogan: "what to watch when 'Jersey Shore' reruns aren't on"). So yes, I counted as many ads about social media as I did ads about men in underwear. What a milestone.

9) The ads were for Web sites. If a marketer is trying to get you to a Web site (Godaddy, Monster, Google, TV.com, CarMax, Cars.com, HomeAway, Teleflora), going to their social presence on a different site would be counterproductive.

10) They just forgot. Hey, it happens. As the Colts know too well, there's always next year. And unlike the Colts, marketers can spend a few million bucks to guarantee their spot in the game.

Book: Crowdsourcing Websites - Pt. 2

Last week I gave an example of crowdsourcing by showing how we designed Fanscape's company logo through the crowdsource website Crowdspring.  I promised to talk this week about conversing in the crowdsource space.

First, get over the idea that you have to do everything yourself.  Thanks to the web and specifically Social Media, you can find experts in nearly every area willing to give you their thoughts or practice their skills in exchange for money or exposure.

Second, once you've gotten over the fear of outsourcing to others, then you need to know how to ask for what you want.

Four ideas on how to communicate when crowdsourcing:

1. Give an overview of who you are and what you hope to accomplish
When doing our Fanscape logo via Crowdspring, this is the language we used:

Creative brief

Fanscape is in search of a new logo to use throughout our business materials, including our website (www.fanscape.com), business stationary, and other official assets.

**Who We Are**
Fanscape is a leading Digital Marketing Agency that provides interactive marketing solutions for today's most exciting entertainment and technology-related products. We utilize strategic Online and Mobile marketing methods to surround the target consumer and complement traditional advertising. We very much live in the world of blogs, social networks, widgets, and all that is web 2.0.

**What We Are Looking For**
We are looking for a logo that is clean, slick, and not over-the-top or cutesy. While we would like something that fits in with today's web 2.0 world, we also do not want it to appear dated when the inevitable 3.0 rolls around. The logo will most often be used on white backgrounds, but should also be easily adapted for darker backgrounds.

You can learn more about us at our website, Fanscape.com.

!!!IMPORTANT!!! Please do not attempt to incorporate any design/color elements you see at our website! Our site, like our logo, is being updated and the color scheme / design will be changing dramatically -- use it strictly for information only.

2. Be prepared to update if you see things going in a direction not to your liking
Example: when we saw the direction our crowdsourcing was taking, we posted the following:

Update 1-Oct-08, 3:11p.m. PDT

Great to already see submissions so early on! One quick note -- Digital Marketing Agency is NOT our tagline and should not be included with the logo. It was included in the assignment title just to describe what it is we do. Thanks!!!

3. Give Examples
We didn't do this for the logo example I've shown above, but if you have an idea of what you want to accomplish based on other things you've seen, then point people to this.  For example, when we were designing our latest website, we compiled a list of other websites that we liked.  We boiled it all down to specifically what we liked about the individual sites and compiled this into an extended creative brief document.  Now, we didn't crowdsource our website, though I wouldn't be afraid to do that in the future, but we did use similar techniques to the logo design crowdsourcing.  Point being, you want to be as explicit as possible if you do have something in your mind that you hope to accomplish.  I am particularly picky when it comes to design.  I often know what I want but have a hard time explaining what is in my head.  So, I find the best way to alleviate the inevitable frustration between myself and the designer/developer is to give examples.

4. Be prepared to expand on what is created
What you get is often not the end product.  The logo that was originally created was slightly different, see below:

 

Final product:

It's basically the same, but we changed the font a bit and the colors as well. This is typical and another great reason for crowdsourcing because you are paying for concept and initial details.  After that, you own it and can do what you need to in order to make it right for you.

As I mentioned last week, crowdsourcing in my opinion has risen to new heights via Social Media and something you should embrace.  From creating a logo to finishing your movie script, there are great resources on the web to help you out with those tasks that stare at you from your to-do list every day. Just make sure to always explain your needs and thoughts clearly so that you end up getting what you want. Follow the four steps I listed above and you should get what you want.

Super Bowl Commercials

I did some research on Super Bowl ads today. Every year I look forward to the ads and thanks to social media, you can find a lot of the ads (or parts of the ads) online in advance of the big game. The cost of an ad in this year’s Super Bowl is between $2.5 - $2.7 Million per 30 second spot. The reason an ad costs so much is mostly because of the size of the audience watching the Super Bowl but also because the ads themselves get extended shelf life because news programs feature the “top ads” and Internet websites carry the ads. 

This year I’ve also found several categories that correspond with the ads such as UGC, Facebook components, and Stunts - i.e. “banned” commercials.  I’ve listed this all below with some commentary. 

Superbowl Ads via Facebook

• Budweiser – www.facebook.com/budweiser

Budweiser made it so if you became a fan of their Facebook page, you could vote on what commercial got picked to run during the Superbowl.  

• Coke – www.facebook.com/coke

Coke took a very active Social Media approach to their Super Bowl ads in response to Pepsi pulling their Super Bowl ads in favor of digital marketing.  Coke took the social part literal and geared some extensive social media marketing around their Super Bowl ads towards social cause.  Per an article I read:  "Coke plans to give up to $500,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and will raise half of that money through a campaign tied to the company’s Facebook page. As of Wednesday, Coke started offering branded virtual gifts that Facebook users can send to their friends for free. For each gift sent, Coke will donate $1 to the Boys & Girls Club."

UGC

• Doritos – Crash the Superbowl - http://bit.ly/9fBX0U
• Career Builder – HireMyTVad - http://bit.ly/9qvwFk 
• These guys took the same idea as Doritos.  And the results are really good.  I personally love the one called "Casual Friday."  Also, there is one they label Too Hot for TV for some added social media value.  Here is what I read about this program: "Close to 1,000 entries were submitted to the HireMyTVAd contest and while CareerBuilder originally set out to hire only one concept, in the end, three ideas were selected and each received a $100,000 prize."

Banned – These videos go for the “banned from the Super Bowl” stunt-type exposure.  The KGB one is really good and the GoDaddy one is typical of GoDaddy’s annual Super Bowl campaign.

• GoDaddy – (Lola) http://bit.ly/92OpbP
• KGB – http://bit.ly/9UcFH7

Teasers

• Dockers – http://bit.ly/cs4FuJ
• No idea what this will look like, but notice the integration of the Shazam iPhone app in this one.  I tried to test it but the clip is too short to see what is supposed to come up on Shazam.  
• eTrade (outtakes) - http://bit.ly/9xX69h
• I love this.  It’s an “outtakes” real for the eTrade babies.  
• Bridgestone – http://bit.ly/a9uoOQ

Full Commercials

• ManCrunch - http://bit.ly/a7gdao
• This is the commercial getting all the press this week because it was rejected by CBS to run on the Super Bowl.  They claim it’s not a stunt and they were really prepared to spend $2.7 Million to run it.  They also argue that CBS is allowing a politically charged "Focus on the Family" commercial to air that is very Right Wing and Pro-Life so why can’t they air this?  I tried to find that Pro-Life commercial but it wasn’t available yet.
• Cars.com - http://bit.ly/c8JjLd
• GoDaddy - (DP) - http://bit.ly/drnGtr
• GoDaddy - (DPmovie) - http://bit.ly/aYijSx
• Hyundai - http://bit.ly/94nTHk
• Standard car commercial but with funny Brett Favre part.
• TruTV – http://bit.ly/ajx5ne
• This one is good.  It’s Troy troy Polamalu as the Groundhog from Groundhog Day, ”Punxsutawney Polamalu” 

Book: Crowdsourcing Websites

I love this topic: Crowdsourcing. I'm a believer and I put my money where my mouth is. When we re-branded Fanscape with a new logo and a new website about a year ago, we used a website called Crowdspring.com to design our logo. Here's how it worked for us (and it still works the same way today): you go to Crowdspring, set up an account, and post that you are looking for someone to design a logo. Give as much input as you can, determine a price you feel comfortable with, and launch! We put a prize of $250 for our logo and within two weeks time had over 100 entries. It was amazing. And oh so simple.

The basic logo and typeface came out very close to the above logo.  At the end of the process the designer got their money and we owned the logo outright. 

Meanwhile you can do the same thing for videos, websites, even products using sites like MediaMobz.com and Etsy.com. 

What I've just explained via example is the basic concept of crowdsourcing - determine what you need and then find the right online destination to source that need. 

Next week I'll talk a bit about conversing in this area. 

4 Ways Social Media Can Save You Time and Money

A few weeks ago I posted a blog about Social Media for Business.  The idea being that if you are a company, Social Media can help you tremendously in 4 key areas: Marketing, PR, Market Research, and Customer Service.  I mentioned that I was writing a bigger article about that and today it was published in iMedia Connection.  In the coming weeks I'm going to publish this into a Point of View (POV) document so I will share that with you as well.

Basically this is my mantra right now.  I'm trying to get people to see that Social Media isn't just a passing fad or a PR tactic.  It's an open line of communication between companies and their customers that can both help them drive sales and save money as well.

I welcome your feedback so please email me at LarryW@Fanscape.com if you have any comments or thoughts on this.

4 ways social media can save you time and money

By Larry Weintraub

If you are just dabbling in social media, you may still not be sure what exactly it will do for you or where it fits in to your company structure. You've probably created a Twitter account, built a simple Facebook page, and maybe even added a company blog to your website. Good. That's a great start. Now step back for a minute and think about what this is all for.

There are four reasons to use social media for your business. In no particular order, they are:

    * Marketing
    * PR
    * Market research
    * Customer service

All four of these are geared to do the same thing -- connect with your customers and interact with them. But don't hide behind trendy words like "engagement;" ultimately you want to do one thing: sell more products or services. Let's take a look at how each of these four components of your social media strategy can help you sell more.

Marketing
From a marketing perspective, consider social media as an enhanced, more touchy-feely version of CRM. Hopefully you are already running an effective email marketing campaign and properly communicating with your database of customers. These days you need to run several mailings lists. Your Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., all have fans, followers, and subscribers. Just like with your email list, your social media-based customers and potential customers need to be communicated with on a regular basis. They need to be entertained, supported, and rewarded.

Don't get sucked into the numbers game. How many participants you have on your social media properties is far less important than how you interact with them. Instead of concentrating on how many Twitter followers you have, try instead to gauge success on how responsive and participatory they are.

Utilize the methods provided by each social media outlet to engage with your customer. One recent example of a company using the functionality of a social network to drive sales is Best Buy's Facebook page. Here, users can browse all the products that Best Buy has to offer and then ask the opinion of their personal network of Facebook friends whether they agree with the products they want to buy. This enables a customer to simultaneously browse for products while interacting with their friends via the Facebook platform. Best Buy not only benefits from an innovative social sales strategy but also has valuable research data that may help them determine which products to stock in the future.

PR
Publicity and public relations are no longer just about getting an article in BusinessWeek or The New York Times. Now there are thousands of influential blogs and online outlets that can create a positive effect on your business.

With numerous major print publications struggling to survive, most publicists have added digital media and the extended social media to their hit list. Going back to the point stressed earlier, quantity should not be the goal. How many people you reach is far less important than the quality of people you reach. With the proliferation of social media you can, and should, target your PR campaign to the web publishers that can position you with the people you want to reach. If your product is a piece of technology then you can find countless websites and blogs that focus on just that. Their readers and followers trust their reviews and advice. While these publications may not reach as many as The Wall Street Journal, oftentimes you will sell much more with an influential blog that has a fraction of the readers.

You can also create your own press exposure by dedicating time and resources to your own blog and social networks. Poignant and helpful essays, white papers, and research should be featured on your company's website, blog, and social networks. You will notice agencies like Razorfish who do this exceptionally well and generate a tremendous amount of positive PR by utilizing this strategy.

Market research
Thanks to social media you have incredible access to your customers. You have hundreds or thousands of "fans" coming to your social media properties looking for information and a dialogue. They want to know more. They also want to tell you what they think. So encourage them to speak freely. Ask them what they like about your product. Ask them what they don't like. Treat them like family and they will give you the tools to better your business.

If you are like many businesses, you have probably spent thousands of dollars hiring market research companies over the years. Those firms would locate ideal target customers and ask them for input on your product. No need for that now -- the people whose opinions you want most are opting in to your social networks. Take the money that you had previously spent on market research and give it to your social media team to conduct market research directly with your audience. And don't forget your employees. They have a lot to say too.

The best example of this is being done by Starbucks with their My Starbucks Idea concept, where they ask their customers and employees to suggest things they'd like to see at Starbucks. The suggestions reside on a dedicated website and then the community votes them up or down based on popularity. It's a simple yet brilliant idea. 

Want to sell more? Who better to up-sell to than your current customers? Ask them what they want and then give it to them. 

Customer Service
Ok, this is the tough one because it potentially requires serious resources. But you can't avoid it; people are quickly learning that they can get your attention a lot faster by speaking to you via Twitter or Facebook than they can on the phone. So embrace it.

A tremendous advantage here is that if you help someone publicly via social media then others will see this. If you solve someone's problem on the phone no one knows except that person; but if you solve it online, in public view, others will notice and you may solve several people's problems at the same time. You have greater potential to be regarded as a customer friendly company, which will set you apart from your competition.

Companies like Comcast, Dell, and Ford have all excelled in this over the past two years. These are three companies that have all struggled with their customer service reputations but have had a positive impact with their public perception, as well as sales, as a result of their customer service efforts on social media.

Delegation
Understanding that social media touches these four very distinct areas and that most companies have departments set up for each of them, it can often be confusing as to who handles oversight of social media. Here's a radical thought: create a new division for social media with a direct connection to each of the corresponding departments.

Depending on the size of your company and the resources available, dedicate a member of the social media team to each focus that has one foot in social media and one foot in the corresponding department. That way everyone works together and it becomes less about being territorial and more about uniting to sell more products. 

It is great to be the company that embraces social media, and 2010 is the year it becomes a bigger focus for the vast majority of businesses. You should be transparent, helpful, honest, and thankful. Put real focus and attention on the four areas described and establish measurable sales-oriented goals and expectations. It will work. Wouldn't you prefer to buy from a company that follows this plan?

http://bit.ly/d0WjZb

iPad

Do I want an iPad? Yes. Do I need an iPad? No. Would I use an iPad if I had one? Probably for about a day.

Here's why I love my iPhone. Because I can carry one device on an airplane. When you travel as much as I do, you learn to pack as light as possible. The iPhone made it so I didn't need to carry a phone, an organizer, an iPod, and as many books & magazines as I used to. I'm all about downsizing. Less stuff.

The Kindle was intriguing. But it's heavy. A lot heavier than you think it's going to be when you look at it online or when you see someone holding it in their hands. I have to take my laptop on most trips so if I add a Kindle, it's too much. But I love the concept. I love the idea that all of my books and magazines can fit on one device and I don't have to carry the weight associated with all the individual literature. So, give me a laptop with 10 hours of life that can hold my books and magazines. Make it super light. Make it affordable. Under $1,000.

Thus the iPad doesn't quite win me over yet. That said, I'd probably prefer one over a Kindle (though I'll admit I'm not 100% up to speed on the offerings of one vs. the other) because it's an Apple product and the oohs and ahhs that I'd get by being one of the first on my block to own it are appealing. But it doesn't replace anything vital. It doesn't replace my phone and it doesn't replace my laptop.

But I'm not down on this device. I love it conceptually, it's just not quite right for what I need right now. My guess is that within 2 years we'll have something closer to what I want. This is just the start. Once again, Apple takes something that already exists (MP3 player, laptop computer, cell phone)and makes it sexier. Makes us want one. There's not a single company in the world that can do that.

That is inspirational. I want to be the Apple of my industry.

Book: Stats

I'm supposed to be writing about Conversational Marketing with Crowdsouring websites, but I'm just not feeling it today.  That's the tough thing about writing a non-fiction / how-to kinda book.  If this were fiction I would just continue meandering down my crazy mental rabbit hole (yes, I've seen the trailer for Alice in Wonderland and it looks pretty twisted!).

So, today, I'll just post some interesting stats that were just sent to me.  I'd tell you that I'll put these stats in my book, but odds are that by the time I finish my book all of these stats will be outdated.  To give you an example of this, check out this Social Media Tips document that Kodak released last year.  It's an interesting read, but notice many of their stats have long been eclipsed like where they say Facebook only has 250 million users.  I mean really, that was 100 million people ago.

Also, check out my friend Scott's new MktgIdeas.com blog about social media marketing.  He's the one who told me about the Kodak doc.  He's also got some great insight into how people are innovating in social media. 

Anyway, here are some interesting stats that Bithika in my office shared with me today...

Cool Stats (that will be very outdated by the time my book comes out)
“Max Connectors” (those with more than 500 social connections) are more likely to track a brand or company on social media to learn about new products/ features/ services and to understand the company culture and its policies. (Marketing Sherpa, Dec 2009)

Total minutes devoted to social properties and blogs in the U.S. surged 210% over the last year, and average time per person increased 143%. (Nielsen Online, 2010)

As per a recent report by Nielsen Online (2010),

1. Internet users worldwide spent an average of 5 and a half hours on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter in December, an 82% increase from a year ago. New data also shows that the global audience for social networks has increased 50% in the last three years, from 211 million to 307 million. (Nielsen Online, 2010)
2. When it comes to time spent on social networks, Australia led the world with an average of nearly 7 hours (6:52), trumping the U.S.(6:09), the U.K. (6:08) and Italy (6:00). But the U.S. had by far the largest audiences for social sites and blogs, with 142 million, followed by Japan (46.5 million) and Brazil (31.3 million).
3. Worldwide, Facebook was the top social hub in December, with 207 million unique visitors. Time on the site has increased per month to nearly 6 hours worldwide and 6:24 in the U.S.
   

HubSpot (2010) recently released its findings based on 5 million twitter accounts and 6 million tweets. Some interesting stats are:

1. The average twitter user has an average of 300 followers. 82% of Twitter users have less than 100 followers. 
   
2. In January 2010, the average user had made 420 Twitter updates, compared with 120 in July 2009.
3. The number of users who have taken the time to write bios, specify their location and add a URL to their account has doubled since the last time they reported on Twitter. This again tells us that Twitter users are becoming more mature in their use of the service and they're making sure they're leveraging it properly.
4. The highest usage days for Twitter are Thursday and Friday. There's a sharp drop-off over the weekend and a slow ramp up that begins building again on Monday.
5. Most Twitter users are night owls, actively tweeting in the evening between 10 and 11pm while wrapping up work or watching TV at home.
6. The highest click thru rate on tweeted links occurs between 2 and 3pm. (Followed by the 8-9pm time slot and the 5-6pm time slot.)
7. Thursday, Saturday and Sunday experience the highest click thru levels, consistently beating the average.
8. Tweets that include links are far more likely to be retweeted than tweets without links.
9. The more links you tweet, the less likely people are to click those links.
10. The highest percentage of retweets occurs on Fridays at 4pm. (Monday afternoons also have high retweet rates.)

Less than 51% of Twitter users were from the US in December 2009, down from 62.1% in June 2009. However, US users accounted for nearly 57% of tweets. (Sysomos, Dec 2009)

Broken down by city, London had the most Twitter users, followed by Los Angeles, Sysomos found. But New Yorkers were the most active tweeters, accounting for some 2.4% of all posts. (Sysomos, Dec 2009)

OK Go

The other day Bob Lefsetz had a posting called, "The OK Go Fracas."  I said to myself, "what is the Ok Go fracas?"  I knew OK Go had a new album out because I listened to it last week on Rhapsody.  And I'll be honest, on first listen, I didn't love it.  But OK Go has always been more than just songs, they've been a very visual band.  I'm assuming most everyone who reads this blog knows who these guys are and remembers the video where they were on treadmills.

The fracas that Bob speaks about is the fact that OK Go's record label Capitol / EMI prevents YouTube from allowing videos from bands on their label group to be embeddable.  The band's Damian Kulash wrote a letter on their website to the fans explaining the situation.

This week we released a new album, and it’s our best yet. We also released a new video – the second for this record – for a song called This Too Shall Pass, and you can watch it here. We hope you'll like it and comment on it and pass the link along to your friends and do that wonderful thing that that you do when you’re fond of something, share it. We want you to stick it on your web page, post it on your wall, and embed it everywhere you can think of.

Unfortunately, as of now you can’t embed diddlycrap. And depending on where you are in the world, you might not even be able to watch it.

We’ve been flooded with complaints recently because our YouTube videos can't be embedded on websites, and in certain countries can't be seen at all. And we want you to know: we hear you, and we’re sorry. We wish there was something we could do. Believe us, we want you to pass our videos around more than you do, but, crazy as it may seem, it’s now far harder for bands to make videos accessible online than it was four years ago.

It's a very well written letter and something all aspiring musicians should see.  Not a week goes by where I don't get at least one letter from a musician asking for my help to get them signed to a record label.  I always ask them why they want to get signed and why they don't do it themselves.  And they always explain to me that they need the marketing machine that a record label provides.  Well, if you are one of those aspiring musicians that still believes that, read Damian's letter.  I don't know that it will discourage you, but at least it will give you some added insight into the inner workings of the record business.

For everyone else, I highly recommend you watch the band's new video for "This Too Shall Pass."  It is a fantastic video.  In fact, since I saw it on Tuesday, I've told a dozen people to watch it.  And it also made me fire back up the Rhapsody to listen to the new album again.  And I like it a lot more.  Somehow that great visual made the music better.  Something that very few bands or musicians have ever been able to do, but these guys do it consistently. 


OK Go - This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.

Book: Influencers and Evangelists - Part 2

Last week I wrote about spotting conversations going on about your brand.  This week I'll discuss how to identify brand evangelists and how to communicate with them.

Conversational Marketing: Brand Evangelists (continued)

Identify 
By doing simple searches you can find conversations going on about your brand.  It's a little more challenging to determine who the influencers and evangelists are.  Challenging only in the respect that you need to follow conversations back to their source and then read through multiple blogs, posts, and tweets to see if the contributors are actually fans of the brand or just making a statement about a particular incident.

If your brand revolves around entertainment, toys, candy, or something "sexy" then it is a lot easier to spot the evangelists.  Someone with the user name @StarbucksLover is giving you a good signal as to their coffee allegiance.  But if your brand revolves around something like dish soap as I mentioned last week, then they'll be tougher to spot.  In that case, think less about your brand specifically.  When your brand pops up in a search, trace it back to a conversation, see what else this person talks about.  You may discover that they write a blog about cleaning products or about coupon collecting.  Again, not specifically about your product, but their content is relevant and more importantly, notice who responds.  Look at each blog post.  How many responses are there?  What kind of responses are they?  Do you see a lot of "I agree!" type comments?  Do you see a lot of questions asked back to the blogger that imply that the blogger is respected and influential?  If the person communicates via Twitter, how many followers do they have?  How many responses to each tweet do they get?

What I'm describing isn't complicated.  It's just time consuming. 

And, again, big numbers aren't the key metric here.  Look, if only a couple of people are responding, then odds are this particular person isn't terribly influential.  But once the responses get into the teens and higher, then you should start taking them seriously.  If you've got the time, take a look at the people replying to the blogger and see if you can trace them back to see if perhaps they are bloggers too.  Bloggers often hang around other bloggers and comment on each others blogs.  Same is true with Twitter, Facebook, and most other social networks and communities.  Then you can see that this person may actually be heard by an audience beyond their own because of re-posted blogs and re-tweets.

There are tools to help with some of this process as well.  In fact, there are a lot of tools.  The only downside is they cost money.  One of the most accepted and least expensive tools is Radian6. Pop a few key search terms into a tool like Radian6 and it will show you not only where the conversations are taking place but also prioritize those conversations based on influential rank and how many people read and participate in those conversations.

Communicate
Communicating with these now identified evangelists and influencers is a process I've previously described in other posts.  Keep in mind that if someone has a big voice, or even a moderately influential voice, odds are that others like you are trying to contact them on a regular basis.  Remember to put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself this question: "why would I care?" If you were the one being reached out to, what would make you respond?

So craft your message carefully.  From subject line to content.  Make sure you identify exactly who you are, what you hope to accomplish, and more specifically, what is in it for the person you are contacting. Try to bond with the influencer.  If they already like your brand, it shouldn't be too hard.  You should be armed with knowledge of that person's blogs, tweets, etc. so that you already know that they are predisposed to like what you have to say.  Maybe they would love some exclusive information to share with their audience.  Maybe product for giveaways and contests.  Each influencer is different.  Do your homework and try to identify what makes them tick.

Know that your success rate will fluctuate.  In some cases you'll get great response and feedback.  In others you'll get nothing.  Don't get frustrated, just learn each time you correspond what works and what doesn't.  Don't pester someone who doesn't respond. That can actually hurt you.  Just try your best and never forget to think about what its like to be on the other side.

Everything I've described is relatively easy to do.  The tools exist to help you find influencers and evangelists.  It just requires time and patience. So take your time, follow the conversations, and if you do it correctly, the impact should be overwhelmingly positive.