Build your base to build your momentum

Posted by Christopher S Penn on Feb 7, 2012 in Advertising, Marketing, Strategy | 0 comments

One of the most important lessons I teach to my students in the social media course I teach is that it’s vitally important to build your social base. We have so many platforms on which to market that if we try to be everywhere all the time, we’ll effectively not be anywhere. This is especially true if you are budget or resource constrained and trying to make social media work for you.

How do you choose a social base? Look around at all of the social networks and figure out which one you are most comfortable working in. For some people, the way Facebook works is ideal for them. They love how Facebook’s community management features work. For some people, the way Twitter works is ideal for them. For some, it’s LinkedIn, for others it’s Google+.

The one criterion I would strongly recommend is that you pick a network that offers federated identity. These are the networks that have login capabilities on other sites – Sign in with Twitter, Sign in with Facebook, Sign in with Google, etc.

Set up an outpost on each, but then pick the one you like the most and devote most of your resources to building it up. Participate on others as needed or required, but give your energy to one to help it grow.

Why? Because the federated identity platforms allow you to move your network from place to place. Here’s an example. I hadn’t used Stumbleupon in ages, and last year I decided I’d go back and see what was still happening. It turns out that my account had been so inactive that it had been purged from their system, so I had to start fresh.

When I logged into Stumbleupon and created my profile, I was asked if I wanted to find friends from another network. I connected with Twitter and within minutes, I had built a Stumbleupon network of nearly 1,200 people. Now I could make use of that network without having to arduously build it up too.

As these networks get ever larger and more popular, your ability to be successful with them will be partly dependent on the solid base you have that you can direct and manage well. Build your base, build your momentum.

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Stop measuring audience in social media

Posted by Christopher S Penn on Jan 20, 2012 in Advertising, Marketing, Metrics, Strategy | 15 comments

Have you heard any of these questions lately:

What’s the value of a Facebook fan?
What’s the value of a Twitter follower?
What’s the value of an email subscriber?

I know I certainly have, and these are the wrong questions to be asking. Why? They assume that all people are the same. Let’s instead crib from Batman:

It’s not who I am underneath, but what I *do* that defines me.

There are, broadly speaking, two types of audience members: active and passive. Active members read your newsletters. They click on your tweets. They like your status updates on Facebook. They share with their networks. They read and forward your emails. They buy your products or services. They recommend you to other people.

Passive members… do nothing.

Here’s an example. I have, at the time of this writing, almost 49,000 followers. Awesome, right? I must be a social media success story. Not so fast. If I segment out the traffic on my website using Google Analytics’ Advanced Segments and ask me to show number of absolute unique visitors in the last 30 days from all things Twitter, the true number of followers I actually have that did the bare minimum of clicking on one link to my site in a month is:

1,293. That’s how many followers I have that actually showed up in the last month. That’s a pretty far cry from 49,000. Thankfully, there’s no cost to having the other 47,000+ in my network, but they’re basically dead weight that are providing nothing at all. It’s not like I’m asking them to buy a car or something, just click once on one link in 30 days in order to show up in the chart above.

Here’s another slice of life, my email list. Over 12,000 people subscribed. Great success story on the surface, but if we dig a little deeper…

Yep, less than half opened or clicked on ANYTHING in the last year. The rest of the list is dead weight, and I can and should just ditch ‘em since most email companies charge based on the number of emails sent.

If you’re trying to figure out the value of a person in your audience, you’re barking up the wrong tree. A person in and of themselves has no value until they actually do something, anything, to show that you have some level of engagement with them. Active members of your audience have value. Passive members do not. Start by figuring out how many active members you have, and you will have a much better idea of how your social media efforts are actually performing.

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How do I get started…?

Posted by Christopher S Penn on Jan 17, 2012 in Awakening, Productivity, Strategy | 0 comments

If I had to rank the questions I’m asked at conferences and online, probably the single most asked question I’m asked is in the form of “How do I get started X”, where X is SEO, affiliate marketing, social media, Twitter, Google Analytics, etc. Fortunately, there’s an answer for you (and it’s not “Let me Google that for you”).

The answer to “How do I get started…” is always in the format of:

Why / What / How

Why

Why do you want to do X? What’s the overall objective? What’s the biggest possible picture? For example, a lot of people do ask how to get started in social media. Why? What end does it serve?

A few years ago, I was doing Social Media Therapy sessions at MarketingProfs B2B conference, and this one gentleman asked me exactly that question. He explained that his business was in the business of using massive computing resources to adjust prices in real-time for big box stores to maximize profits. In a word, his company’s function was to make buying something as expensive as the market would tolerate. I explained to him carefully that social media had very little to offer to him – in fact, consumers becoming aware that his company existed to make their lives more unpleasant might lead to things like torches and pitchforks at the front door of his office. Better that he focus on his existing customer base and use the networks of tightly-knit executives to help him grow his business.

If you don’t know why you’re doing something, don’t dare do it. Figure out why, figure out what the big picture is, and only then move on to…

What

Once you know why you’re going to do something, you can start to dig into what to do. The simplest way to begin tackling what is to examine what’s already being done. For example, let’s say you want to get started with SEO. Start your search engine of choice and see what’s out there. Chances are, someone has a guide of even mediocre quality that can be a place to start your inquiry.

One of my favorite tricks to start learning any area is to see what books are available about it. Hit up your local library or Amazon or the book source of your choice and start learning the words and phrases people use. Don’t go leaping into anything just yet – just develop a lexicon of the basic terminology for your area of study. For example, if you’re getting started with SEO, a few easy reads will give you a list of things like inbound links, on-site optimization, link building, keyword phrases, etc.

There is no substitute here for doing your homework. Building this kind of lexicon in your head and learning how the different words interact with each other is absolutely essential and there are no shortcuts you can take that won’t cost you obscene amounts of time, re-work, or money later down the road.

That leads us to…

How

Very often, people do this step first, and that’s totally backwards. This is the last step, where you take each of the lines of inquiry from the What phase and learn the nuts and bolts of making the What happen. If you just start searching in the dark without the Why and What understood thoroughly, you’re essentially hoping that you’ll piece together a working plan. It’s roughly akin to going into your kitchen, getting 5 items out of the refrigerator, and hoping it makes a meal. If you draw lime juice, milk, a piece of cheese, a box of baking soda, and the fridge thermometer, you’re in for a very hungry day.

What I recommend most is that you actually draw out a diagram or a mind map with each phase on it. Start with the Why, then add in the What, and you’ll eventually have enough branches to fill out the How. Doing it this way lets you write very detailed questions to ask search engines, colleagues, and your network of resources to get the insights you need.

Drawing out a map like this also lets you add and remove things as your base of knowledge grows and as you find out what works for you and what doesn’t. As an added benefit, when you’re done with the project or line of inquiry, you automatically have all of your documentation pre-built.

So how do you get started with…? Figure out the why, what, and how!

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How I’m using Buffer to sync my social

Posted by Christopher S Penn on Jan 11, 2012 in Advertising, Marketing, Social media, Social networks, Strategy | 7 comments

A while back I said that I was testing out Buffer, and would let you know what I thought of it. For what I’m using it for, I think it’s a brilliant little app.

Here’s what I’m not using it for: phoning it in on Twitter. While it can do that and reasonably well (I used it for this purpose during the holidays), it’s still not going to deliver game-changing results for you, since a large part of social media is the social part – interacting with other people. Phoning it in and getting results requires you to have unbelievably awesome content worth sharing, and very few of us have that.

What am I using it for? Periodic reminders. What I’ve done with Buffer is create something of a chart that helps me lay out the basic reminder framework I’m using:

Each week for 4 weeks, I’m reminding people in my various audiences about my presence on other social networks. Last week, it was LinkedIn. This week, it’s Google+. The other networks will be represented, then I’ll likely start the cycle anew.

Why did I choose this method for using Buffer? These are the kinds of periodic reminders that are important to keep publishing if new people are joining your network. One look at the basic raw Twitter graph illustrates the necessity of these periodic reminders:

In 30 days, the network has grown by about 2,000 people. Assuming that each and every person knows who I am, what I do, and where else I post is sheer folly. Thus, Buffer provides me the opportunity to gently remind the new folks where else they can participate and interact with me. How did I pick the times to set my periodic updates? Crowdbooster provides a nice chart of when my existing audience is most active on Twitter:

Crowdbooster + Buffer + a set of standard updates is my current formula for success with the app.

How are you using Buffer?

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What are your kata?

Posted by Christopher S Penn on Jan 10, 2012 in Marketing, Ninjutsu, On ko chi shin, Story, Strategy | 2 comments

In the martial arts, there are series of exercises called kata (in Japanese), or forms. These are single or multi-person exercises that follow a pre-arranged sequence of techniques that are performed almost like a dance.

An astonishing number of martial artists no longer see the value in kata. To them, they are outdated, outmoded relics of a bygone era, and offer nothing for modern practitioners, especially when considering the threats and challenges we face today in the 21st century.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

While it’s absolutely true that facing an attack by someone wielding a spear or halberd is fairly unlikely today, the point of kata isn’t just to teach archaic methods for dealing with danger. The point of a kata is to pass along a story about how an important confrontation was won in the past.

Look at a kata like Kyogi, for example, from the Koto family. In its barebones form, it reads like this:

Avoid first punch
Avoid second punch
Step on foot
Knockdown

Pretty unremarkable story, which is why most people discount kata. But think about how you could condense down any story:

Boy loses family
Boy meets wizard
Boy grows his powers
Boy blows up Death Star

We of course expand that little sketch into the epic movie Star Wars. Likewise, with study and practice, we can dig into the story of Kyogi and glean some powerful insights about how to win against an opponent by keeping them constantly off balance and constantly reacting to changes they can’t predict.

The danger with kata is that we pay attention to the wrong things. Instead of delving into the kata and learning the story fully, we skip to the next story sketch, learn its basic outline, and move on yet again, never getting the full flavor of the story.

Sound familiar? That’s also what every digital marketer does with the social networking tool of the day. Instead of exploring all of the different ways we can use one network, we move onto the next shiny object without developing any competence about what we already have access to.

Instead of skipping around and dabbling, think instead about creating and collecting stories from your own work. How would you take an event like an important sale or an important social interaction and convert it into a story that can be told and retold in your company, your network, or your community? How would the story change as people retell it and practice it, refining it and adding to it?

That’s the essence of good martial arts kata and good marketing.

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Cash flow is king

Posted by Christopher S Penn on Jan 3, 2012 in Business, Money, Strategy, World of Warcraft | 3 comments

I’ve been playing World of Warcraft now for almost 4 years. For the insiders, I started right before the Sunwell and patch 2.4.2. One of my absolute favorite parts of the game is playing the in-game market, the Auction House. This is a live commercial exchange where you can sell your goods to other players and vice versa in a digital bazaar of sorts. Some of the best business lessons, some of the most important business lessons, can come from playing this aspect of the game.

One of the most basic but most powerful lessons about this aspect of the game is that when it comes to running a business, only one things matters: positive cash flow.

I switched realms recently to the Earthen Ring. In my first 30 days, I had to restart my Auction House businesses from scratch. The first step to doing so in-game (and in real life) is to get some working capital, some starter money. In order to be able to buy and sell, you need cash. Fortunately, as in real life, there are decidedly unglamorous but profitable jobs you can take. Here, for example, is the Jaggedswine Farm, outside the gates of Orgrimmar. When you kill these pigs, you get a chunk of boar meat.

Boar meat is decidedly uninteresting. It’s unexciting. However, in order to level a character’s cooking skill in game, it’s a necessary ingredient. Thus, a lot of people need it, even if they don’t want to get it themselves. Combine a boring, time-consuming task with a demand for the finished good, and you have the opportunity to make some money.

Once you get some starter capital, building your fortune becomes a matter of making smart deals and keeping cash flow positive in your in-game professions. In the case of one of my characters, it’s about keeping my costs for producing glyphs from exceeding the profits. I know how much the supplies for my profession will cost me. I know roughly what the finished goods will sell for. If I can keep cash flow positive, then there’s no limit to how much I can grow my business. Conversely, if I have negative cash flow, no matter how much I sell my items for, I will lose in the long run.

Cash flow is king. If you on a personal level are not cash flow positive, you need to fix that as soon as possible. Go start doing some affiliate marketing. Ask for a pay raise at work or change jobs if you’re able to do so. Publish a book for sale – it costs nothing besides time and an Internet connection these days. Whatever you do, get earning more than you’re spending.

This is the core business lesson that the Auction House teaches us: unless you consciously choose otherwise, always be making a profit. Always be spending less than you’re earning. Always be minimizing expenses while maximizing profits – and focus on maximizing profits so that you can grow. Cash flow is king. Cash flow is the lifeblood of your business, and as long as it’s positive, the world is your oyster.

Or boar. Mmm, boar.

No actual animals were harmed in the writing of this blog post. A whole bunch of digital boars got mercilessly slaughtered, however, and their innards sold for 4 gold, 37 silver.

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