How Do You Make Something Go Viral?

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Deborah Chaddock Brown

The question of the day. With YouTube now second only to Google as a search tool, more and more companies are looking to add video to their marketing strategy.

But how do you get people to watch – that is, people other than friends and family?

Michael Terpin, founder and CEO of Social Radius was recently quoted in an article in Entrepreneur Magazine called “OMG – Check it out!”

Sound familiar -have you received texts or emails that say the same thing followed by a link to a YouTube video? Just today on Twitter someone was talking about the Prank Wars on College Humor site.

Terpin says you don’t need a big budget to create a YouTube sensation, just a two-minute-or-less short that is funny, inspirational and–above all–decently produced.

That little sentence is really important – be short – be funny – be well produced.

Steve Strauss wrote an article this year offering 7 Steps to Creating a Viral Video.

Steve offers advice for creating buzz about your video:

·      Blast an email out to your list. Link the video and recommend that people watch it and forward it.

·      Tweet about it. Embed it and share it on Facebook. Ask friends on Facebook and Twitter to share it. Digg it. You know the drill.

·      Put it on your homepage

·      Embed it into your blog and blog about it on your site.

·      Try and get other bloggers, high profile bloggers, to blog about it. Some folks even pay bloggers to embed it and blog about it.

·      Go to relevant forums, post it, recommend it, and start threads about it.

Of course it comes down to your message the community you have built. Terpin goes on to advise:

When you’re ready to seed your material, mine your social networks for both the “right” people and those who are connected to them. And, of course, tweet, Facebook and e-mail away, asking friends to pass it along. But make sure your video is actually good before you do.

He also cautions that the video should be good – you don’t want to associate your brand with junk.

This next Tuesday on Us Media Radio, we’ll be having Deb Shapiro of Montrose Video who will be talking to us about video marketing. You might want to put this show on your calendar – 10am est Tuesday, November 23, 2010.

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Website Writers Understand the Importance of Website Usability

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Deborah Chaddock Brown

There have been millions of articles written about website content, website functionality and effective use of website design, but it never hurts to get back to the basics of understanding what is important for a website to be reader-friendly.

Consultant Mikal Belicove recently wrote an article in Entrepreneur magazine entitled The Usability Factor in which he offers six factors for your website:

  1. Messaging
  2. Navigation
  3. Effectiveness of calls to action
  4. Response time and performance
  5. Accessibility for users with disabilities
  6. Content and readiblity

He also suggests several tools you can use to measure your effectiveness:

Tools for the Test

Online website usability tests let you collect feedback from hundreds or even thousands of users at a time. Here are some I recommend:

Loop11: Create user tests, invite participants and collect and analyze meaningful usability data, all using a highly refined and affordable interface.

Usabilla: A fast and simple way to collect visual feedback on web pages at any stage of development or deployment.

Userfly: Sign up, install the provided code and watch what happens. Brilliant.

UserTesting: After you sign up, these folks shoot webcam video of your customers (or their panel members) while they use your site.

UserZoom: Conduct task-based studies with hundreds of users to measure efficiency and effectiveness.

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Blogging to Build Community

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Deborah Chaddock Brown

Christine Brown

This coming week on Us Media Radio, Chris Brown of Marketing Resources and Results and author of the award winning blog Branding and Marketing will be our guest.

Chris will share her thoughts on the power of blogging to build relationships, make connections and build community.

You can tune in at www.blogtalkradio.com/usmedia or call in 805-285-9848 to ask your questions of Chris. Chris is a frequent speaker on the strategies of building a brand and bringing your products to market. In fact, she has a powerful new workbook available entitled Roadmap for Success.

You won’t want to miss this information-packed half hour. If you are considering writing a blog, learning the benefits of blogging or the technical components around having a blog – this is the podcast for you.

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Us Media Radio – New Blog Talk Show – Tune In

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Deborah Chaddock Brown

Starting this coming Tuesday, November 2, 2010 at 10am est a new radio voice will be heard. Actually, two voices.

Candace Benson of Camp Tech will be sharing her views from a technical perspective and yours truly from AllWrite Ink will be covering the customer relationship perspective.

Us Media Radio: Where Relationships and Technology collide happened by accident.

Two weeks ago Candace and I were in a meeting and someone mentioned that since the movie The Social Network hit the big screens, there have been new lawsuits against Mark Zuckerberg for invasion of privacy. Candace was appalled. “How can he possibly be held responsible for something that a person voluntarily signs up for?”

“Easy,” I countered. “He made it so difficult to actually make sure your privacy was protected by hiding all of the functionality in difficult to find places that people thought they were safe and private when in fact, they weren’t.”

The conversation went down hill from there. Candace standing shoulder to shoulder with Mark Zuckerberg and me – representing the privacy of 500,000,000 friends.

“Stop!” I said, “Before we harm our friendship. This should be a radio show!” And thus, Us Media Radio was born.

Every Tuesday morning from 10-10:30 EST we will share thoughts on how technology is making it possible, exciting, easy and potentially dangerous to connect with customers, peers and industry leaders. Speaking of industry leaders – most weeks we will have a guest on – a “subject matter expert” that will share their views on a particular brand of social media or marketing technology and Candace will ask the technology questions while I defend the rights of the customer.

The boxing gloves are on – hope you’ll tune in!. Call (805) 285-9848 this Tuesday at 10am EST to listen to us debate the movie The Social Network and Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg - are you available? Call in and meet your newest best friend – Candace Benson!

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Twitter Your Customer Connection

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Deborah Chaddock Brown

This past Sunday the USA Weekend insert in the Sunday paper had an article spotlighting how the Fortune 100 companies are finally turning to Twitter as a direction connection to their customers. Turn to Twitter for Quick Customer Service.

The article is written from the customer’s point of view – instructions on how to share opinions about a company experience. Companies need to read the same information and set up ways to monitor not only their company name and company products but also industry key words. If a competitor has missed the boat with one of the customers – why not jump into the conversation and offer to help?

To follow the twitter conversation, visit Search Twitter - click “advanced search” and then select key words for your industry. You’ll find the latest tweets. Add the “?” for those asking questions or looking for answers. You can even set up this search as an RSS feed and have the latest tweets sent your Google home page or your email account.

Use your listening ears because customers are talking (tweeting)!

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LinkedIn Offers New Profile Details

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Deborah Chaddock Brown

I just discovered a new FREE application available to spice up your LinkedIn profile.

Have you been published – in a book or an article?
Do you have patents attibuted to your name?
Can you speak or translate languages?
Have you received special certifications?

There is now a special section that is added to your LinkedIn profile that shows up below your work history and above your recommendations.

Visit your LinkedIn profile. Click on the tab “Profile” and then “Edit Profile”. Scroll down below the blue box and you’ll find this question:

NEW: ARE YOU PUBLISHED? Own a Patent? Display it on your profile.

Simply click the Add Application button and take it from there. As an author, I was able to add the names of my books and links that take you right to the purchase page!

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Why Executives Should Embrace Social Media

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Deborah Chaddock Brown

If you are an executive sticking your nose in the air at the latest “fad”…social media…you better look again. As a leader in your business, you like facts and figures so here are a few for you to ponder:

•In the last 7 years, Internet usage has increased 70% PER YEAR. Spending for digital advertising this year will be more than $25 billion and surpass print advertising spending (forever)

•Lenovo has experienced a 20% reduction in activity to their call center since they launched their community website for customers

•Blendtec quintupled sales with its “Will it Blend” series on YouTube

•Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI

•Naked Pizza set a one-day sales record using social media: 68% of their sales came via twitter and 85% of their new customers

•Software company Genius.com reports 24% of social media leads convert to sales opportunities

•Dell has already made over $7 million in sales via Twitter•37% of Generation Y heard about the Ford Fiesta via social media BEFORE its launch in the US and currently 25% of Ford’s marketing budget is spent on digital/social media

•71% of companies plan to increase investments in social media by an average of 40%

•A recent Wetpaint/Altimeter Group study found companies that widely engage in social media surpass their peers in both revenue and profit
(Sources for Statistics: meyersreport.com lenovosocial.com George Wright Blendtec Mashable.com econsultancy.com businessweek.com )

As a business owner you may believe that social media is just a tool for the marketing department but there is value for your entire company understanding the benefits and learning how to listen and participate in the social network. Check out this article from Deming hill “Why Executives Hate Social Media” and see if it doesn’t change your mind.

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The Social Network – Candid Comments About the Movie

Posted on October 12, 2010 by Deborah Chaddock Brown

The world is abuzz with Facebook – over 500 million people participate and in the United States people spend on average 55 minutes of every day. Since that figure is an average – you know that many are spending even more time. So how did it begin?

The new movie The Social Network based on the book Accidental Billionaires, tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg etal and the start of Facebook. Whether expanded upon with creative license for viewing audiences or not – the movie still shares some insight into the motivations of using the Internet and social media to connect with people, create awareness, build community and make friendships.

This past Sunday I viewed the movie with five other women business owners and afterwards we shared some thoughts on the film:

Have you seen the movie? What did you think? Has it changed your view of Facebook or the people involved.

How would you answer the two questions we tossed around:

Would Facebook be what it is today without assistance from the Napster guy?
Did Mark really steal the idea for Facebook from the twins or is it like Candace states – many people have ideas, it all comes down to who came bring them to life.

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LinkedIn Status Updates – Super Sized

Posted on October 7, 2010 by Deborah Chaddock Brown

I listened in to the webinar hosted by Lewis Howes and Sean Malarkey yesterday. In one very short hour they slammed more than 800 listeners with great tips for using social media to connect with customers and grow our business. I took seven pages of notes! Great stuff. So today I’m putting their tips into practice.

Lewis – the LinkedIn guru, showed a quick way to turn your status update on LinkedIn into a rocket ship of power.

We all know how to type an update (140 characters or less) and hit the “share” button. Many of you who have Twitter connected to LinkedIn can also click the little box next to the Twitter logo and blast your update out to your followers.

But did you know there is more that you can do?

After you’ve written your update and clicked “share,” your page refreshes with the status update and any connected link on your home page. Beneath the update is a little “share” link.

Click that link!

A new box opens up with allows you to share that update with the groups you belong to or force it out to your connections. It is a great tool. One to use sparingly. I wouldn’t force out an update that just says you are enjoying a sunny day, but if you are planning to attend or host or present at an event – that’s news to share to the greater community. With just a few extra clicks your message now appears in front of thousands of people!

It is a beautiful thing. Give it a try.

One additional tip. If you are planning an event and have created a LinkedIn page for the event, don’t use the auto-created invitation. Take the few minutes to actually craft an inviting message instead of the run-on sentences with a long link jammed in the middle. Use the link – use the information, but create an opening sentence and space between the paragraphs. People are conditioned to see those auto-generated invites and may just delete without reading. So take the time to stand out!

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Google offers SEO Guide for Website Writing

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Deborah Chaddock Brown

You don’t have to be a website writer to use the new Google SEO Guide.

The information is easy to understand and since you know it is from Google – the leader in search engines – you’ll want to pay attention.

The table of contents includes:

  • SEO Basics
  • Improving Site Structure
  • Optimizing Content
  • Dealing with Crawlers
  • SEO for Mobile Phones
  • Promotions and Analysis

On page 14 you’ll find a great article about writing website content that will rank high in the search results:

Think about the words that a user might search for to find a piece of your content. Users who know a lot about the topic might use different keywords in their search queries than someone who is new to the topic. For example, a long-time baseball fan might search for (NLCS), an acronym for the National League Championship Series, while a new fan might use a more general query like baseball playoffs.

That’s a great point – every topic has a variety of audience members so you’ll need to think through from multiple perspectives, what terms they’ll use to search for your site.

Check it out – it is a great resource and its free!

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