Mack Collier, Author at MackCollier.com

May 27, 2015 by Mack Collier

The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 28: 10 Easy Ways to Create Fans With Social Media

Hey y’all! Welcome to the 28th episode of #FanDamnShow! In today’s episode I give you 10 quick tips for creating fans via social media. This is perfect if your business is just getting started using social media and want to quickly ramp up your efforts.

But before I get into the Show Notes, a reminder that this episode is brought to you by the Marketing Writing Bootcamp, from Marketing Profs. The Marketing Writing Bootcamp begins on June 11th and features 13 classes with almost 8 hours of instruction! You can learn more here about the Marketing Writing Bootcamp and if you enroll with promo code FANDAMN you’ll save $200 on Marketing writing bootcamp. Plus, you’ll get over $1,000 worth of Marketing Profs seminars, classes, and video tutorials, free – just for registering!

The Marketing Writing Bootcamp will be the sponsor of The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show through the middle of June. If your company is interested in sponsoring #FanDamnShow, slots are available starting in July. You can learn more about sponsoring The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show and get rates by clicking here.

Show Notes:

2:20 – Four ways you can use the content you create to cultivate fans

11:20 – Three ideas for engaging with your customers in a way that creates more fans

15:25 – Three ideas for putting the spotlight on your best customers

Here’s where you can download and listen to the episode directly. And if you can, please subscribe to The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show on iTunes, and I would *love* it if you could review the podcast on iTunes as well. Also, #FanDamnShow is now available on Stitcher as well!

Also, don’t forget that sponsorships are now available for The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show. This page that has all the information on how your brand can sponsor #FanDamnShow and the rates. Please note that all available sponsor slots (starting with July) will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so please email me if you are interested in sponsoring #FanDamnShow.

We’ll talk again next week!

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May 24, 2015 by Mack Collier

How Your Business Can Tell Its Story With Blogging, Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic!

UPDATE: Here’s the Hashtracking transcript from this #Blogchat.

Tonight (5-24-2015) on #Blogchat we’ll be discussing How Your Business Can Tell Its Story With Blogging! We’ll talk about what businesses should be sharing on their blogs, and what customers want to read. And if you have some examples of company blogs that you love, please feel free to share those in the comments and during #Blogchat as well!

And don’t forget that this month’s #Blogchat sponsor is the Marketing Writing Bootcamp from MarketingProfs! The Marketing Writing Bootcamp is a 13-class online course that begins on June 11th. And if you register via this link and use promo code BLOGCHAT you will receive an additional $200 discount!

Our topic tonight is How Your Business Can Tell Its Story With Blogging. We’ll cover three main areas:

1 – What information should companies share on its blog. History? Background? What makes for an interesting story to customers?

2 – Should companies focus on their employees on their blog? Does it make a company more interesting and trustworthy to you if you know more about its employees?

3 – Should companies incorporate their customers into their stories? Should they focus on individual customers that are their ‘rock stars’?

#Blogchat will begin at 8pm Central on Sunday, 5-24-2015.

And because the Marketing Writing Bootcamp is sponsoring #Blogchat in May, they will have a very special giveaway just for #Blogchat! The Marketing Writing Bootcamp is focused on helping you solve your writing problems and becoming a better writer. To that end, MarketingProfs will be giving away one free pass to the online Marketing Writing Bootcamp. In order to be eligible to win the pass, all you have to do is write and publish a blog post by 5-31, discussing your biggest writing challenge. When it comes to writing, what holds you back? Share what your biggest writing challenge and MarketingProfs will select one post from one blogger at the end of the 5-31 #Blogchat to win a free pass to its online Marketing Writing Bootcamp!

To be eligible to win the free pass to the online Marketing Writing Bootcamp, do these two things:

1 – Make sure in your post that you note that the post is written as your chance to win a pass to the Marketing Writing Bootcamp and please link to the Marketing Writing Bootcamp at URL http://mprofs.com/blogchatmwb

2 – Leave a comment here with a link to the blog post that you write as your entry in this giveaway. Just leave a comment and share your post. Something like ‘Hey Mack, here’s my entry, my post on my biggest writing challenge is here – http://www.myawesomeblog.com’ You must leave a comment here to be eligible to win the pass. This helps Marketing Profs keep up with everyone that’s written a post.

And if you want to save $200 on the Marketing Writing Bootcamp, remember to use promo code BLOGCHAT to register for the Marketing Writing Bootcamp and you will receive a $200 discount off the $595 price!

See y’all Tonight at 8pm Central on Twitter!

May 20, 2015 by Mack Collier

The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 27: Four Ways Your Fans Can Grow Your Business

Hey y’all! Welcome to the 27th episode of #FanDamnShow! In today’s episode I talk four different ways you can work with your fans to help them grow your business. I also cover all four areas in much more detail in my book Think Like a Rock Star.

But before I get into the Show Notes, a special thank you to MarketingProfs for becoming The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show’s first sponsor! This episode is brought to you by the Marketing Writing Bootcamp, from Marketing Profs. The Marketing Writing Bootcamp begins on June 11th and features 13 classes with almost 8 hours of instruction! You can learn more here about the Marketing Writing Bootcamp and if you enroll with promo code FANDAMN you’ll save $200 on Marketing writing bootcamp. Plus, you’ll get over $1,000 worth of Marketing Profs seminars, classes, and video tutorials, free – just for registering!

The Marketing Writing Bootcamp will be the sponsor of The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show for the next 2 months. If your company is interested in sponsoring #FanDamnShow, slots are available starting in July. You can learn more about sponsoring The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show and get rates by clicking here.

When most companies think about how their fans could help them, they usually focus on how those fans can help them sell more products. But that’s just one way your fans can help you, there are three more!

Show Notes:

3:20 – You can work with your fans to promote your brand and why your fans love doing this

6:45 – You can work with your fans to generate more sales for your brand

11:05 – Working with your fans to help them provide better customer service to customers they interact with

14:20 – Leveraging your fans as a feedback channel (this gives your brand the most bang for its buck!)

We’ll talk again next week!

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May 19, 2015 by Mack Collier

How to Price Your Products and Services

Tonight (5-19-2015) at 7pm Central I will be joining #InfluencerChat on Twitter to discuss how to price your products and services. Setting prices is a big gray area for many consultants, I am constantly having peers contact me asking for advice on what they should charge. Especially when they are starting out.

Over time, and through much trial and error, I have learned the three keys to pricing your products and services as a consultant:

1 – Know your worth

2 – Charge what you are worth

3 – Never apologize for doing so

I say that I learned this through much trial and error because when I started consulting 10 years ago I did *not* do this. Back in 2005 it was very difficult to determine the ‘going rate’ for social media consulting, and that was my focus at the time. So I usually based my pricing mostly on what I thought the client could afford. A lot of consultants do this, especially when they start out.

Another key mistake I made was that I didn’t mention costs upfront to the client. In fact, cost was usually the last thing we addressed. This is an obvious problem because it meant that I would sometimes spend 2-3 weeks playing phone tag with a potential client before finally learning that they need $3,000 worth of services and have $500 to spend. It wastes their time, and it wastes mine.

Today, I give all potential clients my prices upfront. If I cannot give them an exact prices then I give them as defined of a range as possible. This saves me time by setting expectations upfront. The ball is then literally in their court. After telling them my price, they typically either never respond, or tell me that their budget isn’t quite that much and make me a counter-offer, or they accept. Either way, it saves time for me.

It also makes sense to publish your rates. Many consultants balk at this, but again, it saves time for everyone. If you prefer to adjust your rates based on the client and circumstance I get that, but the potential issue that creates is it becomes more difficult for your desired clients to find you. Small businesses have different budgets for marketing services than global brands do.

This also communicates to the potential client that I know my worth, and am comfortable asking for it. Which also communicates to the potential client that I am getting my worth.

Case in point, my speaking rates for events start at $7,500.00. My rates and everything I provide are clearly listed here on my site. Let’s be honest, $7,500.00 is a lot of money for any event to spend on a speaker. So when an event planner or organizer contacts me about speaking at their event, I tell them my rates start at $7,500.00. I will also explain exactly what they will get for that $7,500.00:

1 – I will provide a presentation of up to 90 minutes (including Q&A)

2 – I will stay at the event during the day on which I speak, answering any questions that attendees have

3 – I will conduct a book signing at the event, selling my own books, which I will bring

4 – I will help promote the event on my site and via my social media channels beginning 2 months before the event

This clearly communicates to the event planner what I cost, and the value I will create for them. As a result, it becomes much easier to justify my speaking rate when events learn that I will stay for the duration of the event and help them promote it beforehand. By doing this I am not only creating more value for the event, I am also helping to ensure the success of the event. Which ultimately benefits me (the speaker) as well, because if every event I am speaking at is a success, it not only makes me look good to be speaking at successful events, it also increases the chance that I will be invited to speak at more events. For example, I spoke in Gulf Shores last week at a tourism event because the organizer had attended a similar tourism event I spoke at two years ago in Huntsville. She loved my presentation and asked me to present to her group, and I did.

So when it comes to setting prices for your products and services:

1 – Know your worth

2 – Charge your worth

3 – Never apologize for doing so

We’ll chat more about setting prices tonight at #InfluencerChat on Twitter, starting at 7pm central!

May 17, 2015 by Mack Collier

Writing For Social Media, Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic!

UPDATE: Here’s the Hashtracking transcript for tonight’s #Blogchat

Tonight (5-17-2015) on #Blogchat we’ll be discussing Writing For Social Media! We’ll talk about how and if you need to change your writing for promoting on social media sites, or if engagement on social media sites shapes the type of content you create, IOW do you focus more on including pictures that are pinnable to Pinterest or that can be easily viewed on Twitter, etc. We want to create content that’s useful to our readers, but we also want to appeal to potential readers that are active on other social media sites as well!

And that’s because this month’s #Blogchat sponsor is the Marketing Writing Bootcamp from MarketingProfs! The Marketing Writing Bootcamp is a 13-class online course that begins on June 11th. And if you register via this link and use promo code BLOGCHAT you will receive an additional $200 discount!

Our topic will be Writing For Social Media. We’ll cover two main areas:

1 – How Can You Write Better Headlines For Your Blog AND Social Media?

2 – What Content Elements (Photos, videos, infographics) Work Best on Other Social Media Sites?

#Blogchat will begin at 8pm Central on Sunday, 5-17-2015.

To be eligible to win the free pass to the online Marketing Writing Bootcamp, do these two things:

See y’all Tonight at 8pm Central on Twitter!

May 13, 2015 by Mack Collier

The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 26: Money Can’t Buy You Happiness, Or Can It?

Hey y’all! Welcome to the 26th episode of #FanDamnShow! In today’s episode I talk about a fascinating study into what drives happiness: products or experiences?

I recently came across a very interesting article in Fast Company that discussed the science behind how experiences bring you happiness more than products do. I delve into this topic deeper in this episode of The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show:

Show Notes:

2:02 – Science indicates that money can buy you happiness, if you spend it on experiences and not products

3:00 – Happiness and satisfaction with a new product diminishes as that product ages and becomes obsolete

3:37 – Happiness associated with experiences such as vacations can actually increase over time as they create happy memories and give others a common conversation and word of mouth to share

8:30 – If experiences create more sustained happiness vs products, doesn’t that mean that experiences also create a different form of word of mouth?

11:00 – If your marketing is trying to drive better WOM then shouldn’t it be focused more on experiences associated with your products versus just the product itself?

11:50 – Harley-Davidson doesn’t market its motorcycles, it markets the lifestyle associated with owning the motorcycle because that’s tied to experiences versus just the product.

Also, don’t forget that sponsorships are now available for The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show. This page that has all the information on how your brand can sponsor #FanDamnShow and the rates. Please note that all available sponsor slots (starting with July) will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so pleaseemail me if you are interested in sponsoring #FanDamnShow.

We’ll talk again next week!

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May 10, 2015 by Mack Collier

Writing For Your Readers, Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic!

UPDATE: Here’s the link to tonight’s #Blogchat transcript

Hey y’all! Tonight (5-10-2015) at #Blogchat we’ll be chatting about writing for your readers. All month we’ll be covering topics associated with improving your writing on your blog.

Our topic will be Writing For Your Readers. We’ll cover two main areas:

1 – Who are your readers and how do you discover who reads your blog?

2 – How do you write content that is useful to your particular audience?

#Blogchat will begin at 8pm Central on Sunday, 5-10-2015. And Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers that will be joining us!

To be eligible to win the free pass to the online Marketing Writing Bootcamp, do these two things:

See y’all Tonight at 8pm Central on Twitter!

May 6, 2015 by Mack Collier

The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 25: Four Secrets to Creating a Business Blog Readers Will Love

Hey y’all! Welcome to the 25th episode of #FanDamnShow! In today’s episode I talk about the four things your company should do to create a blog that readers love!

And a special congratulations to Kerry Gorgone (who does an amazing job on the opener/closer for #FanDamnShow), who appeared last night as a legal expert for a segment on NBC Nightly News! You can view Kerry’s segment here, and visit her website too! I’m so happy for Kerry!

Show Notes:

2:42 – The importance of creating reader-centric content, and how it can actually be a better way to promote your business than ‘brochure-ware’.

10:15 – All engagement is not created equally. How to decide what type of engagement ties to your goals for your blog and what actions you want readers to take on your blog.

12:30 – Reward your readers for engaging in the behavior that you are trying to encourage

15:53 – The power of saying ‘Thank You’ to your readers and creating a culture of appreciation

We’ll talk again next week!

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May 5, 2015 by Mack Collier

How Visit Philly Leverages Analytics to Improve its Content Marketing

In one week I will be in Gulf Shores presenting Think Like a Rock Star to a group of smart tourism professionals from the Gulf Coast. Whenever I present to an industry-specific group, I tailor my case studies to include examples from their space. A couple weeks ago I pinged Sheila Scarborough to ask her about any great social media case studies from the tourism industry that I might have missed. One of the examples Sheila shared with me was a deck from Visit Philly’s Caroline Bean on how that DMO is leveraging social analytics to improve its content marketing.

I’ve included the deck below, and I love how Visit Philly is closely examining its analytics as it relates to the content they create. They focus on three key areas:

Type of content. Visit Philly examines and tracks how people react to content with certain elements, such as photos, or videos. It knows which elements create more interest and engagement.
Content topics. Which topics are more popular with readers? Visit Philly knows because it segments its content by topic and tracks engagement levels for each.
User behavior. Visit Philly knows which days are better to post content based on engagement levels. They even take it to the next level and know what type of content will appeal to local visitors, and what appeals to ‘out of towners’.

Combine these three areas together and Visit Philly has a good idea if a piece of content will be a success before it is ever published. Visit Philly aggressively tracks data from Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and Twitter Analytics.

The best part about this is that all of this is something that every company that uses social media marketing can and SHOULD be doing. This is completely doable by your company, all it requires is putting in the work to analyze the data and improve your efforts moving forward. As I was reading the deck below I was nodding along because so much of what Visit Philly looks at associated with the data around its content is the same things I look at for every piece of content I create as well.

Here’s one example of how this works: I checked out Visit Philly’s ‘sister site’, UWishUNu.com, and saw this post published 7 days ago. Notice that it has 14 thousand Likes on Facebook! In one week!

That happens because Visit Philly has put in the time and work to analyze the data around its content and knows exactly what type of content its readers want. In fact, in the deck below they go into the strategy behind publishing that exact type of content on Facebook, and why it worked so well. If this deck doesn’t give you the kick in the pants to get serious about letting analytics guide your content marketing, nothing will.

The DMO content life-cycle: Caroline Bean, Visit Philadelphia™ from SoMeT: A New Model for Destination Marketing

May 4, 2015 by Mack Collier

The Art of Finding Your Voice With Your Social Media Content

Use the fares, Luke. #MayThe4thBeWithYou http://t.co/Bokzb1vJJO pic.twitter.com/B5xdtFehH3

— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) May 4, 2015

Last night at #Blogchat we had an interesting discussion about finding your blogging voice and the importance of tone with the content you create. Maybe it’s not completely accurate to talk about ‘finding’ your voice. Perhaps it’s more about being willing to give yourself permission to share your voice.

But it is my contention that many bloggers, whether they are personal or blogging for someone else, lose interest in blogging because they either aren’t allowed or don’t allow themselves to share their unique writing voice. I saw multiple people in #Blogchat last night referencing ‘write as you talk’, and I think that’s correct. If you don’t feel comfortable expressing yourself naturally, then the very act of writing and blogging can feel forced. As a result, it becomes less like an enjoyable activity and more like a job.

If this contention is correct, then the opposite must be true. Bloggers that embrace their unique voice (or point of view) are more passionate about blogging. And that passion carries through into their writing, making it more interesting to the reader.

Look at the tweet above from Southwest. It was created in a humorous and light-hearted voice. If you’ve ever flown with Southwest, you know that the flight attendants have this same voice. They are light-hearted, fun and energetic. The voice of Southwest’s content on social media is consistent with the brand’s voice across all communication channels. That’s important.

So how do you find or share your unique blogging voice? While I do think it’s more about giving yourself permission to share your voice versus finding it, I do think that writing consistently helps you to refine your voice. For example, over time I’ve learned to share and develop my unique voice here. My readers are primarily interested in information about how to more successfully create social content, and manage their efforts. In other words, it’s a space where a lot of people have questions with few straight answers. So over time, I decided to start sharing everything I knew about creating and managing social content. Even my own content. I share how I create content here, and how effective that content is in helping me reach my goals.

And I purposely share when something goes wrong. This not only helps me communicate to my readers that no one is perfect when it comes to creating social media content, but it also helps me build trust with my readers. This is also why I openly share all the prices I charge for my speaking/training/consulting services. Remember at the first of the post when I talked about how not giving yourself permission to share your voice can contribute to you losing interest in blogging? I hate being vague, especially when it comes to pricing services. I hate talking to a company that needs help from someone like me with building out their social media strategy, and not addressing the pricing for my services up front. If they are wanting more information on a $5,000 service and only have $500, then everyone’s time is wasted if we spend 2 weeks of discussing how we can work together if we are that far apart on money. So I prefer to save everyone’s time and manage expectations by being upfront.

With brands, there are some unique challenges: Finding writers that can write in that brand’s unique voice, disconnects when the brand’s social voice doesn’t match the voice of customer service delivered via other channels, etc.

Whether you write for yourself or an employer, what has been your biggest challenge in finding and sharing your blogging voice?

How Your Business Can Tell Its Story With Blogging, Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic!

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The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 27: Four Ways Your Fans Can Grow Your Business

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How to Price Your Products and Services

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Writing For Social Media, Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic!

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The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 26: Money Can’t Buy You Happiness, Or Can It?

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Writing For Your Readers, Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic!

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The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 25: Four Secrets to Creating a Business Blog Readers Will Love

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How Visit Philly Leverages Analytics to Improve its Content Marketing

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