MackCollier.com

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How The Zac Brown Band Cultivates Fans, By Feeding Them

The power of connecting fans with each other.  It’s a key business lesson that rock stars have long understood, that many brands still don’t get.

About three years ago, The Zac Brown Band started doing something before each concert called an Eat N Greet.  The idea is to bring the band’s biggest fans together before the show, and feed them a ‘gourmet Southern meal’.  But more than that, the band has created a very low-key and comfortable way for their biggest fans to connect with them.  The band serves their fans, then as they are eating Zac Brown and other bandmates will walk around and mingle with the fans and spend time talking to them.  It’s not a time for taking pictures and signing autographs, it’s a time for the band to truly connect with its biggest fans and get to know them a little better.

Last year I blogged about how Taylor Swift does something similar for her biggest fans with the T-Parties.  With both the Zac Brown Band’s Eat N Greet and Taylor’s T-Parties, the idea is to create a special experience for the artist’s biggest fans.  But more than that, these rock stars are creating a way to get their biggest fans together and connect them to each other.  They’ve created an intimate setting where the fans are connected to each other over a love of their favorite artist.

This is important because these fans will share stories with each other about their favorite artist, and it helps validate to them why they love them.  And as the fans connect with each other, it increases the chance that they will become friends themselves, since they now have a very common interest: They are both fans of their favorite artist.

Maker’s Mark does something similar to this with its barrelmates in its brand ambassador program.  Each brand ambassador gets a chance to buy whiskey from a particular barrel.  Their name and the name of 29 other ambassadors goes on each barrel.  The barrel spends several years aging, and as it does, Maker’s Mark creates an online forum to connect these 30 people to each other, and let them get to know one another.  But the common thread here again, is a love of the brand Maker’s Mark.

Again, it’s not that rock stars have a natural advantage that brands do not when it comes to cultivating fans.  It’s that rock stars understand the value of their fans, and relentlessly focus on giving their most passionate customers ‘more than they expect’.

As you watch this video, think about this; What if your brand had a way to connect with its biggest fans, 50 or 100 at a time, all across the country? How would that impact the number of fans that your brand has? The relationship with those fans? Customer loyalty? The amount of sales driven by those fans?

Now ask yourself why you aren’t working to create an amazing experience like this for your biggest fans. And if you want to learn how to get started, I’ve written the very book that shows you how.

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Selling Your Colleagues on the Importance of Connecting With Your Brand’s Fans

community building, online communityThanks to Kelly Hungerford for suggesting today’s #RockstarChat topic: How to Get Colleagues and Employees Involved in the Process to Better Connect With Your Fans.  #RockstarChat will be on Twitter today at 1pm Central.

This is an important topic because as you are trying to build out programs to help your brand better connect with its fans, you will probably encounter some internal resistance.  You may need to convince some of your colleagues of the value of connecting with your brand’s fans.

So to get skeptical co-workers on board, let’s show them how connecting with your brand’s fans will actually help them be more productive and better at their jobs.  If we can show them how connecting with your fans will directly benefit them, your co-workers are far more likely to help you with your efforts.

In Think Like a Rock Star(In Chapter 5), I talk about the four different ways you can work with your fans:

1 – To help you promote your brand

2 – To help you drive sales for your brand

3 – To help you provide customer service

4 – To help you collect customer feedback

So when you are trying to sell a co-worker on the value of connecting with your brand’s fans, ask yourself ‘How would connecting with our fans help this person do their job more effectively?’  For example, if you are trying to sell a marketing manager on the importance of a brand ambassador program, you might point out how connecting with your fans will mean more promotion and exposure for your brand.  If you are trying to get a customer service manager on board, you might show them how your fans can help other customers with their problems, potentially saving your brand money and time dealing with customer service issues.

We’ll have a lot more advice and ideas at today’s #RockstarChat, on Twitter at 1pm Central!  Also, if you haven’t pre-ordered Think Like a Rock Star yet, Amazon has dropped the price to an even $11.00!  The book will be released sometime within the next 3 weeks, and I am proud to say it has 5-star reviews on Amazon!  If you’ve already read the book via NetGalley, please post your review on Amazon so your insights will help other people decide if the book is right for them.  Thank you!

UPDATE:  So we just finished our fabulous #RockstarChat discussion.  Here’s the transcript.

In the chat, we came up with a three step process for helping your co-workers get on board with the value of connecting with your fans:

1 – Educate your co-workers on the value of engagement.  Teach them the importance of engaging with fans and customers.  Show them what happens as a result of that engagement.  It’s also a great idea to show them past examples of where you have engaged with fans and the positive outcome (this also helps answer the ‘what’s the ROI?’ question).

2 – Educate your co-workers on HOW to engage.  After they see the value of engagement, work with them to learn HOW to properly engage.  If you have the resources, a formal training program for the company would be a good idea here, it could be similar to and compliment any social media training programs your brand may have.

3 – Educate your co-workers on the value of building relationships with your fans.  You don’t want them to just engage with your fans whenever it benefits your brand directly.  You want them to learn the value of answering fans, and helping them when it serves the fans, not the brand.  If you create relationships with fans, that simply gives them more reason to advocate on your behalf!

Thanks to everyone that joined #rockstarchat today.  Would you add anything to this list?

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Customers Don’t Trust Brands, They Trust Themselves.

ForresterStudyThe above graph comes from a Forrester report How to Build Your Brand With Branded Content (I was given a complimentary copy for this post).  The graph ranks how likely customers are to trust different forms content.  Note that the Top Four types of content are partly or wholly created by customers, not the brand.  The fifth most-trustworthy form of content is information on company websites or blogs, and then less than a third of customers trust these sources.

This won’t be breaking news to any savvy marketers, who know that customers tend to trust other customers and recognized experts, and they tend to distrust brands.  Note that the least-trusted sources are ads at the bottom.

One of the reasons why I wanted to write Think Like a Rock Star was to help brands become better connected with their most passionate customers, because this makes their communications more credible to other customers.  When brands start connecting with their customers and listening to them, the way they connect with their customers changes.  They begin to speak in a new voice:  The voice of the customer.

For example, what if you started letting your customers write guest posts on your company blog?  Your brand, and the content it creates on its blog, instantly becomes more credible and trustworthy.  What if you started interacting with your customers on Twitter and Facebook?  Then you’d start to understand them (gasp!), and the content you create in the future would be different, based on the interactions you have with your customers.

Customers gravitate to communications that are spoken in a voice they recognize: Their own.  Here’s three ideas for incorporating the voice of your customers into your brand’s online communications:

1 – Embed product reviews on your website.  Ideally, on any product pages on your site.  This is a great way to make your brand more trustworthy, plus it helps you have easy access to feedback from your customers.  Plus, in actually increases sales because it helps customers manage expectations (which also leads to fewer returns).

2 – Provide a customer service forum for your customers.  Give your customers a place to seek help and information about your products and services.  Bonus points:  Enlist customers to help monitor the forum and help other customers.

3 – Let your customers guest post for your company blog.  If you encounter a customer that leaves a thoughful review about your product, maybe you should invite them to write a blog post talking more about your product and especially how they use it.  Let them talk about who they are, and HOW they use your product, moreso than the product itself.

The overarching point here is, when you become more connected to your customers and their point of view, it changes your brand’s communications, and makes them more credible and trustworthy to other cutomers.  Give it a try.

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More Think Like a Rock Star Book Tour Stops to Announce

Hey y’all, I wanted to give you an update on a few new speaking engagements I’ve added to the Think Like a Rock Star Book Tour page.  You can always check here for the latest info on where I will be speaking.

The great thing about both these events is that they are in Alabama!  I rarely get to speak in my home state, so this is a treat!  The first event is Power to the People, it’s an all-day Social Media Marketing/Mobile Marketing workshop that I will be doing along with the amazing CK at Jacksonville State University, in Jacksonville, AL.  We’ll be covering all things Social Media Marketing and Mobile Marketing, and I will be presenting Think Like a Rock Star.  Plus, the first 25 attendees will receive a copy of Think Like a Rock Star and all attendees will receive a copy of CK’s new ebook Innovation Through Mobile.  If you are interested in attending (it’s a BARGAIN at $99 for 8 hours of workshops, plus breakfast and lunch!), then click here to register!

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The second Alabama event I’ll be presenting Think Like a Rock Star at is a new conference, Y’all Connect.  This is the South’s first conference focused on Corporate Storytelling.  It’s in July, and already has a great speaker lineup including Ike Pigott, Nichole Kelly, Peter Shankman, Andrea Weckerle and many more!  Also, the first 100 people to register for Y’all Connect will receive a free copy of Think Like a Rock Star!  Plus I will be signing copies at both events!

Finally, if you would like to have me present Think Like a Rock Star at your event or for your company, please email me.  I will make it as affordable as possible for you, and will also do a book signing for free.  All of McGraw-Hill’s internal sales forecasting as well as early reviews we’ve gotten on Think Like a Rock Star point to it being a very successful book, so please contact me now if you want to lock me in to present over the next 3-4 months.

Also, I am offering Think Like a Rock Star workshops for companies that want to learn how to better connect with their fans and most supportive customers.  The length of the workshop can be completely customized from 2 hours to 2 days.  Additionally, content will be crafted based on your company’s unique needs.  Please email me to discuss what those needs are, and to check my availability.

Oh and one last thing, #RockstarChat starts in ONE HOUR on Twitter at 1pm Central!  Today we will be talking about whether it makes more sense for companies to try to connect with influencers, or their fans.  See you there!

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What Does the Demise of Google Reader Mean For Bloggers?

 

A few days ago the news came out that Google will be pulling the plug on its beloved Google Reader service on July 1st.  Google Reader is a free service that many bloggers use to keep up with their favorite blogs.  I also use it to subscribe to numerous vanity searches as well as keyword phrases, etc.

My first thought was that man, this is going to suck, how will I find a decent alternative so I can read and stay up to date on my favorite blogs?

Then I quickly had my second thought:  What does Google Reader going away mean for me as a blogger and how will it impact my ability to reach my readers?  If FeedBurner is to be believed, about 2,000 people a day access this blog via Google Reader.  So when Reader shuts down, that suddenly means those 2,000 people won’t be reading my new posts anymore!  They’ll have to either switch to another reader, or they could come here and subscribe to the email version of this blog, or start checking the blog manually.  The bottom line is that I am going to lose some readers.  We all will.

Oh and BTW, if Google will pull the plug on Google Reader, that probably means FeedBurner is next.  What these two moves together mean is that suddenly bloggers have lost a LOT of control over how they distribute their content to their readers.

I cannot help but wonder if this is part of the reason why there seems to be a renewed interest among many top bloggers for encouraging readers to subscribe to their email newsletters.  Hell Chris Brogan’s recent site redesign all but puts the entire focus on encouraging email subscribers.

A big reason why I’ve always preferred blogs over other social media tools like Twitter and Facebook is that you have more control over the content you create.  But with tools like Google Reader and Feedburner, Google controls how people receive your content.  I think part of the reason for the move to email newsletters is that bloggers want to take back some of the control over how their content is delivered to their readers, and wants more a direct contact/feedback channel with them.  Something that RSS subscriptions have never offered.

What does Google Reader being discontinued mean for you as a blogger and a blog reader?  What other options will you investigate?  Feedly was a popular alternative offered last night at #Blogchat, have you used it?

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From Ranters to Ravers, How to Respond to Angry Customers Online

Today’s #RockstarChat will be looking at a topic that so many brands misunderstand: How to respond to angry customers online.  If companies handle interacting with an upset customer correctly, it can actually be an incredibly effective way to convert a dis-satisfied customer into a fan.

Perhaps the biggest misunderstanding about angry customers online that most brands have is why they are complaining in the first place.  Many brands seem to think that if a blogger or customer is complaining about them, that they are intentionally trying to hurt the brand, and cannot be reasoned with, so the brand shouldn’t even try.  Typcially, if a customer takes to social media to complain about a brand, it’s because they have tried other ways to contact the brand and resolve their issue, and feel like they aren’t getting the help they need.  So really, they just want someone at the brand to pay attention to them and actually help them with their problem.

This is why there’s such a big opportunity for brands to convert angry customers into fans, because these customers are angry because they have a problem that they feel the brand isn’t helping them solve.  If the brand will then step in and help them with their problem and give them excellent customer service, there’s a great chance that they can convert that angry customer into a passionate fan.

So that’s what we’ll be discussing today at #rockstarchat starting at 1pm Central:  How to respond to angry customers online, and convert them into passionate fans.  Hope to see you on Twitter!

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Want to Read Think Like a Rock Star Now, For Free?

My publisher, McGraw-Hill has added Think Like a Rock Star as one of the books available on NetGalley.  NetGalley is a site that lets book reviewers have access to advance, uncorrected copies of books.  It’s intended primarily for members of the media and bloggers that frequently review books on their site.

So if you want to read an electronic copy of Think Like a Rock Star, go to NetGalley and create a free account, then request to review Think Like a Rock Star.  Now I cannot stress this enough, it’s up to the publisher whether or not you are granted access to the book.  And if you have written 2 blog posts this year and have never reviewed a book on your blog, well you’re probably not going to be approved.

If you are approved, you can either read the book on your Kindle, or read it on your Mac or PC.  If you want to read it on your Mac or PC, first go and download this e-reader from Adobe.  Then you can download the book and read it.

That’s it!  Now there is another option if you want to access the book now:  You can always join the Think Like a Rock Star Street Team.  You’ll be approved for access to the book now, but there are certain responsibilities to being part of the team, so make sure you review them at the post.

Finally, if you want to pre-order the book (it comes out in five weeks) then Barnes and Noble currently has it for $11.28 and Amazon has it as an e-book for $9.99.  The e-book will likely be released in 2-3 weeks.

BTW thank y’all SO much for your support of Think Like a Rock Star.  I had a marketing call with McGraw-Hill last week and they did their first sales projections for the book and although they wouldn’t tell me the exact numbers yet, they said the projections were ‘VERY good’! Thanks to everyone for your continued support, I think this book is going to really help a lot of companies better connect with their most passionate customers, and create amazing experiences for them!

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Announcing the Think Like a Rock Star Street Team and Free Benefits For You

NOTE: The Street Team is now full, thanks for your interest!

As we talked about on Monday, I don’t like to ask for help.  But I am going to do so now because I need your help to make Think Like a Rock Star as successful as possible.  I need you to join the Think Like a Rock Star Street Team.

The TLAR Street Team will help me get the word out about Think Like a Rock Star to other people.  This team will be limited to 25 people, and if you agree to join, you will get special benefits that are only available to this team, including:

  • An electronic copy of the book now, 6 weeks prior to it being available in stores.  This will be available on a site online for you to read.  Other than a few select marketers that I requested feedback from, you will be among the first 25 people in the world to read Think Like a Rock Star.
  • A special Marked N Remarked copy of Think Like a Rock Star will be mailed to you in May.  Your copy of Think Like a Rock Star will be signed and numbered and each copy will be marked up with notes, sketches, underlined key points, etc.  No one else in the world will have a copy like this.
  • You’ll receive a free 30-minute phone call with me sometime in 2013.  We can discuss your social media strategy, how your company plans on connecting with its fans, advice on setting up a blog or Twitter chat, literally anything in world you need help with.  I normally charge $150 for a 30-minute consulting call.
  • A 25% discount for the remainder of 2013 on any TLAR-related products or services I offer.  This includes speaking and workshops.

Now here’s what I will expect from you if you join the Think Like a Rock Star Street Team:

  • You agree to post a review of Think Like a Rock Star on Amazon no later than April 19th or the date it first goes on sale on the site in paperback form, whichever comes first.  A big part of my launch strategy for Think Like a Rock Star is to have as many Amazon reviews as possible up by launch week for the book.  You are encouraged to write reviews on other online booksellers as well, but you must agree to write one on Amazon by the end of the book’s launch week.
  • You agree to help promote Think Like a Rock Star to your online networks now through the end of the book’s launch week (tentatively set for April 19th-25th).  This includes sharing links to buy the book on Amazon, B&N and other etailers.
  • You agree to participate (as you can) in future #rockstarchats every Weds at 1pm Central on Twitter
  • You agree to give me constant feedback and advice on how we can better spread Think Like a Rock Star’s message to more people.

That’s it!  Now if you have already pre-ordered a copy of Think Like a Rock Star and want to join the Launch Team, do-so and what I’ll do is write a guest post for your blog and we can giveaway the copy you pre-ordered (since you’ll be replacing it with a S&Ned Marked N Remarked copy ;))

If you want to join the TLAR Street Team, then please email me and let me know.  I will need your email address so I can get you online access to Think Like a Rock Star (you’ll need to sign up for a free account on a 3rd party site, but otherwise it’s a painless process).

I really need your help with this, thank you so much!

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#RockstarChat Recap: Should Brands Connect With Their Fans and How Can They?

This afternoon we had the first #RockstarChat, and it was such a smart conversation!  The topic was Should brands connect with their fans?

Everyone was in agreement that brands should be connecting with their fans, but what happens if a brand can’t connect with all of their fans?

 

I love Bob’s thinking here, by taking all your fans and breaking them down into lists or buckets, it becomes a more manageable process.  But that raises another question: How do you decide how to create the lists/buckets and which fans go where?

 

Now we’re getting somewhere!  A big reason why many brands don’t connect with their fans is that they don’t really have a process in place for doing so.  There’s no roadmap.  But first, Bob says you should create sublists or buckets of fans to make the connection process more manageable.  Then Kristy builds on that, saying that the criteria for connecting with your fans should tie back to your business goals!  For example, if you want to raise awareness of a new product, or boost trial signups, factor those goals into your connection efforts with your fans.  Let that be a sort of qualifier to decide which fans you connect with.

But then again, let’s remember that our fans are passionate people that love our brand, so maybe we don’t even have to look for them?

 

I love Jennifer’s point here, often our fans will reach out to us!  Look for handraisers, these are often fans that want to help you and connect with you, which is why they are initiating contact.

And as Kelly reminds us, it always pays to be listening:

So those are a few key takeaways I saw from today’s #RockstarChat.  If you joined, what were your favorite points that I missed?  And BTW, here’s a preview of next week’s #RockstarChat topic:

 

Next Weds at 1pm Central we’ll be chatting about how to deal with dissatisfied or even angry customers and convert them into fans! Hope to see you then!

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What Amanda Palmer Teaches Us About Asking For and Receiving Help

I was delighted to see that TED posted Amanda Palmer’s talk from last month on its site.  Amanda is one of the main music case studies in Think Like a Rock Star, and it’s because she does an amazing job of not only connecting with her fans, but asking her fans for help and support.  She is constantly giving her fans free and secret shows, then again she is constantly asking her fans to help her, either by providing her with an item she needs, or by supporting efforts like her record-setting Kickstarter project.

But the core lesson of her talk was about the power of asking for help.  This is a topic that resonated with me because it’s one I struggle with.  As Amanda said in her talk, asking for help makes us vulnerable.  A lot of people don’t like being vulnerable or being put in a vulnerable position.  But the upside of this is that it also makes it easier for others to connect with us when we are vulnerable.

Every week during #Blogchat I will have people tell me that they get so much value from the chat.  That’s honestly a big reason why I continue doing it, because I know it is helping so many people become better bloggers.  I love that I have created a way for hundreds of people to come together every Sunday night and help each other.  But I absolutely hate the idea of bringing on sponsors for #Blogchat, because I hate asking for help.  Honestly, I rarely push for sponsors unless there is a perfect fit, or if I really need some extra money.  Otherwise, I simply hate doing it because it feels like I am trying to monetize something that we all create together.

But with my book, it’s a completely different story.  I love promoting the book, because I don’t see it as asking people to help me, I see it as asking people to support an idea.  People have asked me over the last year ‘How can I help support YOU and your book?’  I clam up when I hear that, because I don’t want these people to support me, I want them to be excited about the idea behind the book.

So in light of Amanda’s talk, I found that dichotomy interesting between my reluctance to ask for help personally, versus my wanting help spreading an idea I am passionate about.  I’m interested to hear what you think about it.

Here’s her TED talk:

[ted id=1682]

And in light of her talk, I wanted to make it the focus of our first #RockstarChat on Wednesday at 1pm Central on Twitter.  We’ll chat about how brands can do a better job of asking their fans to help and support them.  Hope to see you then!