MackCollier.com

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Blink-182 Finds Fans Illegally Using Their Music on YouTube and Rewards Them

I’m so in love with Blink-182 right now!  The band is getting ready for their first new single in eight years, and they came up with a pretty fascinating way to promote the song.  They teamed up with AT&T and found every instance of where a fan was using their music without permission in their videos on YouTube.  Then the band took a few dozen of the videos and spliced them together to create a music video for their new single, Up All Night.  Then they named all the fans at the end of the video that were represented in their video.

And they thanked them.

What I love about this move is that Blink-182 was smart enough to realize that these were FANS of the band.  Sure, they were technically violating copyright by using the band’s music, but I would wager many of the fans didn’t even know that they couldn’t add the music to their videos.  And they all were promoting a band that they were fans of.

So Blink-182 was smart enough to recognize that, and reward the behavior, instead of punishing it.  There’s an important branding lesson here for companies: You don’t own your brand, it belongs just as much to your fans and customers as it does to you.  The best you can hope for is to co-own that brand with your customers.

Here is the video montage that Blink-182 created:

And here is one of the videos that one of the fans mentioned in the video created:

Remember, create something amazing for the people that love you.

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Learn how to improve your blogging and SEO with Topic Buckets

Two of  the biggest issues that most bloggers face is how to come up with ideas for posts, and how to optimize their blog for search engines.  I think most bloggers can solve both these problems (as well as tightening your blog’s focus) with Topic Buckets.

Here’s the way Topic Buckets work: Take your blog, and find 3-5 main topic areas, or Buckets that you like to write about.  For example, on here I have three main Topic Buckets:

1 – How individuals/companies can improve their blogging efforts

2 – How companies can use social media in general

3 – How companies can better understand and connect with its brand advocates.

Occasionally I post something that doesn’t go into those buckets, but most of my posts fit into one of those categories.  Now note that if I only write one post a week for each bucket, I’m up to 3 posts a week!  This helps me structure my blog and its posts.  For example, if I look and see that last week I only wrote posts that would go into Buckets 2 and 3, it tells me that this week I need to write a post from Bucket 1.

So once you create your list of Topic Buckets, your posting schedule can naturally evolve from that.  This is also a way to help you bring clarity to your blog’s focus.  If you write down all of your blog’s Topic Buckets and you have 15, that’s a good hint that you are covering too much ground.  Try trimming the fat down to 5 buckets or less.

For example, note that yesterday’s post on Advocates would obviously go in the #3 Topic Bucket for me, and this post will go in the #1 Topic Bucket.  So if I want to get a post up tomorrow or on Friday, I know that it would be best if it came from the #2 Topic Bucket (How companies can use social media in general).

Now as for SEO; When you create your Topic Buckets, you need to also make a list of the keywords and phrases that would be associated with those Topic Buckets, and you can use those in your title and post.  Look at the title of this post, ‘Learn how to improve your blogging and SEO with Topic Buckets’.  Keywords like ‘Learn’ and ‘Improve’ associated with ‘blogging and SEO’ were chosen on purpose because I want this post to do well in search engines.

I could have just have easily made the title ‘A cool trick I learned that might help you’, but that doesn’t really give you (or search engines) any real idea of the type of content in the post.  Remember that keywords and phrases help  search engines decide what type of content is in your post, and if it will be useful to people that are searching.

So try out Topic Buckets and see if that helps your blogging efforts.  I think you’ll find that it definitely makes getting on a posting schedule easier, and should help you improve your SEO as well.

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New study suggests a passionate minority can sway the majority

Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have concluded that it only takes 10 percent of a population holding an unshakable belief in order to convince the majority to adopt that same belief.  In fact, the scientists found that this will always be the case.

“When the number of committed  holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority,” said SCNARC Director Boleslaw Szymanski, the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor at Rensselaer. “Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame.”

This study ties into an idea I’ve been thinking about recently; the difference between how companies market themselves versus how rockstars do.  And while my graphical skills on the computer suck, I am a bit better at freehand, so I drew a graph to demonstrate what the customer base for the average company looks like:

Obviously, the size of the market for New Customers will always be bigger than the others.  After that you get Existing Customers, then customers with Some Brand Affinity and finally, Brand Advocates.  Note also that New Customers have the least amount of Brand Loyalty, and that increases for each group with Brand Advocates having the highest levels of loyalty.

But note the disconnect between which group most companies target, versus the group that most rockstars target:

At first glance, this can seem like the smart play for companies, because they are targeting the group that’s the largest.  The problem is, this group also has the lowest levels of loyalty to the brand.  So the company may be gaining New Customers, but it’s probably losing them just as quickly, again due to a lack of brand affinity.

But note what Rockstars do;  They focus on the people that already love them.  Unlike the New Customers, this group has a strong degree of loyalty for the rockstar.  So much so, that they will go out and actively recruit people from the OTHER groups to the left to come join them.  And yes, we have stats to back that up as well:

Note that evangelists refer business equal to 45% of the money they spend.  That means that the Brand Advocates that the Rockstars target, and also going out and finding new business for the Rockstar from the OTHER groups.

Remember also the study I referenced at the start of the post: Scientists have discovered that if 10% of a population have an unshakable belief in an idea, they will eventually convince the majority to adopt their stance.  The ’10-Percenters’ are your Brand Advocates.

So let’s compare and contrast the two approaches:

Company – Targets New Customers. Loses them just as quickly as it gains them, so constantly having to reinvest in getting more New Customers to replace the ones it lost yesterday.

Rockstar – Targets Brand Advocates (Fans). Brand Advocates have a strong sense of loyalty for the Rockstar, so they not only stay as customers, they go out and actively recruit New Customers, Existing Customers, and customers with Some Brand Affinity to buy from the Rockstar.

See the difference?  While the company is engaged in an almost constant zero-sum game, the Rockstar isn’t focusing so much on expanding its customer base, but rather on delighting the people that are already delighted with the Rockstar.  Because the Rockstar understands that its next sale is just as likely to come from the efforts of its EXISTING fans as it is their own.

This also is why Steve Knox said this:

Said in terms of the above graph, that quote would be ‘Victory in marketing doesn’t happen when you get New Customers, but when you connect with your Brand Advocates.”  Because your Brand Advocates are the people that are bringing you the New Customers anyway.

Companies, y’all make this marketing stuff too hard.  It’s not about spending a lot of money trying to convince strangers to buy from you, it’s about delighting the people that already love you.

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Two great Content Marketing and Social Media events to check out in September

I wanted to make sure y’all know about two stellar events that I’ll be speaking at next month.  And as an added bonus BOTH will have a LIVE #Blogchat!

The first is Content Marketing World.  This event probably has the deepest speaker lineup for any event I’ve ever attended.  In fact I can easily spot over a dozen speakers that have keynoted other major conferences.  The conference isn’t cheap, but you can get a $100 discount by registering with the code BLOGCHAT.  Seriously, if you can afford to attend, it will be well worth your money.

And of course, the conference will kick off on the 6th with a Live #Blogchat at the freaking Rock N Roll Hall of Fame!  Please note that you have to be a registered attendee of Content Marketing World to be eligible to attend the Live #Blogchat.  CMW is on the 6th-8th of September in Cleveland.

Then a couple of weeks later, I’ll be in Atlanta for SMIATL on the 16th and 17th.  SMIATL is a much smaller event, but it will still have a solid speaker lineup, including Jason Falls, Chuck Hemann, Scott Hepburn, Dell’s Michelle Brigman and several of Atlanta’s stars such as Toby Bloomberg, Jacqui Chew and of course Kellye Crane!  I’ll be presenting my signature Think Like a Rockstar session, and there will be a LIVE #Blogchat as well on the 16th.

The price for #SMIATL is an insanely low $160, or $175 if you want to attend the Live #Blogchat as well.  Seriously, you would likely pay $500+ to attend an event in NYC with this same speaker lineup.  But if you register with code SMISPEAK you get a 20% discount off registration!  Which means regular admission would be $128, or $140 if you also want to attend the Live #Blogchat.  Click here to register for SMIATL.

Hope to see you at one or BOTH of these events!

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The three blogs we’ll review at #Blogchat tonight are…

Thanks to everyone that submitted their blog to be reviewed tonight at #Blogchat.  Here’s the three blogs we’ll be reviewing, and please do check these three blogs out if you will be joining #Blogchat tonight, and please pay close attention to the feedback each blogger has given us:

1 – Christine Margiota-Geraci’s blog.  Here’s Christine’s feedback for us:  “This blog started out as merely a professional presence for me online, but it seems to be morphing into my thoughts on social media as it pertains to my work. I’d love feedback on the content itself, as well as some of the features I’ve included as a result of recently changing WordPress themes: the Links I’m learning from section and the Featured Posts section in particular. I’m very new to the blogging world but I’m learning so much from participating in #blogchat when I can. Thanks so much for the consideration!”

So please check out Christine’s blog with an eye toward her feedback above.  We’ll be reviewing Christine’s blog from 8:00pm-8:20pm Central tonight.

 

2 – Allen LaRose’s blog.  Here is Allen’s feedback for us: “I would very much appreciate any feed back on my new blog http://www.allenlarose.com. It started as simply an online place for me to express myself. I have quickly discovered blogging is addictive. I have been using social media to help drive traffic to my blog, but would any advice to help boost traffic further.”

Please review Allen’s blog before #Blogchat tonight, we’ll be reviewing it from 8:20pm-8:40pm Central time.

3 – Sporting the Small Stuff.  Here is Michele’s feedback for us: “I recently started a sports and adventure blog at http://SportingTheSmallStuff.com and I would greatly appreciate suggestions on how I can better engage the audience (I would love to interact with fitness/adventure-minded individuals). I would also appreciate suggestions for writing more effective titles (both from an engagement standpoint and an SEO standpoint).

Thank you for this opportunity!”

Please review Michele’s blog based on her feedback or any other ideas you have for how she can improve her blog.  We’ll be reviewing Michele’s blog from 8:40pm-9:00pm Central.

 

So there’s our 3 blogs we’ll be reviewing!  Thanks again to everyone that submitted their blog for review, and if your’s wasn’t picked, remember that we’ll do this again next month!

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I have met the enemy, and he is us

This post originally appeared on BMA on February 13, 2006.  Funny how 5 years later, we are still arguing the same themes of this post.  You can read all the BMA posts here.

When I left this post last month, I did so because I thought the whole ‘A-Lister’ dust up was a temporary by-product of boredom, and that we’d all rant/laugh/ramble about the subject for a few days, realize it’s all very silly, and get back to talking about much more important things.

Alas, I was dead wrong. Instead, the ‘debate’ over the blogosphere’s version of a class system has only intensified. Now it seems some have determined that the key to blogging nirvana, which of course is 3,000 links and 10,000 visitors a day, is being held by the gatekeepers known as the ‘A-Listers’. All blogging goodness is in the hands of a select few bloggers on the mountaintop. Right idea, wrong gatekeepers. The gatekeepers aren’t A-Listers like Doc Searls and Steve Hall, they are the anonymous IPs that read your blog. They are the people that come, look around, and either decide that your blog sucks, or that it kicks ass, and then they tell ten friends.

Last week everyone was excited about Dave Sifry’s update on the state of the blogosphere. We all got excited when we heard that there is a new blog created every second of every day. But think about that for a minute….if there are that many new blogs each and every day, how many new blog READERS are there? New readers that not only have no idea who the so-called ‘A-Listers’ are, they could give a damned less. Every day. If you’re a Z-Lister, they have no idea, and again, could care less. They just care about what they read on your blog that they just found for the first time. What they read that first time could decide if there will ever be a second time. See our job isn’t to impress Steve Hall and Doc Searls the A-Listers, our job is to impress Steve Hall and Doc Searls the BLOG READERS. When we start worrying about getting the attention of a few bloggers that we perceive as being important, we risk losing the attention of our blog readers. And if we’ve lost that, we have nothing.

BMA will have been live for 5 months on the 16th. We currently have 58 links, and to the people that subscribe to the ‘A-Lister’ view of the blog world, that means we aren’t very important. On the other hand, traffic levels have never been higher than right now, we averaged 806 visitors a day last week, and at the rate traffic is increasing, we’re on pace to touch 25,000 visitors for the month. Good thing we aren’t paying attention to the people that think that a blog’s worth is defined by its number of links, but instead to the visitors that come here every day, and hopefully enjoy what they see. Because that’s the key. We have to stop this worrying about who is linking to me, and who won’t. The time we spend bitching about how ‘unfair’ it is that the haves are supposedly holding back the have-nots, is time lost that we COULD have spent producing great content on our blogs, and contributing to the community.

Stop worrying about why Scoble never reads your blog, and worry about giving the gal that’s reading your blog RIGHT NOW a reason to come back. Because your readers are the REAL A-listers. Treat them as such, or they’ll happily leave your ass to bitch about why no one comments on your blog, and your pet theory that it’s somehow gotta be Guy Kawasaki’s fault.

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#Blogchat LIVE video plus info on my Social Media and Blog Strategy Audits

One of the ‘problems’ I am running into when I talk to event organizers and potential sponsors about doing a LIVE #Blogchat is that it’s sometimes difficult for them to understand what a LIVE version of a Twitter chat would look like.  I try telling them that a buncha smart people get in a room and talk to each other, but somehow that still doesn’t get the point across very well 😉  Thankfully, Chris and his team from Huddle Productions created a short video with footage from the LIVE #Blogchat that Dell sponsored last week prior to the start of its #DellCAP event.  This should give you a better idea of what a LIVE #Blogchat is like (Hint: Smartitude galore!):

If you are interested in learning more information about adding a live #Blogchat to your existing event, or in sponsoring one, click here.

The second area I wanted to point your attention to is an update I am making to my consulting services.  For a couple of years now, I have been offering Social Media Strategy Audits to clients.  This service has proven to be very popular so I’ve decided to begin offering Blog Strategy Audits to clients as well.  For many companies, a blog is the only social media tool they are using, so for these companies, a Blog Strategy Audit makes more sense.  Both of these audits will analyze what the company’s competition is doing, as well as assess how the client is currently using blogging/social media, and give them a blueprint and recommendations on what they should do moving forward.  And perhaps most importantly, both audits will include a section on how to measure the results of your strategy.  So I’m not only going to tell you exactly what your strategy should look like, but I’m also going to show you exactly how to measure your efforts.  This is a key area that’s often missing from most blogging/social media strategies.

Both the Social Media Strategy Audit and the Blog Strategy Audit are two-month projects.  For each, you’ll make three payments: You will be billed for the first payment when you agree to purchase the audit, and I must have this payment before I can begin work on your audit.  At the end of the first month, you will be billed for the second payment, and I must have this payment before I can deliver the finished audit.  At the end of the second month, the finished audit will be delivered, along with a bill for the third and final payment.

The price and billing schedule for each audit is:

Social Media Strategy Audit – Price is $7,500.00.  You will be billed in three equal payments of $2,500.00.

Blog Strategy Audit – Price is $5,000.00.  You will be billed in three payments of $1,600.00, $1,700.00 and $1,700.00.

Now, the big change I am making to these services is that as of now, I am adding a guarantee to both of these audits.  Note that above it states that you will be billed for three payments, and that for each audit, you will receive the finished audit, along with a bill for the final payment.  When you receive the finished audit and if you are not satisfied with the audit, then you do not have to make the third and final payment.  I *only* want you to make that third and final payment if you are thrilled with the audit.

I often ask my close friends to give me advice on my work, and to be honest, when I told them that I was thinking of adding this guarantee to these audits, most of them did not think it was a good idea.  As they correctly pointed out, if the client is under no obligation to make the final payment, then why would they?  But I am ok with that.  Because I want companies to understand that I am willing to take that risk because I believe in the quality of the work I will produce for them.

So if your company is interested in either service, please click here for more information on the Social Media Strategy Audit, and click here for more information on the Blog Strategy Audit.  And if you have any additional questions about either audit, or about Live #Blogchat, please do email me.

PS: If you want your blog to be considered for one of the three review slots for this Sunday’s #Blogchat, please leave a comment on this post!

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Get your blog reviewed during #Blogchat – July

It’s that time again!  Once a month we review the blogs from 3 participants during #Blogchat, and we’ll be doing it again this Sunday!  The idea is that you get a ‘fresh set of eyes’ to look at your blog and give you some ideas and pointers on what you’re doing.

So if you’ve just launched your blog, and maybe you want some feedback on the visual look of it, we could help you!  Or if you want some advice on the type of content you are creating, etc, let us know!  If you want your blog to be considered for one of the THREE review slots at the next #Blogchat then leave a comment to this post giving us the URL of your blog, and exactly what you are concerned with and the areas you want feedback on.  If you want to know what everyone thinks of the information on your sidebars, let us know that.  If you want to know what you should be writing about, tell us who you are trying to connect with.  If you want feedback on your post titles, let us know.

Again, if you want to have your blog be eligible for being reviewed, please LEAVE A COMMENT to this post and please give us as much information as possible about what we should be looking at on your blog.  Please don’t just say ‘I would like to have my blog reviewed, thanks!”  Give us 2-3 things we should be giving you advice on, and please tell us WHO you are writing your blog for, and what its focus is.

That’s it!  I’ll select the 3 blogs that will be reviewed and have that post up by Saturday.  Good luck!

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Women of Rock: Free Music is Very Costly to Some

This post originally appeared on BMA on December 20, 2005. If you would like to read all the BMA posts, click here.

“There are amazing women musicians out there. But the industry signs acts based on marketing. It’s definitely a loop. There aren’t women out there doing well, because they haven’t been signed, so (the record) industry doesn’t sign any more, figuring they won’t do well.” – Jason Mraz

The explosion of music downloads in the late 1990s cut deeply into the cash coffers of record labels. As a result, record executives decided to cut back on promoting ‘unproven’ artists, and went from focusing on talented female artists, to looking for a marketing vehicle. Out with Lilith Fair, in with Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. So as Gen Y helps prompt a change in the country’s musical tastes, this poses a very tough question for female artists whose last name isn’t Spears or Simpson: Do they try to reinvent themselves like Jewel did, or forge forward relying on their talent to win them fans?

And this isn’t a problem reserved for undiscovered artists. Some of Jewel’s contemporaries such as Sheryl Crow and Alanis have seen their album sales slide since their Lilith days. Many of today’s labels see a woman onstage with a guitar in her hands as a ‘marketing risk’. But musicians don’t have to reinvent themselves every few years simply because tastes temporarily change.

A perfect example is Sarah McLachlan. Her music is basically the same today as it was in 1989 when she released her first album, Touch. Touch sold over 500,000 copies, while Afterglow, which is her fifth and latest album of new material, currently has over 2 million in sales.

The best way for Jewel and other female rockers in her position to re-establish a strong bond with their fans could be, you guessed it, the internet. There are so many ways to reach out directly to fans. Artists can tap fan sites, mailing lists, MySpace, anything. Blogs are another obvious way for artists to reach their fans. Such viral efforts are already being used to launch the careers of female artists such as Missy Higgins, they could easily work for established stars. These moves are authetic, and fans will respond to any musician that reaches out to them in such a personal way.

While the current music climate has put a temporary crunch on some female artists, the ultimate loser here could be the record labels themselves. As the record companies make it harder and harder for emerging and existing female artists to make a name for themselves, these musicians are looking for other outlets to promote themselves. And the risk that labels run is, once these acts find a way to circumvent the current system, will they ever return?

“The major label system is broken, but I’m not crying. It couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of people.” said Carla DiSantis, editor of the magazine ROCKRGRL.

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#DellCap 2011 Review: The Future is Now

Michael Dell speaks with #DellCAP attendees as Michelle Brigman and Sarah Kimmel look on

This week I got to spend some time in Round Rock, Texas, working with Dell on its #DellCAP reunion project.  This is an extension of the first #DellCAP that was held last June, that I was also lucky enough to help Dell with.  As with last year’s event, Dell brought in 15 customers (including 13 from last year’s #DellCAP event) to spend the day getting feedback from them, and letting them know how the company had acted on the feedback it received from them last June.

The event itself, especially the people involved (customers as well as Dell employees), was amazing.  And I knew I wanted to do a recap post on my experience as soon as I got home and got my bearings.  But I’m torn on how to do this, because I want all of you to appreciate just how inspired I have been not only by Dell, but by their customers as well.

So I wanted to start by telling you two stories.  The first happened during last year’s #DellCAP event, which was structured a bit differently than this one.  Last June, Dell invited a total of 30 customers to #DellCAP, and split them into 2 groups of 15 customers each.  But the catch was that the 1st group of 15 customers were all selected because they had issues and complaints about Dell’s products and services.  The 2nd group was selected because they were considered to be fans and advocates of Dell.  So Dell wanted to hear from both its fans and ‘detractors’.

Which I thought was incredibly brave, but one instance drove that point home for me.  Last year, I was hired by Dell to moderate both days of the #DellCAP event.  On the 1st day we were going to spend the day with Dell’s ‘detractors’.  As you might imagine, the idea of inviting a group of ‘upset’ customers to your world headquarters can be a bit un-nerving.  Right before the 1st day’s events were to start, I was going over my notes and the agenda for the day when one of the Dell employees that was facilitating the event hurriedly ran up to me with a last-minute clarification to the agenda.  As they quickly explained the changes to me, I caught something in their eyes that I wasn’t expecting.

I saw fear.

I looked around the room and saw looks of nervousness and anxiety on the faces of the other Dell employees.  One of them was literally wringing their hands.  That’s when it hit me that Dell really did NOT know what to expect from this event.  But that made me truly respect them for having it.  Let’s be honest, the idea of flying 15 customers that have had negative experiences with your company to your headquarters to spend the day with them would scare the hell out of most companies.  And looking around that room, it seemed that some of that fear and anxiety was on display, but the company was willing to do it anyway, because Dell knew how important it was to connect with its customers.

The second story I wanted to share with you happened at this year’s event.  Near the end of the day, Michelle Brigman asked the attendees what their advice would be for the next steps of this program.  Each person shared their ideas, but Connie Bensen told Michelle that Dell literally needed to find a way to ‘help us to help you’.  As the microphone passed around the room, several of the attendees echoed Connie’s point, that they wanted Dell to give them the tools to help them tell others about the company.  Here were Dell advocates begging Dell to empower them to speak on their behalf to other customers.

And while I wouldn’t call myself a Dell advocate strictly on the basis of loving their products, I am definitely an advocate of the people working at Dell.  I think most people know who Lionel and Richard are, and for good reason.  Both are truly corporate social media pioneers.  But Dell’s team of social media wizards is so much deeper, Michelle, Carly, Sarah, Chris B, Bill, Jason, Cory, Laura and Susan are just a few of the gems we met and have come to know.

I believe in these people, and over the past year, I have come to care for them as well.  And as a result, I believe in and care for Dell.  I want to see the company succeed just as badly as anyone else, because I want to see the people behind the company succeed.  Because I believe when a company makes a real effort to listen to, and empower its customers, that that #smartitude deserves to be rewarded.  I left #DellCAP knowing that every Dell employee that participated in #DellCAP truly listened to and truly cared for the people they connected with.

Which leaves Dell in an interesting position.  I think this year’s #DellCAP reunion showed the company that it has a very loyal group of advocates that want to see it succeed.  That, as Connie said, want Dell to ‘help us help you’.  The challenge now for Dell is to find a way to not only unite, empower and embrace their external advocates, but to also share internally what they have learned from the DellCAP program.  We discussed the issue of scaling the interactions we experienced between company and customer during DellCAP.  I mentioned that I think one way to address this is to scale the interest in expanding the program from the company side.  I’ve got a lot more thoughts on how Dell and companies in general can embrace and mobilize its evangelists, and I’ll write more about that next week.

BTW I can’t close without acknowledging the #DellCAP participants from this year.  Y’all are so amazing to take 3 days out of your lives to come to Round Rock and share your wisdom and experiences with Dell.  I was truly blown away at the sheer intelligence of the ideas and suggestions that the group proposed, and its value to Dell is huge.  Here are the #DellCAP attendees from this year: Sarah, Haley, Allen, Robyn, Connie, Claire, Dave, Ed, Erika, Paul, Shane, Shawn, Susan, Brandon and last but not least, Mr. Travis Bailey.  It was a joy to spend time with each of you, and I consider you all to be good friends.  I hope we don’t have to go another year before we see each other again!

UPDATE: Chris Yates and his team from Huddle Productions were kind enough to record the LIVE #Blogchat that Dell sponsored as part of #DellCAP earlier this week.  While there, he shot this short video where Lionel explains a little about what the #DellCAP program is.