MackCollier.com

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Research: Online and Offline Conversations Account for 19% of Sales

An exciting new study from Engagement Labs (Formerly Keller-Fay) had some very interesting takeaways for brands concerning the impact that online and offline WOM has on sales.  The study tracked the correlations between conversations (online and offline) and sales for 170 brands.  The research found 19% of sales resulted from both online and offline conversations.  Further, the study found that both sources contributed almost equally; 10% of sales resulted from offline conversations (Word of Mouth) and 9% resulted from online conversations (Social Media).

The study also looked at how a brand uses social media can impact sales: “By improving social performance by just 10 percent, the brands included in this study can realize a two percent increase in sales and large improvements in profit margins compared to business-as-usual figures. For example, the sentiment of conversations, both online and offline, were proven to be a big driver of performance. Therefore, by improving sentiment, a brand can experience a sales lift.”

The More Positive the Conversation Around Your Brand, the Higher Your Sales

So let’s unpack that previous paragraph a bit. If a brand improves the efficiency of its social media efforts by 10%, it realizes a 2% increase in sales. That alone is incredibly significant. But additionally, positive sentiment about a brand online and off leads to an increase in sales.

And what group is the biggest driver of positive sentiment about your brand online?  Your happy customers!  Your biggest fans are not only the biggest contributors of positive conversations around and about your brand, but they are also the group that is the most motivated to talk positively about your brand!

This is precisely why I am so dedicated to helping companies better connect with and empower their happy customers. Additionally, customers are more likely to listen to and trust a fellow customer than they are a marketing message that comes directly from a brand! You know this to be true from your own experiences: Which are you more likely to trust; A commercial for a brand, or an endorsement for that same brand from a customer you meet in a store? You’re going to trust the customer over the commercial, right?  Of course you are.

If you want to improve the sentiment of the conversation around your brand online, then make sure your happy customers are more active participants in that conversation.  That’s it.  If you don’t take a role in engaging your happy customers, they will be less likely to create positive content around and about your brand online.  Which will lead to fewer sales.

But we want you to have more sales. And as this study found, just a 10% increase in the efficiency of your social media efforts results in a 2% increase in sales.  For a small business with at least one employee, average annual revenue is $4.9 million.   So if a small business with one employee could improve its social media efforts by just 10%, it could realize an increase in sales of $98,000.00.

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How to Incorporate Millennials Into Your Brand Ambassador Program

Using Millennials as Brand Ambassadors
Want to know how much it will cost to create a Brand Ambassador Program for your company? Check out Mack’s Rate Sheet.

In many ways, millennials are ideal for most Brand Ambassador Programs given who they are, how they communicate, and where their passions lie.  The starting point for the group defined as millennials is generally considered to be anyone born in ‘the early 1980s’, and most sources put the end-point for this age group as being 18-20 years later.  So for the purposes of this article, I’ll call millennials anyone between the ages of 15-35 in 2017.

Before we talk about how to incorporate millennials into your Brand Ambassador Program, let’s look at some of the key qualities and characteristics that define this group of people:

Millennials are digitally savvy: Millennials have used computers and digital devices for most of, if not their entire lives. Additionally, millennials are the first generation to grow up with a robust internet available to them. Millennials are quite comfortable with and even expect digital experiences in many if not all forms of communication.

Millennials thrive off connecting with others: Millennials as a group are definitely extroverted, they seek out communication with others, especially within their same age group. This is slightly in contrast to their older siblings who are members of Generation X (who may also be their bosses), as that group tends to be more self-reflective and values solitude more than millennials. Keep this in mind if there are no millennials involved in the planning of your brand ambassador efforts if you want to attract millennials to your program.

Millennials have a highly-tuned bullshit sensor when it comes to advertising: Having grown up with the internet and social media, they’ve also grown up with a lot of bad advertising. They are naturally weary of anything the ‘smells’ like advertising. On the flipside, they prize authenticity.   They view open and honest communication as a show of respect for them, and this improves brand loyalty and attraction for millennials.

Millennials support causes that benefit their communities and the planet on local, national and global levels: One thing that I think is quite impressive about millennials is that they are passionate about problems they view within their communities, but they are also more than willing to play an active role in working to solve those problems. They are very giving of their time to help support causes that they believe in, and that speaks to their credit. Keep this in mind when you move to fleshing out how millennials will be compensated within the structure of your Brand Ambassador Program.

 

Related: 10 Things to Remember When Creating a Brand Ambassador Program

 

So when you are fleshing out how millennials can be a part of your Brand Ambassador Program, you want to factor in the above qualities that define this group. Let’s look at the role you should ask millennials to perform as Brand Ambassadors, how you can best engage them, and finally, discuss the best ways to compensate them.

How Should You Ask Millennials to Act As Brand Ambassadors? When a brand launches an ambassador program, one of the first strategies is to attempt to leverage the Brand Ambassador Program as a vehicle to drive new sales. There are many other ways to leverage a Brand Ambassador Program (as a way to drive customer feedback, as a way to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, to help with product design), but driving sales is often a logical starting point, since budgets for Brand Ambassador Programs are often justified by the promise of new sales generated.

Yet when we consider working with millennials as our Brand Ambassadors, we need to factor in the unique qualities that define this group when deciding on the type of relationship we want and expect of them.  In short, we need to remember that:

  • Millennials are very wary of advertising messages
  • Millennials prize authenticity
  • Millennials are very engaging, especially with other millennials
  • Millennials are quite comfortable with the internet and digital tools

So for example, if you want millennials to work to drive sales as part of your Brand Ambassador Program, you need to tailor your efforts to incorporate the qualities that define millennials. Case in point, we know that millennials are very wary of advertising messages and that they prize authenticity. Using these together, if you ask your Brand Ambassadors who are millennials to sell to other millennials, you have to be willing to let them do so in a way that will make sense to them as millennial Brand Ambassadors, but also to the other millennials they will be talking to. For example, since millennials prize authenticity, you have to give your millennial Brand Ambassadors the freedom to openly discuss what they like AND dislike about your brand. It might seem scary to have your Brand Ambassadors out there openly discussing what they dislike about your brand, but if they are speaking to millennials (and many other age groups, for that manner), this will actually improve their ability to sell to those millennials.  In short, regardless of how you want your Brand Ambassadors to act on your brand’s behalf, you have to consider how they can most comfortably help your brand reach its goals.

 

How Should You Engage Millennial Brand Ambassadors? Two of the defining qualities of millennials is that they thrive off open communication, and they prize authenticity. So this means when engaging your millennial Brand Ambassadors, you want to give them as much honest communication and information as possible about your Brand Ambassador Program and how you want to work with them. Give them a thorough knowledge of what your Brand Ambassador Program is, what you are hoping to accomplish, and talk to them about how you want to work with them. If millennials have a sense that their opinions are valued and respected, and they feel as if they have a sense of ownership over the Brand Ambassador Program, they will be more invested in seeing it succeed. This willingness to honestly engage the millennials you are working with also speaks to their love of authenticity, which will appeal to them and help them become more invested in your efforts.

Also, keep in mind that millennials are also very comfortable with digital and social media tools. So another option could be to create an online portal, forum or group where Brand Ambassadors could connect with each other and share tips and ideas.  Also, you could have the brand’s management be involved with this group, so that the Brand Ambassador’s best ideas could be pitched directly to the brand, and quickly incorporated into the program. This incorporating of ideas from millennial members also helps them become more invested in the Brand Ambassador Program itself, as it send the strong message to the millennial ambassadors that their opinions are valued, and will be acted upon.

 

How Do Your Millennial Brand Ambassadors Want to Be Compensated? I’ve always said that your Brand Ambassadors should absolutely be compensated for their efforts. There’s a big time commitment involved, and everyone deserves to be compensated for their time. However, money is not the only way to compensate Brand Ambassadors, and only compensating with money has ramifications. I see many Brand Ambassador Programs that only focus on leveraging Brand Ambassadors as salespeople, and they are compensated with commissions on their sales. The potential problem with this approach is that it frames every customer interaction a Brand Ambassador has a sales-interaction only. The Brand Ambassador is typically only interested in completing a sale, and isn’t as interested in any customer feedback that might be collected, and which is often far more valuable than completing an individual sale.

Now that I’m off that soapbox, let’s look at how to compensate your millennial Brand Ambassadors. Having said all the above, I still think it’s fine to compensate millennial Brand Ambassadors with cash, but I also think other forms of compensation should be considered. For example, we know that millennials thrive on open communication, and they love authenticity. Keeping this in mind, you could adopt the rock star mentality and give your millennial Brand Ambassadors special access ‘behind the scenes’ at their favorite brand.  Give them special access to the marketing team, or to product development.  Let them know about upcoming products or initiatives that the general public doesn’t know about or that won’t know about for months.

Also, feel free to tap into their natural love of being active in their communities. For example, if a brand like North Face launched a Brand Ambassador Program with millennials as members, it might want to have a special Beach Cleanup Day just for its Brand Ambassadors.  An initiative such as this would be a way to not only reward millennial Brand Ambassadors, but also give them a way to improve their local community, which taps into their desire to be invested in helping locally. Perhaps this event could be made open to the public and even used as a sort of membership drive as a way for the existing millennial Brand Ambassadors to meet other millennials who would want to help clean the beach, but who may also become interested in learning more about joining North Face’s Brand Ambassador Program.

 

So there’s some ideas for how you can work with millennials in your Brand Ambassador Program. Since this group has already become the largest generation, working with them is no longer an option, it’s now reality. As with any solid Brand Ambassador Program, think about how your brand benefits from the program, and think about how your ambassadors (in this case millennials) will benefit.

Find a win-win situation for both your brand and your ambassadors, and your Brand Ambassador Program will be a success.

BONUS: Here’s this post in video form to make it even easier to share with your team:

UPDATE: Here’s an example of company brand ambassador programs that leverage millennials as members:

Red Bull’s Wings Team: This group of ambassadors (or ‘Student Marketeers’) mostly includes people who are deemed popular and influential within their local communities.  Members are involved in ‘activations’ involving the Red Bull drink, typically more than a simple product demonstration.  These can involve elaborate stunts such as ‘air drops’ or slipping free Red Bull into classrooms or in vending machines for free. The main goal is to connect with college students as these are also millennials.

 

 

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Connecting With Your Customers Should Be a Part of Your Culture, Not Part of a Publicity Stunt

You may have seen over the last few weeks how a user on Twitter spotted an odd pattern to the few people that KFC was following on Twitter:

And KFC responded by sending him several goodies, including a rather large painting of himself along with the Colonel:

Now, on the surface, this is a cool thing for a brand to do. It got KFC a ton of positive publicity and will no doubt win Wieden & Kennedy (The agency behind this idea) a ton of awards. But whenever I see something like this from a brand, my first question is “Ok, now what comes next?”

The problem is, these ‘let’s send a customer something cool’ stunts typically end up being just that: Stunts. They aren’t part of a larger strategy or initiative.  They are typically one-offs designed to generate short-term publicity for the brand, and the agency of record.  W&K can easily point to social media engagement and claim this is a ‘win’.  Just look at the first tweet from @edgette22, it has over 700K RTs currently.  I’m sure KFC is thrilled with that, and W&K will win a ton of social media awards for this.

But at the end of the day, what needles were moved?  What long-term impact will this have for KFC?

Since this happened, I’ve had strategy discussions with two major brands (everyone here has heard of both of them and you likely use their products).  In simple terms, we discussed how these brands can better connect with their customers. We discussed what they could do to better collect feedback from customers, and better ACT on that feedback to improve existing business and marketing processes.

In both cases, we never discussed “Hey guys what if we did some Twitter stunt where we send something cool to a customer?” Because if you really want to connect with your customers, you can’t do it just once, it has to be your commitment and your culture.

Now to be fair to KFC, they could very well have many other customer engagement efforts underway. Maybe they’ve launched a customer advisory board, maybe they have a brand ambassador program, or maybe they are looking to launch such efforts.  If so, I wrote the book on both topics.

I just get a little testy when it appears that brands are only embracing their customers as a way to get a public pat on the back. Actually committing to embracing your customers is damn hard work, and much of it goes without public acclaim. Your brand has to literally love and care for its customers. You have to value them and view bringing the voice of the customer into your organization as being a cause worth fighting for.

If you only do it in public, you’re committed to the publicity.  If you also do it in private, you’re committed to the cause.

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How Often Should You Blog If You Have a Business Blog?

One of the biggest questions bloggers of all stripes face is how often they should blog. For personal bloggers, the answer is simple; whenever you want. But for business bloggers who use blogging as a way to drive new sales and for building awareness, a posting strategy is far more important.

Business bloggers face many restrictions that personal bloggers don’t have to worry with.  Probably the two biggest restrictions are a lack of time, and oversight from bosses and having to work within the confines of your company’s larger digital and content strategies.

 

If You Had All the Time In the World…

So in an effort to decide how often you should blog for your business, let’s start with removing the time restriction.  Let’s assume you had all the time in the world to write whatever you wanted.  If time were no longer an issue, how often should you blog?

The answer, of course, is “it depends…”  In general, publishing more content (assuming it has value to its audience) is better than publishing less.  If your blog is itself a business, meaning you will be selling advertising or sponsorships on it, then you will likely need a pretty aggressive posting schedule.  Likely one new post each weekday.  At least. The idea is that your advertising and sponsorship rates are set in great part based on your blog’s traffic, which is why you need to post more often in order to raise traffic levels.

But most businesses attempt to leverage their blogs as a way to generate new business leads or customers. So for these blogging businesses, a slightly less ‘ambitious’ posting schedule is more prudent.

If your business wants to use its blog to build awareness or generate leads, then ideally one post each weekday, Monday through Friday, would be perfect.  In addition, one of these posts, likely in the middle of the week, should be a longer, more in-depth post on a topic that’s core to your business.  Think of it as a White Paper used as a blog post. So every week, ideally, you would write four shorter posts, with one longer, more in-depth post published in the middle of the week.

So in a perfect world where you had all the time in the world…you would want to blog once a day during the week, with four shorter posts, and one longer, more in-depth post.

 

Now, Back to the Real World

Unfortunately, you don’t have all the time in the world. Your limited time means you have to prioritize your content creation efforts. If your primary goal for your blog is raising awareness for your company, then you need to create more content, plain and simple.  The more you post, on average, means more traffic for your blog, more exposure, higher search rankings, etc.

This means you need to balance your available time with posting once a day during the week, if possible. Posting more often helps your blog get more traffic and exposure. I’ve been very inconsistent in my posting the last few months, but just this week so far I’ve posted twice, and traffic is already up 10% versus last week.

What you need to do is balance your available time with making sure that you connect with your audience.  In other words, you want to make sure that your posts are going to be seen by your audience. If your audience only reads blogs on the weekend, then you only want to publish content on the weekend.  If they only read during the week, then that’s when you want to post.  If you aren’t sure, in general, most blogs see highest traffic levels in the middle of the week and during the middle of the day.  So if I know I can only write say 2 posts a week, I will publish those posts on Tuesday and Thursday.  If I can write three, then they will run one a day from Tuesday through Thursday.

Also, consider if your audience is seasonal. My audience is primarily managers and directors who work at companies and who have control of digital budgets and allocations. Basically, the people that can write the checks and sign off on hiring consultants like me to help them improve their marketing strategies. As such, I take into account the likely schedules of this audience.  For instance, most of this audience takes its annual vacations in July and August. As a result, I don’t blog as much during the Summer.  On the other hand, in late Fall and early Winter is typically when this group is planning budgets for the following year. They are doing research to see who they should hire which is why I ramp up my blogging efforts the first 2 months of the year, and the last 2. I want to be on the radar for decision makers when they are looking and researching their consulting options.

 

How Do You Decide How Often to Blog?

You start in the middle, and work your way out. Start by writing one new blog post a week, and start in the middle of the week.  If you can only write one post a week, publish it on Wednesday.  If you can write two, publish them on Tuesday and Thursday.  If you can publish three, publish them from Tuesday through Thursday.

If you reach a point where you can publish a new post Monday through Friday, congratulations! If you find that you have enough time to create even more content, I would advise that you instead focus on improving your current content creation efforts before expanding further. If the main goal of your blog is to build awareness for your company, then in most cases you will never need to publish more than one post every weekday. If you find that you have time to create even more content, then focus on other content channels such as your email newletter or webinars.

If you blog for your business, how many new posts do you publish a week, and how did you decide on that number?

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What Influences The Cost of Instagram Ads In 2017?

Note from Mack: This is a guest post from AdEspresso by HootSuite. If your company would like to publish a guest post here, please email me!

 

There’s no getting around it. Visual social networks, like Instagram and Snapchat, are ruling the social media roost right now. For brands, Instagram has become a cornerstone of their marketing strategy. Research has shown that brand engagement on Instagram is astronomical compared to Facebook. Furthermore, the generations that succeed Millennials have shown less interest in Facebook — with swathes of Gen-Z opting to skip Facebook altogether in favor of social networks like Instagram.

So if you want to set up your next advertising campaign on Instagram, how much is it going to cost? That’s the question posed by Hootsuite’s AdEspresso, who analyzed $100 million dollars worth of Instagram ad spend to evaluate what influences cost per click.

They made some remarkable findings.

Instagram’s CPC is highest on Sunday, lowest on Tuesday

While it’s been common knowledge for a while that retail performs best over the weekend, it’s interesting to note the particular spike for Instagram’s CPC on a Sunday.

 

Apple devices are up to 50% more expensive to target

iPhones are by far the most expensive device to target on Instagram, and even the iPad outpaces standard Android smartphones. Why? In theory, Apple users have spent more money on their device, and therefore may be more apt to splash their cash on high-end brands.

 

Commercial breaks matter on mobile

AdEspresso noticed a curious spike in CPC during 2017’s Q2 among a usually low Instagram demographic; young males aged between 13-17. They realized that the spike occured during March Madness and the NBA playoffs. The NBA is the most popular sport with young men, and NBA star, LeBron James, has more fans on the social network than the NFL, the Patriots, and Tom Brady combined.

Multiple studies have confirmed that when big televised events go to commercial breaks, viewers are tuning out. But not by changing the channel; they’re scrolling through Instagram or Facebook instead.

To learn more, check out AdEspresso’s infographic on the cost of Instagram ads below:

 

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The Best Strategy to Adopt in 2018 is a More Flexible One

It’s the end of the year and companies across the country and world are knee-deep in business planning for 2018. Budgets are being justified, planned and allocated based on strategies created to execute against business goals for the coming year.

The best strategy you can adopt in 2018 is a more flexible one. The strategy you adopt in Q4 of 2017 for 2018 may not be relevant in a month’s time, much less for the entire year.

Increase the frequency of strategy performance audits.  It’s no longer enough to have a mid-year or even quarterly review of how your strategy is performing.  Adopting monthly or in some cases even weekly assessments of the effectiveness of your efforts will make it easier to pivot and capitalize on emerging market opportunities.

Make sure you are measuring the right KPIs for your strategy. One of the biggest mistakes companies make with their strategies when assessing if it is working is to measure the KPIs that are the easiest to measure versus what’s the most relevant to your strategy and goals. For example, when it comes to tracking engagement with your digital strategy, many companies default to the metrics that are the easiest to find, such as Likes, Retweets, or Comments.  If your digital strategy is built on driving sales, these aren’t the most relevant metrics to track as they are too far away from having direct impact on a sale.  You would want to track other metrics such as the number of times a sales page from your blog is loaded, or the number of times a call to place an order is initiated from your site or blog.

Engage in regular competitive analysis of your market players. This is a very powerful tactic if you’re smart about it. You should always be aware of what your competition is doing. Just because a competitor is doing something doesn’t mean it will work for your organization, but it still pays to know what’s up. Additionally, you can also easily scan feedback from customers via social media to see what they think of what the competition is doing.  For example, let’s say you are planning a marketing conference for Fall of 2018. What you could do now is identify 5 events that you feel yours would be competing with, and monitor the feedback from attendees on Twitter.  Any event in 2017 has a hashtag set up so that attendees can communicate with each other. This is also a great way for you to see what attendees are saying about their likes and dislikes associated with the event.  If you see common complaints from attendees across multiple events, that is a signal for what you need to focus on with planning for your own event.

BTW, competitive analysis can also work to show you what your competitors are NOT doing. I recently decided to shift my strategy in one particular area based on researching that most of my peers were NOT doing something that created an opportunity for me to serve potential clients in a way in which others were not.  So it works both ways.

Be open to adopting new tools to increase productivity or improve execution. This is especially important with your digital strategy as new tools are constantly popping up promising to improve content creation, engagement tracking, everything. Carefully monitoring social media sites and digital news sources will not only keep you up to date on the latest tools, it will also give you product feedback. You can see which tools are being promoted as ‘can’t miss’, then track feedback on these tools left by users on social media sites. Twitter chats and groups on Facebook or Linked are also great ways to see what tools your peers are utilizing within their organizations.

 

So keep these tips in mind as you are doing your strategy planning for 2018. In general, don’t be afraid to revisit your strategy and how it’s being executed, regularly.

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How Do You Blog Every Day For 1,000 Straight Days?

UPDATE! Here’s the transcript for this #Blogchat!

One of the biggest challenges bloggers face is creating content on a regular basis. In fact, an inability to create content regularly is probably the biggest reason why most blogs fail.  Creating content regularly is very difficult, even for seasoned bloggers.  I’ve been blogging ever since 2005, and I still struggle with creating content regularly.

So in February of 2015, Helen started her blog, Anchored Scraps. Her blog is all about encouraging letter writing, old-style correspondence. She uses technology to connect with other kindred letter writing enthusiasts. On Tuesday, she will hit an incredible milestone: She will have published a daily blog post for 1,000 straight days! Writing 1,000 blog posts is a fantastic accomplishment for any blogger, but to do so daily for almost 3 years is incredible.  Helen is a longtime participant in #Blogchat, so I invited her to share her advice on how to write a blog post for 1,000 straight days.

Helen will join us tonight at 8pm Central at #Blogchat. Please follow her on Twitter.

Here’s our topic: How Do You Blog Every Day For 1,000 Straight Days?

Questions (These will start at 8:00 with a new one asked every 10 mins:

Q1 – Why did you decide you wanted to write a new blog post every day?
Q2 – How do you find enough ideas for posts to blog every day?
Q3 – What tool (digital or analog) has helped you the most in creating daily content for your blog?
Q4 – How has blogging every day impacted your blog’s engagement and traffic?
Q5 – What’s the biggest surprise you’ve had about blogging everyday that you didn’t realize when you started?
Q6 – If someone wanted to start blogging every day like you have, what would be your best piece of advice for them?

 

Also, here’s a talk Helen gave earlier this year on blogging every day for 900 days! Life comes at you fast!

I hope you’ll join us tonight at 8PM as this is a wonderful chance to learn from Helen how to blog every single day!  Please follow Helen on Twitter, and also check out her blog, Anchored Scraps.  If you’ve never joined #Blogchat, here’s what it’s all about.

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Extra Space Storage is #Blogchat’s Sponsor for October 1st!

UPDATE: Here’s the transcript from last night’s #Blogchat!

SECOND UPDATE: Extra Space has published this wonderful recap of this #Blogchat on their blog.  Check it out, it really gets into everything we covered, so awesome!

This Sunday (Oct 1, 2017), Extra Space Storage will be joining #Blogchat as its sponsor!  I’m thrilled they are on board and love their topic selection!  We’ll be discussing “How to Be a Better Blogger By Creating a Better Blogging Workspace”.  I love this topic because in all the 9 years of doing #Blogchat, we’ve somehow never discussed the physical organization of the space we each write and blog in.

#Blogchat begins at 8pm Central, this Sunday.  Here’s the questions we’ll cover:

8:00pm – 8:10pm – Q1: What does your primary blogging/writing workspace look like?

8:10pm – 8:20pm – Q2: Which spaces or areas in your home inspire your creativity when writing?

8:20pm – 8:30pm – Q3: What style elements make a blogging workspace more productive? Being organized? Lighting? Location? Quiet?

8:30pm – 8:40pm – Q4: What are your best tips for maximizing a small writing space?

8:40pm – 8:50pm – Q5: What has been the most important change you’ve made to your writing space that improved your productivity?

8:50pm – 9:00pm – Q6: What advice do you have for maximizing productivity while writing blog content from home?

 

I think this will be a wonderfully informative #Blogchat as how you organize your writing/blogging space is so important to improving your productivity as a blogger.  I’m sure we’ll all have plenty of tips and tricks to share on how to better organize our spaces, and I bet @ExtraSpace will have some ideas as well!

So please join us this Sunday at 8pm Central for #Blogchat, sponsored by Extra Space Storage!  And please follow @ExtraSpace on Twitter, and check out their blog, Spacewise!

Does your company want to sponsor #Blogchat on a weekly or monthly basis? Here’s all the details you need, email me at [email protected] to reserve!

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Podcasting for Business: How to Start a Podcast (and Keep it Going)

More people are listening to podcasts than ever: 40% of Americans have listened to a podcast—that’s more than 128 million people! Now that car audio systems can play podcasts and every iPhone comes with a “Podcasts” app already installed, consuming podcast content is easier than ever, and podcast listeners are a valuable audience. According to Edison Research, podcast listeners earn more money, are more educated, and are significantly more likely to engage with brands online than the average consumer. 48% of monthly podcast consumers follow brands on social media, as compared to just 31% of the general U.S. population.

So if you haven’t started a podcast as part of your marketing mix, what’s stopping you?

I’m about to tell you everything you need to start a podcast.

The right topic

At first blush, choosing a topic might seem easy, but it’s actually deceivingly simple. I recently covered choosing a topic in some detail on Mark Schaefer’s blog, but here’s the approach in a nutshell: choose a topic that’s both relevant to your audience and genuinely interesting to you. Your podcast topic also needs to align with your business goals, just like any other piece of content you produce. So don’t make it overly salesy by covering your products or services, but do choose something that relates to what you sell.

For example, if you sell outdoor gear, you might podcast about camping (how to camp safely in winter, camping for beginners, exotic locations that allow camping, etc.). People who go camping would potentially be interested in your outdoor gear, so this topic is well-aligned with your business.

The right format

There are all kinds of different podcast formats. You’ve likely listened to podcasts with different formats yourself. There are some podcasts that feature a single host discussing a topic (or several topics). Others feature two co-hosts. Many use an interview format (I use it for Marketing Smarts), in which one or more hosts interviews one or more guests. Some podcasts effectively feature a panel of guests and multiple hosts, but those can get unwieldy fast in terms of scheduling and editing.

When you’re just starting out with podcasting, be realistic about what you can handle. If you don’t want to host all alone, consider an interview format or find a reliable co-host who’s good on the air. Mack Collier’s been gracious enough to co-host several special holiday episodes of the MarketingProfs podcast with me, and he’s always a big hit!

You should also choose a consistent publishing schedule and stick to it. Knowing when to expect a new episode will make it easier for your audience to stay loyal.

How long each podcast is depends on how much time you have to devote to podcasting. If you’re strapped for time, consider a shorter podcast, say 10 or 15 minutes. If you want each show to fit within the average person’s commute, consider producing a show that lasts around 20 to 25 minutes. You could go longer, of course, since people can stop and start listening whenever they want, but I prefer to keep episodes to 30 minutes or less when possible.

Also decide whether you will edit the show or air the raw recording (with bumpers at the beginning and end, at least). Podcasts can be polished works of art or they can simply be you as the host discussing a topic for ten minutes. If you stumble over words now and then, it’s unlikely to greatly impact the experience for listeners, but if you strive for perfection, it’s (almost) attainable. Just make sure you include a budget and some time to outsource audio editing or else learn how to edit audio using whatever software you prefer (more on that in a second). I edit my own podcast episodes. Depending on how high your standards are, it can take a few minutes or several hours.

The most important thing is to be consistent, so if you experiment the first few episodes to find the right format, that’s okay, but make sure you tell the audience what to expect once you’ve hammered out your plan. One-man show or interview series, two co-hosts or a panel—anything can work, but your audience needs to know what to expect each time you hit publish.

The right plan

Podcasting is easier than most people think, but it goes much more smoothly if you do some advance planning. Chances are your business has an editorial calendar. If that’s the case, look at the calendar and try to choose topics for each podcast episode that fit within the broader content plan. To keep track of your podcast planning, you can use spreadsheets or experiment with tools like Trello for project management, ScheduleOnce for booking guests, and Google Drive for sharing your list of upcoming guests or show topics. If your company uses a more robust content management system that includes a content calendar, make sure to use it so that your colleagues can see what’s coming up.

The right equipment 

Many people think podcasting is difficult or complicated, or that it requires a lot of expensive equipment. None of that’s true! Nowadays, you can create and publish a podcast with just a smartphone or tablet. There are apps that can help you to turn your phone into a recording studio: Check out bossjock studio for iOS or Spreaker Studio for iOS or Android devices.

If you want a higher-end sound, you could use your computer, a microphone, and some noise-cancelling headphones.

The right software

Once you know what equipment you’ll use, it’s time to install some software so you can edit audio (if you want to). Free solutions like Audacity or Garageband (for Mac users) can be a good option if you’re not sure podcasting will work out for you. Once you know you’ll continue podcasting, you might buy a program like Camtasia for editing, or set up a plan to record using Zoom or Ringr if you’ll be recording interviews with off-site guests. You can also use Skype to conduct remote interviews, but make sure your recording software is set up to capture “system audio,” or you’ll hear just you talking with long pauses in between.

I use a Rode Podcaster microphone ($229), but I’ve also recorded excellent quality audio using a Samson Meteor mic, which costs around $70. Add some Sony PRO headphones and choose a quiet location and you could easily create studio-quality audio at your home or office.

The right hosting service

For podcasts, you’ll typically create an .mp3 file or an .mp4 if you’re doing a video podcast. You’ll need to host your .mp3 or .mp4 file on a podcast hosting service like Libsyn, blubrry, Spreaker, or PodBean. You’ll upload the file, then copy the link you’ll use to share your podcast on iTunes, in Stitcher, or on your website’s RSS feed.

The right promotional plan

No one will listen to your podcast if they don’t know about it. Work to drive awareness of your podcast, just as you’d work to promote an ebook, whitepaper, or webinar. Optimize your podcast’s landing page for search. You could also get podcasts transcribed, which is good for both SEO and accessibility. Many podcasters use a transcription service called Speechpad for this.

Remember to make your posts about the podcast visually appealing. Even if your podcast is audio only, you need an image to accompany the podcast post. You should have a logo for your podcast, as well as custom images for each episode (ideally) that include the URL. It’s easy to create images promoting specific podcast episodes using sites like Canva or PicMonkey, or even mobile apps like Over. Share these images on social media along with a trackable link to the podcast episode so you can see how much traffic each social network drives.

And remember to use your email list. Podcasts are helpful, valuable content! Be sure to share a link to the podcast in your email newsletter.

In no time at all, you’ll have your podcast up and running. If you’ve chosen the right topic and format, keeping up with it should be manageable—even enjoyable—for you. Podcasting about a topic you don’t care about is work and you’ll quickly burn out. Podcasting about a topic you’re interested in is fun, and you’ll find it much easier to hold to your production schedule.

Happy podcasting!

Kerry O’Shea Gorgone hosts the weekly Marketing Smarts podcast for MarketingProfs, named one of the top business podcasts on the internet by FastCompany. The show features 30-minute in-depth interviews with smart marketers from all walks of life. Geoffrey James, a contributing editor for Inc., listed Kerry as one of 8 Great Role Models for Wowing a Crowd (along with Steve Jobs, Tony Robbins, and Marsha Collier).

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How Facebook Just Changed Influencer Marketing and What Needs to Happen Next

Last week without much fanfare, Facebook made a pretty big change to how brands work with influencers on its site.  Previously, a brand would have to share an influencer’s post before they could boost it. Now, brands can boost any influencer’s post as long as the influencer is authorized to tag the brand in their updates. The influencer tags the brand in their update, then the brand can boost the influencer’s update.

Why is Facebook making this change? The suspicion is that Facebook will begin suppressing influencer posts that are tagged for brands to boost in an effort to get brands to spend more on boosting those posts to achieve the reach they need to hit their campaign marks. Facebook has been doing this for years with brand content, and this would simply be an extension of that strategy.  If Facebook does start suppressing brand-related updates from influencers, that could also lead to influencers and brands not disclosing their working relationship in an effort to keep their organic reach. This would be an FTC violation, but with expensive influencers, some brands might risk the fines. Which would further erode consumer trust in such content.

And, of course, any moves Facebook makes in regards to dictating how brands can work with influencers will likely be mirrored on Instagram, since FB now owns IG. So these changes will have a big impact for any brands that leverage paid social in their influencer marketing plans.

What Will Happen Next

For agencies that are committed to influencer marketing, these moves will make their lives a bit easier as influencers can now do some of the back-work for them as agencies no longer have to add influencers and approve them for boosting, which will simplify their workflow. If Facebook does start suppressing the organic reach of influencer posts (in an effort to drive more paid support), then it will likely mean that budgets for paid support will have to increase. It could also mean that Facebook will crack down on influencers using fake followers and bots so advertisers will have a truer sense of the real size of an influencer’s network and reach.

That’s on the agency side. For companies that are working with influencers in-house, especially mid-size and smaller companies, these moves could dictate a re-assessment of its influencer marketing strategy, especially if most of that strategy is currently running through Facebook and Instagram.

From the company side, here’s two changes I would hope to see when it comes to influencer marketing:

1 – Companies need to start treating influencers as business partners. Kerry is spot-on here. Too many companies have the mentality that they want to ‘rent’ an influencer’s audience for the duration of a campaign. By working and even investing in influencers long-term, this allows the influencer to more effectively connect with their audience on the brand’s behalf, and the content they create for the brand will be more credible with the influencer’s audience. Plus, this commitment to working and growing together makes it easier for the influencer to become an actual advocate or fan of the brand, which further helps the authenticity of the influencer’s content that promotes that brand.

2 – Companies need to focus more on working with influencers who are also existing advocates and fans for their brand. Doesn’t it make sense to work with influencers who are already signing your brand’s praises? Of course it does. One of the problems that brands face when sponsoring content from influencers is that it often comes across as an obvious paid endorsement from the influencer. “They are just saying they like that product because the brand is paying them”, is often the knee-jerk response to such content. But your brand’s fans are already promoting your content for free, so why not invest in deepening that relationship?  And yes, many brands will read that and say “Well if they are already promoting us for free, why pay them?”.  Because these fans of your brand are also directly engaging every day with your customers. Not only are they selling for your brand, they are also collecting incredibly valuable product feedback from other customers.  Feedback that can be acted on and incorporated back into the business and marketing processes to further increase sales.  Whether I am working with a client on influencer marketing or brand advocacy/ambassador efforts, I always stress to them that it’s not just about the direct sales. Focus also on the indirect activities that the influencers or ambassadors can engage in on the brand’s behalf that will also lead to sales.

 

If your brand or agency uses Facebook for its current influencer marketing efforts, how will these changes impact you?