MackCollier.com

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You Are Known For the Content You Create, Curate, and Share

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Have you ever thought about the content you create and share as personal branding tools?  You should, because every piece of content that you create, curate and share helps us define you.  Our opinions of who you are, what’s important to you and what you stand for are influenced greatly by the content we see you creating and sharing with others.

Last month I talked about the ‘Plant Your Flag‘ approach to creating content on your blog.  That same strategy should be applied to the content you curate and share.  Define the topics and areas that you want to be known for, and curate and share content focused on those topics.

This is all based in one very simple (and sometimes harsh) truth of life: If you don’t define yourself, then someone else will.  And you might not like the labels they give you.  From the early days (2006) of social media to now, advisers and consultants like myself have told companies to be aware and active in the conversation happening around their brand.  The reason why is simple: Participating in a conversation changes that conversation.  If you don’t like the conversation that’s happening online around your brand, then take an active role in changing that conversation and moving it to a place that’s more comfortable to you.  You can do this by engaging with your customers and detractors, by changing perceptions, and by creating, curating and sharing content that reflects what you want to be known for.

[Tweet “”Participating in a conversation changes that conversation.””]

Make sure that your content strategy expands further than the content you create on your blog and social media channels to encompass all the content that you curate and share.  Define that areas and topics that you want to be known for and Plant Your Flag there so that you define how others view you, instead of letting others dictate how you are viewed.

Pic via Flickr user Darryl Darwent

 

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The ‘Plant Your Flag’ Approach to Creating Your Content Strategy

5878418781_51d6e175db_oYou’re at a conference with a friend at one of those ‘mixer’ networking events the night before the event starts.  Your friend spots someone she knows, and calls him over.  They quickly say their hellos, then she turns to you and says ‘Pete, I want you to meet my friend Kate.  Kate is…..’  And at that point one of two things happens:

1 – Your friend tries to explain who you are and what you do based on her perceptions of who you are and what you do

2 – Your friend knows who you are and what you do, and explains that to her friend

Whenever I work with companies on their content strategies, one of the most important questions I ask them is ‘How do you want to be known?’  If someone was going to introduce you at a networking event, how would they explain what your company does and what it stands for?

In other words, you need to decide what you want to be known for, and plant your flag there.  You need to own the topics that you want to be associated with, and create content that focuses on these areas.  The more useful and relevant your content is to others, the stronger the association you’ll create between yourself and your expertise in these areas.

This works for a company or an individual:

Jay Baer – “Oh he’s that YouTility guy, he writes about marketing that’s so useful that people would pay for it”

Red Bull – “Oh they are that company that sells energy drinks and is active in all those extreme sports”

Jeremiah Owyang – “Oh he’s that analyst that’s always writing about The Collaborative Economy”

Patagonia – “Oh they are that clothing company that sells active wear and supports the environment”

Jay and Jeremiah focus on the topics of YouTility and the Collaborative Economy because they want to be associated with those ideas and terms.  Your company needs to have the same focus, think about what you want to be known for, and write content around those topics or areas.

But I Know Zip About SEO and Hate the Idea of ‘Writing For Search Engines’

This is why this approach works so well, because if you focus on creating content that relates to the topics that you want to be known for, the SEO stuff largely takes care of itself.

The cold, hard reality is that if you don’t define yourself, someone else will, and you might not like the definition they give you.  For years I was known as ‘The #Blogchat guy’.  I love and am very proud of #Blogchat, but from a business perspective, being known as ‘The #Blogchat guy’ really doesn’t help me.  So a couple of years ago as I was writing Think Like a Rock Star I really buckled down on my content and started focusing on the topics I wanted to be known for.  Such as brand advocacy, customer-centric content, brand ambassador programs, and customer engagement.  By focusing on creating content around these topics, I’ve changed the conversation about who I am and how others view me.  Plus writing a book that covers these same topics didn’t hurt!

So as you are getting ready to focus on your planning for 2015, apply this method to your content strategy.  Ask and answer this question:

“What are the 2-3 things that we want to be known for?”

If you need help thinking this through, you can apply the Topic Buckets approach to this.  Once you have determined what those 2-3 things are, relentlessly create content around each topic area.  Over time, it will become easier for search engines and people that read your blog and interact with your content to identify you and your business with those topics.

Plant your flag, and win!

Pic via Flickr user  marsmettnn tallahaassee

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Good Content is the Best Commercial For Your Business

5836007929_2b20e323e2_oRecently I was talking to a friend about a situation that plays itself out in so many companies every single day.  A ‘social media guy/girl’ pushes for their company to start using social media, in this case we’ll say it’s a blog.  The company finally agrees, but never pays attention to the blog until one day the company realizes that the blog is driving traffic to the website and generating leads for the business.

Then suddenly The Monetization Police step in and start looking for ways to leverage the blog as a promotional channel for the company.  The irony here is that good content is just about the best commercial possible for your business.  When you take good content and try to change it to sell more stuff, it usually becomes bad content.

Instead of looking for ways to change good content into crappy content by adding a sales pitch, look for ways to leverage good content to extend interactions with your customers.  Here’s some ideas:

1 – Ask for email newsletter signups.  When you create valuable content, your customers will appreciate you letting them know that they can get MORE valuable content by signing up for your newsletter.

2 – Ask for the share.  We all love to share great content, so ask your readers to tell their friends about your great content, to tweet it, post a review, whatever is applicable.

3 – Ask for the sale.  Instead of changing your content into a commercial, try simple adding a relevant call-to-action at the end. For example, write an article telling customers how to build their own birdhouse, then add a code for 10% off the supplies when they place their next order.

 

The common thread here is that if you create valuable content for your readers, you have done them a favor.  As such, you have earned the right to ask for something in return.  Now the key is to make sure you never ask for more than you give, but understand that your customers appreciate good content, so they will be willing to help you in return.

Social media never has and never will work well as a direct-selling channel.  It works far better as a channel to build relationships with customers.  Once that relationship is built, then an environment exists where sales are possible.  Create the valuable content first, then ask for the sale.

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Why I’ll Be Spending More Time on Speaking Less in 2015

2330620934_92bb93fcc4_zI am currently in the middle of business planning for 2015.  I have three main revenue streams: Speaking, consulting/advisement, and writing.  In 2013 my first business book, Think Like a Rock Star was published.  One of the reasons why I was excited about writing a book was the assumption that it would lead to more speaking opportunities.  And it did, I have spoken more in the 20 months since Think Like a Rock Star was published than I did in the previous 5 years.  I went from speaking a few times a year to a few times a month.  I was even able to speak a couple of times in 2 different states in the same day (which sounded much cooler when I planned it).

But over the last few months I’ve realized that the actual speaking just wasn’t as interesting to me as it once was, and I have been struggling to figure out why.  So I backed up and asked myself ‘When did you enjoy speaking the most?’  I realized it was in 2011.  That year, I only spoke about 4 or 5 times during the year.  But by speaking less, it allowed me to do two very important things:

1 – Spend more time customizing and improving my talk.  I was able to spend up to 2 months working on one talk for one event.

2 – Spend more time actually connecting with the audience at the event BEFORE I got to the event!

Those two points also worked off each other.  By having 2 months to work on each talk, I was able to devote more time to the talk itself, but also more time getting to know the audience I would be giving the talk to.  I was able to customize the talk based on interactions and feedback with the attendees up to 2 months before they got to the event.  This feedback and these interactions also helped the attendees become invested in my talk.  They knew what the talk was about, and they helped promote it (and the event) to others.  So by the time I got to the event, it was literally standing room only, as everyone was looking forward to my talk, and knew all about it from reading my blog and interacting with me on Twitter and Facebook.

I loved it, the audience loved it, and the event organizers definitely loved it.  But over the last year and a half, the simple volume of talks I gave made it impossible to devote the time I wanted to promoting each event, interacting with attendees and on my talk.

So I decided to change that for 2015.  In 2015 I am going to cap the number of paid speaking engagements I will take to 8 for the year.  This way, I can spend much more time on each talk, on getting to know the audience, and on promoting the event.  It also means I can be much more selective on which events I speak at.  And when I agree to speak at an event, I can be an invested promotional partner for that event.

And yes, that’s going to obviously cap the potential revenue I can make from speaking in 2015.  But you know what?  There’s more to speaking than just arriving at an event 30 mins before you speak and leaving 30 mins after your talk ends.  I’ve had to do that a few times in the past 20 months and I hate it.  It’s not fair to the audience, it’s not fair to the event organizers, and it’s not fair to me.  In 2015 I am going to work harder and take the time to be more invested in each event I speak at, to be more invested in connecting with the audience 2 months in advance, not 2 days in advance.

So here’s to speaking less, and making a bigger impact when I do.  If you’d like to get more information on securing one of my 8 speaking slots in 2015 and my rates, then click here.  And thanks!

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Legal Issues Associated With Blogging: Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic With @KerryGorgone!

Here’s the transcript from tonight’s #Blogchat with Kerry!

Tonight at #Blogchat (Nov 9th, 2014) we’ll be discussing the legal issues associated with blogging with my good friend Kerry Gorgone!  Kerry is an amazing woman with an incredibly diverse skillset.  She’s a lawyer, a former college instructor, she’s a speaker, and she’s also one of the best podcasters in the world. Currently, she develops marketing training courses for MarketingProfs. It’s her talents as a lawyer that we’ll be calling upon tonight as she helps us understand the legal issues associated with blogging.

Here’s a VERY detailed look at what we’ll be discussing tonight (thank you Kerry!)

8:00-8:20PM Central – What are the legal issues bloggers need to know if they want to run a contest on their blog?

Points to consider:
–> (Giveaways or Games of Chance/Lotteries vs. Contests of Skill)
–> IRS / Tax reporting
–> Stating contest eligibility rules clearly
–> Special considerations for Canadians

8:20-8:40PM – If a blogger receives a product from a company, do they have to disclose that?

Points to consider:
–> When to call content “sponsored” or “paid”
–> Do you have to repeat disclosures every time you post sponsored content, even if the content is old?
–> What’s the best way to disclose in a tweet or other short social post? Do you have to use a hashtag?
–> Disclosure’s a pain: why bother?

8:40 to 9:00PM Breaking copyright rules can cause expensive problems. What do bloggers need to know?

Points to consider:
–> Is it okay to use other people’s content? How much of it can I take? What are the rules?
–> What do I do if someone else is using MY content?
–> Where can I find images that are safe to use?
–> How can I protect my copyright in pictures I take and images I create?

 

Also check out this post that Kerry was kind enough to write here on protecting your creative works online.  I could not be happier to have Kerry joining us tonight, please make sure you are following her on Twitter!  See y’all at 8pm Central tonight!

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The Passion Point: When Brand Like Turns Into Brand Love

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Earlier this decade, Patagonia made a rather bizarre plea to its customers: Stop buying our stuff.  The outdoor apparel brand launched a marketing campaign designed to ask customers to reconsider their shopping habits.  To stop buying new coats when their current one was just fine, to stop indulging in spending sprees on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  To spend less on what you want and more on just what you need.

So did Patagonia’s customers heed the brand’s advice?  They did not, as Patagonia’s sales increased by more than $150 Million over the next year.

Obviously, this approach won’t work for every brand.  And that’s the point.  It works for Patagonia because the brand has established the trust of its customers.  Its customers believe that Patagonia’s motivations behind asking customers to avoid extravagant purchases are truly to create a better world.  Many of Patagonia’s customers share these beliefs and wants.  Which means Patagonia’s marketing message to ‘buy less’ actually validates to its customers that Patagonia is a brand that they should believe in, and support.

This story also goes to the heart of truly successful marketing.  Too many brands market their products, when they should be marketing how those products fit into the lives of their customers.  Patagonia does this amazingly well.  The brand focuses on its customers and their likes and beliefs.  The company shares many of those same beliefs, such as protecting the environment, enjoying the outdoors, and sustainability.

We all have certain things we are passionate about.  Maybe it’s something specific like US military history, horseback riding or automotive repair.  Or it could be more general like design, simplicity, minimalism.  But we all have things that we are passionate about and that we love.  Things that motivate and excite us.  We can relate some of those things with some brands.

But we love the brands that we identify as being related to the things we love.  In the Patagonia example, its customers love the brand because its customers love protecting the planet and believe that the Patagonia brand has this same desire.  Patagonia is helping to facilitate the ideas and beliefs that are important to its customers: Protecting the environment, being active in the outdoors and sustainability.  Patagonia’s customers feel better about themselves for supporting the brand.

So if you truly want to make a connection with your customers, don’t promote your brand so much as you promote the things that your customers love that they associate with your brand.  For Patagonia, that’s protecting the environment, being active outdoors, and sustainability.  For Fiskars it’s scrapbooking.  For Harley-Davidson it’s the freedom of the open road.  It’s not about a parka, a pair of scissors or a motorcycle.

It’s about us.  It’s about the things we are passionate about, that we love.  How well you relate to the things we love determines how well we will relate to your brand.  When you can show us that your brand is just as passionate about these same things and can help us realize our passions, we might just love your brand as well.

Pic via Flickr user David Robert Bllwas

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Gini Dietrich Co-Hosts #Blogchat TONIGHT on Using Your Blog As a Communication Tool During a Crisis

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Here’s the transcript from tonight’s #Blogchat with Gini!

I’m thrilled to welcome Gini Dietrich as #Blogchat co-host tonight for the first time!  I’ve been wanting to have Gini co-host #Blogchat for a couple of years now so I’m happy it is finally happening.

Gini will be talking to us about How to Use Your Blog As a Communiction Tool During a Crisis.  If you are a frequent reader of her Spin Sucks blog (and excellent book of the same name) you know that Gini is an expert at social media crisis management.

Here’s what we’ll be discussing:

From 8:00-8:20 Central – “What information should a company have on its blog to prep for a social media crisis?”

8:20-8:40 Central – “If there’s a situation that customers are concerned about, what’s the correct way for the company to address it on its blog?”

8:40-9:00 Central – “Should a company use other social media sites during a crisis to communicate with customers, or just their blog?”

 

So make sure you are following Gini on Twitter, and follow the #Blogchat hashtag at 8pm Central (remember to turn your clocks back an hour for Daylight Savings Time!).

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Picking the Right Brand Ambassador

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More than ever, companies are enticed by the prospect of launching a brand ambassador program.  The idea of having an army of ‘customer marketers’ that help promote the brand is very attractive to many companies.  But how do you choose the right brand ambassador?

First, let’s remember what we discussed when we talked about whether you should work with fans or influencers, because the same rules apply.  The biggest mistake that many companies make when connecting with potential brand ambassadors is the company will offer customers free products if they will become an ambassador.  In other words, companies want to give customers an incentive to become a brand ambassador.

The problem with this approach is that your true fans don’t need an incentive to join your brand ambassador program.  All they need is an invitation.  Remember that your fans aren’t motivated by free products, they are motivated by access, by a belief in the values and ideals that are core to your company.  Your fans want a closer connection with the brand they love, yours.  They want the backstage pass, they want a level of access, connection and input with your brand that the average customer doesn’t have.  Or want.

Here’s How to Spot Your Best Brand Ambassador

Let’s say Hewlett-Packard is launching a brand ambassador program and wants to promote its new laptop.  HP has identified two candidates for its brand ambassador program; Tim and Josh.

Tim has had several different brands of laptops over the years, including an HP.  While he wouldn’t consider himself to be a fan of HP, he does think they are about as good as the competition.

HP decides to pitch Tim on joining its brand ambassador program by giving Tim a free laptop.  HP encourages Tim to talk about the laptop online, and gives him coupons that he can give to other customers.

The problem with this approach is that HP is enticing a non-advocate to become a brand ambassador for HP by giving him free stuff.  Basically HP is trying to ‘buy’ Tim’s advocacy with a free laptop.

The other candidate HP has identified for its brand ambassador program is Josh.  Josh is a diehard fan of HP products, in fact he has an active blog devoted to the brand’s computers.  In fact HP knows about Josh because he reached out to the company’s social media manager on Twitter and asked her for an interview on his blog.

Josh doesn’t need to be ‘sold’ on HP, he’s already a fan.  So HP doesn’t need to offer Josh a free laptop (he’s probably already bought it anyway), they need to offer him special access to the company.  HP would ask Josh to help them tell other customers about the laptop, but HP would also make its product engineers and marketers available to Josh so it can utilize feedback from Josh on its products and marketing.  Since Josh is a fan, he doesn’t view this as an incentive, he sees this level of access toward HP as a reward for being a fan.  So he would be thrilled to join.

On the other hand, if HP went to Tim (a non-fan) and asked him to join its brand ambassador program and told Tim that HP would want him to routinely connect with its product engineers and marketers to give HP feedback on its products, Tim would likely see this as work, and not be interested.  Because Tim’s motivation (as a non-fan) is based around getting free stuff, where Josh (the fan) wants more exposure to the HP brand.

Pick ambassadors that believe in your brand

When you are picking brand ambassadors, you don’t want customers that you have to incentivize by giving free stuff.  You want people that believe in your vision and who will work with you to help you realize that vision.  Remember that your brand ambassadors will literally be your brand’s representatives in your markets.

Choose wisely.

Pic via Flickr user Irina Patrascu

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How a Passionate Community Formed Around 5 Million Toys Lost At Sea

LegosOn Feb. 13, 1997, the ship Tokio Express was bound for New York when it was struck by a huge wave about 20 miles off the coast of England.  As a result, dozens of shipping containers were thrown overboard and into the sea.  Among the lost cargo was almost 5 million Lego toys and pieces.

Almost immediately, these Legos began washing up on shore in nearby Cornwall, England, and still do even today.  At first local beach-combers began to discover the unexpected treasure, but then additional possible findings were made in other locations.  Eventually, it led to the creation of an online community devoted to finding the lost toys, led by the appropriately-named Legos Lost At Sea Facebook page.  Here, passionate collectors come together to share what they know and have discovered about this event and the 5 million or so Legos that were lost at sea.  Due to the group’s research they have secured cargo manifests and know how many of each item were on the ship.

This event has become a rallying point within the Lego-collecting community.  Fans from around the world are now comparing notes in an effort to locate as many of the Legos as possible.  The majority of the findings have been on the shores of the UK, but it is believed that toys from the lost stash have been found on beaches as far away as California and Australia.

As I talk about in my book Think Like a Rock Star, a community is a group that has a shared sense of ownership in something larger than themselves.  If you’re wanting to build an online community, it’s often very difficult to do based on the product itself.  It’s far better to focus on something that brings the group together.  The Legos Lost At Sea community is a good example of this, they share the common bond of trying to locate as many of the lost Legos as possible.

So how could a brand or company become involved in an existing community like Legos Lost At Sea?  Well the first thought would be that Lego should sponsor or participate in this group.  But there might be some valid legal reasons why this wouldn’t be a good idea, perhaps participation could somehow be tied back to an admittance of fault in some way for the lost cargo, who knows?  Another idea is what if local beaches in England sponsored ‘Lego Treasure Hunt Days’, where collectors could meet and work together to clean the beaches, and at the same time (hopefully) find more of the lost Legos!  The local beaches benefit from becoming cleaner, and the local collectors benefit from not only finding Lego-booty, but also they get to meet their fellow collectors and bond over a common love of all things Lego.

Whenever you’re thinking about your community-building efforts, think about how you can work with an existing community to them it reach its goals.  The goal isn’t to join a community so you can promote your product, the goal is to join the community to help it reach its goals.  Helping an existing community reach its goals and better itself is the best promotion possible for your product.  Keep that in mind the next time you are thinking about how your company can ‘leverage’ an online community.

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This is Exactly Why You Should Ask Your Customers For Online Reviews

EnterpriseEmailConsider these customer service/satisfaction facts:

Americans tell an average of 9 people about a good experience with a company, and 16 people about a bad experience.

Roughly 80% of all tweets related to a customer service issue with a company, are negative.

But think about how this applies to you: Are you more likely to praise a company or complain?  Personally, I am more likely to share a negative experience, or rather I am more likely to be motivated to share a negative experience.  Especially when I think the company just completely screwed up.

Yet when it comes to a positive experience, I am less likely/motivated to share that experience.  Case in point, for over a year now I’ve been renting cars (quite often) from a particular Enterprise location locally.  So much so that the employees that work there recognize me and know which vehicle I prefer in the class I rent.  I always get a good experience, and a couple of times it’s been exceptional.  So when I received an email (screenshot above) encouraging me to review them online, it was a no-brainer.  In fact my first thought was ‘Of course, I should have already done this!’

The reason why?  We complain because we want to get the company’s attention so they will fix our problem.  That’s typically our motivation when we complain online.  With a positive experience, we aren’t trying to get the company’s attention, so our motivation to share good news is typically less.

The takeaway is this: A lot of companies are very reluctant to send an email like the one Enterprise did.  “We’re just encouraging our customers to leave negative reviews online!” I can see many CEOs lamenting.  But most of those unsatisfied customers have already left a negative review online.  Asking for reviews would typically encourage more positive reviews than negative.

We are more motivated and likely to share negative experiences with a company than positive ones.  So by asking for reviews, you are evening the scales because you are making it easier for customers that had a positive experience to share that.

Do you agree with this?  Are you more likely to share a very positive or negative experience online?