MackCollier.com

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Here’s the #Blogchat Co-Host Lineup For July Through November

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to spend as much time as I would like with #Blogchat recently.  This is due mostly to client work and also launching my new podcast The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show.  But all that is about to change.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s your lineup of #Blogchat co-hosts for the second half of the year:

BlogchatCoHosts

Here’s the schedule and topics (subject to change) for each co-host:

July 6th – Joe Pulizzi – How to Create a Content Strategy For Your Blog

August 10th – ProBlogger – How to Build a Blog Worth Monetizing

August 17th – Scott Monty – How to Build an Awesome Hobby Blog (This will be a LOT of fun!)

September 14th – Ann Handley – How to Weave Storytelling Into Your Blog and Improve Your Writing

October 5th – Jay Baer – Your Blog as a YouTility, Creating Content That’s Useful For Your Readers

November 2nd – Gini Dietrich – Why Your Blog Can Be Your Company’s Best Friend During a Social Media Crisis

November 9th – Kerry O’Shea Gorgone – The Legal Ramifications of Blogging: What You Need to Know

December – TBA

Are you excited about lineup as I am?  It’s worth noting that I asked 8 people to co-host #Blogchat, and the 7 you see above accepted.  The 8th person has tentatively agreed, just waiting to see when their schedule will allow them to join.  That’s because these are all experts and thought leaders that are giving of their time, but they also understand the value of connecting with the #Blogchat community.  Y’all do an amazing job of supporting #Blogchat and that’s a big reason why we are lucky enough to have such amazing co-hosts to learn from.

Also, here’s the topics for the rest of June:

Tonight (June 8th) – Breaking Blogging’s Unwritten Rules (Posts shouldn’t be too long, you should post at least once a week, etc)

June 15th – How to Get More Comments on Your Blog

June 22nd – Your blogging strategy for the second half of 2014

June 29th – OPEN MIC

Also, if you are interested in sponsoring any month from July-December, check out the #Blogchat Sponsorship page as there are new terms and rates available.

See y’all tonight starting at 8pm Central!

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The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 3: The Difference Between Rules and Guidelines in Social Media

Welcome to a third ‘marathon’ episode of the Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show that clocks in a just over 11 minutes! I talk about:

1 – Kerry O’Shea Gorgone’s amazing opener and her podcast for Marketing Profs called Marketing Smarts.

2 – How Club Carlson saw big gains on Twitter by breaking one of the biggest rules for how brands are ‘supposed’ to use Twitter.

3 – Why you should view most of the ‘rules’ for using social media as really being guidelines for how your company should be using social media.

Here’s the direct link to the show.

And you can now subscribe in iTunes!

As always, let me know what you think here, via email or on Twitter with the #FanDamnShow hashtag!

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Should Your Company Have a Social Media Policy?

Email subscriptions, increasing email subscribers to your blog, rss, feedburnerBy now, most companies use social media as part of their marketing mix, but only 63% have implemented a social media policy according to a 2014 study from Protiviti.

Jay Shepherd has suggested that organizations adopt a very simple, two-word policy relating to employee blogging (which he’s since extended to social media): “Be professional.”

I might double this in size and suggest “don’t be a moron,” although the results should be largely the same.

If you hire the right people (professional non-morons), their use of social media should not expose you to an inordinate amount of risk. In some instances, having a policy could cause problems you didn’t have before.

For instance, most employees are “at-will,” meaning they can be fired at any time for almost any legal, non-discriminatory reason. However, if you adopt a social media policy, then use that as the basis for firing someone, that employee might appeal their termination to the National Labor Relations Board.

Depending on the nature of their social media offense, they might be able to have their termination declared illegal. Posts complaining about working conditions, for instance, are protected according to the NLRB.

You now have a problem you didn’t have before, and even if you ultimately win the argument, you will lose money and time in the process.

If you do elect to formalize a social media policy, there are examples from which you could draw. (See 5 Great Corporate Social Media Policy Examples.)

Here are some provisions you’ll want to include.

What “social media” means.
Everyone has a slightly different idea of what is or isn’t covered. Most people would assume the policy covers Twitter and Facebook, but what else? Pinterest, for example, is a “taste graph,” technically speaking, and not a social network, but clearly it has social elements. Does your policy apply to Pinterest? Online forums? Comments on third-party sites or blogs? Define what’s included, but try and leave room for the evolution of new social networks and platforms. You don’t want to edit the policy every time a start-up gets funded!

A caution against sharing confidential information.
Explain what kinds of company information are confidential and should not be shared via social media, email, or other channels (client data, upcoming plans, trade secrets, other intellectual property, etc.). Take care not to be too broad in your phrasing: if your policy might apply to employees discussing working conditions or wages among themselves, it’s very likely that the NLRB would not enforce it.

A statement against speaking as the company’s official representative (unless you are the company’s official representative)
If your company is large, name the point-person (or position title) responsible for fielding certain kinds of inquiries.For instance, media inquiries should be directed to the Director of Public Relations, customer service inquiries should be directed to any member of the Customer Service department, employment inquiries go to the Human Resources Coordinator, etc.

However you want the workflow to go, specify it in your policy. Explain the protocol for crisis communications, as well. Otherwise, loyal employees might make well-intentioned posts that reveal information before the company’s ready, or else misstate the situation because you don’t yet have all the facts.

Specify who is authorized to speak on behalf of the company during a crisis situation, and consider assigning someone different for each type of crisis (your CFO for a financial issue, CMO for a social media gaffe, CEO for a general organizational crisis, etc.).

No anonymous posting
It’s natural for employees to feel protective of your brand: ideally, they are your biggest fans. However, employees posting anonymously in response to negative reviews or comments about your company will ultimately do more harm than good, because the identity of the commenter always comes to light sooner or later.

Let your employees know that if they speak publicly about your brand, they must use their own identity and disclose their relationship with your company.

State who owns your brand’s social channels
This should be an easy one. If someone at your company creates an official presence online, anywhere other than your site, the company owns it. Specify that any profiles or pages created by employees in their official capacity on behalf of the company are company-owned.

Require all online accounts be opened using a company email address (ideally, [email protected]) or something similar, so you can easily reset the passwords and restrict access if an employee leaves the company.

Clearly explain the consequences of violating the policy
This is the “or what?” If you tell employees they can’t do something, they need to know what happens if they do it.Typically, you’d want to extend the penalties for “real world” offenses to social media, as well. If calling another employee a “whore” offline would result in firing, the same should be true for an online posting.

Explain which person or department is in charge of enforcing the policy, and what procedures you will have in place for appealing decisions.

Overall, the benefits of implementing a social media policy outweigh the risks, because they help to clarify what’s expected of everyone involved.

Do consider the appeal of a four-word policy, though: most of the time, “don’t be a moron” just about covers it.

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The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show, Episode 2: The Power of Amazon and Online Reviews

Thanks SO much for the feedback on the first episode of The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show, I really do appreciate it!  If you have any feedback on this episode please leave a comment here, email me or leave it on Twitter with hashtag #FanDamnShow.

In this episode I’ll be talking about how you can leverage online reviews on Amazon and other sites in two ways:

1 – Learning how you can improve your product and marketing by examining reviews left for competing products.

2 – Learning how you can improve your product and marketing by examining reviews left for your own products.

All this in just 8 minutes!  Hope you enjoy and here is the direct link to listen to this episode or you can below as well.

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The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show is LIVE!

Fan-Damn-TasticCoverArt

I’ve been waiting 7 years to say this, but I have a new podcast to tell you about!  The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show will be focused on marketing topics and how companies can better connect with their customers and covert them into passionate fans.  If you’ve read this blog or Think Like a Rock Star you know what you’ll be hearing.

Show Notes:

Hope you enjoy it!  The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show will be short by design, because as I explain in the episode I dislike hour-long podcasts.  Most episodes will be 15 minutes or less, and the first one clocks in at just under 8 minutes.

Hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think!

If the above player doesn’t work for you, here’s a direct link to the episode.

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How Figures Toy Company is Masterfully Using Social Media to Build Product Demand, and Giving Me Back My Childhood At the Same Time

If you grew up in the 1970s as I did, the odds are you owned a toy created by the Mego Corporation.  The company made its hay with dolls (today called Action Figures) and its most popular line was The World’s Greatest Super-Heroes, giving children everywhere their first exposure to characters like Batman, Spiderman and Superman.  The figures were incredibly well made and detailed for the time, including cloth costumes that could be removed (and then lost).  One of my earliest childhood memories is as a 6 year-old taking my $6 and going to TG&Y and happily spending six week’s worth of allowance on a Robin doll.  Those were the days.

And a company called Figures Toy Company is now helping me relive those days.  Last year the company announced that it had acquired the DC Comics license and would be recreating these magical Mego figures of my childhood in near perfect replicas of the originals.

I’m not sure exactly how you ‘squee’, but I think I did it back in January when I first discovered this news.  I immediately started checking out FTC’s website and social media presences  for more information on the figures, and that’s when I realized that FTC is doing a wonderful job of leveraging social media to build demand for these figures.

First, let’s consider the market for these figures.  At $25 and up, these figures aren’t for priced to sell to children, they are primarily for adult collectors, and more specifically adult collectors that are fans of Mego figures.

One of the points I make in Think Like a Rock Star is that fans want special access.  They want to go behind the scenes and get a backstage pass.  FTC has been releasing these figures in ‘Waves’ of 4 characters at a time.  In most cases, they announce the upcoming wave 6-8 months before the product officially goes on sale.

So how do you keep fans excited for 6-8 months?  By giving them special access and a look behind the scenes.  Here’s what FTC has been doing:

1 – After the initial figure wave announcement, they then show pictures of the sculpt of the figure’s head.  This gets fans excited and gives them a better idea of what the final figure could look like.

2 – Next, they’ll reveal the prototype for the completed figure, giving fans a much better idea of what to expect.

3 – The first two steps take place over several weeks, so by now it’s about a month or two prior to the expected on-sale date of the figures.  Next, FTC will post pictures on its Facebook page that show the figures being assembled in its factory:

FTCPhoto

 

4 – Finally, the figures go on sale!  Then when they arrive, delighted customers take pictures of them and send them to FTC, who then turns around and posts the pictures from its fans on its Facebook page:

FTCFans

And along the way FTC is using its Facebook page to answer any and all questions from customers, often giving them nuggets about future releases.

From a marketing standpoint, this level of transparency is exactly what fans of these figures are clamoring for.  There’s been no shortage of geeking out on blogs and forums about these figures, and fans across the board are thrilled with FTC for being so open about the process.  Giving fans better information about how the figures are made and detailing the process helps build demand for the figures.

And it’s leading to big sales for FTC.  The first wave of 4 figures were released in November of last year, and barely six months later the entire wave has sold out and the products have been retired.  The lesson here is if you have passionate fans for the products you make, give them MORE information and behind the scenes information about the products they love.  It could have a BIG impact on your business’ bottom line, as it is for FTC.

PS: Yes FTC is getting my money as well!

FTCBAts

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Amazon Introduces #AmazonCart, Social Buying Just Got a LOT Easier

This morning Amazon introduced a pretty interesting new feature called #AmazonCart.  The idea is dead simple: If someone tweets a link to a product on Twitter that you want, reply to the tweet with the #AmazonCart hashtag and it gets added to your cart on Amazon!  Of course you have to have an Amazon account and authorize Amazon to connect to your Twitter account, but that’s it!  Here’s a screenshot of me using it this morning:

AmazonCart

See how easy it is?  Now granted, Tac will still have to complete the sale on Amazon, but actually getting the item in your cart is one step closer to making a sale.

Now here’s the part that’s got me excited; Think about putting this tool in the hands of your biggest fans.  For authors especially, this could be a game-changer (unfortunately, the program doesn’t work with ebooks at this time, believe me, I tried!  If you reply with #AmazonCart to a tweet with a link to an ebook, Amazon will mail you a sample from the ebook.  Not ideal, but better than nothing!)

Here’s the video from Amazon explaining the concept:

Impulse buying meets Twitter!  Would you use #AmazonCart?

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How to Make Sure Your Online Messages Live in All Customer Conversations

Business NetworkingNote from Mack: This is a sponsored post from Jim Karrh, as part of his #Blogchat sponsorship for April.  You can learn more about Jim at his site and also check out his blog, Managing the Message.

 

“There’s no consistency in what our people are saying to customers. It seems like everyone is just rolling their own.”

The tech-company executive who told me this was bemoaning a common problem: their blog posts, white papers, case studies, and other thought-leadership efforts weren’t landing in the most common customer interactions. He was weary from the disconnects (and griping) among the marketing, product development, sales, delivery, and service teams.

But it was the sheer volume of missed opportunities that was most frustrating. How many face-to-face meetings, virtual meetings, phone calls, call-center exchanges, networking opportunities, and emails occur across your organization every week? If they were more crisp, consistent, and relevant to buyers (or members, or donors, or whomever) what would be the impact on revenue, margins, customer satisfaction, or morale?

I do not believe that this common silo’ed reality is due to bad intentions, inept people, or boneheaded strategies. Rather, there are powerful forces that drive a wedge between customer-facing teams and effective conversations:

  • Comfort—over time we often settle into saying the same things to the same people
  • Consistency—different team members want to say and show things “their way”
  • Complexity—people, especially experts, drown their messages in lingo and acronyms (when they should be able to convey complex ideas via a simple picture)
  • Culture—many organizations lack the structure, resources, or habits for sharing wins and best practices
  • Coaching—managers often lack the time or knowledge necessary to build conversational fluency within their teams

No one is immune and perfection is impossible. In a prior professional life as a chief marketing officer, our company was recognized as having a “best in the world” integrated marketing and PR program—yet it was still frustrating to carry those messages consistently, succinctly, and accurately through our sales teams and distributors.

These days I serve clients by helping them transform their real-time customer conversations, via Karrh and Associates as well as messaging engagements through DSG. Most client organizations, regardless of size or industry, have found it difficult to produce consistently good customer conversations on their own. So, how can you change things?

We engage an executive sponsor in the client company, establish a cross-functional team of A-players for whom customer conversations are important, and together develop a “playbook” with simple talking points, questions to ask, audience profiles, and other field-ready tools (including visuals) for leading a conversation. It’s important to focus on what real people will actually use. The result isn’t a tagline or logo that an ad agency produces to be distributed “out there,” but rather a guide to how everyone should prepare for and act during customer conversations.

That reality makes any effort to bring consistency to customer conversations both political and personal. It requires intense collaboration. But it pays dividends, often in less than a year–without a company having to change strategy, product features, pricing, or distribution.

Even better…because almost everyone in your organization is well equipped to carry the conversation a transformed customer conversation can be a unifying and rallying effort.

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Here’s the Four Blogs We Will Review on Sunday at #Blogchat

Thanks to everyone that submitted their blog to be reviewed!  On Sunday we’ll be reviewing 4 blogs during #Blogchat, one every 15 mins.  Here are the four blogs we’ll be covering, and the order in which we’ll be covering them:

1 – Janice Person – A Colorful Adventure.  Here’s what Janice said about her blog: “It’s a personal blog so it is where I can post whatever I want but one of my real drivers has been sharing information about agriculture that I’m lucky enough to see and experience first hand, especially things about my beloved cotton! Travel is another huge area of my life that I love sharing.

I have been thinking about doing some reworking on the design. Its amazing how fast designs feel dated. The site doesn’t feel as clean as I would like. I don’t want it to feel sterile, just get it a cleaner, more up-to-date feel and yet provide good mobility within the site. Some of the blogchat crew would be great at helping me think through a new look for the site.

Another thing I think the blogchat crew could help me understand is what sort of information would they find interesting about farming & agriculture? What do you think of things like the cotton 101 type of posts http://janiceperson.com/cotton-101/ or the various types of agriculture informationhttp://janiceperson.com/category/agriculture/? of that content what grabs your attention & what makes you think “no thanks.”

I know, that’s a lot to ask, but why not shoot for the stars with the BlgoChat crowd just in case I get picked!”

2 – Velo Crush! Pedal Into the World of Bicycles.  Here’s what  Abbishek said about his blog: “My blog is to promote cycling it in India. I would like to connect to the cyclists in every country but more of India and also the common man. as my goal is to get them all cycling.

I’d kindly request you to focus on it entirely. its a mix of everything which has interviews, tips etc. but at the moment my page views have gone below average and I don’t know what to do about it.”

3 – Deb Costello’s Blog.  Here’s what Deb said about her blog:  “I write an education blog under the premise “what if someone opened a window into a classroom” I am a math teacher and share math questions, commentary on educational issues, funny/interesting stories about kids and my school, and cool tech tools that are useful for math, life, or fun.

My audience has been mostly teachers, not surprisingly, but I am interested in things I could do that would make the blog more interesting to a wider audience.”

4 – Jim Karrh’s Blog (Jim is the Sponsor for this month).

Now if you will be joining #Blogchat on Sunday, please take a few minutes to visit each of these blogs so that you can give each of these bloggers constructive advice about their blogs.  Make notes of what you like, what you dislike, and maybe the things that you aren’t sure of (“Why did you put your picture there?”  “Why did you use that color on your homepage?”).

And please remember it is VERY scary to submit your blog to being reviewed by #Blogchat so if you have criticism please try to temper it and share advice with the blogger on how you think they can ‘fix’ any ‘problems’ you see on the blog.

That’s it!  Congratulations to Janice, Abbishek,  and Deb.  And thanks to Jim for sponsoring this month, he’s a big reason why Blog Reviews are back this month!  BTW if you would like to ask any of these bloggers a question before Sunday please leave a comment here for them!

And please have a Happy Easter weekend!   See y’all on Sunday night at 8pm Central!

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Want to Have #Blogchat Review Your Blog?

This Sunday we’ll be doing Blog Reviews again, which is one of the most popular #Blogchat topics ever.  The way it works is that every 15 minutes we’ll review a different blog submitted by a #Blogchat member.  The #Blogchat community will tell you what they like, what they dislike, and give you advice on how to improve your blog.  It’s an invaluable chance to get advice from a community of the most savvy bloggers around!

So if you want to submit your blog for one of the THREE available slots for Blog Reviews, here’s what you need to do:

1 – Leave a comment on THIS POST.

2 – Give us the link to your blog in the comment itself.  Add the URL manually. 

3 – Tell us what your blog is about, and who you want to connect with

4 – If there’s any particular area of your blog that you want us to focus on, let us know.

5 – Make sure you can be at #Blogchat on Sunday night at 8pm Central, US time.  Because we’ll want to discuss your blog with you and you can give us feedback.  This is most important.

 

That’s it!  I’ll accept submissions through 5pm Central time on Friday, then I’ll announce the 3 selections back here on Saturday.

I am far more likely to pick your blog if you do two simple things:

1 – Give me as much information about your blog as possible.  If your comment is ‘Dude here’s my blog, check it out: www.myblog.com’, then that doesn’t help me much.

2 – I am going to do everything I can to select regular #Blogchat members.  All things being equal, I will pick the gal that comes to #Blogchat regularly over someone who doesn’t.  I want to use this as a way to reward regular contributors to the chat.

 

So that’s it!  If you want to be eligible for having your blog reviewed this Sunday please leave a comment below!  If your blog is selected we’ll discuss your blog for 15 mins Sunday night at #Blogchat!  Good luck!