MackCollier.com

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Register, Rinse and Repeat: Protecting Your Creative Works Online

DarthKerryNote from Mack: This is a guest post from Kerry Gorgone, who is the special co-host of #Blogchat this Sunday!  Besides being a prolific blogger and podcaster, Kerry is also a lawyer, so she’s perfectly suited to help us understand the legal aspects of blogging.  Her topic will be How Bloggers Can Protect Themselves, discussing disclosure rules, as well as protecting your creative works, which she talks about here.  Please follow her on Twitter and join us on Twitter at 8pm Central on Sunday with the #Blogchat hashtag!

 

“Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.” ~ Mark Twain

Creating something worthwhile is never easy. The process of writing a blog post, painting a portrait, or recording a song is time consuming and, at times, physically and emotionally demanding. But once your masterpiece is completed, your work, in some ways, has only just started, because protecting your copyright is a never-ending job.

First, some good news: you own copyright in your creative work as soon as you “fix it in a tangible medium.” Essentially, as soon as it’s out of your imagination and down on paper, you own it. This holds true also for blog posts and other digital media, once created.

Copyright doesn’t last forever, but it lasts for a long time. If the work is your own, individual piece, copyright lasts for your life, plus 70 years. For joint works involving more than one artist, copyright lasts for the life of the last surviving author, plus 70 years.

If you create a “work for hire,” meaning there was a written agreement signed before you started the work indicating that the company commissioning the work would own it, then copyright lasts for 95 years after publication or 120 years after the date of creation, whichever is shorter. Note that, in this instance, the person or company who hired you owns the work, not you.

 

A few key points:

  • Use the copyright notice on all your work.
    • Ex: Copyright Mack Collier 2014; or
    • Copr. Mack Collier 2014; or
    • © Mack Collier 2014
    • Register your work with the United States Copyright Office

 

You can’t sue for infringement until your work is registered, which limits your options. You at least want to be able to invoke the possibility of a lawsuit in order to motivate the infringing party to stop using your work without permission. It costs $35 to register your work online, so it’s well worth the money and effort. If you have a large number of blog posts, consider registering them together as a compilation: one registration, one fee.

If you can, register the work within 3 months of publication, so you can seek statutory damages and attorneys’ fees. This is critical, because it’s sometimes difficult for bloggers and artists to prove actual damages, or specifically how much money they lost as a result of the infringement.

Even if you miss the three-month mark, register, because if you register within 5 years of publication, it’s prima facie evidence that your copyright is valid. This means that the defendant will have to prove otherwise in your lawsuit. Think of it this way: the less proof you have to produce, the less money the litigation costs you.

If you want to permit some uses of your work, consider releasing it pursuant to a Creative Commons license. These licenses allow people (or companies) to use your work, so long as certain conditions are met.

Creative Commons licenses range from attribution only (credit), to more restrictive, such as licenses allow use, but disallow any changes to the work. You also have the choice of using a Creative Commons license that forbids commercial use, if you don’t want other people profiting from your blog posts or pictures.

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Here’s what to do in the event someone uses your content without permission (e.g. scrapes your blog, makes t-shirts out of your photograph, or uses your song as their podcast bumper).

  1. Contact the person using your work directly, and ask them either to attribute it properly or stop using it (at your election).
  2. If they fail to respond, you can send a more formal cease and desist letter. There’s no formula for this, but you can see an example here.
  • You really should have a copyright lawyer review this (if not draft it for you), because what you say in the letter can be used as evidence should the case go to trial.
  1. Issue a takedown notice pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DCMA”). You can send this directly to social networks and sites like Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo, or Pinterest) or to the ISP hosting the infringer’s website where the content is posted.You can find information and resources relating to issuing a takedown notice here: https://copyrightalliance.org/2012/03/in-plain-english-a-quick-guide-to-dmca-takedown-notices#.UnFnRpRATn4

    One thing to note is that if the other party contests your takedown notice, your only remaining option may be to bring a lawsuit.

  2. File a complaint with Google and request that they remove the infringing party’s site from search results
  3. File a copyright infringement lawsuit (very expensive)

 

Those are your options, from most palatable to least. You might well elect not to pursue infringers in some instances, especially if they’re clearly outside the jurisdiction of a domestic court, or if they are unlikely to have any money to pay a judgment.

Your best course of action is to monitor for infringing uses of your work, proactively use the copyright notice, register your creative works, and watermark images that you create for use with your blog posts.

Addressing infringement is never fun, but take some solace in the fact that your work is good enough for someone to want to steal. (I’m a glass half-full kind of girl.)

Pic via Flickr user Brenda Starr

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Announcing #Blogchat’s November Sponsor, All Topics Plus Special Co-Host!

PencilscomLogoI’m thrilled to announce that Pencils.com is #Blogchat’s sponsor for November!  Pencils.com sells fine pencils and other tools for the artist and writer, so I was thrilled when they decided to sponsor #Blogchat!  Please follow them on Twitter and you can also read their blog which features some stunning pencil artwork, incredibly detailed!

Now to tie in with Pencils.com sponsoring #Blogchat in November, we’re going to make the theme of #Blogchat this month be on creative writing!  It’s a natural fit for both Pencils.com as well as #Blogchat!

(Cue late-night informercial voice) But wait….that’s not all!

KerryThis Sunday will start the month with a bang by having Kerry Gorgone join us as special co-host!  Kerry will be discussing a topic that’s always been requested among the #Blogchat community: Disclosure rules for bloggers.  In addition, she will also be discussing how to protect your creative works!  In fact, look for a guest post from Kerry here later today that gives you some tips for what to do when you see that someone has taken your post and is using it on their blog.

Here’s the topics for every week in November:

November 3rd: Disclosure rules and protecting your creative works with Kerry Gorgone!  Again look for a guest post here later today from Kerry on this topic!

November 10th: The creative process.  We’ll look at how we write our blog posts, and also look at the digital and analog tools we use in the writing process.

November 17th: Guest posting.  We’ll discuss how to get guest-posting gigs as well as how to bring on people to guest-post on your blog.

November 24th: OPEN MIC!  No set blogging topic although I will probably have some questions about finding creativity in our writing in line with this month’s theme.

I’m really excited about this month because we’ve never had a theme for the entire month, especially not with a sponsor.  But the topic of creative writing is such a perfect fit for Pencils.com since they are literally selling the tools that help us create our own works of art!

BTW if your company wants to sponsor #Blogchat in December, here’s all the details as well as the price.

See you this Sunday and don’t forgot to check back in a few hours for Kerry’s guest post!

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Want to Make Money From Your Blog? Get a Sponsor

Hundred Dollar Bills Folded in a Money ClipYesterday I wrote about how you can increase your chances of getting paid for the content you create.  How to monetize a blog is one of the most requested topics among the #Blogchat community, so today I wanted to talk about another option for making money from your blog:

Getting a sponsor.

The problem that many bloggers run into is that they want to start making money as soon as they launch their blog.  Which is understandable, but they simply don’t have the large platform and readership that most advertisers are interested in.  Years ago I was approached by one of the major blog ad networks about having them place advertisements on my blog.  At the time (this was 2009 or so) they told me that a blog had to have a minimum of 800,000 monthly pageviews before they could accept them. I had about 1% of that at the time.

Many bloggers will add Ad Sense ads or something similar to their blogs as a way to generate revenue.  The problem is this usually gives them pennies at best, and ends up detracting from the reader’s experience and clutters up the content on the blog.

But a sponsor can be a much better solution.  First, it gives you control over who the sponsor is.  You can bring on someone you are comfortable, and that’s a good fit for your blog’s focus, and your readers.  Second, you have control over what the sponsorship entails.  Third, if you’re smart you can work with the sponsor to enhance the experience on your blog, not detract from it, which is what a lot of ads do.

While I don’t have sponsors here, I have been selling sponsorships at #Blogchat for the last 3 years.  It’s worked out pretty well for everyone.  Here’s the framework I follow with #Blogchat and you can easily do the same with your blog.

First, make sure the sponsor understands what the sponsorship does and does not include.   I have created a special page for sponsoring #Blogchat so that potential sponsors know what they are getting.  You should do the same for your blog.  Think about what you can offer sponsors.  Will they get exposure on your blog itself?  As part of the #blogchat sponsorship, I give sponsors the option to have an ad on the right sidebar, and 1 sponsored post for the month of their sponsorship.  I also promote the sponsor here and on Twitter.  I let them know the bare minimum of exposure they will get but I always try to go a bit above that so that they will be pleased with the coverage they are getting.

Second, make sure the sponsor is a good fit for you and your audience.  This is highly subjective and you will have to figure out what works for you and your audience.  Basically I have two rules for potential #Blogchat sponsors: That they understand that they cannot use the #Blogchat chat itself as a promotional tool, and that their sponsorship doesn’t detract from the #Blogchat experience.  As I tell any potential sponsor, if the #Blogchat community is upset with the experience of the chat based on a sponsor’s involvement, then that makes both myself and the sponsor look terrible.  And yes, I have turned down sponsors that wanted to use the chat itself as a promotional tool for their business.  My suggestion is that you not promote a sponsor on your blog to the point that the sponsor is overshadowing the content.  If that happens then your readers will notice and likely be disappointed.

Third, create a win-win-win situation.  This is where you need to get creative.  You want to find a way for the sponsorship to benefit three parties:

1 – Yourself

2 – The sponsor

3 – Your audience

If you can bring on a sponsor and have all three parties benefit, then you’ve hit a home run.

First, think about what you want.  Do you want cash?  Do you want a product?  Do you want a service?  Again consult yesterday’s post for some great ideas on how to get paid.

Second, explicitly ask the sponsor to tell you what they want to happen as a result of the sponsorship.  Do they want to drive traffic back to their website?  Get more downloads of their new white paper?  Encourage more free signups of their new software product?  Ask them to tell you what they want, because that will greatly influence how the sponsorship is structured.

Finally, how will your readers benefit?  At bare minimum, you don’t want the overall experience on your blog to suffer as a result of the sponsorship.  The last thing in the world you want is for someone to read your blog on November 1st and think ‘Aw shit, he’s got another sponsor!’  You want them to either not notice the sponsor is there or (the best alternative) you want them to be excited that the sponsor is involved!

When I bring on a sponsor for #Blogchat, I am always careful to think about how the community will benefit as a result.  For example, when I bring on a sponsor for #Blogchat, the topics get set for the entire month at the start of the sponsorship because I work with the sponsor to cover topics that interest them, that will also appeal to #Blogchat.  So there’s one benefit.  Another is that each sponsor gets a guest host, so #Blogchat knows if we have a sponsor for the month, they also get an expert guest-host.  Finally, the sponsor will frequently offer #Blogchat members a special deal or discount on a product.  For example, this month’s sponsor, AllergEase, created a special offer to give away its product for free to #Blogchat members.

How to Get Started Landing Sponsorships on Your Blog

1 – Create a page spelling out exactly what a sponsor gets.  Here’s mine for #Blogchat as an example.  This communicates to potential sponsors that you are accepting sponsors, and tells them exactly what they will get.

2 – Figure out who your ‘ideal’ sponsor would be.  For example, if you are a tech blog focusing on startups, then tech startups.  If your blog focuses on parenthood, especially new parents, then a company that makes products for toddlers and newborns might be a good fit.

3 – Do your research and figure out if these companies are active on social media now, and more importantly if they are already working with bloggers and doing sponsorships!  From the above example of a parenting blog, let’s say you do some checking and uncover that Graco is currently sponsoring other bloggers (I have no idea if they are), then you could reach out to them and let them know that you are offering sponsorships on your parenting blog and explain to them how it would be a good fit for their brand.

4 – Focus on the win-win-win.  Figure out how a sponsor’s involvement on your blog will enhance your blog, not detract from the experience you have.   What do you get from the sponsorship, what does the sponsor get, and what do your readers get?

If you are willing to do your homework and some leg-work, you should be able to start getting some sponsors for your blog.  Something else I have noticed with #Blogchat is that it is MUCH easier to sell sponsorships when you are selling sponsorships.  I went all year without selling any sponsorships to #Blogchat, then suddenly over the course of 3 weeks I sold the sponsorships for September, October and November.  So if you can ever start getting sponsors on your blog, it become much easier to keep getting them!

If you accept sponsors on your blog, what has worked for you?

 

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Join Me Next Week in Huntsville for #SoMeT13US!

I am really excited about this event!

Next week from Wednesday through Friday I’ll be in Huntsville, Alabama for the Social Media Tourism Symposium.  I’ll be joined by some of the top social media marketing speakers including Jay Baer, Sheila Scarborough and Tom Martin, among others.  In fact, both Sheila and Tom have spoken at SoMeT before and both just raved about the event and the group running it.  That was what really got them on my radar and got me interested in wanting to speak there.

This will actually be my 3rd tourism event to speak at this year in Alabama.  I have to admit, I absolutely loved the experience of speaking at these events.  Here’s what I’ve noticed (and I was talking about this yesterday to a friend in this space): Many of the ‘national’ social media events have basically become social events.  You go there, you re-connect with old friends, maybe meet a speaker or two you want to, and just ‘hang out’.  There’s not a lot of common ground among the attendees, other than the social media tools.

But with the tourism events I’ve spoken at, the attendees are all coming from similar backgrounds.  As a result, the attendees are engaged in a higher-level conversation, the topics are more focused on strategy and execution versus the tools.  Personally, I loved the experience I’ve had at these events and expect an even better one at #SoMeT13US next week.

And I want you to join me!  Unfortunately, registration ends tomorrow but you still have time to get in if you hurry.  I’ll be keynoting Friday morning presenting Think Like a Rock Star and will also be on hand to sell and sign copies of my book!

Oh and the opening night party will be at what has to be the coolest venue ever for an opening party (and this is from someone that’s been to an opening party at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame), the US Space and Rocket Center!

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You can register here, hope to see you next week!

Pic via Flickr user bryce_edwards

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Thoughts on Getting Paid For the Content and Value You Create

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Earlier this week the New York Times ran an opinion piece from Tim Kreider addressing a topic that many bloggers can relate to: Being asked to create content for someone without being paid.  Have you ever been invited to write a post or series of posts for a blog or site?  Or maybe you’ve been asked by a local, regional or perhaps even national event to speak.

For free.

The idea is, you create content for someone else that someone else can use, and in exchange you get….exposure, contacts, leads, experience and a lot of other things that aren’t called ‘cash’.

I’ve been there, I bet you have too.  In 2008 I spoke at my first social media industry event, South By Southwest.  Yes, my first time presenting publicly on the topic of social media was at the Super Bowl of the space.  Throughout the rest of 2008 and 2009 I got more and more speaking requests and by the end of 2009 I was getting decent exposure at national events.

Then in 2010 I started getting a lot more speaking requests.  But something curious happened: Almost none of the events could afford to actually pay me to speak.  Well of course this was completely unacceptable, I reasoned!  If you can’t pay me then I don’t speak for you!

I stuck to my guns, either pay my ass or I sit at home.  And guess what, I spent a lot of time sitting at home in 2010!  I think I spoke at two industry events, and it was the same one, once in the Spring and again in the Fall.

I realized that there are two types of people that don’t want to pay you for your work in this space:

1 – The people that want to take advantage of you and use your work and content for free for their own benefit (This is the minority)

2 – The people that don’t understand that your content is worth paying for. (This is the majority)

Let’s assume that the first group isn’t worth your time (they aren’t).  So if you want the second group to pay you, there’s two things you can do:

1 – Help them realize the value of your content and why it’s worth paying for.

2 – Learn to accept a form of compensation other than cash.

Let’s talk about the first option and then the second:

Making Sure Others Realize the Value You Create

In 2010 when I started getting a lot of ‘we want you to speak but can’t afford to pay you’ offers, I had a lot of time to think about why I deserved to be paid.  I started making lists of everything I brought to events and the value I created.  So in 2011 when I started getting asked to speak at events, when I responded I would tell them that I needed all my travel covered and a speaking fee.  I would then add what else I would give them.  Things like:

  • Promotion of the event before and during on Twitter.
  • Help the event obtain more registrations, after all if the event is a big success, it looks better to be speaking at that event, right?
  • That I would review my experience at the event (no promise made of reviewing favorably) on my blog later.
  • I mentioned that I would stay for the duration of the event and would attend other sessions and participate as much as possible.
  • Offer to make myself available for on-site interviews with any interested media, blogs, or attendees
  • Whatever else I thought the event might need that I could provide

With a list like this, suddenly it becomes easier for an event organizer to see paying for me to speak because they are getting a lot more value than they expected.

Now let’s switch gears and say someone requests that you write a 500-word post for them, for free.  You figure the post will take 1-2 hours, and you want $100 dollars.

So in order to get $100 for your post, you need to show how your post will be worth at least $100.  For example, you could tell this person that you want $100 for the post, and in exchange for that money, you’ll do the following:

  • Offer them an SEO-optimized 500-word post on the agreed topic that will help drive relevant search traffic to their site.
  • You will promote this post on your Facebook and Twitter accounts.  Make sure they understand how many followers/friends you have.
  • Promote the post on your own blog and link to it.  This will also give the site a valuable link.

By adding more than simply writing the post, it becomes easier to see that you are creating at least $100 worth of value for this site.

So put together your ‘compensation package’ when someone requests that you create content for them.  Tell them what you need to be paid for the content, but also see if you can offer them something above the content itself.

Now let’s talk about the second part of getting paid for the content you create:

Accepting Compensation Other Than Cash

In some situations, it does make sense for you to consider taking a form of compensation other than cash.  Here’s a few examples:

As I mentioned earlier, often when I am asked to speak it will be by a group that really doesn’t have the budget to pay me.  So one thing I can do is require that the group by X number of copies of Think Like a Rock Star.  If the group says they can’t afford it, I point out to them that all they need to do is pass the cost of the book along to the attendees via the registration price.  Or if you have an ebook that you are selling, you could ask that the event buy a copy for every attendee and have it preloaded on the flash drive that will have the presenter’s slide decks.

Or another option for a speaker could be that you waive your speaking fee if the event will record your session and give you a copy.  A high-quality audio and video recording of you speaking does have value for you, and will help you get more speaking engagements.

Here’s another example:  Let’s say a marketing website wants you to write an original article for them on how companies can get started using social media, but they don’t want to pay you.  The site itself gets around 10,000 visitors a day, but it’s weekly newsletter has 250,000 subscribers.  You could agree to write the article for free for the marketing site, but only if they also promote your article in their newsletter and in the newsletter also include your bio, that you are available for hire, and with a link back to your site.  That article being featured in the newsletter might send a few hundred qualified leads to your site, which could easily make it worth your time to write the article for free.

Finally, what about bartering?  Let’s say a company that offers website hosting wants you to write a white-paper for them, but doesn’t want to pay you.  You could offer to write the paper in exchange for say 6 months of free hosting.  Or perhaps you could write a how-to article on social media for an electronics retailer in exchange for them sending you a condenser microphone that you need to start podcasting.

The key is to think creatively.  Think about the things that you need to take your blog or your business to the next level.  Maybe you need better hosting or maybe you need a premium theme or a designer to make your blog a bit prettier and more functional.  Maybe you need a new laptop for when you travel or a new carryon.  Remember that if a company can’t or won’t pay you $250 for an article, they might happily give you a product that retails for $250, that only costs them $100 to make.

Your cheat-sheet for getting paid for your content and work:

1 – Make sure the value you create is fully understood.  If you are asking a company to pay you $100 for an original article, help them understand why your article will be worth $250-500 to them.

2 – What can you offer above the content itself, such as promotion of the content, promotion of the company/event you are creating the content for, etc.  This shows the company that they will be getting many additional services/benefits from working with you that they weren’t expecting.  Which makes it easier for them to justify writing you a check.

3 – If possible, accept something other than cash.  Look at each person/company that asks you to provide content, and consider what they could offer you besides cash that would have value to you. Maybe it’s increased exposure, maybe it’s a free product or service.  The key is be creative in finding a solution.

If you follow this plan, you’ll likely see that the person or company that you worked with will be thrilled with your content and very well may want to talk with you about writing more articles for them or doing another presentation.  I’ve turned several one-off articles into regular writing gigs this way.  The key is to think creatively and not shut out an opportunity simply because they aren’t willing to pay cash at first.  Make it impossible for them not to want to pay you.

UPDATE: Kerry Gorgone makes a fan-damn-tastic point in the comments: “Fantastic post, Mack! Really great tips. I find it helps to demonstrate your reach, and estimate the cost of obtaining that same level of exposure through PPC or press releases.”

BINGO!  Show them how you can give them more exposure and reach for less than they are spending now on other marketing efforts.  Great point!

Pic via Flickr user Tax Credits

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The Art (and Timing) of Asking For Help

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I hate to ask for help.

Part of it is not wanting to bother others but mostly its not wanting to be vulnerable or to admit that I need help.  And unfortunately I’ve needed to ask others for help more than I would like this year.

But when I do ask for help, I make sure I am only asking people for help that I have helped in the past.  This is one thing that baffles me is how often my first interaction with someone will be when they ask me to help them.

“Hey buddy! Look you don’t know me but I wrote this blog post today that is about a topic you and your audience could care less about, but would you mind RTing it for me?  I normally wouldn’t ask, but well you have more followers than I do, so I thought it would be a nice way to leverage your network for my benefit.  Thanks buddy!”

Really?

I get this constantly and I bet you do too.  So I wanted to share a foolproof plan for getting more people that you don’t know to help you.

Help them first.

That’s it.  If you want someone to RT your marketing post, then RT their’s first.  I do this constantly, if there’s someone that I want to share my content, I will first share their latest post (assuming it’s good).  Often, they will turn around and share my newest post later that day.

Call it a way to ask for help without really asking for help 🙂  They appreciate me sharing their content, plus they are also happy that they were able to return the favor and share my content.

But social media works better when you give first and then ask.  Actually life works better as well.

 

Pic via Flickr user exfordy

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Think You Know Social Media? These Stats Will Blow Your Mind

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I was doing some research for a client and found a few of these stats, so I started doing some digging and pulled together the rest, and had a good friend (thanks Kerry!) send me some links as well.  Enjoy!

Social Media User Behavior

Facebook is still the most popular social networking site with Teens, right?  Actually no, now it’s Twitter according to research by Piper Jaffray.  Although Instagram is quickly catching up and is now tied with Facebook for 2nd.  Another reason why Facebook decided to acquire IG?

The fastest growing age bracket on Twitter is 55-65 year olds, while it’s 45 to 54 year olds on Facebook.  So basically it’s grandparents on Twitter and parents on Facebook.

74% of consumers rely on social networks to guide their purchases HT Kerry.

Tuesday is the day when the most marketing emails are sent, but Friday is the day when more people open them.

97.7% of all internet users 18-24 years old in South Korea own a smart phone.

4.2 billion people use a mobile device to access social media sites.

27% of our online time is spent on social media sites.

 

 Facebook

Less than 0.5% of the people that Like a brand page on Facebook actually interact with that brand during a given week.

23% of Facebook’s users check their account more than 5 times a day.

Approximately one fifth of Facebook’s users only access the site with a mobile device.

Facebook users share 2.5 Billion pieces of content every day.

Twitter

Twitter has almost one Billion registered users.  But only 250M of them are active.

In what country is Twitter experiencing the fastest growth in the world? Indonesia.

21% of the global internet population uses Twitter on a monthly basis.

Over 400 Million tweets are sent every day.

 

Instagram

Every second 8,000 pieces of content are Liked on Instagram.

Instagram is on pace to have more users than Facebook.

Blogs

Over 13 Billion pages were viewed last month just on WordPress blogs with the JetPack plugin enabled.

77% of internet users read blogs.

Pinterest

Pinterest’s growth rate of 88% in 2012 makes it the fastest growing social networking site in the world.

 

Reddit

Reddit had 37 Billion pageviews in 2012.

There are currently over 4.6 Billion pages on the site.

YouTube

Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube, and that’s up over 50% in the last year.

YouTube has over 1 billion monthly unique users visits.

Mobile makes up more than 25% of YouTube’s global watch time, more than one billion views a day.

More people in the United States now watch YouTube regularly than do broadcast television.

 

Pic via Flickr user Boboroshi

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Attention Companies: Using Social Media Does NOT Make You Social!

MP900433180About a year ago I unfollowed a guy on Twitter.  It wasn’t for anything he said or did, it was for the way he said it.  He was Captain Disagreeable.  He challenged everything, and typically the points he challenged were incredibly minor.  It would result in the person he was challenging bending over backwards to pacify him, and that would only intensify his ‘challenging’ them.  It was obvious that this person simply enjoyed arguing with people and he would until he got bored, then move on.

Now imagine that this guy is going to be using social media to connect with your customers everyday, and to represent your brand online.

The simple fact is that putting social tools in the hands of socially-challenged people is a disaster waiting to happen.  Not every employee in your company should be connecting with your customers directly via any communication tool.

Now I’m not saying that your employees shouldn’t be trained in social media.  There’s enormous value in understanding how your customers are using these tools.  Even if that employee won’t be using social media to connect directly with your customers via those tools.

But not every employee should be connecting directly with your customer, regardless of the tool used.  Nordstrom has a great list of social media guidelines for its employees, but note at the very beginning it clearly states that these guidelines are for employees that have been approved to use social media as a way to communicate with the brand’s customers.

Putting social media in the hands of an anti-social employee won’t suddenly improve their communication skills, it will improve their ability to connect with your customers.

It’s up to you to decide if that’s a smart move or not.

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The Passion Conversation: A Q&A With Author John Moore

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It’s no secret that I’m big fans of the gang at Brains on Fire.  You probably know them for their work with client Fiskars in helping to create and develop The Fiskateeers movement, which is a staple case study at marketing and social media conferences, and for good reason.  I used it as a case study in Think Like a Rock Star and also interviewed BoF’s Greg Cordell and John Moore for the book.

And I wanted to interview John again because Brains on Fire has just released its second book, The Passion Conversation.  The Passion Conversation looks at the science and research behind what motivates us to have passion and excitement for a particular business or cause.  It’s a wonderful companion to their first book, Brains on Fire, and I’m very excited that John has agreed to tell you more about it:

Mack – Early on in the book you talked about how brands can create ‘meaningful’ engagement with their communities of customers and you cited a study that said that said that less than 0.5% of people that Like a brand on Facebook actually engage with that brand during any week!  How can brands create meaningful engagement with their customers, whether it’s online or off?  

John – In the book will recommend businesses follow this concept when trying to create meaningful engagement with customers: PROVIDE MORE. PROMOTE LESS. As in… provide more information, provide more customer service, and provide more interesting customer experiences while promoting in a much less obvious way.

Whole Foods Market “provides more information” by having a concierge in many of its stores. It’s staffed by very knowledgeable employees who provide shoppers with the information they need to make better decisions. Customers come away knowing more and will probably pass that knowledge on to their friends and friends of friends.

Lexus “provides more customer service” before, during, and after the sale. I’ve purchased two cars from two different Lexus dealerships and every time I am amazed at their proactive attention and fast follow-up. Is it any wonder a Lexus recommendation I once made to a friend resulted in a sale?

Cirque Du Soleil provides “more interesting customer experiences.” I was just in Vegas and saw the the Beatles LOVE show. Whoa! The show experience was multi-dimensional and multi-sensory. It was nearly customer experience overload. Since returning, I’ve shared how amazing the show was to many people in-person and online.

Ultimately, the passion conversation isn’t about getting people to talk about you, the brand. It’s about getting people to talk about themselves. If a brand can make a meaningful connection with its customers, then a customer-driven conversation will naturally include how the products/services a brand provides makes them feel better.

 

Mack – One of the things I loved about The Passion Conversation was the amount of scientific facts and research you cited that explored what Word of Mouth is and how it’s created.  In Chapter Two you mentioned that there were three motivations that spark conversations about brands: Functional, Social and Emotional.  Which of these three do you think is best for sparking WOM? 

John – Let’s backup and explain the three conversation motivations. A functional conversation is about sharing basic information — facts and figures type stuff — like the specs on a fancy Nikon camera. A social conversation happens when a person visually shares their affinity for a brand such as through wearing a pair of TOMS shoes or tweeting online about how much they got a steal of a deal on wine at Costco. An emotional conversation is sparked when someone has strong feelings about a brand or a cause like when someone openly talks about how funny the “Hump Day” Geico commercial is or when someone talks about why they support the Wounded Warrior Project.

Each conversation motivation can spark word of mouth equally. My advice for a brand is to pick one trigger and have it serve as the lead conversation starter but not to ignore the other two triggers because they can also spark a word of mouth conversation.

 

Mack – I loved that you touched on the fact that many companies focus on acquiring new customers, and almost seem to ignore their current ones.  Why do you think most companies are willing to go to such great lengths to chase the attention of new customers while ignoring the current customers that often want to connect with them?

John – My many years spent working deep inside the Starbucks marketing department gives me an interesting perspective on this. Our hope at Starbucks was that if we could drive in a totally new customer then they would be so enamored with their drink and the overall experience that they would come back again (and again) and become a customer for life.

This issue is similar to romantic relationships. During the courtship phase both people bend over backwards to be accommodating and to show appreciation. For some, once the couple has been dating for a period of time the bending over backwards to be accommodating and appreciative wanes. Each person takes for granted the relationship.

Brands also take for granted their relationships with current and long-time customers. Why is this? Perhaps it’s sexier to start a relationship than it is to continue a relationship.

 

Mack – Many of us are aware of wonderful examples of brands that have sparked a passion conversation with their customers, such as Fiskars with its The Fiskateers Movement or Maker’s Mark having a robust brand ambassador program that’s over half a million strong.  Why aren’t their more examples of brands that have created a Passion Conversation with their customers?  What’s holding them back? 

John – Showing love to customers in order to receive love from customers is messy work. It ain’t check the box and it’s done. It’s much more than that.

You have to treat brand ambassadors as individuals and not as customer segments. You have to be willing to let go of rigid brand guardrails and allow the ambassadors to speak in their voice and say the things they want to say in the ways they want to say them. You have to be ready to respond swiftly to the wants and needs of ambassadors. You also have to find ways to measure success because whatever results you deem as success takes time to happen.

Loving customers over the long haul ain’t easy. It’s messy work. Not enough brands are willing to get that messy for something that takes time and isn’t easy to measure financially.

 

Thanks so much to John for agreeing to share his thoughts on the book.  It’s a great read and as I said above, I think Chapter Two is worth the price of the book alone simply for the explanation and research behind what drives Word of Mouth in both an online and offline situation.  Plus the book has several interesting client case studies that you can learn from as well.  Hop on over to Amazon and get your copy today!

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Writing Great Blog Posts vs Writing Great Newsletters, Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic!

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Here’s the link to tonight’s #Blogchat transcript (Click transcript on the left)

More and more bloggers are deciding to launch a newsletter in addition to their blogs.  So tonight(10-20-13) we’ll discuss how you can create an effective newsletter and how the content you create differs from your blog content.

To be clear, when I say a newsletter, I’m not talking about giving your readers a way to get your blog posts via email, I am talking about writing a newsletter as a separate source of content from your blog.

As with every Sunday this month, tonight’s #Blogchat is sponsored by AllergEase.   You can click here to receive a completely free 21-pack lozenge product sample, just for #Blogchat participants!  AllergEase makes an all natural allergy lozenge that’s designed to help relieve the affects of seasonal allergies.  You can learn more about their products here.

Here’s what we’ll be discussing tonight, starting at 8pm Central:

8:00-8:30PM: What makes a great newsletter?  Also be ready to share examples of your favorite newsletters and why you like them.

8:30-9:00PM: How your blog & newsletter can work together.

That’s it, and you can follow #Blogchat right here, starting at 8pm Central!