Trevor Young | PR Warrior blog | Where PR meets social media meets content marketing

PLATFORM: I'm Currently Reading This Book. Maybe You Should Too!

Usually I wait until I've read a book before I start 'pumping' it up on this blog.

However, in the case of Michael Hyatt's PLATFORM: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, I'll make an exception.

I bought the book last week via Kindle and am in the throes of reading it; because of a special deal Hyatt had on at the time, I received an audio version of the book as well, which I'm listening to in bursts and am getting heaps out of it.

According to Hyatt, great ideas are no longer enough.

As the former CEO and current Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers, one of the largest publishers in the world, Hyatt says he has met hundreds of hugely talented people with outstanding ideas.

Unfortunately he says, most of them couldn’t get published. Why? Because they didn’t have a 'platform'.

But it’s not just authors. In the past ten years it’s been increasingly difficult for anyone to get the attention they need to succeed in such a noisy world. This includes:

• public speakers
• bloggers
• recording artists
• politicians
• business owners
• entrepreneurs
• sales people
• corporate executives
• marketing people

"Basically anybody who has something to say or to sell," Hyatt says in this video.

According to Hyatt, in the old days, you could stand on a small hill or a wooden stage to be heard - that was your platform.

However, thanks to social media "everyone now  has access to a virtual microphone and everyone is connected to everyone else". As a result, today's platforms are built of:

• contacts
• customers
• prospects
• followers
• fans

In other words, he says, a platform is your tribe. People who share your passion and want to hear from like-minded people.

Hyatt must be doing something right. Today, his platform consists of:

• 302,000 blog visitors a month
• 120,632 followers on Twitter
• 92,000 podcast listeners a month
• 15,561 fans on Facebook
• 50 speaking engagements a year

From what I've read so far, PLATFORM manages to thread together important topics and issues across the realms of product development and launch, social media and online marketing, and personal branding. Quite a diverse spread of topics, but Hyatt makes it work.

P.S. I also enjoy reading Hyatt's blog and listening to his podcasts. You may like to check them out too. 

FURTHER READING: Five Reasons You Should Define Your Platform Goals

How Scott Kilmartin Uses Humour, Social Media and a Boxer Dog to Build the Haul Brand

In this video interview I chat to Scott Kilmartin, founder and ringmaster of Haul, an independent design brand based in Melbourne's northern suburbs.

Haul - 'Makers, Merchants and Madmen Since 1998' - upcycles old advertising billboards, bus shelter posters and stadium boundary line signage into products for companies. Its consumer-facing streetwear brand sells tote bags, satchels and laptop bags as well as iPad sleeves and folios.

Scott shares with us his marketing philosophy, the importance of humanising your brand and the innovative use of social media, including LinkedIn, to generate word-of-mouth buzz for - and media interest in - the Haul range of products.

We also learn the integral role Scott's pet boxer dog Gus plays not only in bringing the Haul story to life but also in piquing the interest of would-be customers of the brand. 

In part one of the interview, Scott takes us on a journey of Haul and how the back-story is integral to his overall marketing efforts; he also outlines his approach to Twitter and how Gus the Boxer came to be the focal point for the brand.

"Social media has been a boon for our business"

In part two Scott gets more into the nitty-gritty of his use of social media and why humour and authenticity are important pillars of the Haul brand; he provides several examples of opportunistic PR efforts along the lines of author David Meerman Scott's 'Newsjacking' concept...

... and we get to meet the real driving force behind Haul, Gus the Boxer!

Enjoy!

RELEVANT LINKS:

• Gus the Boxer website
• Twitter links: @scottkilmartin, @gustheboxer, @haul
• David Meerman Scott blog - Web Ink Now 
• Gus the Boxer Markets Pop Culture iPad and Macbook Sleeves
• How a Real-Time Facebook Promotion Borne Out of Frustration - Ends Up in 'The Oz' Newspaper

 

Which Social Network Should Your Brand Use? {INFOGRAPHIC}

As companies, organisations and individuals look at the multiple social networking platforms that are out there, the inevitable question becomes: Which social network should I use, and for what purpose?

It's a valid question for those wanting to maximise their social networking efforts, especially across the 'Big 4' platforms - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.

Business consulting group Zintro has pulled together this up-to-date infographic - one of the better social media infographics I've seen in recent times, I must say - that may help you better understand some of the nuances of each of the aforementioned networks.

Get Involved

But ultimately, however, it's still a good idea to get involved and experiment a bit if you want to find out what works best for your brand. Dig a little deeper into each platform to discover if your target audience is using it, and if so, how they are using it.

As well, overlay your goals: What are you trying to achieve from a marketing communications standpoint?

But as a starting point, this infographic is definitely worth a look.

Sourced from Mashable.

Three Things I Learned From Four Days in Bangkok

I've just returned home to Melbourne after spending the week in Bangkok where I had the privilege of speaking at a financial services conference (not to mention meeting a lot of nice and very interesting people).

What did I learn (apart from the fact I don't mind Singha beer, the MBK Center is a totally overwhelming shopping experience and that Muay Thai, even if it's only an exhibition match, is still a pretty unforgiving sport)? 

PIC:  Can't say I saw too many people going into Miss Puke's establishment!
 

Here are three things that stood out for me (with 'social media marketing' lessons attached):

ONE - a simple smile goes a long way

The Thai people are a super friendly lot. They're always quick with a smile, and they don't just smile with their 'choppers' (teeth) either but with their eyes. The smile is genuine and it can't help but make you feel good.

LESSON:  Apart from adding extra smiles to your daily routine IRL (in real life), try carrying that friendliness into the virtual world. For example, with 140 character tweets sometimes it's hard to adequately get across in words what you're feeling, or trying to convey. A gesture - a simple :) - can sometimes change the dynamic of an online interaction.

TWO - be helpful, often

The Thai people I interacted with were genuinely helpful. Nothing was too much trouble, and for that they quickly won my respect.

LESSON:  Whether on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ - or on your blog or podcast - always try and help solve people's problems, issues, questions; add genuine value and be helpful without the expectation of gaining anything in return.

THREE - the power of storytelling

I was lucky to share the conference speaking bill with Australian cricketing legend and media personality, Max Walker (pictured).

Max is a fantastic presenter but more than that, he's a masterful storyteller. It's an incredible strength as a speaker to be able to tell yarn after yarn and (somehow) string them together so the result is a practical and useful lesson or takeaway for the audience.

LESSON:  When creating content for your blog, online video, podcast or social networking efforts, try wherever possible to tell stories as a means of getting your message across as opposed to simply pummelling your audience with facts, statistics and product information etc.

Oh, and to those 'friends' of mine (you know who you are!) who suggested I might end up with a facial tattoo as per the 'Hangover 2' movie, I'm pleased to report ... that it did not happen!

Marketers Place a High Value on Social Media - REPORT

The use of social media increases sales and brand exposure, improves the opportunity for business partnerships, generates leads, provides marketplace insights and reduces marketing expenses, according to a major study by Social Media Examiner.

The 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report is a major survey that looks at how marketers are using social media to grow their businesses.

Some 3800 marketers from around the world took part in the survey. Most participants (57 per cent) were based in the US, followed by Canada and the United Kingdom both with nine per cent.

Australian marketers made up five per cent of the sample.

One stat that jumped out at me is that Google+ is the tool most marketers want to learn more about (70%), with blogs second at 59%, followed by Facebook (58%), LinkedIn (53%), YouTube/other video (52%) and Twitter (51%).

In other words, while a couple of these numbers have dropped from last year's survey, there is still a huge appetite to learn more about the broad range of social media tools available to marketers.

Here is a summary of the findings from Social Media Examiner:

• Marketers still place high value on social media: A significant 83% of marketers indicate that social media is important for their business.

• Measurement and targeting are top areas marketers want to master: 40% of all social media marketers want to know how to measure the return on investment (ROI) of social media and find customers and prospects.

• Video marketing holds the top spot for future plans: A significant 76% of marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube and video marketing, making it the top area marketers will invest in for 2012.

• Marketers seek to learn more about Google+: While only 40% of marketers are using Google+, 70% of marketers want to learn more about it and 67% plan on increasing Google+ activities.

• Top three benefits of social media marketing: The number-one benefit of social media marketing is generating more business exposure (reported 85% of marketers), followed by increasing traffic (69%) and providing marketplace insight (65%).

• Top five social media networks/tools for marketers: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and YouTube were the top five social media tools used by marketers, in that order.

• Social media marketing still takes a lot of time: The majority of marketers (59%) are using social media for six hours or more each week, and a third (33%) invest 11 or more hours weekly.

• Social media outsourcing underutilized: Only 30% of businesses are outsourcing some portion of their social media marketing, only a slight increase from 28% in 2011. 

Meaty Resource

The 42-page 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report is recommended reading for anyone associated with brand marketing.

It's a meaty resource and, while it's US-centric, this is not a bad thing because as we've seen over the past few years we can look to the United States as a guide for what's likely to happen here in Australia. 

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE, OR VIEW IT ON SCRIBD.

Content Marketing: the Heart of Online Success (Infographic)

Content is the great leveller of the online world.

Any brand - whether a large organisation, small or medium-sized business, nonprofit group or individual - has the ability to produce and distribute content in many formats as a means of generating awareness, building credibility, spurring action and engaging with customers and key influencers.

The infographic below (hat-tip Content+) is a concise snapshot of the marketing potential content can play in a brand's online efforts.

Some of the points made that jump out at me include:

• Blogs on company sites result in 55 per cent more visitors (TrinityP3's Darren Woolley says in this recent interview how much of the traffic to his corporate site comes via his blog).

• Interesting content is a top 3 reason people follow brands on social media.

• 70 per cent of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads. 

Depending upon what your goals are, of course, but when it comes to brand marketing and communication, a strategic nod towards relevant content in its myriad forms - blog, e-newsletter, online video, whitepapers and ebooks, case studies, webcasts, microblogging et al - is probably not a bad place to start.

Original source: Content+

 

Cool Brands Do Cool Things: Case in Point ~ charity: water

charity: water is a non-profit organisation that brings clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

It's a global socially-connected brand that not only does good things but goes about its business in an interesting, cool and respectful way. In short, they 'get it'.

(Read more about charity: water here - note the degree of information and transparency).

Today is 'World Water Day'.

To leverage the day (I'm not sure 'celebrate' is the right word), charity: water is encouraging people to 'give up your next birthday and bring clean water to people in need'.

They've done it before. In 2010, Seth Godin donated his 50th birthday to charity: water.

charity: water is continuing with its 'donate your birthday' campaign (and why not, it's a ripper concept). But check out the webpage - scroll down and check out the following:

As I said, very cool!

Coming up with interesting fund-raising ideas.

Using technology to involve people and bring the world of charity: water to a global audience.

Bringing people along for the journey via social media - an active blog,  an active Twitter account (1.37 million+ followers and counting) and an active Facebook page (221,000 likes).

What can you learn from charity: water?

Be interesting.

Be open.

Tell stories.

Take people on a journey.

Create a culture that treasures social connectivity.

Oh, and be active (on all fronts, especially social media channels)!

 

The Social Web in 60 Seconds {INFOGRAPHIC}

Like many of us, I'm a sucker for a well-designed infographic that 'crunches the numbers' and tells an often complex story in a simple and visual way.

This infographic, from Soci@l Jumpstart, illustrates where and how people connect on the social web every 60 seconds.

The two stats that jumped out at me were Tagged (only new I believe but obviously catching on big-time) and StumbleUpon, which has been around for a while and is still a force in terms of recommending and sharing content on the web.

Will JB HI-FI's Twitter Crew Become Australia's Equivalent of Best Buy's @Twelpforce?

Australia's largest home entertainment retailer JB HI-FI appears to be gearing up for a major tilt at incorporating a grassroots 'shop floor' Twitter army across its business.

At first blush it appears JB HI-FI is modeling its approach on US chain Best Buy's @Twelpforce - "A collective force of Best Buy technology pros offering tech advice in Tweet form".

Not that there's anything wrong with that; indeed, it's a smart strategy. Best Buy has long been regarded best practice when it comes to customer care and brand responsiveness on Twitter.

JB HI-FI has assembled its Twitter presence across multiple fronts:

First, there is the @JBHiFi Twitter account, which at this stage is like most corporate accounts - non personal, not following anyone and pushing out one-way sales messages.

Secondly, individual stores are getting into the action, like @JBChadstone and @JBSpringvale. Their activity currently is similar to the corporate account i.e. one-way messaging. 

And thirdly, and more impressively, employees from different stores are also becoming involved. Their presence in terms of Twitter handle and avatar appears pretty consistent - i.e. @danh_jbaus (personal, but tying back to the brand) along with a photo that reflects their personality, but each one has a yellow wash through it, once again to reflect JB HI-FI's trademark yellow branding (see some examples below).

Whereas the corporate Twitter accounts need a bit of work (granted, it's early days for the brand), the individuals involved appear to be getting right into the swing of things and obviously have the imprimatur to do so, which is very cool.

So what is JB HI-FI doing right?

It's still very early days by the looks of things but decentralising much of their Twitter activity gives JB HI-FI not only additional 'arms and legs' in the Twitterverse but importantly injects authenticity into the program. People want to hear from the experts who walk the floor, not necessarily someone cloistered in a head office cubicle.

Also, I like the way individuals can tailor their Twitter accounts to their personality. Once again, this provides a sense of genuineness so often lacking from corporate activity, but doesn't detract from the JB HI-FI brand. Getting this balance right is critical.

#jbhelp hashtag

A hashtag has been created and promoted - #jbhelp - that makes it easy for members of the public to tweet a question which, in turn, can be responded to by any one of the JB HI-FI Twitter army, not necessarily one designated Twitter account. This is similar to how Best Buy's @Twelpforce operates.

And finally, the company has been smart in how it has asked for volunteers (employees with Twitter experience along with those eager to learn); they've trained them up and, according to Yvonne Adele from Ideas Culture who has been advising JB HI-FI, provided guidelines that give clarity on what is and what's not acceptable behaviour on social media when representing the brand.

All in all a pretty good start on Twitter for a major brand. We will watch with interest!

Understanding Online Privacy (Or How I've Just Been Slapped in the Face by a 'Dead Fish')

I stumbled upon this just-released infographic from online privacy company, Abine (hat-tip Simply Zesty) and, to be honest, reading through it was like being slapped in the face with a dead fish.

In other words, it got my attention!

When you live half your life online as I do, you're kinda aware of this sort of stuff, but seeing it put into perspective like this - and being reminded in such a concise, detailed and well-packaged way - well, let's just say it's a timely reminder of where the world is headed and that we all need to be ever-vigilant about privacy concerns.

The infographic is pretty long and detailed but then given the importance of the topic, I'm glad Abine didn't skimp over the topic.

What are your thoughts on the subject? Do you take online privacy as seriously as you perhaps should?