Social Media

Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’

If You Want To Write, You Have To Struggle

Monday, July 5th, 2010

The blank page.

That’s a pretty scary opponent for most people. It’s what keeps most marketing from being effective, much less from being any good.

It’s sadistic, but the blank page makes me happy. It’s a security fence. A checkpoint. Only the people who are willing to struggle through the blank page, who put some effort into this, are going to get anything done.

That’s as it should be.

Here are some tips for those of us who face the blank page, and come out writing:

Bank- It’s called a swipe file, and it’s a necessity in the content world. Take your ideas and keep them somewhere accessible. Then, when the blank page greets you in the morning, you’ll immediately have an answer to the never ending question, “What should I write?”

Move- Don’t stop to wait for inspiration to hit you; you’ll be waiting a long, long time. Keep moving. By that, I mean don’t stop to edit as you write. Outlines are a good way to keep moving. So are deadlines. So are prompts. If you continue to press ahead, eventually, I promise, the ideas will come out.

Dig- If you’re not reading a lot, you’re probably not writing a lot either. They say the web is an echo chamber, and that’s definitely true. To an extent. Better to think about improving on the ideas of others. And hopefully, your ideas will be written down for others to improve on as well. Dig around to find the people with good ideas, and read about them.

Fight- The blank page is waiting for you every time you sit down. Sometimes you’re ready. When you’re not, don’t give up without a fight. Pound out words. You definitely have something to say about your business, your marketing, or your customers. It’s all in there. Fight to get it out.

Dream- Go big or go home. Vete a casa grande o ir. It’s okay to be wrong. Be imaginative. If what you’re writing feels uncomfortable, you’re probably on the right track. Put your dreams into what you’re writing. Otherwise, what is your marketing, really? Another billboard?

Does the world really need one of those?

Writing is a struggle. A good one. It’s worth it.

Tags: Ben Curnett, blogs, content marketing, getting started in social media, Social Media, writing
Posted in Blogging | 5 Comments »

Good Work, Good Friends, and Goodbyes

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Well, It’s my last post from West Virginia.

Of course, it’s digital marketing; I work wherever there’a an internet connection. Still…

I’ve lived in the Mountain State for almost 15 years. I’ve made life long friends here. I’ve become a part of this place, and it’s become a part of me. It will always be, in some way, shape, or form, home.

This is where I found my life’s work, too.

I have always written. In elementary school, it was cartoons, mostly. Later, I wrote a lot of passionately naive political manifestos. When I was in college, I wrote poetry and fiction in some embarrassing attempts at wooing women.

But it was guiding, and not writing, that brought me to West Virginia. I lived life on the river, kayaking and rafting. In the winter, I would ski patrol at a mountain that embodied West Virginia’s idea of what skiing means (think skiing + nascar / squirrel hunting).

And, yes, I loved it. I loved it all, and was passionate about the fact that I lived a good portion of the year outside. I was skiing and snowboarding and paddling and hiking, and loving life in the mountains.

But what I was really doing was collecting stories. I was on the front lines of tourism, and for the thousands and thousands of people I met, I was the face of West Virginia. I talked to and got to know countless people, people that entrusted me to make their vacations better. They trusted me with their time.

I take what I learned from those years into everything I write. They say to write what you know, and I know people. I know what they want and what they don’t want, most of the time. My preferred style of narrative is loose, informal, and friendly, because that’s how I know people. It works, if the subject fits. The metrics that out.

Like those thousands of people who trusted me with their time, all of our partners trust me with their words.

It’s a huge responsibility. I write, and I’m speaking for them. I’m saying what they want to say about their businesses, to the people who will decide if they, in turn, will trust them. I like that.

I’ve been very fortunate to find such good work. I did what I love, in a place that I loved. And now, I’m moving. I hope my new home in Colorado can live up to life in the Mountain State.

The bar is set pretty high.

Tags: Ben Curnett, blogs, Social Media, writing
Posted in Partnership | No Comments »

4 Ways To Use QR Codes Right Now

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Have you heard of Quick Response (QR) Codes?

If not, you will. Soon. QR Codes are defined in Wikipedia as (I wish there was a better location with a definition!):

A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The “QR” is derived from “Quick Response”, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

Simply put, a QR Code is like a bar code that you see in the grocery store. However, instead of telling you how much your box of Fruity Pebbles might cost, it can share data in lots of different forms, from a link to an SMS message to almost anything you can think of.

The utility that these codes afford you (and the end-user, too) are equally as diverse. For the end user, it’s a method to quickly (QR = Quick Response, remember?) and easily retrieve, obtain or interact, using a tool that is nearly ubiquitous: a phone.

All users need is a handheld device with a free reader installed. For the business owner or marketer it provides not only a method of information dispersal, but also a method of tracking. While not all QR Code generators offer the ability to track usage, it’s not hard to find ones that do.

Here are some ideas to get you thinking about how to use them, and why…

Ideas for QR Code Use:

Make Offline Trackable and Interactive

Create a code linking to an optimized mobile-friendly landing page. Place the code on your print ads, rack cards even billboards. Utilize a simple call to action to scan (which you can measure) and re-enforce that call to action on the landing page. You just made an offline component interactive.

Go Paperless

Do you display at trade shows and conferences? Many that do spend time running to Kinko’s for copies (and then extra copies). You then hand off to attendees to be shoved in an over-flowing bag of other similar pieces. Display a code, linked to a PDF that folks can scan, download and print once they are back to their computer. Simple, trackable, cost-effective. And very green.

Make your contact information portable

You can create a vcard containing all of the same information from your business card, and display as a QR Code. I use one on my Twitter profile, have created stickers which I often place on my conference badges, and I’m even geektacular enough to have made a t-shirt with my vcard code, which I sometimes wear.

Perfect for Travel and Tourism

As many of your know, we work very closely with the Travel and Tourism industry. There are tons of opportunities for QR Codes to intersect with travel. Creating a QR code for monuments or historic locations can provide visitors with more information, even delivering interactive information. The photo depicts an “in the wild” example. I am told that they are becoming more prevalent on and around monuments in the Washington D.C. area as well. Battlefield maps, videos and photos, the possibilities are endless.

If you aren’t using QR Codes, it’s time to start thinking about putting them in play. Smart phone use is soaring (Readers are available for many other camera-enabled phones too), and many are coming out of the box with a reader installed. And the codes themselves can be created fast and cheap and provide tracking for your offline campaigns.

These are just a few. What are some ways you’re seeing QR Codes being used?

Tags: Digital Marketing, ideas, Pat Strader, QR Codes, Social Media
Posted in Digital Marketing | 6 Comments »

5 Ways To Make Your Marketing Manager A Publisher

Monday, April 26th, 2010

If I were a small business owner, here’s what I’d do with my marketing department: Make them publishers.

This isn’t news to anyone who’s been looking at news from the digital marketing world. Social media marketing, content marketing, and digital marketing are increasingly losing their definition and melting together. The heat that’s melting them, to keep the metaphor going, is publishing.

So what does that mean to small business marketers? It means you’ve got to get yourself some content (preferably with some heavy content strategy on the front end).

Here are five tactics to do exactly that…

Create an editorial calendar If you’re using project management software, you should have one of these at your fingertips. You should have one even if you’re not using any PM software (google calendar, anyone?). Get organized from a publishing standpoint, and your efforts will be much more effective. Never write a “sorry we haven’t blogged in a while” post again.

Don’t Stop At Text Photos and videos, like publishing itself, has become so completely accessible that there are really no excuses not to start. Just like your text, you need a schedule to produce graphic content. A picture is worth some specific number of words. Video even more. You don’t have to be viral. You do have to be consistent.

Put Social Media First Never think that social media is a fad. It’s not. Invest in it. The tools of social media will change, but the premise won’t. So from now on, you can’t broadcast your message to everyone online (you never could, although most websites were written and designed that way). Not possible, unless your plan is to out-amazon Amazon. So drill down and connect with the people that you’re interested in. And remember this: if you’re not having a conversation with them, you’re spamming them.

Read Your Analytics Numbers are scary to me. I’m a writer. An English major, even. But that doesn’t mean you should be (afraid of numbers, that is, not an English major, though there’s an argument for not being one of those either). Read those reports. How else are you going to understand what content works and what doesn’t? I’ve even gotten better myself. Publishers know the numbers.

Own It By that, I mean put an emotional investment into your content. Don’t just publish because you have to. These tools, this framework, allows you to do what direct mail, what your brochure, never could. The connections are there to make, if you want to. If you publish content that’s personal, not just your mission statement or your sale. That requires your marketing to break away from traditional thinking.

It requires you to become a publisher.

Tags: Ben Curnett, blogs, content strategy, getting started in social media, marketing strategy, Social Media, writing
Posted in Digital Marketing | No Comments »

Grab Ass With Gary Vaynerchuk

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Last week at South By Southwest, Gary Vaynerchuk, best selling author of “Crush It” and creator of Wine Library TV, grabbed my ass on stage in front of 1000 people.

I’m not sure how a feel about it yet. Excited? Shocked? Maybe a little dirty?

Actually, I feel pretty cool. Love him or hate him, anyone with half a brain needs to admit: Gary Vee walks the walk. He’s a loudmouth? So what? I’d rather do business with Gary than some unhappy hipster that’s too cool for me and everyone I know. In a second. The guy loves the Jets. Publicly.

I’ve had brushes with the internet famous before. In light of this last episode, it’s beginning to get a little strange. Here’s what I mean: I met Chris Brogan and Jay Berkowitz about 6 seconds into the first conference into the first conference I ever went to. They gave me restaurant recommendations. Two days later, I got lost in a cab with Guy Kawasaki. And now, several hundred people think I’m bi/curious because of Gary (actually happily married, thanks).

Wow, someone just dropped names all over the place. Sorry for that; I’m making a point.

The internet marketing famous and semi-famous, in my experience, are a really interesting, really accessible group of folks. You could be cynical and argue that it’s their job to be friendly. But you’d have it backwards. Those people start with friendly. The good ones have a desire to help people be motivated enough to do the things they imagine they can do, and make a business out of it.

Even when it goes wrong. If you were following some of the #SXSW drama last week, you may have caught a little drama concerning Peter Shankman and some conference volunteers with close ties to the creative locals in Austin. I think it’s a pretty good illustration of how people who have made big strides can get tripped up. Think of it this way: the first word in Shankman’s business is “Help”.

Nobody’s perfect, and I’m going on record as saying that the internet famous get a bad rap. Even if I don’t agree with what they’re doing (is Guy a spammer? Or are you signed up for it?), I’m slow to criticize anyone. It’s a lot more constructive to think of ways I can do a better job myself than to worry about how bad a job someone else is doing.

Think I’m just being soft? Why?

P.S. Thanks for the interesting presentation, Gary. I think : – )

Tags: Ben Curnett, blogs, business relationships, business trust, getting started in social media, marketing strategy, Social Media, sxsw
Posted in Digital Marketing | No Comments »

Can the NHL Leverage the Olympics?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

No denying that in recent weeks more people have paid attention to hockey then ever before; The Olympics have a tendency to make folks wax patriotic about things they may otherwise not pay attention to. Curling, skating….hockey.

What I am interested in watching is the ability of the N.H.L. (National Hockey League) to leverage the Olympic-fueled interest in hockey. Without recounting last Sunday’s game, it goes without saying that hockey is on the minds of more (Americans) than ever before. The Olympic hockey Gold Medal game match-up could not have been planned any better.

Last weekend people were watching, and caring about hockey that had no prior interest in the sport. I come from a family of sports-fans, however none of us closely watch hockey. Last Sunday, that changed.

My wife, my children, my father, my friends all sent me text messages akin to “are you watching this?!”. Hockey has an opportunity to gain fans.

Low Hanging Fruit
I visited the NHL website, and a number of team sites, as I wrote this post. I have to say, I was disappointed.

Not because the websites were bad, they are very well designed. However, they precluded me, a non-hockey knowledgeable person, from better understanding their sport.

It is easier for me to find an “official” bar to watch a Chicago Blackhawks game, than it is for me to learn what icing is, or for that matter just general rules.

Un-Solicited Advice for the NHL
Leverage the Olympic experience. (duh). Opportunities for “welcome to hockey” packages exist. Introduce people to a sport in a friendly, non-elitist way, and you could gain fans for life.

Player videos (Olympic participants if possible) explaining the basics (icing, power plays)
Create a “Newbie” section on your team websites that has simple Q & A’s for newbies like me. I went to several websites and found nothing about understanding the game. The NHL is not alone in missing this, however, they have the greatest barrier to entry, so far as becoming a spectator sport.

It is great to see the NHL making use of some social media channels like Twitter, and responding to people. The more interaction, and introduction, the greater chance of creating life-long fans, and enthusiasts for the game.

Tags: Marketing, Social Media, sports marketing
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

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