Below is live coverage of the Social Media Solutions on a Budget panel from the SES San Francisco 2011 conference. This coverage is provided by Ben Pfeiffer at RankSmart.
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Ben Pfeiffer:
12:00:19 pm
Audience Choice Session: Like Me! Social & Viral Content Tips for Making Your Brand More Sexy
Writing content that appeals to social audiences to gain traffic, links and ultimately, business is not as simple as it sounds. It's even harder for the less sexy brands to make their content appealing and exciting. This session will look into examples of how less attractive brands gained meaningful traction through social media without having to spend a fortune. It will cover new and effective approaches to viral content and provide top tips on how to keep your brand content attractive and fresh while remaining relevant to your brand identity.
Moderator:
Noran El-Shinnawy, Director of Marketing, BoostCTR
Speakers:
Liana Evans, Author and Co-Founder & CEO, LiBeck Integrated Marketing
Jeffrey Harmon, Chief Marketing Officer, Orabrush
Mike La Rotonda, CEO and Co-Founder, Votigo
Jeff Revoy, Chief Product, Marketing & Strategy Officer, iContact
Writing content that appeals to social audiences to gain traffic, links and ultimately, business is not as simple as it sounds. It's even harder for the less sexy brands to make their content appealing and exciting. This session will look into examples of how less attractive brands gained meaningful traction through social media without having to spend a fortune. It will cover new and effective approaches to viral content and provide top tips on how to keep your brand content attractive and fresh while remaining relevant to your brand identity.
Moderator:
Noran El-Shinnawy, Director of Marketing, BoostCTR
Speakers:
Liana Evans, Author and Co-Founder & CEO, LiBeck Integrated Marketing
Jeffrey Harmon, Chief Marketing Officer, Orabrush
Mike La Rotonda, CEO and Co-Founder, Votigo
Jeff Revoy, Chief Product, Marketing & Strategy Officer, iContact
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:01:57 pm
This should be an great session, some great speakers. They are going to show you have to get sexy back in your brand.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:03:33 pm
Session is starting to get underway.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:04:55 pm
Random facts about the speakers. Li plays pirate on the weekends, Jeff biked through China.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:05:01 pm
Li Evans is up first.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:05:27 pm
She starts off by saying that everyone likes being liked, like their facebook page. How do you get liked when you are not sexy?
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:05:42 pm
She gives examples of many viral videos. Blendtech anyone...
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:05:59 pm
The examples she gives are examples of videos that were not meant to go viral.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:06:10 pm
You can't plan viral!
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:06:37 pm
Most things that go viral are not planned.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:07:16 pm
She gives an example of Staples Go Elf Yourself. Was a good example of a viral web creation that wasn't intended to go viral. It was good for the brand the first year.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:07:27 pm
Most of the things that go viral do not sell anything!
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:07:49 pm
Li says what works today does not usually do well the next year.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:08:05 pm
Viral content is so short lived. Usually happens in a short burst and hard to create.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:08:32 pm
In social media you want people to find you as a valuable resource and come back to you. You want people to promote your stuff to their networks.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:09:01 pm
You need to think differently when creating viral content. Often times your content might just go viral locally, not nationally.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:09:53 pm
Li says plumbing is not sexy. But you can make it sexy. She gives an example of a guy that responded well to the public, answers questions, he become a valuable resource.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:10:09 pm
What is your goal with wanting to become viral
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:11:00 pm
Li talks about the Old Spice commercial. She says that most people don't know there was a guy before the original Old Spice guy. He starred in 3-4 commercials. It didn't go over well.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:11:30 pm
She says that the Old Spice commercials where intended for women. To help change their perception that Old Spice was not for old guys.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:11:50 pm
The Old Spice commercials changed perception, instead of selling product. It worked!
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:12:54 pm
I almost freaked and thought I lost all the coverage I just did. Apparently its not updating in my window, but is on the website.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:13:18 pm
Li continues with good examples of websites that allowed people to share content. MSNBC was a good example.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:13:33 pm
To be a valuable resource, you need to find people's passion.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:13:46 pm
What are causes that get people excited, etc..
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:14:16 pm
She says don't focus on quantity. It's so overrated. There is a ton of spam out there.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:14:48 pm
Would you have 30k fans, or 1000 fans where 50% read your content. Obviously 1000 fans.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:15:10 pm
Mass quantity makes headlines, but its doesn't do much.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:15:46 pm
Be sure to understand your audience and demographic.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:16:14 pm
She recommends Groundswell.com to understand your demographic.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:16:25 pm
We need to listen to our audiences as business owners.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:16:41 pm
het your audience involved. Ask them questions. Submit pictures and videos.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:16:56 pm
When you get them involved they become invested.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:17:22 pm
Don't create pieces with the intent of going viral, but be prepared.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:17:36 pm
What's succes for your content, is it pageviews, conversions?
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:17:57 pm
All other channels such as SEO and PPC will help get your content out there.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:18:16 pm
Viral is not cookie cutter.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:18:33 pm
You need to give up control and stop counting. In the end it's about them.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:19:50 pm
Next up is Mike La Rotonda, CEO of Votigo
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:20:15 pm
He says is going to focus on using user generated content in campaigns and how to get users involved.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:20:36 pm
He says social media is not about Facebook and Twitter its about communications with brands and friends.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:21:02 pm
The benefits of UGC is that is cost effective to acquire great content.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:21:16 pm
USG helps to build community around your brand.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:21:37 pm
UGC also helps grow your user base.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:22:55 pm
He gives some examples of how they use UGC to promote a brand. They ASK, run a contest, focus on intangible benefits.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:23:47 pm
The most important in your campaign is to define your objectives.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:24:07 pm
Next, decide what platforms to run on.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:24:27 pm
Next, make your campaign social. Provide tools for sharing.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:24:42 pm
No sharing tools = no sharing. #fail
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:26:21 pm
Finally in your campaign, choose the right partner. Make sure they know the rules.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:26:49 pm
Mike is going to show some examples that aren't that sexy, but they made it work.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:30:25 pm
Next up is Jeff Revoy from iContact
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:31:14 pm
He starts off by asking some questions from the audience.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:31:42 pm
He is going to discuss why social media is important to you and why.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:32:11 pm
He talks about how iContact has transitioned from an email marketing company to a company focus on both email and social.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:32:48 pm
So why are you doing social media, probably because all your friends and business associates are doing it.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:34:38 pm
When asked if they were more likely to purchase from a brand after becoming a subscriber, fan or follower, 37% of Twitters users said yes. (strongly agreed).
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:35:45 pm
When setting up a social media campaign you need to define objectives such as build brand awareness.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:36:15 pm
So what is the primary driver in your campaign, its your content.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:36:40 pm
That content can be funny, informative, but in the end it engages the brand audience and gets them to share.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:37:44 pm
Jeff gives some examples of companies that have done campaigns well, such as non profits, mint.com, Be the Match.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:38:18 pm
Offers, promotions work well to help grow your facebook network. They get something special in return for following you.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:39:45 pm
B2B is different. It's more about repurposing content and reposting/reformatting for your social profiles.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:40:17 pm
B2B can create topics that are interesting. Such as "babies touching LED lights".. mothers would like this.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:42:13 pm
He talks about B2C promotion, giving an example of Mint.com. He says the promotion was about the users, not the brand. It's a two way "Like". You want to like them and vice versa.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:43:36 pm
Another example is a food truck. They tweeted their location, what corner they were on. It created excited and a following of people that wanted to track the location of the truck.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:43:55 pm
Or a restaurant.. asking people to tweet in their reservations.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:45:49 pm
Jeff Harmon is up next from Orabrush.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:47:53 pm
He shows a video about bad breath. http://www.youtube.com/user/curebadbreath?v=nFeb6YBftHE&feature=pyv&ad=6692806685&kw=bad%20breath
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:48:54 pm
Jeff explains how he started working for Orabrush.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:49:31 pm
He says the creator of Orabrush thought you couldn't promote a bad breath brush on the internet.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:50:10 pm
Jeff thought he could take it on. He started working on it. The video he created got 15 millions views. They have sold 1 million units.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:50:40 pm
They got 154,000 subscribers on Youtube
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:51:51 pm
He says with the large subscriber base they are like a mini television network.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:52:13 pm
He said what they have done helped them get into Walmart.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:53:18 pm
If you create a conversion video (instead of viral video) it has a sustainability that lasts longer, creates more.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:54:12 pm
He examples the oral hygenie market is dominated by a few players, and hard to break into. Orabrush broke in with just YouTube.
Ben Pfeiffer:
12:58:35 pm
Good formula for doing conversion video. Create a problem, point out the problem, and why competitors are doing it poorly.
