TangledMESH - Marketing Unwound

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Endavo Speaks at PDMA Brand Marketing Conference

With a little help from my friend KelvinG, I spoke at the Product Development & Management Association's(PDMA) Brand Marketing Conference. Hot off the set from filming "Zombie Truckers 3," KelvinG took time to share his insights with the group -- including a nod to pitchman Tony Little and his hit product the Gazelle. Check it out:

What KelvinG gets, that a lot of product managers and brand marketing types don't, is that social media marketing is all about content. That's right. Social media = participation. Participation = content. Content, specifically relevant and engaging content, has become the currency of social media. The more of it you produce, deliver and promote, the more influence you can create for your brand.

One of the points I made during my presentation was the disconnect many in business seem to have when it comes to video. I mean, almost everyone has a video camera at home; posts movies online for their familyy to share, and in some cases does some basic editing to clean up the finished product. But that same person never thinks to bring their camera on a client visit to get a video testimonial, or to the trade show booth or to the product manager's office to get product tips and tricks to share with clients.It's weird... like a mental block or something.

And before you ask: Yes, I did shoot video from the event. You can see it here:

The reality is, your business, products and colleagues are creating content opportunities everyday. This is content your clients and prospects want to see, as evidenced by an April 2009 Nielsen report. They don't care as much about how slick it is or its production value. They want to engage with your brand, so create a content plan with that in mind.

I believe the next big wave in online video is Business Generated Content (BGC). We've all heard about Consumer Generated Content (UGC); well BGC is poised to be even bigger. Companies that have invested in hiring content strategy experts, and basic in-house video production capabilities will be poised for success. They will be able to communicate faster and with more engagement than their competitors. Those waiting to "figure it out," or dismiss online video as a fad, will be sadly left behind. Video content will be a key component for any successful multichannel marketing campaign.

Some examples of companies doing it right include:

• MarketLeverage Video Channel:Using video to communicate with members of it's referral marketing network, promoting premium merchants to special promotions to affiliates.

• TurfNet: Creating original video content and delivering it regularly online to increase membership engagement and promote key association sponsors.

• Numara Software: Using video to educate clients and prospects on product features and benefits. Extensive collection of client testimonials that bring instant credibility to their brand.

The writing is on the wall. Don't be the brand manager or product marketing director that gets the importance of online video too late. Don't sit back, now is the time to build a video strategy that's inline with your overall branding goals. Think of new, creative and cost-effective ways to gather and distribute video content. Become a video "rock star." Your customers will love you for it, and your CEO and CFO will eventually come around, too.

Follow me on Twitter @ShaunPope, or connect with me on LinkedIn.

College Sports Programs: Create Social Media Interns

With the exception of top tier universities, college athletic and sports marketing departments are notoriously lean operations with everyone wearing many hats. But they have access to help. Universities have a stable of willing and able resources right at their fingertips: the student intern. But like any other business bringing on an intern, the question becomes how best to use their time; not only to benefit the school, but the student as well.

Social media marketing, including blogging, user generated video, Twitter, Facebook and other online awareness techniques, has become a key consideration for marketing and promotional campaigns both small and large. It can drive online awareness, build brand/team advocates, spike ticket sales, create fan engagement and more. However, the challenge in executing these programs is creating the content required to sustain relevancy in the crowded social media space.

Interns are nothing new for college athletic departments. But how they should be used is changing. While attending the NACDA conference recently, the social media marketing and technology tracks were packed with assistant athletic directors eager to learn social media tricks-of-the-trade. And that's part of the problem: there are no "tricks" or magical shortcuts to social media. If anything, it's just the opposite. It is a time consuming commitment that requires dedicated resources and planning. Specifically, a content strategy and a resource to produce/gather/organize the content. It may be cheap, but it's by no means free.

Here's an example of a current Internship description for Auburn University. Not to pick on Auburn, but I'm a Gator, so it's understandable. You can see it has no mention of social media. This is typical of what I found with most other universities.

Comparing the overwhelming interest in social media I found at the NACDA conference with the fact that very few university athletic department internships are focused on social media, I discovered a gap. University athletic departments want to use social media, but don't fully understand how to do it themselves, much less teach a student intern how to do it.

The reality, however, is many students today are very media savvy. They understand the technology; the content creation process; the conversational marketing style. What they need is someone to channel that activity towards established branding goals and defined marketing objectives -- something assistant athletic directors are especially good at.

So here are a few suggestions to all you college athletic department internship description writers out there. Start including these activities:

Title: Social Media Marketing Intern

Description:

• Grab your digital video camera and laptop, bring your passion for your school, and start building an online audience for your content.
• Plan and schedule interviews with coaches, alumni, students, student athletes, local community businesses.
• Create a content deliverables schedule including blog posts, twitter updates, Facebook updates and video posts.
• Comment and engage with existing fans online, bring them into conversations, promotions and niche content on the university's web properties.
• Coordinate with ticket sales and events group to drive core business goals through the use of social media techniques.
• Establish method for measuring social media campaign effectiveness.

They great thing about this kind of internship is the department will learn as much from the intern as the intern does from the department.

YouTube or MyTube? Video Content Strategy

Social media marketing expert, Bernie Borges, interviews Shaun Pope of Endavo Media for the Find and Convert Podcast. Shaun is a contributor to the video chapter of Bernie's forthcoming book, "Marketing 2.0: Bridging the Gap Between Buyer and Seller Through Social Media Marketing.

Online Video Publishing: Nothing's for Free!

This post is second in a series on creating a strong video marketing strategy: PRODUCE, PUBLISH, PROMOTE - Repeat!

In the first post I discussed declining video production costs and how UGC and DIY techniques can result in more content on a regular basis. This serialized content is key to building audience in a Social Media world.

With a content production plan in place, the questions quickly turn to delivery. The explosion of video sharing sites like YouTube, Blip.TV, Vimeo and many others has given rise to the user generated content (UGC) phenomena by making it easy to publish videos online. A main driver is that these services are FREE. In large part, this has been a good thing for broadband video providers and helped generate real data behind the theory that web video is a more compelling and effective medium.

The reality, however, is that these sites are cutting a deal with you; free hosting and delivery in return for loss of control, limited understanding of your audience, one-size fits all implementations and shared-to-no ability to monetize. The cost of this approach to your business down the line can be significant.

You should ask yourself: is building audience on someone else's site in my best interest? In most cases the answer is no. So what your doing is failing to invest in something that is emerging and expected to explode over the coming years, in return for a free offer. Your video content is helping another site build-out its long-term value rather than your own. That's not FREE.

To be fair, I must acknowledge the strong points of free video sharing services. They can deliver audience... not sure if it's the right audience, but audience nonetheless. SEO benefits can also be realized, but the search results generally take users back to the site where your video is hosted, not yours. Not overly compelling when you break it down.

If you're serious about making video content part of your marketing mix, or even more so, a central part of your business model (ad supported, subscription and/or pay-per-view), a free service will never get you there. You need to invest in a content management system that puts you back in control of your content, your audience and your revenue. In many cases, the workflow efficiencies alone will justify the cost associated with having your own Internet TV platform.

But the real opportunity is the ability to drive product sales, engage with your audience (collect data), give partners/sponsors the ability to reach your audience, and/or charge access to your premium level content. To fully realize this revenue opportunity you need control over media and the user experience, as well as touch points with other business systems. This is how you should be investing in the tremendous opportunity that exists with online video.

Remember, you get what you pay for.

Businesses: Don't Miss the Chance to Tell Your Story

Maybe it’s the way user generated content (UGC) has been presented by the media as crazy and wild, scary even. Maybe it’s hard to shake the “old school” mindset that video is supposed to cost a lot and take weeks to produce to be “useful” or of the right “quality” for distribution. Whatever the reason, business owners take heed: social marketing content is happening right in front of your eyes every day, and many of you are missing it.

Savvy business owners and marketing execs are discovering serialized Business Generated Video (BGC) is attainable (see Endavo's Internet TV channel). What used to cost $5k for a 3-4min. finished video is now being produced in-house with a $600 HandyCam and iMovie (Mac) or MovieMaker (PC) editing software. The average person will be amazed at what they can produce. So, assign a marketing resource as your BGC Producer, or outsource the function, and start capturing content immediately.

Producing BGC videos is about telling your company's story. This story gives meaning and substance to your brand. Everything from the CEO’s vision statement to the customer service rep’s one-on-one experience with a customer. It’s all great content and central to what your brand really is. How about the tradeshow you spent $10k attending, did you capture any video at the event? Why not? How about the clients and partners at that show, get any video testimonials with them? Why not? How about your product manager’s last demo? The list goes on.

Okay, so you’re sold… BGC needs to be part of your marketing plan.  Now what? Well, I like to break it down like this: Produce, Deliver, Promote and repeat. In this post I focused on “producing” content. Next week I’ll cover Delivery (hint: Endavo can help) and the follow week Promotion.

Extend the Reach of Video with Endavo Personal Player

One of the most powerful features of the Endavo Internet TV platform is the Personal Player. This tool allows members of an Endavo powered video community to get "embed code" they can easily add to their own blogs, websites or social networking profile pages -- extending the reach of your content (and only your content) without losing control; something that proves challenging to those relying on YouTube and other social media sites to deliver their content.

Community members can select the content they want to display in their personal player and pick from multiple colors. It's a great way to build audience for your site from the viewers of your members' web sites, as each personal player is branded with your site's logo and a link back to the main community site. Here's an example of the Endavo Personal Player.

Social Media Marketing: Consumers Weigh In

A new study by Cone (view press release here) provides a glimpse into how social media marketing is perceived by consumers. The results bode well for those of us who've spent the last several years trying to convince brand marketers, agencies and C-level execs on the potential of social media focused initiatives.

The report revealed nearly "60 percent of Americans interact with companies on a social media Web site, and one in four interact more than once per week." When asked about specific types of interactions, Americans believe:

• Companies should use social networks to solve my problems (43%)
• Companies should solicit feedback on their products and services (41%)
• Companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand (37%)
• Companies should market to consumers (25%)

The Cone study went on to explain the effectiveness social media marketing programs seem to have in connecting marketers with hard to reach groups like online males and the highly sought after (18-24) youth market. Additional insight is provided on what consumers feel the role of companies should be within online communities.

It is worth noting the drop from nearly 50% to 25% when the question is "solve problems/solicit feedback" vs. "marketing to." This is important. It means marketers have to understand this is a different medium with a different set of "engagement rules." It's not a static banner ad or a passive tv spot, it's interactive. In these environments it's critical that marketers approach online communities with transparency and a commitment to building relationships beyond the sale. Otherwise you risk alienating a good portion of your potential audience from the start.

Download the full report summary here.

You Too Can Be a Photoshop Pro

As the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) gets ready to kick of its annual Photoshop World Conference & Expo this week, I thought it would be a good time to talk about just how easy it is to improve your creative design skills.

The NAPP is a great organization, run by the folks at Kelby Media Group. Founder Scott Kelby is one of the most well respected Photoshop authorities there is. I've been familiar with the NAPP for a while, but only recently discovered they're headquartered right in my backyard, here in Tampa, Florida. So, I thought I'd give my neighbors a little plug and tell everyone how easy Kelby has made it to learn Photoshop and Adobe CS3 applications.

Kelby Media Group publishes two magazines devoted to every aspect of the creative design process: Photoshop Users (comes free with your annual NAPP membership) and Layers. Additionally, Kelby Training offers instructional DVDs, Seminar Tours and provides live training sessions during the Photoshop World Conf. & Expo. If you're looking for more immediate and FREE gratification, visit PhotshopUserTV.com to get tips and tricks straight from Scott Kelby himself during his weekly podcast.

Picking up just a few Photoshop skills can help you become a better blogger. It will allow you to augment your blog with custom graphics and build interactive multimedia pieces your readers will love. Not to mention how much fun Photoshop is once you get the hang of it. So get over to PhotoshopUserTV.com and find out for yourself.