These multi-level marketing schemes aren’t limited to home parties for sex toys, BBQ accessories, and household cleaners, of course. They are rife on the internet. If you’ve spent any time in internet marketing circles, you’ll have seen hundreds, no doubt.

Worst business ever.

What Is Multi Level Marketing?

Multilevel marketing is where the salesperson sells items on commission – with a twist. The real “opportunity” – supposedly – is to be had recruiting a downline. A downline consists of other commission-only salespeople who try to recruit other commission-only salespeople. And so on. Some may even sell a few products!

Apparently you’re not allowed to refer to the triangular-shaped Egyptian icon anymore….

The Problem With Any Marketing Opportunity

One major problem with MLM, or any market opportunity, be it affiliate or otherwise, is the size of the market.

All markets are limited. All markets are limited because the number of people is finite. Some markets are significantly more limited than others. For example, the number of people who have $2K, or whatever, to spend on, say, a rapid-mass-cash-code-instant-money-generator is quite small.

That isn’t to say there isn’t money to be made, however the more people trying to flick products, or recruit a downline, and the more people trying to rank well in the SERPS, the less chance a paying customer will arrive via any one site. Claims about making a lot of easy money on-selling such products, therefore, should be taken with a large grain of salt.

Evaluating Market Size And Potential

Over-hyped marketing opportunities often fail because they attempt to sell commodity product into very saturated markets. Or, there may be very little demand for the end product. If there was a lot of demand, surely they’d invest money in experienced salespeople in order to grab market share ahead of competitors.

So how do you size up a market, MLM or otherwise?

If there was an easy way, well….life would be too easy Really, it all comes down to some educated guesswork.

Here’s one simple way of thinking about it:

Market size = the number of buyers in the market x quantity of product purchased buyers in the market per year x price per unit

You could get a rough idea of the number of buyers by looking at search volume against keywords you deem to have some level of buyer intent. Estimating the quantity they buy depends very much on the product. Does it need to be replaced often? i.e. a battery. Or is it a one-off? i.e. A house? When multiplied by the cost, you can estimate the potential size of a market.

There are a number of methods you can use. Some more complex than others. All involve guesswork. However, it’s important to have a rough idea when deciding where to best focus your efforts.

Quantifying the potential of a market is somewhat more difficult.

I could find out the size of the car market in the US using the above equation, but that doesn’t mean I could successfully enter that market. I would also have to evaluate my abilities, the level of competition, and the level of investment required.

This is often the mistake rookie affiliates/multi/level marketers make. They get suckered by the potential numbers, without stopping to think if those numbers make any sense. Even if they do, then does that mean the marketer can successfully enter that market?

Really, the marketing approach – be it MLM or otherwise – is irrelevant. The key questions to ask when considering any market are fundamental ones: how big is the market, how many competitors are there, and how can I compete?

Comments

Marketers must prioritize what will work best and in the mix of online marketing tactics. According to eMarketer, SEO and PPC have been rated the most effective for conversions and ROI and while some companies are using software like PPC management tools to make things easier, there’s a lot more to consider for better segmentation.

With any type of marketing, relevance is essential for achieving a profitable program.  When it comes to search marketing, understanding customers, the keyword searches they use and the offers they’re most likely to respond to are essential.

In order to move your online marketing from fragmented to prioritized and more relevant through search, here are 3 key concepts search marketers should master.

1. Understand searcher personas

It’s fundamental marketing to anticipate and understand customer needs.

To really make a difference with more targeted online marketing, search marketers need to become more sophisticated in their understanding of customer profiles and developing personas to represent who they’re trying to attract via search. Delivering generic content to a searcher looking for a specific product is a common mistake that creates a disconnect for search engines and customers.

“Searcher personas and search acquisition workflows are integral to the way I approach search strategy. Before you can start attracting visitors to your web site, you need to know who you are attracting and why.” Vanessa Fox

Knowing what kind of content and types of digital assets your customers will respond to can improve effectiveness at driving “organic” search  traffic.  The same goes for designing Pay Per Click ads and landing pages that are relevant to the needs of customers you really want to reach.

2. Develop an ideal keyword mix

Many companies start with a list of keywords they think are best for SEO and implement them with on-page optimization and link building.  According to MarketingSherpa’s 2011 Search Marketing Benchmark Report (SEO Edition), 67% of small businesses place more value on on-page optimization over keyword research. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your ideas about keywords are more important than those of your customers.

Developing a keyword glossary is essential and starts by collecting a raw list of concepts, topics and phrases from sources like website content, interviews with front line employees and actual customers, competitor web sites and good old fashioned brainstorming.  That raw list is brought into a keyword research tool that will output provide a list of actual search phrases plus variations sorted by popularity.

Understanding keywords from the perspective of the searcher and where they are in the buying process allows the search marketer to properly optimize content, landing pages and ads accordingly. Same goes for making the ads and landing pages more relevant because it leads to better performance with click through rates and conversions.

From an organic perspective, specifically optimized pages that have attracted relevant links from other related web sites will result in higher rankings for keywords that are being targeted. Customers will self-segment themselves with the search terms they use. By developing an ideal keyword mix that is focused on customer needs and the solutions offered by your products and services, your search marketing efforts will better target customers in a relevant way and increase sales.

3. Optimize content for specifics

Content can mean web pages, digital assets and any other documents that can be optimized for organic search.  Optimization also applies to landing pages used with pay per click advertising to improve quality score. If you read Online Marketing Blog with any frequency, you know my mantra: “If it can be searched, it can be optimized.”

If you don’t have enough content to accommodate all the keywords you’re targeting, then you have an opportunity to create more content.  A common misconception is that updated content is important, when the reality is that adding new content that reflects the search needs of customers is what’s important. The addition of every new web page means another potential entry point to your web site via a link or search.

Being focused helps search engines understand and rank pages so that customers get what they’re actually looking for. Delivering on the promise of a compelling search result is priceless for conversions.

Wrap-up

Fragmented marketing with search helps no one. Marketers would do well for themselves and the customers they’re trying to reach by paying attention to the development of searcher personas, developing quality keyword research and optimizing specific pages and digital assets for specific phrases according the searcher needs in the buying cycle. As a result, you’ll deliver a more relevant experience for both search engines and customers.

Comments

Maybe we need a different approach. GET HUNTED!

How? Marketing needs to pay more attention to being hunted by ready buyers. Yes, it might not have the same long term value as nurturing a prospect along. Then again…how many of our nurturing efforts have not played out the way we hope when our prospect leaves, or the company is sold?

Being hunted means that we position our www site and direct marketing efforts to be found, easily. It means working harder to make our target markets even tighter for finding those who are ready to buy. Our marketing message and value proposition must be simpler and clear with a strong call to action for our targeted buyer. Our www site must become a lead generation engine where our SEO is more effective than ever. Most importantly, our lead follow-up must be unmatched in our sector. As marketers, we must get our hunters hunted.

Comments

The problem with how we think about our natural abilities (and those of others) is that it also forces us to consider that the exact opposite must be true as well. After all, if you can be naturally good at some things, surely you could be naturally bad at other things, right? And being naturally bad at something is a great excuse to just avoid doing something. If you’re “not good with numbers” then you get someone else to handle that. Or if you’re not a technology guy (or girl) then you can justify not investing in better systems to optimize your business.

This is just silly. Having an inherent ability certainly helps, but it is not a prerequisite – particularly when you consider social media. Many small business owners falsely believe that the more technical you are, the more readily you should be able to use social media. Actually, being good at using social media has very little to do with your technical ability. It does, however, require learning some basic principles and to some degree developing the right instincts. These are guiding principles that anyone who effectively uses social media already knows – but will dramatically help you to use social media like an expert, even if you still think Java is a kind of coffee …

1. Be conversational. The first and most important instinct to develop when it comes to social media can be surprisingly difficult for some, and that is to speak, write, and share content in your own real voice. This means using conversational language and writing as you would speak. Social media is rarely a place for marketing or legal type of language – so leave those for your important documents and get as real as you can whenever you post anything.
2. Listen and respond consistently. It is often said that the basis of social media comes from listening. You insert any cliché here that you like about having twice as many ears as mouths … but the point is that through listening to what people are saying you will know what you need to respond to – particularly if someone posts a message about your business or industry and is seeking a response. The more often you respond, the more social credibility you can build for your organization as one that is listening and cares about the sentiment of the group.
3. Proactively comment and share. Responding to questions that involve you or your business is the relatively easy part. More difficult is to consistently find reasons to proactively share a comment on a blog post or share content that you find relevant or interesting (particularly when it has nothing to do with your business).
4. Use questions instead of statements. Open ended questions are a boon in social media, because they invite interaction. So instead of just posting statements of your thoughts or beliefs, how about turning them into questions and seeing who might have an interesting point of view to share. You’ll find this one shift makes a big difference in your level of engagement in the long term.
5. Participate with those who share your passion. There are hundreds of thousands of niche groups on sites like Facebook and also independently created through blogs and sites like Ning.com. There are bound to be groups of people who are in your industry or perhaps even just share the same passions as you. Now there are ways to find them, and doing so can give you an instant community to belong to.
6. Support online relationships with offline interactions. It would be a sad life if we could get everything we needed just from the web. Despite our advances in technology, there remains no substitute for knowing people in person, so whenever you can support anything you do with social media by going to a local event or meeting people, that would go a long way towards that.
7. Invest in karma. The last piece of advice is around karma – or the idea that “what goes around comes around.” It has been talked about often when it comes to social media, but what most power users of social tools online know is that doing things to help people, sharing knowledge and generally being open to those who connect with you are all good things that pay off in an uncertain way at some point in the future.

There are likely other tips from social media power users on how to build your ability to succeed, but these 7 essentials should help you to get a good start.

Comments

I want to discuss how search and social are becoming imperative elements of a holistic marketing strategy, and how organizations must embrace the concept of marketing as an “in the moment” medium.

When I speak of marketers needing to be “in the moment,” I am not referring specifically to real-time search, social, or the real-time Web.  This refers to becoming fully connected to your audience — directly and indirectly — and even more so, also being present and engaging with your audience in a meaningful way.

While brands are becoming increasingly connected, the aspect of being present and acting “in the moment” most often falls by the wayside. As it stands, most major brands spend two to five years in redesigning their static website; they view social media in a campaign-based, start-and-stop manner, and they are getting swung around by their tails by various networks…

Your marketing strategy is only as good as it is right now, on any given day.  And “today” is measured by all of the past “right now” moments. What you are doing today is also simultaneously setting up for success in the future.  In considering this scenario of acting “in-the-moment,” allow me to paint a picture of the current online landscape:

The changing landscape is not so much about “social networks,” as it is about society being networked.

With the world buzzing 24/7, the surfacing reality is that a brand that is not interacting fluidly, or lacks in-the-moment presence, might as well not exist.  The compilation of many missed moments in this new landscape will be the death of some brands, and this embracing of “right now” will be the ascension of many others.

The entire Web is evolving into a real-time, networked and synaptic environment.

Things are moving so fast online (and will get even faster) that the network is looking more like a living organism every day; one that fires off impulses that cascade throughout its entire being.  Not being a part of it, or present “in the moment” is equivalent to non-relevance and non-existence.  Furthermore, acting with the agility, fluidity and sincerity to ride with these synaptic connections will be the lifeblood of marketing efforts.

“People” aren’t just “searching;” real people are searching for something right now.

In search there is also an entirely new opportunity to connect, if not passively, in a profoundly meaningful way with the person you wish to connect with.  Future marketing strategies will need to go much deeper in connecting via content in a sincere and useful way, one that will facilitate a connection that fits both you and your target audience.  Get past thinking about ranking reports, last click attribution, simple content creation, and even direct response – these are real people who deserve a lot more in what is presented to them in search and content publishing.

It’s time to stop worrying about whether or not search or social will cannibalize each other, because the mindset of the user is entirely different when engaging in each one.  Accept that they are different and begin to strategize holistically.

Comments

To a degree, this is still true. As a marketer, I certainly still preach the importance of a good domain name and counsel my clients to make sure they can get one. Still, it is not the necessity that it once was. In fact, there are plenty of times now when you can succeed without having the best domain name. There are several factors pointing this decreasing importance that you should consider before launching a mega-search for the ideal domain name:

1. Link Shorteners - Thanks mostly to Twitter, but also social media sites as well, link shorteners like Bit.ly or TinyURL.com are making actual URLs almost irrelevant because they mask actual URLs and convert them into short versions that are much better when sharing a link in a place with a 140 character limit.
2. Social Media Homepages – More and more frequently we are starting to see brand direct people to their social networking profile on a site like Facebook as a destination rather than a brand homepage. When people visit a social networking site directly, their first impression doesn’t involve your website (or its URL), and this is increasingly common.
3. Creative spelling - You could fill a book with how many new popular sites there are which feature what might kindly be called “creative spelling” of common words or even made up words. Flickr, Dopplr, and Bing are just a few examples. Either way, there is a much broader creative license to choose a unique name that works than there ever was in the past.
4. Growing consumer sophistication – Another element helping to lessen the importance of getting domain names with certain extensions (such as always getting a .com name) is that consumers are growing increasingly familiar with other versions of domain names. If your primary site is on a .org, .gov, .edu or .net extension – it is much more likely today that consumers will remember and use this instead of just focusing on .com and assuming it is part of your name.
5. Power of search - Continual improvements in search algorithms and usage of search engines means that even if consumers remember just a part of your name, they are far more likely to type that into Google along with your location or anything else they remember to find your site. Certainly having a good domain name can help with search, but there are other ways to make sure your site is search optimized and it doesn’t all hinge on your domain name.
6. Rise of online marketing - As more and more marketing dollars shift online, this also reduces the relative level of importance of your domain name. Having a great easy to remember domain is important if you are putting it on a billboard that people drive by at 65 miles per hour. It is less important if you are using a higher percentage of your promotional budget to drive people to click a link online which will directly take them to a page (usually without ever showing them the URL they are going to until they reach it.
7. QR Codes & Visual URLs – The symbol of the growing popularity of “visual URLs” are QR codes. These are two dimensional bar codes that can be scanned in (usually by a mobile phone or other such device) and it allows you to visit a specific site without ever entering a URL. In the near future, we will likely see other ideas like this to help people navigate their way to online destinations without ever having to share an actual URL on a keyboard.

Comments

What lies ahead is an inflection point in the maturation of social media, publishing, marketing and communications. And, it all begins with the realization and the corresponding actions that businesses must become media in order to earn greater relevance and ultimately thought leadership within their respective markets.

Every Company is a Media Company: EC=MC

Good friend Tom Foremski is leading a powerful movement to rally companies towards a new media (r)evolution. As he has so astutely observed, every company is a media company or EC=MC:

Every company is a media company because every company publishes to its customers, its staff, its neighbors, its communities. It doesn’t matter if a company makes diapers or steel girders, it must also be a media company and know how to use all the media technologies at its disposal.

While this has always been true to some extent, it is even more important today, because our media technologies have become so much more powerful.

It is no longer a one-way broadcast medium, everyone now has access to an online printing press that can potentially reach tens of millions of people.

Indeed, the future of marketing starts with publishing, and as such, brands must contribute to the evolution of social media in order to truly socialize media and galvanize communities to create more informed and active markets.

While traditional mass marketing doesn’t vanish, the customary intermediaries whom we relied upon to broadly circulate our messages and intentions are now only part of the media cycle. With the proliferation of social networks and the channels they’ve constructed between people, social graphs are forming dedicated audiences willfully connected through context and interest.

Businesses can now weave social graphs of their own through the creation of social presences within the communities where customers, prospects and those who influence them, are actively sharing, consuming, and seeking relevant content and information. While many companies are just now realizing the immediate benefits of social participation and engagement, the rewards are far richer than the accumulation of followers or fans.

Time and attention are precious commodities and therefore require thoughtful commentary, involvement, contribution, and programming to spark actions and reactions and concurrently earn two-way alliances that ultimately form the relationships businesses need to cultivate communities and also inspire advocacy.

Social Objects are Conversational Catalysts

In Web 1.0, it was said that content was king. In social media, one could argue that context is now king, supported by a royal court of content producers and connectors united by a common desire to share information with purpose and utility.

In social media, content and context are packaged as social objects and they serve as the catalysts for conversation, intelligence, and sharing, and hopefully, word of mouth.

Essentially, social objects are the thoughtful blog posts we publish, the relevant updates we Tweet, the helpful tips we leave for others when they check-in, the useful videos we broadcast, the telling pictures we post, the constructive comments we voice, as well as every other pertinent message we syndicate throughout the statusphere.

Newton’s third law of motion states that every action has a reaction equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.

With every social object we introduce, we merit an entitled response, which either validates or discredits the strategy and work that introduced and propelled our content online. The cause and effect of our objective and outcome are dictated by our mission and purpose. Social objects represent the voice, personality, and design of brands and also reflect the culture and virtues we hope to embody and convey. As a result, social objects can trigger the creation and proliferation of earned media, user-generated content that fortifies and spreads our story to each respective social network and enlivens interaction among desirable social graphs. The goal is to incite reactions that potentially further the social effect.

Social Objects can take the form of a myriad of other conversation catalysts including…

Earned media is the result of our owned, paid, and participatory media programs and is reflected in the blog posts, tweets, status updates, comments, and ultimately actions of our consumers, peers, and influencers. Earned media is ideally linked to owned media campaigns as well as proactive initiatives that attempt to incite viral and word of mouth activity.

Owned Media – media that is essentially, controlled by the brand. Owned objects are social objects produced by the company and introduced to each network in a variety of formats, text, video, audio, experiences, etc.

Paid Media represents the visibility we purchase, such as display ads, paid search, and sponsorships. When paired with owned and earned media programs, paid media serves as a hub for complementing, reinforcing, and polishing brand voice, directives, mission, and stature. While many argue over the future and fate of advertising, what’s clear is that online paid presences can benefit initiatives where action and experiences are defined and promoted through the click path.

Participatory Media – Representing an extension of earned and owned media, participatory media takes the shape of a hosted hub where brand representatives and our communities can interact and collaborate. Go-to examples usually include Dell’s IdeaStorm and Starbuck’s “My Idea” network which resemble branded wikis designed to elicit responses, dictate direction, establish community-focused governances, etc. Participatory media equalizes the balance of power, providing a dedicated platform the gives voice to the consumer and a channel for their ideas to trigger transformation or change.

Sponsored Media - This new category fuses owned, paid, and earned media. Sponsored media is one that is championed by companies such as Izea, MyLikes, Ad.ly, Twittad, among others and is creating a new medium for packaging messages through trusted voices within highly visible and social channels. Sponsored media can take the form of paid tweets, blog posts, appearances, and featured objects on targeted profiles. And, whether you agree or disagree with the idea, the reality is that they work and they seem to benefit all parties involved, from brand to paid affiliates to their communities

Businesses are presented with a unique moment in time through interactive technologies to directly capture the attention of their audiences and ultimately stakeholders, through the creation, propagation, and connection of these social objects. However, access to new, expansive, and dynamic platforms does not guarantee our ability to earn and captivate audiences. Our ability to connect and reconnect is driven by our understanding of the unique needs and requirements of those consumers defining our markets and our mastery of the tools and services that form parallel contextual networks.

Comments

1) Provide unique content: Many people see a video that goes viral and then turn around and produce something similar. While this may work on occasion, videos with unique content have a better chance of going viral.

2) Producing a well made product: Every once in a while a video that obviously took little effort or planning gets big. However, by taking the time to make sure a product is well made is the better way to go more often than not.

3) Make it relevant: Many very well made videos have been put out that never got noticed. The reason for this is that they lacked relevant SEO friendly content to a large number of people. When making an attempt to go viral, try to keep the product relevant to as many people as possible.

4) Funny is okay with everyone: While it is difficult to do right, humor will definitely help cause a video to go viral.

5) Entertain, don’t sell: While the reason for a video may be to spread the message about a particular product or service, try to keep the messages entertaining.

6) Keep it short: Internet users tend to prefer media that is short and simple. While a longer video works when people want in depth information, almost all viral videos are under five minutes in length.

7) Promote, promote, promote: By using social media sites such as FaceBook and Twitter a videos chances of going viral increases. Also, if possible, try and get a couple of widely read SEO clogs to post the video.

Make the message obvious: Most people attempt to create a viral video in order to spread a message. Make sure that message is easy to see. Whether trying to drive traffic to a website or raising awareness about a political issue, making sure people understand the message is vital.

While there is never any guarantee that a video will successfully go viral, by following the above tips, the chances are increased.

Comments

The declaration was empathetic in its direction to those marketers who have been on the receiving end of directives instructing them to create and unleash viral content. In parallel, the statement was aimed at those decision makers who assign such projects.

Content, no matter how brilliant, creative, abstract, or controversial, is not inherently viral. Yet, we’re asked repeatedly to create viral videos, posts, and other social objects that will trigger an endless array of retweets, pages and profiles that immediately attract fans and followers accompanied by a deafening wall of sound propelled by word of mouth.

Content doesn’t make something viral; people are the primary source of powering social objects across the attention nodes that connect the human network.

Despite what appears commonsensical, we’re surprised when our brainchild doesn’t attract the views, attention, and circulation we believe it deserves.

The reality of social media is this, in the attention economy, information isn’t randomly discovered and broadly disseminated. It is strategically positioned to either appear when someone searches for a related keyword or it’s presented to someone manually and deliberately.

As individuals, we no longer find information, it finds us.

The same is true about social objects. We must create packaged content with social hooks that comprise the story we wish to tell and the action we hope to spark – whether it’s through video, text, images, badges, widgets, or apps. While there is no such thing as viral marketing in and of itself, marketing inspired to catalyze word of mouth (WOMM) is a bit more thoughtful and calculated in its approach and it usually seeks options in and around Social Media.

Good Ideas are Worth Sharing

Ideas represent change whose time has come…

At the heart of any campaign is an idea. And even though good ideas are worth sharing, in order to have any hope of going “viral,” social objects require sustenance and herding. Essentially, our job is to not only create the content, but also connect the dots for those individuals who can help us spread our story across first degree relationships defining social graphs (friends) and second-degree graphs linked by friends of friends and so on.

Social scientist Dan Zarrella has analyzed over the years, why ideas spread. In his research, he discovered common characteristics of contagious content, those elements prevalent in many popular memes, whether organic or proactively marketed.

Seeds

The first group of individuals who are exposed to the idea/social object determine the extent and reach of the meme. These “seeds” are often mistaken for built-in audiences, for example, Twitter followers, Facebook Fans, blog subscribers, email lists, etc. The true opportunity for extending the lifespan and audiences for ideas is to carefully pick influential individuals who can spark activity and response. Early involvement, prior to anything being released, is key as is the definition of the role they will play in the roll out of the content.

Novelty

Distinctiveness is required for all transmittable ideas. Personal connections are also paramount. The personal motivation for sharing content is driven by how well something connects or resonates with the person exposed to it. Ideas connect initially because they’re relevant or personal. Other communicable emotions that factor into the motivation for sharing in a one-to-one model include:

1. Personal/Relevant/Timely

2. Humor

3. Utility

4. Relationship Building

5. Common Interests

6. Missing out

7. Conversations

8. Reciprocity

Association and Correlation

As Zarrella observes, intuitiveness is a key attribute for determining the likelihood for pass alongs. If someone can’t understand an idea, they simply will disregard it and move on. And in the era of the real-time Web, we move too quickly to further analyze or interpret ideas. Its intention and purpose must be clear from the onset. And to be quite honest, it’s our job to create compelling objects worthy of connection. Data shows that you have three-to-five seconds to engage your viewer and in that time they’ve already decided to either continue and possibly share the idea or simply abandon it.

Relevance

In the attention economy, our focus is concentrated on what flows through our attention dashboards and we’re distracted at will as relevant content appears. As intelligent filtering tools are slowly emerging, human filtering still prevails. Through selective attention, we each possess the ability to tune out the volume of information that relentlessly attempts to lure our focus. Relevance is key to encouraging someone to take the time to purposely share content with those they know.

It is the art and science of creating content that appeals to people individually and also as groups of shared interests. This is why social media is social in the first place.

People connect with individuals who share their passions, interests, and ambitions. Designing social objects based on the psychographics rather than demographics of those you wish to reach and inspire, proves critical in the viability of engendering personal connections – connections worthy of sharing.

Utility

Give someone a fish; you have fed them for today. Teach them how to fish; and you have fed them for a lifetime…

While much of the content examples we hear and see so often are aimed at short bursts of entertainment, creating and distributing helpful content is contagious in its own right. Help me answer or ask a question. Help me find a reason to participate. Give me a voice. Help me do something I couldn’t do before I came into contact with your social object.

The idea of integrating utility or resolution into social objects increases the sharability of content while also increasing its lifespan.  Continually introducing useful content sets the foundation for invaluable relationships based on the theory of social exchange – those connected will grow with one another based on the ongoing exchange of ideas sparked by objects and conversations that flourish over time.

Social Influence – A Cascading Effect

Tying back to the importance of initial and repeated seeding, peer-to-peer influence sets the stage for perception, urgency, and also weaves the fabric that wraps us with a sense of exclusivity and inclusion. By aligning with those individuals who are recognized as leaders, trendsetters and authorities, an ambiance is established that carries with it the lure for affinity, belonging, and association, inviting individuals to “join the club” simply by viewing and sharing.

The reward for these influencers is that they’re perceived to stay ahead of trends. It’s rare when you see someone of this stature join later in the game. They’re usually on the prowl for the next undiscovered object that when disseminated, reinforces their reputation as an early adopter.

An element of wisdom of the crowds is also at play in the realm of social influence. There is an allure, an unspoken emanation of prestige when a group of people surround and react to content and objects. After all, if a person possesses crowds of qualified followers, readers or if a particular bit of content earns significant views, reactions, retweets, shares, and likes, then it has earned a state of prominence that begets validation. Communities literally form around objects and in doing so, they influence the actions of participants and spectators, now and over time.

Social objects should thus be supported before and during their release to garner attention, support, followers, and influential activity.

Information Voids

In the absence of truth or information, speculation fuels hearsay, which in turn sparks movement and ultimately gains momentum as new voices attempt to answer questions through conjecture. I refer to the introduction of an event or object as the information divide, the difference between the moment information is introduced into the social web and the time it takes to verify its accuracy. Therefore I ask, is content or context king in the real-time web? The same can be said for word of mouth marketing.

When information is intentionally missing or it’s positioned cleverly to incite speculation, social objects can spread across incredibly vast networks at blinding speeds. When BMW, for example, introduced its 1-Series, it did so through a video documentary (mockumentary) entitled “The Ramp” or “Rampenfest,” which chronicled a filmmaker’s visit to a small village where the town rallied around a record breaking attempt to launch a 1-Series BMW over the Atlantic. In doing so, BMW intentionally steered viewers towards wonderment. Was it really an attempt to cross the Atlantic? Was BMW behind this video? With every new question, more viewers and shares ensued.

Today, visiting Rampenfest.com takes you directly to the BMW 1-Series home page.

Experiences Cause Action

Social objects engender experiences. The difference between the failure and success of a meme is directly rooted in the resulting activity that they’re intended to cause. Perhaps the most powerful characteristic of social objects is their ability to masquerade as catalysts that carry cause and effect.

Strategic marketers will calculate what happens after the initial view and resulting share.

They’ll define the complete series of meaningful steps and then reverse engineer the process to design content that delivers a complete and directed experience.

Content can carry with it the ability to raise awareness and also incite change. It is done by appealing to the very people who align around the subject and in order to convince them, these social objects must carry personal and emotional messages that connect with the hearts and minds of participants. Affinity is driven by emotions, exacting the essence that inspires someone to support something they believe in and fusing it with the passions of others who also share in the mission. If the intention is supported through the content and as such, designed to further action, meaningful connections are then forged and replicated. We are after all, attempting to make human connections and they are, to say the least, priceless.

This is social media and word of mouth marketing with a purpose. And, it’s the most powerful form of engagement I’ve practiced. When content connects with someone at a truly personal level, and explicitly asks them to participate and share, wonderful things come to life. I would say that the Pepsi Refresh Project is among those campaigns that connect people, ideas, emotions all while furthering the sentiment and support towards the Pepsi brand and the ideas and people orbiting it.

Sharing the Spotlight

Among the most powerful forms of galvanization is that of recognition and reciprocity.

Movements can and should feature the very voices of those who can power the spreading of ideas. Providing them with a platform where they can voice their thoughts and views among vested audiences who can celebrate contribution is empowering and rewarding to brands and equally to participants. Social Media is powered by people and its future is dependent on how we not only consume content, but also invest in its significance and relevance.

In Nokia’s recent experiment in the UK, the company erected the world’s biggest signpost to visually demonstrate and promote GPS functionality. The sign featured the locations of those individuals who sent information directly to the sign, and in turn, the information was shared via the sign’s Twitter account. It’s personal and gratifying as Nokia places you and me at the center of the experience.

Sharing isn’t Caring, It’s Furthering an Idea

Ideas are worthy of sharing, when there is incentive to do so. The incentive isn’t always rooted in rewards however, motivation can simply stem from a reaction – a smile, an email, an emoticon, credit, etc. This sharing transpires in the social communities where relationships are entwined and as such, social objects are most effective when they integrate sharing mechanisms designed to simplify the process of dissemination. AddtoAny recently studied the networks where sharing ideas and content and corresponding dialogue tended to concentrate.

At 400 million strong, Facebook is by far the most active of all social networks, eclipsing email by more than 2x. And, even though email is second to Facebook at the moment, Twitter is in a draft position.

The point is that without the inclusion of one-click sharing capabilities, combined with planned syndication strategies, the reach of our content is restricted even before it’s introduced.

To that end, Zarrella also studied the effect of the word “video” on sharing within Facebook and Twitter. His observations were interesting indeed and actually make the case to consider focusing efforts on Facebook.

Stories that contained videos were shared more on Facebook than that of the average story. On Twitter, Tweets that included the word video were shared less than the average story. Zarrella believed that the Facebook platform is conducive for sharing as it enables the embedding of multimedia content where as Twitter requires an outbound link.

The Epitome

In a recent post in SearchEngineLand, Jordan Kasteler shared the seven types of sharing motives:

1. Self Expression

2. Affinity

3. Validation

4. Prurience

5. Status Achievement

6. Altruism

7. Self-serving interests

While there are many published formulas designed to help you make your social objects “go viral,” nothing is more important than…

1) Creating content that’s relevant

2) Identifying the tastemakers and influencers who will help us reach the right audiences

3) Involving them in the process before the campaign is officially introduced – seeding

4) Striking a chord with the person they’re trying to compel – making an emotional connection

5) Encouraging them to share it with their contacts

6) Rewarding them for doing so

7) Defining the action we wish viewers to take after the engagement

Providing them with a forum for self-expression

9) Recognizing all of those who helped us

10) Connecting everyone together for future engagement

The strategies, examples and supporting data are only minimized when we view them as ingredients to a recipe of viral marketing. Doing so underestimates the value of the roles people play in the spreading of ideas and practically dehumanizes overall experiences.

When we introduce social objects, our ability to create, connect, and define experiences around these information and idea catalysts defines whether we earn the attention we feel we deserve or we savor the collaboration we engendered through design.

Reflecting on the words of good friend Hugh MacLeod, the three keys to social media marketing, or marketing in general, are as simple as they are profound…

1. Figure out what your gift is, and give it to them on a regular basis.

2. Make sure it’s received as a real gift, not as an advertising message

3. Then figure out exactly what it is that your trail of breadcrumbs leads back to.

I don’t believe in viral marketing, but I do believe in the socialization of relevant ideas and information when connected to the right people, in the right places, with genuine and pre-defined intent.

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Indeed, we are programming the social web around our brand hub and as such, we’re required to capture attention and also hold it through the introduction of engaging dialogue, interaction, and the introduction of relevant information packaged and published as social objects.

Social Objects are the catalysts for conversations and occurrences — online and in real life — and they affect behavior within their respective societies. They are personified by our Tweets, our pictures in Flickr, videos on YouTube, events in Upcoming, profiles and updates in Facebook, the links we share in Delicious, our votes in Digg, the places we check into when playing Foursquare, the documents we publish in Docstoc, a destination or service we review in Yelp, a subject we host in Ning, a thought shared in the comment of a blog post or through a dedicated blog post, etc.

But once we introduce a social object, we must stand ready to handhold existing subjects throughout the social web as well as create a publishing calendar rich with relevant content, programmed specifically for each network in which we maintain a presence.

We Become Media

There’s a saying in theater, a big part of acting is reacting. This is especially true when we consider how many individuals, brands, and organizations engage in the Web today. Instead of seeking inspiration and direction from those around us however, we simply react to activity, which may or may not benefit us in the long run. In Social Media, many of the existing programs are either dictated by the community-driven conversations strewn across the web, with an emphasis on Twitter and Facebook, or creatively designed to elicit specific responses in addition to the crowdsourcing of brands and dissemination of corresponding messages.

But social media represents a greater opportunity that invites us to participate proactively, introducing new thoughts, ideas, and solutions through the people that inspire us to try something new.

Social Media is an earned privilege.

While establishing a presence is elementary, captivating audiences is artful. In the near future, brands and organizations will create new or augment existing roles to serve as editor and publisher to all channels with a primary objective of ensuring that timely, relevant, and captivating content is produced, distributed, and connected to both captive and desired audiences. This work is in addition to the other reactive and proactive social media campaigns that are already in progress, but held to a strategic editorial calendar that blends video, audio, imagery, text, updates, and other social objects and networks to reach, inspire, a galvanize communities.

As brands, we become media.

Through the democratization of publishing and the equalization of influence, we can create, connect, and attract a wider reach, establishing meaningful connections and building dynamic communities and interactive paths along the way.

Everything starts with creation of a mission and purpose and fortified by the content we create, the processes in which we distribute it, and the activity that supports social objects and the reactions they engender.

Perhaps among the most powerful rewards we procure through dedicated publishing is the generation of good will, social capital, and influence. It comes at a price however, and the price is defined by the cost of resources, production, distribution, and support. In the end, you get out of it what you invest in it and the investment represents time, money, creativity, and passion.

We not only become media, through production and engagement, we become influential.

Earned, Paid, and Owned Media

In media, there are several channels that populate and shape perception, intent and action – earned, paid, and owned media. Each require a dedicated management system that actively creates, monitors and stimulates strategic movement as we broadcast relevance directly to our main channels and syndicate aggregate signals to our network of branded satellites and streams.

Recently, Sean Corcoran, an analyst at Forrester Research, published a detailed post that described the differences between earned, paid and owned, clarifying the roles for brands who undertake the responsibility of embracing a new media role. Dave Fleet, a thought leader in new media and public relations, also visualized Corcoran’s thoughts through a series of graphics that represent the social media ecosystem. Fleet’s work inspired a new graphic of my own (coming soon).

As Corcoran points out in his recent report…

Increasingly, interactive marketers are being asked to manage a wide range of paid and unpaid marketing communication — despite the fact that many marketing departments are still organized around traditional paid marketing channels. All types of online media (whether “earned,” “owned,” or “paid”) can play specific roles in meeting marketers’ objectives — especially when seamlessly working together. To find the right balance between these types of media, marketers should take stock of their resources, listen for the impact of earned media, look for opportunities to shift short-term paid media to the role of catalyst, and begin to build out a solar system of long-term owned media touchpoints.

In other words, paid, earned and owned media require thoughtful programming and targeted distribution and must be linked to a systematic review of behavior and activity that surrounds each object. And, the analysis of activity and ultimately the end result should play a monumental role in the creation of future publishing and social activation.

Corcoran uses the word “touchpoint,” which by standard definition, refers to any point of contact between a buyer and a seller. Touchpoint is part of the greater opportunity here. But more importantly, these touchpoints require direction and the establishment of a path that offers a complete experience – a beginning, a middle, an end and a reward.

These experiences are definable by paid, earned, and owned media.

New Media necessitates a collaboration between all teams involved with creating and distributing content, including advertising, interactive, communications, brand, and marketing – with an editorial role connecting the dots. We are competing for attention and our success is dependent on our ability to not compete against each other. Producing content and lobbing it over the firewall to an “audience” will only confuse communities. Therefore, we are obligated to build pipelines that carry strategic communications each with calculated intents, targets and outcomes.

If we examine the differences between earned, owned, and paid, we can visualize necessary programming and dedicated channels for each.

Owned Media is media that essentially, we control. Perhaps I should clarify what I mean by control. We design the object; we own the content within the object. Most likely, we also own (or lease) the distribution channels that present these objects to our target communities. We do not however, control the impression and perception of our objects. We lose that control at the point of distribution. For example, in addition to standard Web pages, social media presences contribute to our portfolio of owned media including, Twitter accounts, Facebook Fan Pages, Blogs, YouTube channels, etc. By creating presences in the communities where our customers, prospects, partners, and influencers congregate and collaborate, we can set the foundation to contribute to “earned” media based on the value we contribute through each profile and the social objects we introduce through them. How we embrace and fuel owned media determines our social capital and influence and its value and prominence is representative of our contributions and participation.

Social Hubs are also gaining prominence in 2010 – 2011 social media plans as brands weigh options for directing traffic.  The creation of strategic landing pages can extend the rich, interactive experience within social networks (channels in which we partially own) to pages we do own, thus shaping the experience in a way that maintains interactivity and targeted options for action. I’m not necessarily recommending the creation of microsites, unless it’s warranted in the overall program, but a bridge that continues the desired experience, connecting people to value and benefits in a destination that serves their essentials.

Forrester’s Corcoran recommends that brands create a “solar system” of owned media. However, I suggest that brands instead create a focused ecosystem of media that establishes presences where their communities are already active – a brand or organization specific social media ecosystem. This requires research and in the process, we uncover not only locations that require our engagement, but also how, where, when and to what extent to participate. We just may find that the given locations for social profiles represent only part of the many opportunities rife within the Conversation Prism.

The differences between a solar system and an ecosystem are derivative of our actions and concentration. Meaning, we don’t need to be everywhere, only where our communities reside online with an emphasis on ultimately steering people in our direction (websites, hubs, etc.)

Paid Media represents the visibility we purchase, such as display ads, paid search, and sponsorships. When paired with owned and earned media programs, paid media serves as a hub for complementing, reinforcing, and polishing brand voice, directives, mission, and stature. While many argue over the future and fate of advertising, what’s clear is that online paid presences can benefit initiatives where action and experiences are defined and promoted through the click path. Current trends reflect a shift away from branding programs and place emphasis on sparking desired activity, empowering viewers and their social graph to share in the experience all in ways that measure the cost per action.

Earned media is the result of our owned, paid, and participatory media programs and is reflected in the blog posts, tweets, status updates, comments, and ultimately actions of our consumers, peers, and influencers. Earned media is linked to owned media campaigns as well as proactive initiatives that attempt to incite viral and word of mouth activity.  Garnered visibility is also tied to communications and public relations programs as they continually seek to gain the attention of reporters, bloggers, analysts, influencers and catalysts who can drive awareness and behavior based on the words, stories, and social objects they create and distribute.

This isn’t a one way street, however. Earned media is just that, it’s earned. Success is absolutely conditional on the techniques and methodologies that inspire dedicated programs focused on outreach, relations, and hopefully the engendering of productive and mutually beneficial relationships. Crowd-powered visibility also merits an official and devoted listening and response initiative to ensure that each respective community aligns with the story and our mission and purpose.

Participatory Media – Representing an extension of earned and owned media, participatory media takes the shape of a hosted hub where brand representatives and our communities can interact and collaborate. For example, go to examples usually refer to Dell’s IdeaStorm and Starbuck’s “My Idea” network which resemble branded wikis designed to elicit responses, dictate direction, establish community-focused governances, etc.  Participatory media equalizes the balance of power, providing a dedicated platform the gives voice to the consumer and a channel for their ideas to trigger transformation or change.

Sponsored Media - This new category fuses owned, paid, and earned media.  Sponsored media is one that is championed by companies such as Izea (disclosure, my company works with Ted Murphy and Co.), Ad.ly, Twittad, among others and is creating a new medium for packaging messages through trusted voices within highly visible and social channels. Sponsored media can take the form of paid tweets, blog posts, appearances, and featured objects on targeted profiles. And, whether you agree or disagree with the idea, the reality is that they work and they seem to benefit all parties involved, from brand to paid affiliates to their communities. In fact, Forrester’s Josh Bernoff and Sean Corcoran shared their thoughts for why sponsored media is worthy of consideration.

Sponsored Media fuses earned, paid, and owned as technically…1) the messages are owned, 2) the voices are paid, and 3) with more thoughtful approaches, the responses within targeted communities can inspire a positive wave of earned media.

Influence

As media, brands earn prominence and hopefully influence, social capital, and authority as rewards for contributing meaningful, genuine, and helpful content. On Twitter, brands can earn legions of loyal and responsive followers who in turn, become brand advocates and ambassadors, extending the messages, mission and purpose to their followers as well. In Facebook, brands can cultivate vibrant and dedicated communities where interaction inspires increased responses with each reverberating across respective social graphs. On uStream and/or YouTube, we can earn global audiences of viewers who tune in to watch our programming and to also interact with brand representatives in a live community that spills over to Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. And of course, our blog is more important than we may realize. Through our posts, we can establish a strong alliance of readers who subscribe to learn something of value, to participate in the direction of future ideas, to share their views and experiences, and also to inspire groundswells that motivate industry authorities and compel them to respond through the creation of earned media within their channels of influence.

As Tom Foremski points out, we have the ability to earn noteworthy, equal, and in some cases, greater influence than those authorities whom we relied on over the years to help us reach greater audiences and communities. As influence is equalized, our ability to earn presence and relationships is derived from how we program, manage, and participate in all forms of media. And, it is through a balance of media and engagement where we also establish the foundation for affinity. People align with movements they can believe in and it is through the human, intellectual, and financial investment in sincere and empathetic content that define experiences and hopefully one day earn the attention and bonds that symbolize our significance – online and offline.

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