Chris Moody
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Why should you come see Scott Stratten in Raleigh?
Sep 3rd
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For those of us that know Scott (@unmarketing), this is a dumb question… but if you don’t… check out the video below. You’ll find out:
- Who is Scott Stratten?
- What does he do?
- Why did he write his book “UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.”?
- What will we learn on September 16 when Scott talks in Raleigh?
Register before September 10th to lock in a discount.
When and where is Scott speaking?
September 16, 2010 at 11:30am EST at Brier Creek Country Club
How do I register?
Simple. Go to the Triangle AMA registration page and we’ll even throw in a free lunch. :)
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Want to be a better marketer? Start helping out with Customer Support.
Aug 31st
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Are you really in tune with your product? Can you name the top three issues that customers are experiencing? If you’re trapped in an elevator with a user of your product, could you solve their issues?
The 300 pound gorilla in the room… do you know your customers and the problems they face?
Too often as marketers, we focus on fluff instead of substance. There are plenty of fluffy things that have to get done and are valuable to do well, but distancing ourselves from our products is a huge mistake to make.
Coming from a product management background definitely gives me a little advantage, but there are ways we can make sure that we know (in detail) the product we’re branding, promoting, marketing and helping grow. I’ve helped support Phonebooth since I’ve been at Bandwidth.com, but in the last two months… I’ve been given a bigger responsibility in responding to our support tickets. While it can definitely be time consuming and requires patience, it is helping me to get to know the product even more intimately. Take into account that our Product and Marketing teams are joined at the hip… and I’m still learning a lot by assisting in the support charge.
Taking for granted the questions that are asked (or not asked) is a critical mistake. Not only does it help with product knowledge, it aids in the shaping and creation of new documentation, collateral and branding to make sure that your message is resonating with users.
So how can we improve our marketing by understanding customer issues?
Partner with Customer Support to listen in to calls or help respond to email or support tickets.
If you’re scared to make this jump, don’t be. Nearly every time I’ve reached out to another department at any company to learn about what they deal with… they have welcomed me with open arms. It is nice to understand what others do on a daily basis and you may even hear answers to problems or objections that you haven’t thought about… they may not even be on your Key Message Architecture (do you even have one?).
If you aren’t currently involved with the support of the product you are marketing… you have to get involved in some way.
Reach out to customers via phone, email, social media or face-to-face and ask them questions.
If you’re truly listening, you will never have a problem finding someone to talk. Think about it… if we face issues or have things we’d like to improve, what do you do when someone asks us to talk about it? This usually excites me because it means that even little ‘ole me can have a say and they may even act on the things I experience. Reach out to your customers.
If you don’t know where your customers are… that is a bigger problem. Odds are someone in your company can point you in the right direction with phone numbers, email addresses and even a few local contacts you could take to lunch. But are you talking with your customers on Twitter? If not, here are a few tips from an article I wrote for Pragmatic Marketing “Twitter for Product Managers.”
Create ways to receive feedback.
At @Phonebooth, we use @UserVoice to get a pulse of what our customers want (check out “How Phonebooth uses UserVoice” on the UserVoice blog). Many companies use Get Satisfaction, Salesforce Ideas or a number of other tools to get an idea of features that customers would like to see implemented. Creating these feedback channels gives you the ability to receive great insight into how your product is consumed and also allows you to create a dialogue with folks using your product. Don’t solely use those channels for status updates, start and engage in conversations.
If you’re not using a tool to manage your feedback, try writing a blog post soliciting feedback from your users.
Discuss the top issues with other folks in the company.
Internal discussion will teach you a lot. You may learn new issues. You may learn that internal communication needs to be revamped. You may learn new ways to solve existing problems. Don’t forget the power of talking to other people with different responsibilities and see what you can absorb from them. Everyone has a different perspective and can give you valuable insights as to what they’re facing. You may also be surprised to know how out of the loop some of your coworkers are about your product… find ways to remedy this…
Many companies still deploy job rotations and keep everyone on their toes and constantly learning. Are you doing the same? If not, how are you finding ways to get customer feedback and use it to improve your products?
Photo from GlennPeb
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What I learned at Social Fresh Charlotte – an exhibitor, speaker and attendee perspective
Aug 18th
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Social Fresh Charlotte was the third @SoFresh branded event that I’ve had the honor of attending. The third time was the second as a speaker and the first as an exhibitor (stay with me), and gave me a new perspective of the event.
Exhibiting with Phonebooth
We had two goals going into Social Fresh as an exhibitor / sponsor – 1. build awareness – 2. help people. It is nice when you can use your product in a manner that isn’t directly trying to drive leads (although we all know that increasing sales is what keeps us all employed). Our idea was to pull together an incredible group of experts and allow anyone at the conference to step into the Phonebooth and ask anything they want. This was definitely a proof of concept and something that we can improve as we continue to build on the idea.
There were some really great questions asked and some even better answers given. We didn’t pay for this. We didn’t force this. We were just the means to facilitate the talking. Social media is cool like that because it allowed us to reach out to some amazing people and they were able to showcase how awesome and helpful they are.
It is a little more difficult to network while exhibiting, but there were definitely other times for me to do that and I still met some really great folks. My time was cut a little short on Monday night due to some of the packing and prepping we had to do, but again… it was worth it. We only had a few hiccups in our execution and know of ways to make it better for experts and attendees and will work on that too. :)
Please help me in thanking the following people for their help (follow these people with this convenient list):
Brad McCormick [@darbtx], Chris Barger [@cbarger], Chris Treadaway [@ctreada], David Neff [@daveiam], DJ Waldow [@djwaldow], Jason Falls [@jasonfalls], Jennifer Beese [@freeandflawed], Mark Hopkins [@rizzn], Marshall Kirkpatrick [@marshallk], Michelle Greer [@michellegreer], Paul May [@paulmay], Richard White [@rrwhite], Robert Scoble [@scobleizer], Scott Stratten [@unmarketing], Thom Singer [@thomsinger], Tim Hayden [@thetimhayden], Todd Defren [@tdefren].
Check out a quick video of me talking about our goal at SoFresh.
Speaking on an awesome panel
For those of you who didn’t know, now you see why David B. Thomas [@davidbthomas], Lisa Hoffmann [@lisahoffmann], Brian Dresher [@bdresher] and Jen Ecclestone [@jeneccleston] are successful in what they do. It was an extremely fun panel to be a part of and I think that it offered some nice insight as to how each of us are handling dealing with limited resources and ways to overcome that.
Every panel that I’ve been on has taught me something new. It’s great having a moderator that is organized, prepared and able to think quickly on his/her feet (with humor). It was a great time and allowed us all to have several discussions about what is working, what isn’t and ultimately, it helps me to learn more about what I can be doing.
Managing Social Media with Limited Resources is a great topic and props to Jason Keath [@jakrose] for adding the panel to an awesome lineup of speakers.
Attending my third Social Fresh
Charlotte isn’t quite my back yard, but it is at least my home turf. I saw plenty of friendly NC faces and tons of folks I’ve met on the road (many were the great speakers that we all listened to). This was the first time attending SoFresh where I missed one or more sessions of content… and honestly, I was a little bummed. We had things to do at the booth and I was able to talk to other exhibitors, but I always learn something new in each session… so I missed that.
Some takeaways:
Amber Naslund [@ambercadabra] delivered another killer keynote and Jay Baer (@jaybaer) put family first, which makes me like him even more.
Justin Kistner [@justinkistner] is really funny, smart and blogs about beer – which means I now have two uber-successful beer blogger friends (see @schneidermike and @belchingmonkey as well).
All of the Blue Sky Factory [@blueskyfactory] folks are super smart.
Argyle Social [@argylesocial] will be successful despite me not logging in as frequently as I should.
Many of the attendees are every bit as smart as the speakers and have great stories and case studies to share… talk to them!
Wayne Sutton [@waynesutton] has a really good memory (thanks for the limited edition @SoFresh stress ball buddy).
Wei Yang [@wei_yang] has my favorite Twitter list – “Not an alien” – People I have met in real life and verified are not aliens.
North Carolina (not just Raleigh-Durham) has an incredible social media scene.
These are just a few of the key takeaways for me, from multiple perspectives. As you’ll see, they aren’t all content focused because honestly… for me… the best part of the event is always connecting with the people. Yes, there is great content, but meet cool folks too.
Now I just have to see if I can make it to SoFresh Atlanta… about that…
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Ask us questions now: Managing social media with limited resources Social Fresh Panel
Aug 12th
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Whatcha' wanna know?
I’m taking trip number three to Social Fresh and making the trek to Charlotte for the rockin’ August 16th event. Social Fresh Charlotte is poised to be the biggest and baddest yet… and we’d love to make sure you get what you want ahead of time.
In what could be my favorite panel topic ever, I’ll be joining moderator David B. Thomas (SAS) and panelists Brian Dresher (USA Today), Lisa Hoffman (Duke Energy) and Jennifer Ecclestone (General Motors).
I’ll be talking about how we listen to our customers with social media and use their feedback to improve our product, Phonebooth.com. I’ll also discuss escalating issues and how to find ways to make your company more social (without increasing head count… at least until you’re told to do so). Everyone will be discussing some cool things that they’ve done and hopefully you can take our use cases and run with them.
What kinds of questions do you want to make sure we answer?
Hopefully, we’ll get a few good questions on Twitter or via comments and we’ll be sure to mention the question and who asked it during our 45 minutes.
Also… keep this hush hush… but this is the first time Phonebooth has had a sponsorship role at SoFresh… and let’s just say that we’re going to get our money’s worth. Look for the big red Phonebooth and something really cool to help everyone answer more difficult questions.
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10 signs that your company shouldn’t use social media
Aug 6th
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Is social media right for you?
Everyone is doing it and you should too! Right? Honestly, social media isn’t a fit for everyone and there are visible signs that should alert you that you may be barking up the wrong tree. Let’s discuss 10 signs that your company shouldn’t use social media.
1. You haven’t explored social media yet.
While it is easy to immediately jump into Twitter or start a blog, you should spend some time exploring the communities. Lurk around and see what people are talking about. How can you make an impact? What can you add to the conversation? Are there people talking about what you want to talk about? Being eager is great, but be prepared before you jump.
2. You don’t have any time.
Everyone is busy, we get it. Social media isn’t a magic cure to all of your ROI needs. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes planning. It takes engagement. If you can’t sacrifice some amount of time daily towards social media, it will be very difficult to have a successfully social media strategy and an engaged community.
3. You are not in tune with your industry.
Once you get to the point where people are talking to you (this is a good thing!), you’ll eventually receive questions. It is fine to run interference and get the best answers from your resident expert, but you have to start absorbing that knowledge. If you can’t have an impromptu conversation with someone in an elevator about your industry, how can you develop a positive image in a community?
4. Your Twitter strategy is to repost blog entries.
Repurposing your content is extremely important and your blogs should be on Twitter. However, this is not a strategy. If all of your tweets are “New blog post: I’m doing this all wrong” or “New post: I don’t engage with my community” – you won’t pass the sniff test and people won’t engage with you.
5. You want immediate results.
What is the ROI of taking a client out to lunch? How many sales did you get from that round of golf with your client? Did revenue increase with the hire of your last employee? Are you even answering these questions? Analytics and measurement are extremely important. You need to have the correct KPIs (key performance indicators) to give you an idea of what is going on. At the same time, expecting to immediately see a return on social media is a bit foolish. In time, you can get there… but expecting to jump right in and sell stuff is not going to happen. Prove yourself, develop your community and add value – this will have an ROI.
6. You are not inquisitive.
Every person that I have ever met that is crushing it in social media has a natural curiosity and likes to learn new things. The idea of connecting with folks with similar interests throughout the world should be exciting. You can build new connections, form new relationships, and even connect with people that will become true friends. If this stresses you out or sounds boring… this probably isn’t for you.
7. You are not a people person.
I’m not saying you have to be an extrovert, but as mentioned above, you should want to connect with others. In order to build a community, you need to connect with people on a personal level. This is extremely evident at social media conferences and events. There is usually a correlation between the folks with large, supportive networks and the people who can carry on a conversation with someone they don’t know.
8. You don’t have management support.
In my opinion, skepticism is okay. This can give you an opportunity to get in there, figure it out, crush it, and make something positive happen. It is a story that is easy to tell and visualize. However, if management is not supportive… this makes it difficult to overcome. A pat on the back isn’t required to make social media work, but there should be an acceptance of trying something new… even if there is an initial lack of full understanding.
9. You don’t have clear goals.
What are you using social media to accomplish? How is social media helping you reach your milestones? How is social media related to your main corporate goals? Do you even have a strategy including social media? I’ll go back to the five Ps: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Plan how you can use social media to reach your goals (and hopefully better and faster).
10. You don’t ask questions.
The fastest way to learn about social media is to ask. Everyone is trying to make their impact on the world and show their expertise. Many of these people are honest, nice and helpful folks. Ask questions. Share your plan with a few influencers you trust. Get a friend to introduce you to someone who “knows social media” and brainstorm. Don’t assume that you have to figure it all out yourself. Reach out and get some feedback.
Don’t be afraid to get started!
Spend some time using social media outlets personally and find what you like and dislike. Not every network will work for you or your business, but there is no reason not to get out there and explore!
Note: @schneidermike pointed out that “you” is referred to as your brand and culture… not necessarily you as an individual. I missed spelling that out. :) Thanks Mike!
Photo credit to melodi2
