By Alex Romanovich, Founder of EuroSpaClub International and Social2B

Inspired by this avatar designed by Jonathan Mak, a Hong Kong student, watching hours of YouTube videos of Steve Jobs appearances, and a hunting in my attic to find some relics of my 80′s ‘IBM geek era’, I decided to write this blog post.

I wanted to get things out – heavy thoughts that had accumulated in my head and were firmly sitting on my chest. Mixed feelings of nostalgia, anger and hope, were bunched up together, looking to get out in some form of communication with my close friends and those who could relate.

The first thought that came through my mind – how can the world lose someone like Steve Jobs when we need substance, innovation and forward thinking more than ever?

But the world goes on.

I met Steve twice in the late 80′s, at a few ‘geek’ functions and conferences. All but for 1-2 minutes per each encounter – once to shake his hand and once to look into his eyes, and another time to simply stand beside him and listen. I didn’t have to really listen – just being next to him and looking at him was enough – his piercing smile, his energy, and his presence spoke a lot.

Steve was the shining light in design, innovation and technology – he was feared, admired and ridiculed in the 80′s and 90′s, and then was absolutely revered in 2000′s. His death is a jolt to many of us who are still looking for answers – in marketing, technology, management and leadership. This type of jolt will be remembered, and hopefully will be applied as an example of what to do better and how to focus in the future. And most importantly – how to deliver.

As a marketer and a former technology architect, I try to apply many ‘textbook’ examples or case studies from the industry to do the ‘right stuff’, yet, Steve’s new video or Apple’s latest ‘surprise’ announcement always defies conventional ‘marketing logic’ for me.

He didn’t believe in focus groups, and he didn’t think that ‘the customer is always right’.

“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.” – was his mantra throughout the years.

He always thought that ‘stealing ideas to make yours better’ was OK, and it is better to be a ‘pirate than to join a navy’. “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.” – was another one of his controversial remarks.

And yet he was a staunch supporter of anti-piracy laws.

I was a WinTel PC and Unix Workstation user for over 20 years and would always dismiss a Mac as a ‘toy’, a ‘school box’, an ‘artist eye candy’. Yet, after the announcement of the iPhone, I caved in – I bought a MacBook Pro and wanted to really understand what everyone was so ‘giddy’ about. After using the Mac for about 3 months, with ‘cloud’ and all, I finally got it.

I finally understood that for Steve, ‘marketing’ and ‘product development’ was not just a process of delivering great products – it was the product itself and how it changed our lives and our emotions. For him, branding was not just about visuals and great communications – it was about making products and delivering services that carried that branding forward and delighted you every day. It’s as if he programed his entire product family to carry his message and his passion forward on its own.

So I am hooked, and every time I will go back to other products, I will expect the same quality. I will expect the same level of integration, design, and passion. And I will expect the same from my partners, my team, and my rivals. And most importantly, I will do my best to deliver the same.

Steve’s death jolted me into thinking that you can’t really call it ‘marketing’ until you do exactly what he did. And as a great prize fighter, he exited the rink.

We will continue to wonder about the ‘next Steve Jobs’ and may come out empty-handed. It doesn’t really matter, because Steve did what very few could accomplish – he took his passion, his ideas, his relentless pursuit of quality, his ‘dictatorship’ and his quirkiness and focused on delivering a product that can stand up to his dreams in many ways.

He completed the circle and he delivered on the promise of his vision – something that many companies are still trying to do after decades and billions of dollars of investment. In the end, the lesson learned for marketers and technologists – it’s not enough to have a vision or good intentions; it’s not enough to build great teams and command great budgets; it’s not enough to produce great products.

It’s about completing the circle, delivering on the promise of the brand, and doing it over and over again. As for Steve – he set the bar for all of us in technology, business, marketing and government. It’s up to us to live up to his expectations.

Rest in Peace; as you will always be in our hearts as the shining beacon of hope!

In the wake of Google+, law firms are being forced to rethink their strategy. Attorneys are already growing a decent following on Facebook and Twitter, sharing the latest in legal news (as well as showing themselves as likable people). Small communities are popping up around such topics as accident injury, food poisoning, and toy recalls. The addition of Google+ gives the legal industry something new to think about.

The early adopters of Google+ will have to work hard to gain the trust of the social community and get into their circles. The best way to do this would be by developing and sharing fresh and exciting content, as well as engaging with others in the public stream.

It doesn’t just take great content. Growing a community in social media requires the careful use of ad words, engagement, and thoughtful design. A professional looking page still goes a long way in today’s competitive market. For an attorney, it’s also important to come across as a likeable person and not just another lawyer.  The occasional non-business status update and genuinely responding to others in the stream will make a lawyer seem more personable.

Sharing content across multiple social platforms will also increase a law firm’s chances of landing a client. It’s already been proven that Facebook users aren’t as likely to be Twitter users. Although, the majority of Twitter users are found to be active on Facebook. Through the use of Twitter chats, Facebook polls, blog posts and now Google+ huddles and sparks… attorneys have multiple ways to share what they have to offer, listen to their potential clients needs, and act accordingly.

However, Google+ isn’t for the casual social media user. It seems to have attracted those who are typically early adopters of technology. So if a law firm is looking to expand its reach in the social media community, being a part of the new platform will show they’re forward thinkers. And the upcoming addition of Google+ for businesses will make the social transition even easier.

Here are some new terms coined by Google+:

Circles:

These are groups sorted according to their relationship to the user. Family, Friends, Clients, and even People Who Annoy Me all have their place in Google+ Circles. Status updates and content sharing can be done publicly or can be limited to specific circles. This comes in handy when you’re talking about that crazy weekend in Vegas.

Sparks:

Sparks are content create based on the users interests. This comes in handy when it comes to sharing relevant content.

Huddles:

A huddle is essentially a group chat messenger. It allows you to communicate with users in various circles.

Hangouts:

Just like it sounds… a hangout is a video chat room for groups. Users can participate via video, voice, or text chat. Content such as a YouTube video can also be shared in a Hangout.

Many specialized industries will be jumping into Google+ in the days and weeks to come. Not only would Law Firms benefit from being so technically savvy… but the medical field and financial divisions would also do well by updating their social media strategies. Take my word for it. Better yet… shoot me a message (KellyL@Social2B.com) or a tweet (@Social2B) and I’ll help to train you or your enterprise for the next phase of your social media marketing. *Photo Credit Aaron Wood on Google+*

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You have a new follower on Twitter! Great! You’re expanding your readership and increasing your  online influence. Now what? How do you retain  Twitter followers once they’ve clicked “follow”? Many  new followers click “follow” and that’s the end of  them. There’s no engagement… no involvement  whatsoever.

New followers bring a new relationship and like any new relationship, it will need cultivating. Developing personal relationships with your followers will create a loyal community. Of course having a one on one conversation with each of your followers everyday isn’t feasible, but it is important to set aside a portion of your day each day to converse with some of them.

First, see who’s speaking to you. Check your @’s and respond to them accordingly. Taking time to respond to those who took the time to reach out to you will go a long way in your community building efforts.

Second, be a source of knowledge. Answer questions and be a helpful member of the Twitter community. If you show knowledge on your topic, your followers will continually come to you for answers. Beyond answering questions, share your insight. Sharing insight on your products and services in a helpful way, makes you an expert in your field. I didn’t say “the” expert, but an expert. And there’s something to say for a knowledgeable representative. Use your expertise as a way to educate and your follows will appreciate it.

Give back. Showing that your company is community-minded is a great way to get the backing of your social media followers. Find a like-minded charity and throw your support behind them. Get your followers involved by doing a fundraiser. Perhaps a portion of your sales will go to charity. Design a campaign that fits your brand and implement it as you would any promotion. Giving back will create new cause-minded followers and bring existing followers in closer.

Have a giveaway! I’m not big on giveaways… but doing one every once in a while is a fun and exciting way to keep your followers engaged. The giveaway doesn’t even need to be related to your product or service, but could be the hottest new gadget. A giveaway like this will draw attention. One of the most interesting contests I’ve seen, involved a picture of a jar of coins and bills. Each day, the brand gave a clue as to how much money was in the jar. Followers tweeted in their guesses until finally, someone guessed right on the nose. They won the jar of money (which ended up being a couple thousand dollars). I thought it was such a creative way to keep readers coming back.

Lastly, don’t make it all about you. Share articles and insights from others in related fields. This might sound like you’re shooting yourself in the foot, but really, you’re saying that you respect and agree with the opinions of others. Sharing information from others in your field also shows that you’re up to date on the  latest techniques. A company this isn’t afraid to share information from others will gain the respect of their competitors. It also shows confidence to your readers.

Everyone knows that clicking the “like” button on a company’s Facebook page shows that company is increasing its fan base. But what happens after the click? For me… it’s often just that. A click. I’m sure that I’m not alone. So how do brands turn a simple click into loyal relationship with consumers?

It all starts with engagement. If a brand can engage its audience… they’re on the right track. Being able to excite the fan base and get them to act is key in building a Facebook community. In order to get them to act, there must be an exciting call to action. Contests, polls, and general questions encourage a sense of community. They’ve already acknowledged that they like the brand, now’s their chance to share their opinion.

In addition to a call to action, in order to engage the audience, a brand must also put out worthwhile content. Posts that both inform and entertain readers are a must. So many brands today are just putting out fluff pieces. Sure, these pieces of content keep their page fresh, but audiences want something more. They want something they can relate to. A well written post can be shared again and again across Facebook by loyal community members. Give them something worth sharing.

Finally, loyal community members want to be rewarded. Companies that find a way to give back to their fans have a much more activity on their pages than brands who don’t engage. A simple “thank you” to fans when a certain milestone has been reached can go a long way.

“Thank you to all our readers who helped us reach 10,000. We couldn’t have done it without you and your input.”

A message like this will prompt those who have been around from the beginning to comment and be proud of the community they helped to build. Beyond words of thanks, giveaways are a nice way to show your community you’re happy to have them around. Brands might also consider a charity drive. Giving back always builds a sense of gratitude in people. Nothing builds community more than giving.

These are just some simple ideas that could be easily implemented with a dedicated team. Without a team willing to put the time in to keep the conversations going… it’s not going to work. Facebook is about people. It’s about relationships. No relationship grows without some cultivation. If your brand is looking to step up your Facebook efforts, be sure you have the proper team in place. Soon enough, your Facebook community will be going beyond the “like”.

By Ytzik Aranov, Managing Partner, Social2B

For those of you who’ve been through business school lectures on Michael Porter’s Value Chain Analysis this doesn’t come as news to you.  But when asked to implement social media practices, policies, platforms, tools, etc., in today’s corporation or enterprise, we throw out all of what we learned that makes the enterprise tick and elect to “surf” it through!

Attention – and I quote:

“Social Media (in the Enterprise) is a Business Process, not a channel, department, or vertical silo”.

End quote.

You heard it here!  Think about it.  Social media touches upon every department, every business process, every channel, every prospect / customer interaction, every investor, every supplier, in short, it touches the entire organization.

In today’s marketplace, social media and an enterprise’s’ online brand architecture and social media footprint is arguably, the most important business process affecting the entire Enterprise Value Chain.  Poor implementation of a solid online & social media platform strategy & tactics directly impacts a company’s ability to market, sell and extend its brand reach, globally.  Failure to effectively implement an integrated social media strategy & tactics across the entire Value Chain could potentially lead to lower revenues (read, shareholder value), slippage in market share, increased financial exposure, risk, and more

One of the most effective measurement techniques to measure enterprise social media effectiveness, both pre- and post-implementation, is to diagnose the “Social Media Maturity Index” (see graphic), which establishes a recognizable industry-specific metric with which to assess the social media value, influence, depth, and footprint of an enterprise’s value chain components – combining both departments and business processes.  Moreover, the social media maturity Index in its very essence is a barometer of how the value chain is capable of moving at the speed of (digital & social) business today.

So, when looking for added revenue stream, cost savings, internal value, constraints, and external interfaces with the world, then social media maturity acutely identifies the lack of, or plethora, of business excellence in sync with today’s pace of commerce.

OK, skeptics, How do we drill down into the Enterprise Value Chain and establish Social Value Chain Maturity & Scalability? Let’s break it apart into pieces.  Look at the following chart that defines touch points throughout selected departments throughout the enterprise, and their social media impacts.

The same goes for every other vertical silo, and, every business processes.  Each and every business process running across – horizontally – the enterprise has multiple social media touch points.

Social media maturity, coupled with an integrated online, SEO, SEM and Social Community Marketing strategy replaces one-way communication with dialogue. Participation by customers, suppliers, employees, the industry, the market, etc., and feedback from them all (!), must be listened to because it has the power to make or break your enterprise or enterprise function.  Social media tools allow us to observe the conversations, measure, monitor, track and quantify the online & social media reach and influence. It allows us to assess and re-assess the correct strategy & tactics from the bottom up to increase revenues, open new markets, capture greater market share, lower costs and in general, improve the bottom-line ROI.

So, what about ROI?

If done right — and you’ll have to come back for a later post on this subject — the Social Media Maturity Index is then mapped by those of you honored to be the “Keeper of the Social Keys” in the enterprise, to any existing enterprise Balanced Scorecard KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in use by the Executive suite (read CFO), in order to assess true ROI, Economic Value & shareholder value. And, by the way, to justify shifting dollars from traditional advertising / marketing into your online / social media marketing budget.

In Summary:

The value in executing a Social Media Maturity Index exercise, as the very first step prior to embarking on that “Journey to the Edge of the Social World”, includes, but by no means is limited to:

• Creating a more aligned and more cohesive internal organization (whether vertical silo or horizontal business process) involved with social media and its offshoots;
• Developing a cross-enterprise social media policy – let me guess, you’re thinking about it, while hundreds of employees across the value chain are uncontrollably blogging & Tweeting about the company without any filters – to manage the social media impact;
• Channeling the endless volume of Content across the enterprise that is not “curated”, re-purposed or managed effectively throughout the enterprise, thereby losing SEO and ranking power;
• Implementing a solid, instantaneous, Reputation Management process – what’s that? – more on that in another post …;
• Hiring – training – more targeted and experienced human resources to effectively channel the enterprise’s social media assets and better utilization of current ones;
• Mapping out a better-defined path to enterprise success by assessing the maturity of the organization and its readiness to embrace a new channel (SM) affecting the entire value chain – from customer service to distributor relations to marketing;
• Establishing a quantifiable and actionable ROI – well, we know what that means (Return-On-Ignoring, Return-on-I (me!), etc. – in short, how we justify the extra capital needed to implement targeted social media campaigns to accelerate products or services sales.

The Social Media Maturity Index provides an immediate snapshot of where every Value Chain component of the organization is today is with respect to social media & market acceleration and what can be expected in terms of performance based on the overall social media maturity of the enterprise. It also maps out where each Value Chain component is lacking and what can be done to accelerate it and better sync it to the other Value Chain components thereby creating a powerhouse enterprise that socially rocks!

By Alex Romanovich, Social2B

“No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else”. – Bill Joy, Cofounder, Sun Microsystems The word Crowdsourcing was coined by Jeff Howe of Wired Magazine, a portmanteau of the words ‘crowd’ and ‘outsourcing’. It is used to describe the phenomenon using group intelligence to solve problems and complete projects. A darling of Web 2.0, more and more companies are jumping on the crowdsourcing bandwagon, and even federal government agencies have begun to explore it, with the Federal Communications Commission crowdsourcing ideas on how to improve America’s broadband infrastructure.

The benefits of crowdsourcing are immense – not only does the crowdsourcing model have the potential to significantly reduce expenditure in the long term by not having to maintain permanent staff ‘on the bench’, it also allows companies to engage staff on a per-project basis, thus benefitting from having the people with the exact skills and expertise to fit each particular project. However, it can be a double-edged sword. The skills and expertise that are so easy (relatively) to capture by assembling a temporary, specialized workforce are also easily lost, and cooperation is often short term. ‘Crowdsourced’ projects also need to be managed carefully – when working with unknown entities, it is vital that they are managed properly to ensure the most positive outcome is reached. There is also a lack of stability. But in these days of financial turmoil, when even the most indispensible employee is worried about job security, we are naturally led to ask: is there such as thing as stability anymore?

Employees are fast becoming a liability for some corporations. As well as take-home salary, there are taxes, training, insurance costs, and so on, and companies are being forced to consider entirely new ways of working in order to survive, including open source and crowdsourcing models. But crowdsourcing is not just for startups – Google Summer of Code, an initiative which invites student programmers to compete for places on a scheme to develop open source projects for mentors, is probably one of the best known and successful examples of crowdsourcing.

Non-tech corporations are getting in on the act, too: household products giant Unilever has recently decided to drop its advertising agency of 16 years, Lowe, and will instead use the crowdsourcing platform IdeaBounty to source ideas for its future campaigns, by submitting a brief to the public and choosing the best among the ideas put forward. Naturally using Social Media to source talent, ideas and resources. Large corporations have always used occasional freelancers; crowdsourcing is merely an extension of this. If properly coordinated and planned with legal and human resources, the crowdsourced environment is a tremendous vehicle for communication – a way to massively increase knowledge, and by extension, the ability innovate and increase production.

Yochai Benkler, of Yale University, in his book The Wealth of Networks, sums it up extremely well: “The world is becoming too fast, too complex and too networked for any company to have all the answers inside”. Crowdsourcing as a concept is still in its infancy, and the company that is able to effectively harness its power now will without doubt be in a superior position to benefit in future. This concept is proof of why Social Media and Crowdsourcing are seemingly becoming synonymous. Many ideas, case studies, and even human resources are gathered and distributed using Social Media.

There are a number of examples where large brands and small start-ups are using ‘crowdsourced’ models to feature new products, solicit opinions on new features and improvements, and form groups of affinity, or professional social networks. Examples such as LinkedIn Groups, TheSocialCMO, The CMO Club, Social2B, Experts Exchange, and many others, provide fertile ground for thought leadership, member exchange, aggregation of expertise and ideas, and channels for distribution of content, thus ‘crowdsourcing’ content and user feedback.

The CMO Club, one of the fastest growing social professional networks of leading top marketers worldwide, is yet another example of a well integrated model, with ideas, research content, online and off-line conversation leading to an improvement in the quality of the marketing discipline. “I was really tired of low quality marketing conferences and ‘vendor-centric’ presentations and decided that leading marketing executives could do better”, stated Pete Krainik, Founder of The CMO Club.

“The crowdsourcing of ideas and conversations, leading to action and improvement is what we are all about.” And through my participation with The Social CMO Crew which continues to emerge as a thought leadership and digital marketing collective, again joint participation and action are leading to the creation of new marketing ideas, models, roles and channels. @JeffAshcroft who founded TheSocialCMO and The Social CMO Crew in August of 2009 shared the following. “As we migrate further into this realm of social collective communications and action, new models, performing well beyond the sum of the parts, will continue to emerge and evolve resulting in exponential increases in reach, quality, effectiveness and social impact.”

Marketing expertise group Social2B is an example of the crowdsourcing model on an international scale – with associates and experts based around the world, including the US, UK, Russia and Eastern Europe, and Argentina, they leverage a bank of multilingual, multicultural experts to call upon when needed. This new way of doing business allows even the smallest of companies to harness the power of a large group of specialized talent. The above entities demonstrate how Social Media and Crowdsourcing are integrally linked and at the same time how these new modes of organization are leading to an acceleration in the development and refinement of new ideas as well as the generation of new business models and positive social outcomes. You can listen to the BlogTalkRadio recording of the recent Crowdsourcing Interview with Alex Romanovich here:

By Alex Romanovich October 13th, 2009 Alex Romanovich is the Founder and CMO of Social2B ===== According to ENGAGEMENTdb’s recent “Ranking the Top 100 Global Brands” report on how deeply global brands are engaged in Social Marketing, big financial companies are not as much socially engaged as media, retail or technology companies of the same ranking. However, it does not mean that a financial brand cannot “socialize” itself. On the contrary, it shows that the financial services industry, often too closed, hindered by government regulations and by somewhat “conservative culture”, is getting more and more open to “socialization”. According to the same ENGAGEMENTdb’s report, even such giant conglomerates as Visa, ING, American Express, UBS, JP Morgan are, if not very active, are still quite responsive to the today’s demand of being social. Being most commonly engaged in six or fewer social channels, and having below-average engagement scores (as estimated by ENGAGEMENTdb), they have already started integrating social media into their marketing and customer communication strategy. Today many financial organizations (big and small) are launching B2B and B2C based social media initiatives depending on whether they want to attract interest and business from other financial institutions, or simply generate demand with consumers. In both cases social marketing can be extremely successful, provided the right approach has been chosen. With the help of Social Marketing B2C brands can solve such problems as:

• establishing newly found trust amongst a skeptical consumers base;
• making the right loan choices;
• allowing consumers to understand the perspective of the institutions;
• instilling fiscal responsibility and smarter spending habits;
• making stronger investment decisions;
• empowering consumers with tools for managing their assets;
• building community around common interests & brand affinities;
• understanding the broader context of financial culture and global market parity

For B2B brands this is a good opportunity to engage potential prospects, generate demand and leads by augmenting their marketing strategies with more interactive and conversational elements, allowing other businesses to listen, observe, engage, and participate. All in all, the art of being “social to the point” has in its basis deep understanding of the industry of the brand that should be promoted. Of course, a variety of means and solutions can be used within a Social Marketing campaign. But the challenge is to adjust those solutions to a particular brand. Trying to estimate opportunities of any social engagement in the particular industry requires  a necessity of a solid industry analysis. With correctly chosen and applied Social Marketing solutions, the financial services industry can engage in a powerful and proven way on both B2B and B2C levels. This becomes evident if we take a look at the recent success stories from Wells Fargo, H&R Block, Ernst & Young, Capital One, SmartyPig, American Express, Credit Mutuel, PENSCO, Equity Trust, Sterling Trust and some other financial brands, which have used social marketing incredibly well to not only create engagement but activate purchase intent. Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company, a diversified financial services company with operations around the world, providing retail, commercial and corporate banking services, sustains a high level of deep social engagement across multiple social media channels (including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc). However, the greatest case study to date is of what Wells Fargo has done with their blogs. They have 5 (!) different blogs, each designed for a certain category of readers – potential customers and businesses, existing clients, and just people. But the crown jewel of Well Fargo’s blogging activities is perhaps a virtual world called “Stagescoach Island Community”, a kind of a branded community which lets members learn and experience money management in the way of an interactive game. The blogs stand out for their live conversation and there are always people from inside and from outside to react to the conversation. H&R Block H&R Block, an American tax preparation company with over 22 million customers worldwide, has done quite a bit with blogs, virtual worlds, Facebook, and Social Media programs. However, they did most of ‘Twittering’ during tax time, when they quite successfully engaged in an online dialog by first monitoring keywords, and directly responding to members. Twitter during tax time was their most successfully implemented social media solution, because it was just to the point. It helped increase the company’s popularity, attract more customers as well as sustain trust. Ernst & Young Ernst & Young, one of the largest global providers of accounting services and one of the Big Four auditors, among marketing goals, also had definite objectives targeted at human resources. They engaged in social media to seek out new hires fresh out of college. For this purpose, they created a sponsored Facebook group where they have online dialogs with graduating students and even start the interview process online. This is a pretty smart solution, because Facebook is the right source to reach graduates and find appropriate candidates. So, in their case, Social Marketing is a good way to boost the company’s reputation as employer and find work force. SmartyPig SmartyPig is another story of big success, though different from the mentioned above examples. SmartyPig does not promote services; it promotes a product – free online banking application which helps users save money for particular goals. It seems that an online application cannot be more social than SmartyPig.  Users can invite friends and family to be a part of their saving process. Built on a Web 2.0 platform, SmartyPig impressively utilizes Facebook, widgets, social networking applications (including videos), Twitter and a specially designed community-powered support site.  Launched in 2008, Smarty Pig already has users in all 50 US states, over 4000 followers on Twitter and over 1900 fans in Facebook. Exactly for the reason that SmartyPig is so interactive, so informal and so engaging, it is such a big success. Each financial company, either big or small, which wants to go social, needs a social marketing campaign tailored to their particular brand. Whether you need to create a well branded community, or launch a series of blogs, or be actively engaged in social networking and present your brand in discussion forums – all efforts are distinct and individual. There is no way for a standard approach – however, there is always a necessity for a solid Social Marketing analysis and accurately selected marketing solutions.

July 24th, 2009

Kent Huffman is the CMO at BearCom Wireless. You can follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/KentHuffman

The Company

Greenlight360 describes itself as an “Internet television network” that will produce and air original episodic Internet TV and films. The startup is based in Boston and intends to provide a platform for emerging talent to gain exposure and monetize their art while providing great original television programming to their viewing audiences.

You may want to think of Greenlight360 as the next HBO or Showtime . . . but online.

The Challenge

With most startups, one of the main obstacles to success is the lack of brand awareness. Greenlight360 was no different.

Since it was to be primarily an online operation, Greenlight360 executives needed to create a buzz on the Internet. And they wanted to do it quickly. So they decided to focus on several hot social media platforms, including Twitter.

The Solution

Marci Reynolds, COO and VP of Sales & Marketing at Greenlight360, developed a carefully planned strategy to build a quality following on Twitter. Her approach began with creating “buyer personas”—detailed profiles of the targeted users—in order to accurately define the types of followers that Greenlight360 wanted to attract. Keeping those personas in mind, Reynolds identified a number of tweeters (using various tools such as TweepSearch.com, Twellow.com, and HootSuite.com), followed them, and read their tweets for several days.

She then began tweeting about topics that would be of interest to those same people, including publishing a variety of content written specifically for them. In addition to quality, relevant tweets, Reynolds ensured the content was sent on a regular basis: approximately 5-7 tweets each day. She also sent tweets at times where they would receive the most exposure, such as the coveted lunchtime slot: 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

The Results

Within 60 days, Greenlight360 had developed a loyal following of almost 600 quality people on Twitter and experienced a lift in Web site traffic originating from the content of the tweets and the company’s Twitter profile.

“I am very excited about the success we’ve experienced using Twitter. Our follower base is very targeted and continues to grow every day. Our content is re-tweeted on a regular basis. And, this past Friday, we had our highest number of #FollowFriday recommendations — five different Twitter users recommended us to their audiences,” said Reynolds. “Twitter has been a very effective tool in launching our new brand name online!”

“We have also learned a lot about our targeted audience through reading their tweets and understanding what content they find interesting and relevant,” Reynolds added. “We will continue to use Twitter as part of our pre-launch buzz strategy and to build momentum and television viewership post Web site launch.”

Kent Huffman, Advisory Associate at Social2B, said, “The process that Marci Reynolds developed and followed at Greenlight360 is identical to the process that I wrote about in my recent Social2B blog post. It’s straightforward and effective, and it can be applied to almost any situation on Twitter.”

Follow Marci Reynoldsand Greenlight360 on Twitter.

Follow Kent Huffman and Social2B on Twitter.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… CY: wait… I: wait… YCat: wait… C: wait…

By Kent Huffman.

June 15th, 2009

Kent Huffman is the CMO at BearCom Wireless. You can follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/KentHuffman

===

Twitter. It’s all the rage in the social media world these days. But how can you best leverage it for tangible business-to-business marketing purposes? One way is to build your own community within Twitter.

Several months ago, I became interested in Twitter when a colleague told me about his positive experiences with the popular social media tool and insisted that I check it out. After signing up for an account and reading a few tweets, I immediately saw its potential as a community development tool. Being a long-time B2B marketer, I decided to build a group of folks interested in marketing who could inspire and help each other grow professionally by sharing ideas and information. But I didn’t know exactly how to go about creating that community.

I ultimately decided to treat it as I would any other important marketing initiative—by first developing a well-defined strategy and a set of related tactics. Over the next couple of months, I created and then tweaked the strategy and honed the tactics through trial and error. I then boiled everything down to a seven-step process that I’m sharing with you here in hopes that you can use it to develop your own B2B community on Twitter.

Step One: Define Your Goals and Target Community

Before you launch your presence on Twitter, determine what specific goals and objectives you want to accomplish. Then parlay that into a methodical plan to build a community around that goal, including defining your target audience.

Step Two: Find and Follow Like-Minded Tweeters

Once you’ve set up a Twitter account, use www.Search.Twitter.com, www.Twellow.com, www.TweepSearch.com, www.TweetBeep.com, and similar tools to find other tweeters who share the same interests as you and would appear to make good members of your fledgling community. Then follow them.

Step Three: Read and Learn

For a week or two, read the tweets posted by those whom you are following and learn from them. Understand what their interests are and how they use Twitter to communicate with others. Note which tweets and tweeters are the most appealing to you and why.

Step Four: Create Effective, Compelling Tweets

When you’re ready to begin tweeting, first determine what topics you will write about. One of the most effective strategies is to position yourself as a subject matter expert in one or two areas. Make sure those topics directly relate to the community you’re trying to build. And take a thoughtful approach by writing clever, interesting tweets that are likely to be retweeted by others.

As is the case with pretty much everything on the Internet, content is king on Twitter. Build a strong foundation for your “Twitter brand” and give other tweeters a reason to follow you by adhering to these basic dos and don’ts when composing your tweets…

Do…

· Feature newsworthy items

· Divulge “inside information”

· Share original thoughts and ideas

· Participate in conversations

· Provide useful links

· Ask engaging questions

· Inject personality and humor

· Retweet when appropriate

Don’t…

· Discuss what you had for breakfast

· Tweet too frequently or infrequently

· Ignore questions or comments by other tweeters

· Try to promote your product or service in every tweet

Step Five: Develop Unique Content for Your Community

In addition to writing focused, compelling tweets, another important key to success in building a strong community on Twitter is to create special content that will be of interest to your followers. One of the most effective types of content enables the members of your community to easily find and interact with each other, such as lists of experts and leaders who tweet about subjects that directly pertain to your community. In my case, I developed a series of unique marketing-related lists:

· www.SystemicMarketing.com/top-cmos-on-twitter

· www.SystemicMarketing.com/top-marketing-book-authors-on-twitter

· www.SystemicMarketing.com/top-marketing-professors-on-twitter

Other types of content can be very effective as well, such as blog posts—where you can discuss specific subjects in more detail (such as the post you’re now reading)—and other online and offline resources related to your core topic(s).

By creating this content, you’re providing a forum for your community that enables its members to connect to others like them. As a result, you’ll develop a reputation as a knowledgeable facilitator who is more interested in giving than taking. That can be very powerful.

Step Six: Grow Relationships

As you expand your following on Twitter, you’ll naturally gravitate toward specific tweeters with whom you can most closely relate. Develop a closer relationship with them by publicly commenting on their tweets, retweeting them, and recommending them to your community, as well as privately engaging them in one-on-one conversations, both online and offline. Do whatever you can to help them without asking for anything in return.

Step Seven: Wash, Rinse, and Repeat

Once you’ve found your “Twitter rhythm,” continue to expand your community by growing your followers list, cleaning it up from time to time, and repeating steps two through six indefinitely. You’ll find that creating and participating in your community will be a very rewarding experience, not only for you, but everyone involved.

In the final analysis, building a B2B community on Twitter is about creating value in terms of content and relationships. Even more basic than that, it’s about giving, not taking. That’s really what will help keep your community healthy, active, and growing.

Read the Greenlight360 Case Study that describes how this process has been used to produce real, measurable results on Twitter.

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Kent Huffman is the CMO at BearCom Wireless. You can follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/KentHuffman.

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