Social media marketing | Liz Hover's Diary of a Web Gal

This post was written by Ian McCausland.

He’s a super talented Canadian photographer who I’ve know for a few years now. I’ve always admired his craft but was totally impressed when a message about ‘Foto Friday’ landed in my inbox a while back.

Ian decided to host Facebook Foto Friday. He would essentially be giving away a photo to anyone that turned up at his studio on the given date.

The catch?

The photo had to be used on all social networks.

Genius!

Of course I turned up with my husband and – obviously – I asked Ian to write about the whole thing. Why? Because Ian runs one of the first Winnipeg businesses I’ve seen using social media to effectively market his business. More than that. Ian absolutely embraced and understood the value in doing this. Golden rule of marketing: give before you take.

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For years before any of this social media stuff – before the internet even – I’ve enjoyed gifting my work, usually to clients.

Clients who have kids get free baby portraits, for example. Or if clients wanted to enter their own design work in competitions, I’d shoot it for them. With the move to digital, it’s been even easier to gift my work.

Since Facebook, it’s been great to watch people respond to my work.

Whenever a portrait I’ve done is used on profile shots, people ask “who did this?” Clients who stand in for me while I set up the lighting, before the impatient CEO arrives, ask for the shot to be sent to them only for it to appear the next day as their profile shot!

Meanwhile a good portion of my 700+ friends on Facebook continue to use the worst photos imaginable as their profile shots.

Rather than waste time on creating a “fan” page for my work, I wanted to find a way for people to value my friendship on Facebook. Some of those friends were mere connections I had yet to meet face to face.

What better way than to give them amazing looking profile shots?

So an invite to the first “Facebook Foto Friday” event was sent. This is what I wrote:

My first ever Facebook Foto Friday

What is it?
It’s a opportunity for you to get a new Facebook profile photo. For Free. It’s only open to my Facebook friends as of now.

Why?
I dunno, thought it would be a fun opportunity to meet with some friends, and ensure everyone looks good on Facebook.

Whats the catch?
Simple stuff, really:
- Only use the image for profiles on social networks, Facebook, Twitter,Flickr, etc.
- Please don’t crop out my logo, and a credit would be nice.

How’s it gonna go down?
Drop by the studio between the times listed. Feel free to bring a few different changes of clothing or props. Please no guests, animals, children,etc. Keep it simple! We’ll take a few snaps, and one image will be selected and sent to you big enough to use as your profile image.

What if I want more than one?
Hmmm, well we’ll have to talk about that if that’s the case.

What if I can’t make it?
Don’t worry, I might do this again, if it turns out to be fun!

I have no idea why, but I cringed when I sent the invite. I felt nervous and scared to do this.

To give away what you do, the basis of your business for free, in any form is a scary thing. This was new territory for me and I had no clue what would happen.

Would all 700 friends show up? Would no one show up?

Fortunately right away my fears were dashed with the overwhelming response.

People seemed impressed that I felt strongly about their profile images that I would do it for free. Even people who weren’t able to make it still expressed their gratitude. The power in the gift doesn’t even rely on anyone taking you up on the offer. Over the next few weeks I reminded people with my status updates of the event. People who weren’t my friends on Facebook, but were on Twitter were asking if they could come anyway.

The day of the event, we had approximately 40 people show up.

It became not only a photo shoot but a networking event. Rather than mingle in the waiting area as I intended, everyone hung out in the studio to encourage each other, egg each on, and enjoy the antics.

Some people brought props, some sat for a photo when they hadn’t planned on it, some just hung out and chatted. Jamie and Lisanne of BlinkWorks shot a behind the scenes video which in turn, had people interested in their business.

Facebook Friday – Ian McCausland from BlinkWorks -James Swirsky on Vimeo.

For me the real pay off was watching the reactions and all over Facebook as everyone changed their profile pictures. For the last few days, the comments have been constant, the new friends adds about three to four a day, and the amount of goodwill generated is priceless. I will probably do another one down the road, Twitter Tuesday anyone?

Ian McCausland is a commercial photographer in Winnipeg Manitoba. He’s embraced the social aspect of the internet since 1992, before the web! (Check his URL. This man bought up the ian.ca domain before folks even knew what domains were). Find Ian on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.

Thanks to the excellent Social Media Guide I just came across this. Sound advice from Twitter users.

I’m at it again.

I’ll be doing two social media workshops in Winnipeg very soon. I love this stuff and hope to see you there.

- April 8, The Delta Winnipeg – International Association of Business Communicators / IABC (Manitoba chapter). Full details in the link.

- April 13, Aqua Books – Winnipeg Girl Geek Dinners (email me if you’re coming).  I’ll be co-presenting this one with my pal Polly Washburn.

I’ll be giving practical examples of social media that you can put into practice immediately (or email me if you’re stuck). I hate jargon; fluff; nonsense. I like getting to the point.

This weekend I whipped up a post for One Degree about blogging.

And I’d love you to read it if you’ve even remotely considered blogging and quickly swept the idea away.

What’s One Degree? It’s a website for Canadian marketers like me. I tweet for One Degree.

Thanks to Peter Mosely (the boss at One Degree) for asking me to write the post.

(BTW: I’m cool with punctuation but my headline font isn’t. It doesn’t have any apostrophes).

Today I mastered the art of Facebook markup language.

What on earth is Facebook markup language? It’s the web coding used by Facebook that allows fan page administrators to add fun stuff to their pages such as images, additional tabs and more.

I’ve battled with it for several years. It’s only after getting a better grasp of HTML that I was able to do this.

I think it’s fair to say that there isn’t a week that goes by when I don’t achieve some kind of personal goal like this.

I read all the time.

I wake up most mornings excited to go to work.

I don’t have a degree.

At school my favourite subjects were history and communications studies. I excelled at them.

I did go to university but I was a little older than most in my year because I had to re-take courses and exams.

I left after six months. I was bored rigid. My major was women’s studies with communications and sociology.

I’m 35 and until three years ago I regretted not completing my degree.

At that time I got very lucky. I found my passion – a passion that I was able to experience in my day job at the National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) where I’m the digital media manager.

I manage the NSI Online Short Film Festival. I commission content for the NSI Online Industry Centre. I also produce content myself.

I manage NSI’s online spaces – I’m the voice of Twitter, Facebook and all the other online places you’ll find NSI. I deliver social media workshops in Winnipeg.

Why does this excite me more than getting a degree or propell me into the office every day?

Because I live my life on an ‘acclerated learning curve’ to coin the phrase from Adam Singer’s recent post on Future Buzz.

I’m entirely self-taught.

I’m hungry for information like you wouldn’t believe.

I spend a large part of my spare time learning. Learning about the internet. Learning about anything I can get my hands on that interests me.

Nobody made me do this. And nobody told me to do this. It’s just the way I choose to live.

In his post, Adam says, ‘You know nothing.’

I think that’s my motivator. I have a perpetual appetite for knowing as much as I can. And as soon as I do, more comes along.

If you aren’t happy in your job or feeling unfufiled I urge you to read Adam’s post – one of the most important posts I’ve read in a very long time.

Yes, it’s true, most people don’t live like this. But they should.

I feel extremely lucky to be one of them.

With that self-recognition I’ve been able to pay it forward.

My learning doesn’t start and stop with me. I’ve travelled to Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary to deliver workshops on social media. For me, that is the ultimate fulfilment.

Not only am I learning like crazy but I’m trying my hardest to teach others.

What purpose does knowledge serve if it sits inside one person’s head?

So if you’re scratching your own head wondering why your life seems incomplete, please remember that a passion for learning can be vital to your success.

Photo courtesy of ittybittiesforyou via a Creative Commons Licence

There’s no piece of paper that says you’re a marketer.

Well, a Bachelor of Commerce, but let’s not be so literal.

We come from all kinds of backgrounds. Some come up through the creative side, writing or designing ads. Some are business school grads.

Because of this diversity and lack of oversight, you also get your layer of pretenders without much practical experience.

Social media marketing and the self-branding smokescreen of virtual life are bringing such self-styled gurus out of the woodwork, with thousands of “social experts” clamouring for attention.

This is really annoying to some people, though I think personal hubris is a quality of stars and that people with real ideas deserve a chance, however “proletarian” their roots. And anyway, the lack of official permission makes for an exciting Wild West meritocracy, in all stripes of marketing.

Though there are no hard and fast qualifications to be a marketer, there are many knowledge and skill sets that are darn useful when it comes to social media marketing.

Let’s take a look at the qualities that shine in the online persuasion space. All definitions from Dictionary.com.

Marketing (mar’ki-ting)

The act or process of buying and selling in a market.

Well that’s pretty interesting right there. Selling is a component of marketing, but so is buying. Marketers are consumers too. Put your customer hat on and see how your social media efforts look.

Communication (kuh-myoo-ni-key-shuhn)

The imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.

Hey, there’s a pretty broad spectrum there. Are you a great talker with a big smile? Make a video! Is visual language your thing? Design it without words. Use your strengths to convey your message.

Strategic thinking (struh-tee-jik thing-king)

A plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result.

Believe it or not, goals were not big in early social media. Everyone just set out to make friends without setting up metrics. How do you know you’re there if you don’t know where you’re going?

Psychology (sahy-kol-uh-jee)

The science of human behaviour.

Social media is about interacting with … people! People have a host of very easy to recognize (and manipulate, not that marketers ever do that) motivations. Know when to stroke egos, suggest inclusion, and foster tribalism.

Sociology (soh-see-ol-uh-jee)

The science of the fundamental laws of social relations.

Gee, what could be more useful to a community builder? Understand the interaction of content producers, joiners, lurkers, the people who comment and the people who brandvocate for you. Give them what they need to do what they want to do.

It comes down to understanding people.

Marketers are people who venture into the market – and let that conjure up a big ole’ funky flea market, rife with vintage delights, quirky gems and stuff you’ve never seen before, all fitting together in unexpected ways – and fulfill people’s needs.

If you’re useful, friendy, and facilitate people’s goals in the online space, hey … you’re a social media marketer!

Contributed by the wonderful Erica Glasier.

Erica makes things (including the illustration with this post) and writes things.

She also tweets for Tactica Interactive Communications, a Winnipeg-based interactive agency.