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.

______________________________________________________

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.

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.

In January, I delivered three lunchtime workshops – open to the public – on the topic of social media.

These were presented by my employer, the National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) – a film and television training school based in Manitoba.

We’ve put together a highlights video showing the best bits from the sessions.

I cover a bunch of things beginning with my definition of social media. I talk about the importance of genuine communication online and why you would even bother to spend so much time working on all these social networking sites.

Credits: Four ways social media is changing business information from Mashable; Outposts graphic from ProBlogger.

I’m a huge fan of Adam Singer who runs a wonderful blog called The Future Buzz.

He recently put together a useful post about the future marketer’s skill set. I really love what he includes and wanted to share this with you.

Below I have only abbreviated Adam’s post. Please read the full post here: Tomorrow’s marketing skill set

1.  Writing skills are critical

2.  Meaningful insight into analytics/interpretation of data

3.  Nexus of marketing specializations

4.  Digital strategy development

5.  Leadership

6.  Not afraid to fail

7.  Always experimenting

8.  Understanding of tools/technologies/applications/programming languages

9.  Fresh thinking with content

10.  An understanding of how to orchestrate buzz

11.  They’ll be members of the media

12.  Content marketing will be second nature

13.  They will champion niche media over mass

14.  Understanding of the rules that govern groups

15.  Ability to tap power users and influencers

I’m about to deliver my final social media seminar in a series that I’ve designed for the National Screen Institute.

We’ve looked at Twitter and Facebook and this Wednesday I’ll tackle some of the other stuff that makes up a social media toolkit including blogging, RSS, FriendFeed, StumbleUpon and LinkedIn.

One message I’ve carried through these seminars is that social media is hard work. Bloody hard work.

I’ve been asked by seminar participants, ‘How much time should I devote to this stuff?’

And I’ve not been able to put a number on it. All I can say is work hard at it, be patient, consistent and you will eventually see results.

I think there is still a perception that having Twitter and Facebook accounts along with a handful of others is enough to tick the social media marketing box.

It isn’t.

You can’t do the social media thing half-heartedly.

You almost have to live it which means making it an intrinsic part of your everyday life.

This reminds me of something I recently heard …

Once upon a time we all had radio and TV came along. We had tapes and vinyl and CDs came along. We had VHS and Beta cassettes and DVD came along. People derided the new way. Soon the new way was the way. I think the same is true of the social web. It takes time for these behaviours to weave themselves into your life.

But I’m quite serious when I say social media is hard freakin’ work.

Making connections on the web is hard work.

Writing regular blog posts is hard work.

Keeping up three Twitter accounts is hard work.

Maintaining two Facebook accounts is hard work.

Delivering social media seminars is hard work.

But wait.

For me, hard work doesn’t mean ‘unenjoyable.’ It means I have to put my heart and soul into all that I do (and consequently sleep a lot at weekends!)

The social web and many of its parts are my passions.

Which is why I think social media isn’t necessarily for everyone.

If you don’t care enough, you’ll do a poor job of representing your company online.

If you’re gonna dive into this social media thing, do it with both feet and prepare for deep water.

Photo courtesy of ittybittiesforyou via a Creative Commons Licence

At the end of 2009 I committed to Project52 – a year long challenge to post new content to your blog every week.

As part of that I asked what you’d like to read about in 2010.

This post is a direct response to one of the suggested topics I received from my online pal and fellow Canadian blogger, Heather whose blog The Unexpected Twists and Turns we worked on together to revamp during ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge.

Heather wanted to learn more about using Facebook and StumbleUpon to increase traffic to her own blog.

Using Facebook

My number one rule for using Facebook to promote your blog or business is that you must provide added value.

Merely repeating what readers would find if they visited to your blog or website, and nothing more, is a turn off.

First you have choices to make. Will you be using a Facebook group, fan page or your own profile to promote your blog?

Networked Blogs

To ensure your blog posts are promoted on Facebook you should look at an application called Networked Blogs which will push new content from your blog to your Facebook profile.

This means your new blog posts will automatically appear in your Facebook stream. Although Networked Blogs is an excellent tool, using it is not. You may have to fiddle around a lot before figuring out it works.

So, let’s assume you’ve done this and your blog posts are being added to your Facebook account. Now what?

Establish your Facebook page as a go-to destination

You must establish yourself (your Facebook account/fan page or group) as a go-to place for information about a specific topic. If, like Heather, you are writing about your local neighbourhood then you should subscribe to other blogs and websites which provide information about where you live and what is happening there.

Then you can decide what it is you wish to publish as status updates on Facebook.

As well as reading the stuff about your local neighbourhood (and replace the word ‘neighbourhood’ with whatever your chosen industry is) you should establish a relationship with those sites. Leave comments, follow those folks on Twitter and Facebook. Create links with them. Build and nuture a relationship.

This works to benefit everyone:

• You help promote and share information created by others
• You demonstrate to the author of those sites and its readers that you have a shared interest
• You begin to build credibility

Nuturing relationships

Eventually some wonderful things will happen.

You will receive new Facebook friend requests from folks that have discovered you because you grew your presence online. These are new eyeballs for your blog.

The authors of those sites begin to see you as a genuine force and will begin to promote you by commenting on your blog or by sharing your posts on their Facebook.

As this network grows, others that you have friended on Facebook will ‘like’ your updates and leave Facebook comments thus drawing attention to you and your blog.

Do you see a common theme emerging here? The one that’s central to all ‘social media’ activity?

Relationships.

Building a following online, anywhere, is about give and take. You cannot expect to launch a blog and for hundreds or thousands of folks to flock to you overnight.

That recognition will only occur once you demonstrate to your peers that you a) exist; b) make yourself known; c) engage with like-minded folks online.

It’s hard work. It takes time.

Providing added value

At the start of this post I talked about ‘added value.’ This means publishing information on Facebook that your readers will not find you publishing elsewhere.

This is how I generally use the National Screen Institute Facebook fan page.

Of course, some information is repeated but I try to include links to cool stuff I’ve read and have not mentioned elsewhere.

Networking with others on Facebook

Connect with other like-minded folks on Facebook.

Find and join groups that cover similar topics to you. Contribute to those group pages by responding to their content and posting links to your own.

Ditto for fan pages.

Are there gurus and popular spokespeople in your industry? Find them on Facebook and establish a relationship.

Organising events, advertising

Heather, who is writing about a location, could use Facebook’s event feature to organise a get together in Montreal and have Facebook manage the RSVPs.

She could also use Facebook’s very targetted advertising feature to spread the word about her blog. You can build your ad on Facebook (thereby saving you the cost of hiring a designer) and set your own budget.

You can pinpoint your target audience down to the minutest detail.

These are just some of the ways Facebook can help create interest in you and your blog.

Now let’s look at StumbleUpon.

Using StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a website that recommends other sites for you to check out based on personal preferences you provide

I discovered Miss Britt through StumbleUpon.

While there are a number of different features on StumbleUpon, I primarily use it to do two things:

1) Click the ‘Stumble!’ button installed in my web browser in the hopes of discovering fabulous new sites to visit (see Miss Britt above).

2) Add my own recommended sites for others to ‘Stumble!’

The second action here has sent lots of traffic to my blog and the National Screen Institute’s website. The traffic comes in short bursts but it’s still significant. By adding my recommendations those sites then show up when others ‘Stumble!’

To do all this you must set up a StumbleUpon account.

Like Networked Blogs I didn’t find StumbleUpon particularly intuitive to use so it may take you a while to figure it all out.

Like most things on the internet, these strategies can take time to show results.

Be patient, sensible and give as well as take and you will soon see the benefits.