Visibility Matters

Ten Core Elements of Facebook Marketing Success

Brittany Dorfner — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:19:11 +0000

Just behind Google, Facebook is the most trafficked website in the world, according to Alexa.com. With such powerful appeal, it’s important to consider Facebook in overall marketing plans. Facebook can be used to leverage and build upon your existing customer relationships through engaging content. Creating a Facebook page will expose your organization to fans’ networks, garnering more visibility and potentially new business.

During a recent webinar hosted by Mike Stelzner and Mari Smith, they shared nine case study examples of organizations with engaging Facebook pages. Taken from those case studies, here are 10 core elements of successful Facebook pages.

1. Create a strategy for your brand - By creating a strategy before building your page, you’ll be able to focus your efforts on the message you want to share, and how you’ll engage fans.

2. Create a custom tab to highlight products or services - Have you recently launched a new product or added a service to your business? Give your fans the most important details by creating a custom tab with specific information about the new product/service. Additionally, consider using this tab as your landing page so fans are immediately directed to it.

3. Ask fun, interesting questions to get fans talking - A Facebook page is a great way for your fans to see the “human face” behind your organization. Vary your questions between those that are company-focused and those that ask simple questions like, “What are your plans for the holiday weekend?”

4. Don’t just create a page, make it an experience - Fans won’t stay for long if you don’t provide interesting, engaging content. Make it easy for them to get involved.

5. Make it fun to keep fans coming back - Ask them to share success stories, or invite them to share photos using your product/service. Use those submissions to spotlight a new fan each week, or create a fun contest to generate buzz.

6. Add value - Don’t fill your page with updates solely about your product/service. Add tips on how to use it, or information on industry trends and updates.

7. Use video to make it interactive - A well-designed page with embedded video is extremely inviting to fans. Video not only enhances the visual elements on your page, but also helps to encourage fans to look around, coaxing them to spend more time on your page.

8. Take risks - Don’t spend all your time talking about your product/service - get a little personal. Ask questions that will spark chatter from and among your fans.

9. Spread passion about your brand or industry - Use your Facebook page as a platform to ignite excitement by sharing examples of great things being done in your industry, or interesting ways your product/service is being used.

10. Publish great content - Above all, valuable content is key to build a loyal following. Continue to grow your community by sharing helpful information that keeps fans coming back for more.

If you’ve created a Facebook page, have you already employed some of these tips? Would you add others to the list?

Social Media Success Summit - Part Four

Brittany Dorfner — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:54:49 +0000

The final post in this four-part series addresses the future of social media, as discussed during the Social Media Success Summit by Steve Rubel, SVP, Director of Insights for Edelman Digital. Since technologies are always evolving, Rubel suggested it’s wrong to ask what’s the next Twitter or Facebook. To illustrate his point, he shared a 2006 slide listing a variety of social media technologies, many of which no longer exist.

If you’re looking to learn more about social media, or you’re just getting your feet wet, Rubel recommends testing the technologies before executing a plan. It’s useful to talk to people who know a lot, or even a little, about social media to learn more about current trends, and to generate ideas for your organization’s optimal strategy. The key is to understand trends and evaluate their success before testing the technology.

In today’s world, we’re snacking all day long on content delivered by e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, etc., sorting through the clutter to choose what we read, listen to, and absorb. It’s essential that organizations have a good understanding of which strategies engage their audiences most effectively, and craft attention-grabbing messages to build a following.

To break through the everyday clutter, Rubel suggests building “digital embassies” - using your employees as ambassadors. Social networking shouldn’t be 100 percent of one person’s job, it’s more effective to use several employees to drive your organization’s digital visibility. Embrace multiplicity and diversity in messaging – consider how one community differs from another (e.g., Twitter vs. Facebook), and create the right message for each.

Finally, use your communities and networks to learn about your audience’s unmet needs, and use that information to help inform social media campaigns.

Technologies come and go, but social media is here to stay. How have you integrated social tools into your PR and marketing strategies? Have you found some to be more helpful than others?

Social Media Success Summit - Part Three

Brittany Dorfner — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:44:59 +0000

As noted in a previous post, some tech experts dub Foursquare as “the next Twitter.” During the Social Media Success Summit, Tristan Walker (@tristanwalker) of Foursquare and Andrew Mason (@andrewmason) of Groupon shared tips on how to bring satisfied customers repeatedly back to your business.

If you don’t know what Foursquare is, check out our post titled “Why You Should Check Into Foursquare.” By encouraging people to explore their cities and frequent local businesses, Foursquare has proved to be an effective tool in gaining customer information for businesses both large and small. Using the service, business owners can learn who is visiting, how often, during what time of day, etc., and leverage the information to increase sales and their customer base.

To illustrate this point, Walker cited the experiences of two small business owners:

Monique’s Chocolates - Running specials via Foursquare (e.g., if a customer bought one truffle and checked-in at the store, they received one truffle free), Monique’s saw 60+ promotion redemptions, while local newspaper ads garnered no results.

AJ Bombers - After learning how to successfully unlock the “Swarm” badge (50 or more people checked-in to a location at once), the restaurant chose to host a “Swarm Badge Party.” Within 13 minutes on the day of the party, 160 people had checked-in (typical daily average: ~30 customers), and 75 percent bought something off the menu during the party.

Building on this success, AJ Bombers now offers a free burger to the mayor (most frequent Foursquare visitor), and has seen a 30 percent increase in overall menu purchases.

Results vary, but these examples demonstrate the marketing potential of social media tools, and the prospect of a positive ROI.

Following Walker’s portion of the presentation, Mason described the idea behind Groupon – a site that uses subscribers’ social networks to reach a large group of potential customers over time – and how businesses have achieved more sales through the service.

Essentially an online coupon, Groupon features a daily deal on the best things to do, see, eat, and buy in a variety of cities across the U.S., Canada and Europe. In order to cash in your “Groupon”, the deal must be tipped by a set number of Groupon purchases. Once the deal is on and you’ve bought your Groupon, it will be sent via e-mail and expire six months from date of purchase.

For a business to have a featured deal, Groupon looks at the following:

- Best deal ever offered (required)

- Reviews (both online and in print)

- Overall popularity

- Price point

- Variety

Since a minimum number of people must buy for the offer to be valid, Groupon guarantees paying customers. These subscribers aren’t looking for “the perfect deal,” they’re looking for the perfect excuse to try something new. On average, a Groupon customer spends 60 percent more than the value of their Groupon.

In addition, it costs nothing to be featured on Groupon. They make money by taking a piece of each Groupon sold, so it’s a win-win situation when customers purchase your featured deal.

To learn more on using Groupon for business, visit www.grouponworks.com.

The growth of location-based social networking tools has made it possible for ventures such as Foursquare and Groupon to flourish. Have you utilized such sites as part of your online marketing and sales strategy? What new tools do you predict for the future?

Social Media Success Summit - Part Two

Brittany Dorfner — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:18:53 +0000

In my last post, I addressed the importance of setting goals when considering a social media campaign, and shared tips on how to monitor conversations, build your following and find potential customers via Twitter.

Moving away from implementation, today’s post focuses on Jason Falls’ (@JasonFalls) presentation “Five Ways to Measure Social Media Success,” zeroing in on how to measure social media efforts and identify the ROI.

So, you’ve finally gotten the C-Suite on board for your social media campaign, but now you have to prove it’s effective (and worth the organization’s time and money).

After establishing goals and selecting the tools, set measurable objectives and strategies as part of your campaign - how will you use the tools to achieve your goals? Potential strategies include:

– Develop an incentive to get people to follow you via Twitter, or to like your page on Facebook.

– Advertise your incentive.

– Reach out to people you know regarding your incentive, and invite them to link to your pages, effectively broadcasting your content across other networks.

– Create content that encourages a new follower/fan to come back.

With strategies in place, set realistic benchmarks against which to measure your campaign outcomes. Doing this in the beginning means you’ll have something to compare your results with later.

How you measure your social media efforts (or what you’re able to measure) is based on the purpose social media marketing serves for your organization - is it aiding in brand awareness, building community, providing customer service, allowing for research & development, offering direct sales opportunities? Defining the purpose will help define your measurement strategies.

If you’re using social media for any of these reasons, learn to measure your effectiveness against the following goals:

– Increased awareness/reach (using focus groups and surveys)

– Positive enagagement/conversations (via social media monitoring through tools used or other services like Filtrbox)

– Growth of online community (track number of followers, fans, subscribers)

– Generation of new product ideas; improved product features/service lines

– Improved conversion rates (leads vs. clients)

After you’ve determined how best to measure your goals, continue to track them to evaluate your social media efforts.

If you’ve already implemented social media in your overall marketing strategy, have you identified your goals and benchmarks? If so, have you succeeded in reaching them?

Social Media Success Summit - Part One

Brittany Dorfner — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:11:26 +0000

In May, I was an online participant in the 2010 Social Media Success Summit (#smss10). Over the course of the Summit, I sat in on sessions that covered topics useful for organizations at every stage of social media use. I’ll summarize some of these in four posts that address beginners (using tools like Twitter and Facebook) and intermediate users (introducing Foursquare and Groupon), metrics, and the future of social media.

The first post focuses on tips from Guy Kawasaki’s (@GuyKawasaki) keynote presentation: “Using Twitter as a Marketing Weapon.” When considering a social media campaign, the first step is to define your goals. What are you trying to achieve? Are you trying to build brand awareness, or improve customer service? Do you want to learn more about your key influencers, and build better relationships with those influencers through engagement?

With goals established, determine which networks will best help you achieve them. Identifying two or three key social networks will make your efforts more powerful; joining too many will diminish your engagement. Successful network management allows you to follow key audience(s), monitor their conversations, and engage the thought leaders influencing the market.

From my experience, I suggest using Twitter and/or Facebook to kick off your social media campaign, as they provide the best connection to online conversations. Once you’ve gained momentum (and a following) using these platforms, start experimenting with other tools like YouTube or Foursquare.

If you’re new to Twitter, here are a few tips from Kawasaki’s presentation:

1) Find out what people are saying about your organization/brand online. Twitter Search is a great way to track the conversations in real-time. Go to search.twitter.com and enter your organization, brand, or Twitter handle to monitor what people are saying about you. Bookmark the RSS feed for your search results to monitor the feed daily without having to re-visit the site.

2) Increase your list of followers by creating tweets with useful, interesting information that include links. Studies show that updates are more likely to be retweeted when they include links. In addition, tap into resources like Alltop and Twello, and search by category (e.g., education.alltop.com) for more followers.

3) Use Advanced Search to prospect for potential leads. For example, if you’re a publisher of eBooks looking to increase your business locally, use Advanced Search to monitor conversations regarding eBooks within a pre-determined distance of your location (e.g., eBooks near:Milwaukee within:25 mi).

These are just a few ways to utilize Twitter, a microblogging tool that has become vital to many organizations’ marketing efforts. Are you using Twitter or similar tools? If so, have you found the right balance of engagement to meet your goals?

The Life and Death of Web 2.0

Emily Embury — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:45:04 +0000

Edublogger Adam Bellow held a memorial service for the term “Web 2.0″ at the 2010 ISTE Conference as part of his session titled eduTecher’s 10 Web Tools To Make Your Classroom Rock. In support of his effort to “bury the term once and for all,” Adam contributed this guest post to summarize his ISTE presentation for our readers.

An Abridged History of “Web 2.0″

The term “Web 2.0″ was first coined in 1999, more than ten years ago. A lot has happened since then. For instance, we were introduced to a little Web company named “Google.” To think of it another way - ”Web 2.0″ was coined before the first iPod was introduced. However, while the term was first kicked around in 1999, it wasn’t until 2003-04 that “Web 2.0″ took on its current meaning and gained popularity.

When originally coined, the term meant something because the predominant number of websites simply informed. Company Web pages, and basic information tools such as dictionaries and reference sites, provided data and static information with minimal user interaction (social or otherwise). These “read-only” websites came to be known by the moniker “Web 1.0.”

In the beginning, “Web 2.0″ was cool. It was the new buzzword. Unfortunately, it’s still lingering with us today. The “2.0″ signified that there was a distinct and definable difference between new interactive websites and those that came before. That’s fine. Initially this idea makes sense. For a few months, or even a year, we can have a shiny new name to define a changing medium.

But today’s Web is almost entirely interactive or social in some way. Why continue to use a term that distinguishes itself from the predecessor if the predecessor no longer needs to be differentiated from (see example of “Coke II” or “New Coke). Most of the static sites from years ago now offer a degree of social interaction - at the very least you can add comments or share content.

The Web has evolved. The medium is still very much the same, but its use has changed. It’s meaningless to call it “Web 2.0″ to designate it as different if the term doesn’t explain what the difference is (see example of “Cave-People” versus People).

Well, We Have to Call it Something…

If not “Web 2.0,” then what? To find out Adam’s suggestion, see the full-length version of The Life and Death of “Web 2.0″ available through Scribd.

For more from Adam, view this Visibility Matters blog post: “The Tech Commandments.”

Adam Bellow is the director of educational technology for the College Board Schools. In addition, he is founder and president of eduTecher, a free website that helps educators integrate technology effectively into the classroom. eduTecher offers links to hundreds of web tools and sites, and provides information on how these tools may be used in the classroom. A free eduTecher iPhone application is available for download as well.

Personalized Learning and the Five Monkeys

Sandy Fash — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:03:03 +0000

What a successful ISTE 2010 in Denver! Reflecting on that week, we learned about a number of exciting new initiatives, trends, product launches, and more, emanating from the conference and the trade show floor.

One of the most interesting sessions we attended was a Feedback Forum hosted by the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) and the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) on Tuesday morning. The two organizations hold Feedback Forums at several conferences throughout the year, giving vendors the opportunity to hear directly from educators and administrators about various topics.

This forum focused on personalized learning, and it was fascinating to hear the perspectives of the ten panelists. The general consensus was that if we compare our current educational system to the business world, we are using a mass production model to deliver education, and we need to move to a system of mass customization.

Where differentiated learning relies on teachers to be the primary instruction-givers, personalized learning draws the student into the learning process through engagement and interest-focused activities. Panelists agreed a paradigm shift was needed – reforming teacher-led instruction practices to emphasize student-focused learning.

Later that day, we had the opportunity to connect with our good friend, William Zaggle, president of GlobalScholar, who shared a story that reminded us of the earlier forum. Have you ever heard the story of the five monkeys?

Five monkeys were placed in a cage where bananas hung from the ceiling. Bananas being a favorite food, the monkeys clambered up the stairs placed in the center of the cage to reach the bananas. To their chagrin, each time they attempted to grab a banana, they were squirted with water. Over time, the monkeys decided the bananas were not worth the hassle. Then, one monkey was replaced with a new monkey. Realizing this cage showcased a beautiful bunch of bananas, the new monkey attempted to climb the stairs to reach them. Unfortunately, on his ascent, the remaining four monkeys grabbed him and pulled him back to the ground. This new monkey also decided the bananas weren’t worth the trouble. One by one, the original five monkeys were replaced with new monkeys – monkeys who had never been sprayed with water – and none of the new monkeys would risk climbing the stairs to get the coveted bananas.

This interesting anecdote illustrates why our educational system has remained the same for hundreds of years: we believe in what tradition tells us is true. Zaggle’s point echoed a comment from one of the Feedback Forum’s panelists: although we have leveraged the teacher-led instruction model in the past, we need to question its efficacy as times change. Personalized learning may be unchartered territory for many K-12 institutions, but we’ll never know if water will be sprayed unless we are willing to rise to the challenge.

And Our Foursquare Winner Is …

Brittany Dorfner — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 06:00:21 +0000

Kevin Hogan of Tech & Learning

Back from ISTE 2010, we’ve determined the winner of our Foursquare contest (mentioned in an earlier post, “Why You Should Check Into Foursquare” ). That signal honor goes to Kevin Hogan, editorial director of Tech & Learning! Kevin managed to check in more times than anyone else, earning him the prestigious title of ”Mayor” of CB&A’s Media Central at ISTE.

As our winner, Kevin will receive a $25 Groupon gift card to use on a daily deal of his choice.

Thanks to all who participated in Media Central at ISTE 2010, and to those who checked in to our Foursquare venue!

ISTE 2010: Exploring Excellence

Emily Embury — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 05:30:14 +0000

The CB&A team has traveled to Denver for ISTE 2010 – the conference formerly known as NECC. The theme of this year’s most comprehensive educational technology event is Exploring Excellence. Nearly 20,000 teachers, technology coordinators, library media specialists, administrators, policy makers, industry representatives, and students from around the globe have gathered in the Mile-High City.

Whether you’re attending the conference in person or virtually, bookmark www.isteconnects.org or follow ISTE Connects on Twitter for the latest news, events and commentary from ISTE. In addition, follow Charlene Blohm, Kristen Plemon, Sandy Fash, and Emily Embury on Twitter as they tweet daily updates of interesting articles, client news and helpful tips. Also be sure to follow CB&A at CBlohmAssoc, led by Brittany Dorfner.

News from clients exhibiting at the conference…

Califone (Booth #1189) Providing all students the opportunity to clearly hear their teachers and audiovisual media in the classroom, Califone showcases its upgrade Infrared Classroom Audio System as well as the company’s new Assistive Listening System. For more information, visit www.califone.com.

Discovery Education (Booth #628) Discovery Education announces new agreements with several organizations, including BBC, Smarterville/Reading Rainbow and CBS News, to further expand the content libraries of the company’s curricular services. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/aDFO67.

ePals (Booth #1478) ePals highlights 11 educators from around the world who were named winners of the company’s 2010 Teacher Ambassador Contest. These winners were chosen based on their innovative use of the ePals Global Community across the curriculum. For more information, visit www.epals.com.

Funds For Learning (Booth #1532) Funds For Learning announces the latest release of E-rate Manager, a web-based tool used for assistance with E-rate funding requests and commitments, offering improved features to enhance the user experience. For more information, visit www.fundsforlearning.com.

GlobalScholar (Booth #554) GlobalScholar highlights several U.S. districts that use the Pinnacle Suite of products to provide administrators and educators the data and resources they need to inform instructional decisions and improve student achievement. For more information, visit www.globalscholar.com.

Gradecam (Booth #1384) When paired with a web or document camera, GradeCam Online allows teachers to scan and grade multiple-choice tests and other assignments instantly, helping to ease a time-consuming administrative burden. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/dnOgod.

Lightspeed Systems (Booth #580) Nearly 800 schools are planning to implement My Big Campus from Lightspeed Systems in the upcoming school year to enable educators and students to collaborate and share appropriate online resources safely and securely. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/arRzPM.

PBS Teachers (Booth #948) PBS offers standards-based teaching activities, lesson plans, on-demand video assets, and interactive games and simulations through its Web portal for preK-12 educators, pbsteachers.org. PBS has released several new mobile apps to enhance student learning anytime, anywhere. For more information, visit http://pbskids.org/mobile.

PBS TeacherLine (Booth #948) With the surge of open technology use among educational institutions, PBS TeacherLine has converted to Moodle for its online course management system. The conversion provides schools with more flexibility in licensing, customizing and delivering professional development to teachers. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/cZ2Prm.

netTrekker (Booth #884) netTrekker is launching a new version of its search tool, named “netTrekker Search,” to provide users with a personalized and productive search experience. Users can customize home pages and search results based on their needs. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/csUtag.

STI (Booth #437) STI unveils Ready, Set, Go!, a customized program of professional development and coaching that supports schools in creating a data-informed culture to increase teacher effectiveness and student achievement. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/bZe1tW.

And in other news this week…

SIIA - SIIA announces the results of the organization’s annual Vision K-2 Survey during a press conference for media, industry VIPS and members. In addition, the organization highlights its 2010 Trends Report for Education Technology. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/b2xfi5.

Shmoop - Shmoop announces its public beta test of Shmoop Economics, a free online resource that uses humor, current events, pop culture references, and games to capture student interest in economics. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/9TDem8.

For more news related to ISTE, visit these links:

CB&A ISTE news page: http://bit.ly/ISTE10

CBlohmAssoc YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/CBA_YT

CB&A Facebook page: http://bit.ly/CBA_FB

Flags and Bridges

Sandy Fash — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 21:41:09 +0000

With ISTE 2010 right around the corner, it may be a good idea to brush up on your media training skills. Whether you have meetings already set up with members of the education trade press, or you just want to be prepared in case someone stops by your booth for a quick interview, it can’t hurt to review the basics.

Handling tough media meetings, or any interview for that matter, can be uncomfortable even for the most veteran company spokespersons. Beyond remembering to stay calm and professional, however, there are a few tricks that can help you stay on message while still answering the reporter’s more abrasive or probing questions.

The real key to handling tough media meetings is realizing that you are always in control. Using your verbal prowess, you can focus the discussion on what you want to talk about. There are two techniques that can help when it comes to answering interview questions – transitional phrases known as “flags” and “bridges.”

Flags

You may say a lot of things during a meeting, but to emphasize the points that you truly want to get across, you will want to use “flags.” Flags are verbal signals that cue the reporter, alerting him or her to pay close attention because you are going to saying something important. When you are delivering one of your key messages, practice using flags such as:

The most important point to remember is…
Let me tell you how it works…
In fact…
Let me give you an example…
The real issue here is…
What matters most to educators today is…
Educators always tell us…
It boils down to this…
Simply put…
The truly critical issue is…
Here is what I want people to know…
There are three reasons for that. The first is…
The bottom line is…
Here is a fact for you…
If you take away one thing from our discussion today, it should be this…

Bridges

Political debates provide a perfect example of a skill long practiced and perfected by public speakers: the ability to answer (or get out of answering) the really tough questions. No matter what difficult questions are thrown your way during a challenging situation, you can always avoid the question and get back to your key talking points by using a verbal technique known as a “bridge.” Bridges are phrases that help you transition from the reporter’s question back to the message you want the reporter to hear:

I don’t know, but let me tell what I do know…
That’s important, but the truly critical question is…
That’s one way to look at the issue, but think about it this way…
The answer is no, we’re not doing that, but let me tell what we are doing…
I don’t know what they [competitors] do, but let me tell you what our philosophy is. Based on our years of experience, we…
The facts are…
From my perspective…
I’ve heard that, too, but the real focus should be…
Here’s an even tougher question…
If I may, let me pick a more important point…
The reality for today’s educators is…
Let’s talk about something I’m even more familiar with…
Opinions can differ, but what I believe is…
Let me tell you what our philosophy is…
The question should be…
What concerns me even more is…
What’s more important is…

Practice these phrases so they become second nature. These techniques work not only during difficult situations and crises, but also in media meetings under “normal” conditions.