What is Inbound Marketing, You Ask?

If Inbound Marketing Was Easy….

If inbound marketing was easy, everyone would do it. For years, businesses have clung to the outbound marketing concept - cold calls, advertising, billboards, direct mail. You know what I’m talking about, you’re doing it today in your business and have been for years. But do you balance that work with inbound marketing? If you’re not familiar with the term, “inbound marketing,” I ask you this - are you familiar with search? With google? Do you know why some businesses rank higher in organic search than others? If you are, then inbound marketing will come easy to you. If not, hang tight, we’re going for a quick and fast ride!

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Tags: Facebook, inbound marketing, Linkedin, Minneapolis PR agency, YouTube

Is There A Right Way To Do Social Media?

Is there a right way to “do” social media? I suppose it’s no different than asking whether there’s a right way to “do” conversation and the answer is, probably not. However, there are socially acceptable ways to have a conversation just as there are socially acceptable ways to engage in social media. So then, it is also true that there are those in social media who are socially inept just as there are people who are socially inept in face to face situations.

The socially awkward, or inept, people online show themselves in many ways, you see them all the time in places like Facebook. They are the people whose self-promoting posts are always about themselves or they’ll relentlessly comment on your posts or conversations only to talk about themselves. If you’re wondering if you’re socially inept or awkward in social media -as a brand or as yourself take this litmus test:

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Tags: best practices on Facebook, Facebook, friends, public relations, social media, social media awkwardness

A Social Media Mistake: A Case Study of Online Customer Service

Social Media Misstep: A Case Study

In this relatively new age of social media marketing, so many businesses are finding their way. Some have catapulted their businesses into overnight successes, while others are plodding along trying to figure things out and then there are those who are still on the sideline. Nevertheless, it seems daily there are new case studies of both social media best practices and worst practices.

Recently, here in Minnesota, those of us in the PR and social media space witnessed a faux pas that reminded us of the power of online marketing. A Minneapolis-based, family owned, liquor and cheese shop, ran into a buzz saw of online public opinion that left customers irate and the company stuck on mute. This store, which claims to be the largest of its kind in the midwest, has been a one-stop shop destination for the biggest selections of wines, cheeses and beer.

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Tags: Beer, cheese shop, customer service, Facebook, Gary Vaynerchuk, liquor, Minneapolis, Minnesota, PR, public relations, social media, The Thank You Economy, Twitter, Wine Library TV

6 Reasons Why Twitter Will Outlast Facebook

I’m not really one for prognostication, especially where it concerns this frenetic digital world, but I made a prediction the other day that raised the eyebrow of a friend and it’s this:  Twitter will outlast Facebook. Now, for all of you who are Facebook addicts who find it impossible to unplug from your “FB” network of friends, fans and likes, not to fear. I’m not necessarily saying Twitter is better than Facebook. in my opinion there will always be a Facebook-like app out there that connects people, it’s just that it may be called something else like, oh say, Google Plus.

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Tags: Facebook, Minneapolis PR agencies, Minneapolis public relations, online marketing, storyteller, Twin Cities PR agencies, Twin Cities public relations, Twitter

What’s the Next Facebook?

We are in the early stages of understanding Google Plus, the company’s newest creation and the latest social application that is supposed to be the “next Facebook.”  Not to say that it won’t, because Google certainly has the horsepower to pull off such a thing, but it makes me pause to consider the long range future of online communities.

If you think about the start of Facebook, or go back even further to AOL, people came together in these communities to connect with friends and relatives or to get to know people. I don’t believe that people joined these communities so they could receive advertisements or “like” businesses. Rather, the marketing was a by-product of the communities - all these people in one “place” hanging out - surely they want to buy things. Right? In some cases, yes, in others, no. After all, what do Ford Motor Company, Skittles or Coca-Cola have anything to do with me reconnecting with high school classmates?

The flip side of this is the company perspective. Why should your business have to share valuable customer information with Facebook, which is what you do today if you’ve got a “Fan” page on Facebook. The answer is simple, they have the captive audience and you don’t, but will that always be the case? I see the day that businesses create their own social communities - away from Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn and perhaps Google Plus. Sure, it might be costly, but what if your business could create its own community on, what is today, your web site? You could promote whatever you want, talk to your customers directly and best of all, you’d never need to worry about someone outside your company changing the online “rules.”

Rather than sit around and wait for the “next Facebook,” perhaps we should ask ourselves how we can create the communities for ourselves and most importantly for our customers?

Ed Heil is the owner and president of StoryTeller Media & Communications an inbound marketing and public relations agency and video production company based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Ed blogs on topics related to inbound marketing, social media, media relations, news media, video production and crisis communications.

Tags: America Online, AOL, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Ford Motor Company, Google Plus, Minneapolis PR, Skittles, storyteller

Escaping Technology for a Simpler Life - Some day

I have a confession. There are days that all the technology, “geo” this and, IM that, cloud servers, followers, fans and FourSquare check-ins gets to be too much. We regularly speak with people to help them better understand the virtues of these technologies as they relate to PR and marketing, but every so often I’d like to make like “Alexander” (the character in the children’s book who had the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day) and move to Australia. Except, that really wouldn’t be leaving any of this behind, it would simply be the same thing in a different place.

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Tags: Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day, Australia, Facebook, Foursquare, Marketing, PR, social media revolution, Twitter

Favorite Social Media Tools

If you are like me, there are days when I feel completely overwhelmed at the amount of social media “content” that traverses the internet on any given day. I am not a self-proclaimed expert by any means but I feel like never have we experienced a time where there is more content at your disposal to become more proficient at whatever it is you are trying to accomplish.  I have come to the realization, however, that despite my appetite for learning, you can’t consume it all, you can’t know it all and you can’t apply it all. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is your social media strategy.

So, from time to time,  I will share with you my favorite finds that I stumble upon in my research that I hope will enlighten you on a topic or two.  I love to share when I find something I think is terrific!

If there is one social media community I am continually amazed by it’s Twitter!  I have come across so many fantastic Twitter tools but FOLLOWERWONK stands out in particular to me. By entering the keywords of any topic you are interested in, Twitterwonk will aggregate a population of Twitter users who have the same key words built into their Twitter profile.  A great way to connect with your targeted audience.   Very cool!

More and more, we are encouraging our clients to delve deeper into the world of Facebook contests and sweepstakes.  Like every brand trying to grow their fan base, we have found sweepstakes and contests as great enablers for helping grow their audience.  A favorite recent find for helping create contests is an online form builder called WUFOO.  They help you create contact forms, online surveys, and invitations so you can collect the data, registrations and online payments you need without writing a single line of code. Love it!

Finally, we have recently spent more time understanding what the BRIGHTCOVE video platform is all about. In case you are not familiar with Brightcove, they are a video platform provider that allows you to upload your videos, choose a player template, and publish your videos easily directly on your website.  I spent some time on their webinar and found the system to be extremely intuitive, flexible and affordable.  My favorite part of the platform is your videos are embedded directly on your website and the viewer does not have to leave your site to view on YouTube.  The social sharing functions are excellent as well.   We will be initiating our 30-day trial next week!

Let me know if you have a chance to check these services out.  I would love to know what you think!

Tags: Brightcove, contests, Facebook, Followerwonk, on-line form builder, sweepstakes, Twitter, video platform, Wufoo, YouTube

Are You Trustworthy?

Who do you trust? Do you trust the personal injury attorney selling his services on t.v.? Do you trust the special advertising section in your favorite magazine? Do you trust that the newspaper is giving you unbiased information? Do you trust that the television news reporter has the “facts straight” in his report? Do you trust strangers? Do you trust the timeshare sales person? Do you trust the print ad with the fine print? Do you trust the deal that’s just too good to be true? Do you trust your mechanic? Do you trust a commissioned sales rep? What makes someone trustworthy and what makes someone completely untrustworthy? Now think about your company’s presence in social media. Are you trustworthy?

Ed Heil is the owner and president of StoryTeller Media & Communications an inbound marketing and public relations agency and video production company based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Ed blogs on topics related to inbound marketing, social media, media relations, news media, video production and crisis communications.

Tags: agency, Ed Heil, Facebook, fundraising videos, Minneapolis, PR, storyteller, transparency, Trust, Twin Cities, Twitter

Business Etiquette on Facebook: Know Your Friends!

Could it be that the rules of engagement around social media are not yet defined?  I am quite confident that the recent social media “oops” I witnessed the other day is not an anomaly, and yes I think the landscape of social media political correctness will eventually sort itself out.

Here’s the background… For many months  I have had multiple meetings and conversations with a local non-profit (which will remain nameless)  suggesting possibilities for PR ideas around an upcoming event.  Just a few days ago, they had told me they were in the final stages of creating their vision for the video and would get back to me.  Little did I know that “their vision” meant going to a competitor!  So you can imagine my surprise when I read their Facebook update from the other day which was touting their excitement over wrapping up their video shoot for their pending event.

When you make an update whether it’s on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or any other social media community, please know you should conduct yourself in the same manner in which you would have a live conversation.  The conversation should be authentic, respectful and follow the same rules of etiquette as all other  conversations.  So to you “ABC non profit”, please know that as a professional rooted in the social media industry, that yes I do read your updates regularly so that as I consultant I am intimately aware of what is going on with your organization.  I would have even taken “Minnesota Nice” as a blow off rather than the blatant disregard of my time found worded on my Facebook feed.

Tags: Facebook, Linkedin, non profit, PR, Twitter

Mark Zuckerberg 2010 Person of the Year Validates Social Media

In case you missed the “big announcement” this morning on The Today Show, Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg is Time Magazine’s 2010 Person of the Year. Way to go, Mark even if the movie, “Social Network,” made you look less than sterling.

Nevertheless, when I heard the announcement this morning I was not surprised, but felt, in a way, legitimized. If you’ve been in the social media space for a while you may share my sentiments. For the last couple years or so we’ve been talking to our clients and prospects about social media including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. During that time, I’ve seen people look at me with great interest and also those with that grin that says, “you’re ‘B.S.ing’ me, aren’t you?” Over and over we towed the line and explained to anyone who would listen that a complete and total shift in communications is occurring right before our eyes. Even those who fell in line with us still questioned that basic belief.

So, today when Matt Lauer referred to the 26-year old Zuckerberg as an innovator who’s changed the way we communicate and when Richard Stengel of Time said Facebook is “effecting human nature like we’ve never seen,” I smiled. Just a little. Actually, it was more of a smirk, and then I began to wonder, what will the world of social media look like a year from now?

Tags: 2010, Bloomington, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Matt Lauer, Minneapolis, Person of the Year, Richard Stengel, storyteller, Time Magazine, Twitter, YouTube