Written & Drawn by Jeff Burkholder.

See previous installments of The Social Life of Frank & Linh.

The Social Life of Frank & Linh: Those Pesky Online Reviews originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on February 5, 2012.

One of the big draws of the Super Bowl for many are the commercials. This is the one time of year that many companies pull out all the stops (and the ad dollars) and try to “wow” us.

Many of those ads, or even teasers, are already available online, but there will still be some surprises. You’ll get to see everyone from Jerry Seinfeld and Matthew Broderick to Apollo Anton Ohno and Will Arnett. There will be chimps, polar bears, and lots of dogs. And of course, there will be skin.

Here are just a few of my early favorites, though you can see many more of the ads from this year’s Super Bowl here and here.

This one from Acura features Jerry Seinfeld, and a few surprises:

I think this one is pretty funny as a parody, particularly because I’ve never heard of this product before:

And then it’s time for Honda to do some reminiscing with…Bueller? Bueller?

Hyundai also tips its hat to the cinema in this one:

And since we’re on the theme of movies (and movie themes), do you remember VW’s Darth Vader commercial last year? This year, they’re back with another nod to Star Wars…

I love this one from Toyota because it’s more than just a commercial, it kicks off a pretty cool campaign related to storytelling:

And yes, while Toyota can be heartwarming, they also show us they have a good sense of humor:

And, while the Super Bowl may be a U.S. event, our friends to the north from Budweiser Canada put together this pretty cool ad for their coverage of the big game, featuring a rather unique twist on a flash mob:

And there will be plenty more. Which of these ads do you like? Any other favorites I missed?

Super Bowl Ad Preview originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on February 4, 2012.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

This Sunday evening I’ll be doing what many of you will be doing: watching the Super Bowl.

And I’ll be watching because I’m a sports fan, a football fan, and…it’s something I’ve always done. I have no vested interest in this game as I don’t really like either team. I’d be happy with a 0-0 tie. I mean, I really dislike both teams, though I guess if I had to pick I’d be rooting for the Giants.

But you don’t really need to watch the Super Bowl. Just pay attention to your Twitter feed or your Facebook newsfeed and you’ll most likely know what’s going on in near real time.

While I’m a football fan, like many others I’ll be watching for other reasons.

I love watching the commercials. Ever since Apple’s landmark “1984″ commercial, the Super Bowl has been a showcase for advertising, and in recent years the social component has increased greatly.

This year is being billed as the first truly social Super Bowl, complete with a Social Media Command Center. This includes a Twitter account (@SuperBowl2012) that will answer your questions and help you navigate the wide variety of activities related to the Super Bowl. This is also the first Super Bowl which you can view online (or on your mobile phone) via a live stream. This will allow a lot of people to watch if they aren’t near a TV, or perhaps don’t have cable or satellite.You can get a more complete look at the Super Bowl Social Media Command Center in Jay Baer’s recent podcast with Taulbee Jackson of Radious, the company that developed the command center. I’ll also be interested in how the numbers of those viewing online will be included in the ratings data. And will the stream be able to handle a high volume of viewers? I’ll probably be viewing online, as well as watching on television, just to make a comparison of the experiences.

Previously, if you didn’t have access to the game on TV, you would go to a bar to watch the big game in a shared environment. I’m not sure we can get hard and fast numbers on this, but I know folks who head to bars rather begrudgingly to see the game; it’s their last option. But now they can stay home and watch online. Will bars see a decrease in numbers? After all, you can still get a shared experience at home via Twitter. Oh, and if you aren’t a football fan, you might want to avoid Twitter completely on Sunday. We may even see some Twitter records broken during the game.

In addition to the NFL’s official Super Bowl website, there is also the “local” Indianapolis Super Bowl Site, complete with a webcam, as well as a Facebook Page.

Of particular interest to me will be the ads, as well as how well they integrate social into their marketing and advertising campaigns. There will be QR codes on the screen, and I’m sure many of the advertisers will direct viewers to their online social properties. On a regular basis, many of us watch television while also spending time online via smart phones, tablets, and laptops. Marketers and programmers are smart to tap into the “dual-screen” nature of our viewing.

One of the winners is sure to be Chevy. They are upping the ante with the first ever advertiser sponsored Super Bowl app. The beauty of the app and related contest is that it is designed to keep people engaged throughout the entire game, while offering lots of prizes, along with the chance of winning one of 20 Chevy vehicles. It offers gamification and engagement while focusing on the game itself, not just for 60-seconds, but for the duration of the game.

Other advertisers like Coke and Toyota will have heavy social components to their ads as well. And of course some of the ads have already been available for preview on YouTube.

So I’ll be glued to my computer AND my television, getting a glimpse of how far we’ve come in terms of convergence and integration with both programming and advertising/marketing. I think it will be fun.

Will you be watching the Super Bowl? If so, how, and will you be participating in any of the online social elements? Who do you think will be the big winners?

Related articles

• Super Bowl advertisers go after ‘second screens’ (physorg.com)
• Super Bowl commercials leaked … see them here (football.rawsignal.com)
• Seven Ways to Win Big with a Contest (spinsucks.com)
• The Super Bowl Is More Than Football (wycd.radio.com)
• Super Bowl Commercials (webnerhouse.com)

A Super Social Super Bowl originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on February 3, 2012.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

By the time you read this, the groundhog (pick a groundhog, any groundhog) will have come out of his (or her) hole and offered a forecast regarding how long Winter will last. Here in Pennsylvania, the supposed birthplace of Groundhog Day, we kind of make a big deal out of this.

Of course the most popular of the groundhogs is Punxsutawney Phil from western PA, while here in Lancaster County we have Octoraro Orphie (who is nothing more than a stuffed groundhog on a stick). And of course there are other groundhogs and large rodents that make their predictions in other parts of the country.

Regardless, Groundhog Day has become a part of our collective culture, since it’s beginnings more than 125 years ago. In fact, I’d say that the little critter has a pretty good PR machine going, and if we look at the legend, and focus mostly on Punxsutawney Phil, I think we have the makings of a good case study for our own businesses.

Tap into tradition and history – No matter what you think about the whole thing, Groundhog Day is a tradition that people talk about. When it began, it was in the days before electronic media of any sort, and was solely a local tradition. Now, more than a century later it has gone global and even spawned a movie. Tradition gives us something with which to connect, and to talk about. Your business might have traditions, or if not, you can start some. And history? Just Google “Groundhog Day” and you’ll get more history than you can shake a stick at!

Start a conversation – Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it. After the groundhog has made his prediction, we’ll all be standing around the water cooler talking about it, debating whether or not the prediction will come true. Will he be right or will he be wrong? Find ways to get people talking about your business, even if it’s in the form of a debate.

A touch of mystery – A sense of mystery is always nice. In the days leading up to Groundhog Day, some of us were discussing what we thought Phil would say about Winter. There was even betting in Vegas! It’s the same thing that happens before a major pronouncement from a tech company like Apple. We speculate. That’s a good thing. Can you find ways of getting your customers to talk about you even before something happens?

Stick with it – Too many businesses try things, only to give up too quickly. The groundhog has been around for a long time, and even though Phil is tucked away in a tiny little town in Pennsylvania, we all know that it’s Groundhog Day. We don’t really take it seriously (we don’t, do we??), but we all want to know. I’m sure it took a long time for it to catch on, but it DID catch on. Don’t give up too fast on things.

Have some fun – Seriously. We have a holiday for an ROUS located in podunk? When it comes down to it, it’s fun. Kind of like the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus. (I will neither confirm nor deny my belief or lack thereof in any of those beings). Does your business know how to have fun? Are you able to let your hair down a little? Customers notice this and appreciate it. Do yourself a favor: don’t ever take yourself too seriously.

Don’t be afraid of competition – Competition is good. It keeps you on your toes. According to Wikipedia, Phil has no less than three dozen competitors from across the U.S. and Canada. There are even a few in the deep South! Do they even know what Winter is there? Either way, plenty of other communities have their own groundhog, and they’d love to steal some of Phil’s thunder.

Embrace new technology – Even while holding on to tradition, you need to move forward. Check out the official website for Groundhog Day. It’s a pretty good website with a lot of information. Additionally, they have a Facebook Page and a Twitter account, although so far they haven’t done much with Twitter. Like the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign, they’ve held on to what’s important, while embracing new technology. I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually added a YouTube channel or an iPhone app down the road. Can you say that about you business?

Build a culture – Punxsutawney is a small PA town of just over 6,000 people. I think it’s pretty safe to say that none of us would have ever heard of it if it hadn’t been for Groundhog Day. And yet this little town has built an incredibly robust, year-round culture based on just one day that celebrates an animal. That culture is what holds it all together. A strong, positive culture within your business is important, both for your employees and your customers.

How are you tapping into your tradition and history to build and promote your business? Do you have a culture that has people talking about you?

Related articles

• Small Business Tip Tuesday: 7 Ways Your Employees Can Enhance Your Online Presence (inklingmedia.net)
• Generating New Ideas, New Business, and New Revenue (inklingmedia.net)
• How Content Motivates Behavior (spinsucks.com)
• Unlock Groundhog Day 2012 badge on Foursquare: Check in on February 2 (examiner.com)

Your Business and Our Strange Obsession with a Groundhog originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on February 2, 2012.

I love social media. I really do. And I love Facebook.

But sometimes the ease of posting things on the platform is enough to make me run the other way. And I often have to stop myself from ranting at my friends for the stupidity of what they post. There. I said it.

Sadly, as we approach another presidential election, I might just have to turn my blinders on. You see, in many ways my group of friends on Facebook is rather diverse. I’d say that on the political spectrum my group of friends is pretty evenly dispersed from far left to far right. And those on the farthest left and farthest right seem to have one thing in common: they post all sorts of political statements, often in the form of images or graphs, as if they are gospel.

Case in point. This image is among the many I’ve seen making the rounds the past few days.

A lot of the pictures I see are juxtapositions like this, designed to prove a point. At first glance, it looks as though Mitt Romney is getting his shoes shined, while President Obama is giving a knuckle-touch to a cleaning guy. The implication is that Romney is privileged, wealthy, and out of touch, while the President is a man of the people. And whether or not you believe that is true, that’s not what is happening in the picture.

In the first picture, Romney is actually on an airport tarmac, having his shoes scanned with a wand as part of an airport security check. A very different story. There was no shoe shine.

You see, pictures, video, sound bites, statistics…they all can mean a lot of different things when taken out of context. What we see presented as fact on Facebook, or any other social channel is merely a snapshot; a moment in time, possibly captured out of context. And now, a lot of what is being shared on FB is what normally gets sent through those email forwards that drive everyone nuts. Don’t people check around or check Snopes or Google anymore before posting content? Just because something seems believable, and seems to bolster your cause, doesn’t mean it’s real. When you post things like that, I think it cheapens your cause. If you can’t stand on truth to post things that support your particular political or religious stance, then don’t post anything. It’s no better than an unreasoned rant.

Here’s another one:

My friend Andi were talking about this the other day, and she shared this one with me, presumably it was originally created and shared by someone from a more conservative political bent, as a way of showing why capitalism is better than socialism. But really? Couldn’t you come up with something better?

Let’s break it down. Are the pictures really from the cities and dates that are shown? And even if they are, the left side pictures and right side pictures aren’t from the same location over time. And do you mean to tell me that all of Havana or all of Hong Kong looks like that? I’m betting I could go into either city and find pictures of both opulence and poverty to illustrate just about anything. I could take shots in either city to show that socialism works better than capitalism.

And yet we see things that seemingly support our opinions and beliefs, and we share them. Without checking. Why let the facts get in the way of a good story, right?

And this can be done without even photoshopping and image. Add a little manipulation and we can improve on the story. Massage a few statistics and throw them in, and you’ve got yourself a convincing “proof” of your point of view.

Does this really enhance and create dialogue surrounding issues? What is the source of the information? Is it reliable? Do they have an agenda,even if it’s the same as our own? Is there any real context?

We need to learn to ask these questions as we see things around the web, and certainly before we share them. By sharing them we are rubber-stamping them and lending credence to the source. We are saying, “I believe this to be true and it’s important enough for me to share.” Goodness knows we have enough negativity out there, why can’t we promote our beliefs with some positivity, rather than seeking to tear others down to make ourselves look better?

Oh, and I’ve got at least one more good political rant in me, but that can wait until closer to the election…

Think before you share. Think before you comment. Take some time to Google to find out if someone, somewhere, is playing hard and fast with the truth.

Related articles

• It’s a Sign! Social Media and the Art of Awareness and Gentle Reminders (inklingmedia.net)
• Facebook Wants More Social Sharing, Rolls Out Apps (v3im.com)
• Social media, our voice, and the power to destroy (businessesgrow.com)
• Three Things I Hate About Social Media (spinsucks.com)
• Social Media Conversation. Yes, but at what cost? (businessesgrow.com)

Facebook and the Art of Discernment originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on February 1, 2012.

When a business decides to become more social online, it’s often done in a bit of a vacuum. One of two things usually happens:

1. someone in management or ownership creates the social presence, but fails to communicate that to employees.
2. an employee is given permission to create the social presence, yet no one else pays attention.

The result of this is confusion. Not everyone is on the same page. The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. The first of those two options is often the result of a mentality that

social media is important, and we don’t want to bother the rank and file with details

Inherent in that kind of thinking is that your employees just might not be smart enough or savvy enough to worry or think about these things. There might also be fear involved.

The second of those two options often stems from the mentality that

I guess we need a social presence so I’ll let so and so take care of it so I don’t have to be bothered.

Inherent in this kind of thinking is that social media really isn’t all that important, and you’re merely giving it lip service.

But the fact is, most businesses that are engaging socially online, are doing it piecemeal. Someone internally is usually unaware or left out in the cold. But we really need to have a concerted effort that involves everyone.

Think of it this way: your employees, all of them, have a vested interest in the success of your business. If the business does well, they do well, and there is less chance of layoffs, and maybe even a greater chance of a bonus or raise. I would also guess (hope) that your employees and their families talk about your business. Hopefully in a positive way. Hopefully the fact that they work there is enough to bring some of their friends through your doors. It’s all part of the word of mouth equation.

You need to make sure that all of your employees are aware of all your activity online. Let them know whether or not you’re on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Foursquare. Do they know you have a blog? But in addition to making them aware, you need to get them involved.

Here are 7 ways you can have your employees become a greater part of your online social presence. Some of these might even be written in to their job descriptions, while others are best left as voluntary, but you should encourage them to be involved since it’s good for the business.

1) Like your Facebook page – I use Facebook as the example, but what I really mean here is that they should connect with you on any platforms where possible. If they are on Twitter, they should follow your business Twitter account. Same goes for other platforms. I’m always surprised when a company has a Facebook page and their employees don’t even “like” it. Do they even know it’s there? Have they been asked or encouraged to like it? An all staff email or mention in a staff meeting might be all it takes, explaining why it’s important.

Note: Sometimes employees and others avoid liking their business page out of misplaced fear. I completely understand why employees and bosses might not want to connect as friends on Facebook, but this is different. Liking a business page gives no one, including your employers, any more access to your personal information than they already have. There is no need to worry.

2) Share your information – Teach your employees that social media is no different than what goes on in the brick and mortar walls of your business on a daily basis. If you introduce a new product or service, they will most likely be talking about it. Teach your employees that when you post that information on Facebook or Twitter, they can help by sharing, liking, retweeting, etc. Again, it’s word of mouth. Every social action adds up and your employees should be proud to share what your business is sharing. If you blog, have them use the +1 button, or share to other platforms. This is a very simple and quick way that they can help your business.

3) Comment – Whether it’s on your blog or social platforms, encourage your employees to comment…but sparingly. The most important thing here is to be open about who they are. If they comment on your blog or Facebook, they should also reveal that they are employed by your company. I hate when I see someone from a business commenting on their own Facebook page as if they are merely a satisfied customer. Just. Don’t. Do. It. It’s deceptive, and if someone finds out, you lose credibility.

4) Contribute content – Perhaps your employees have areas of expertise or different points of view that might make them valuable contributors to your blog. One of my clients is a salon & spa. Each of their stylists and other employees have certain things for which they are known. We’ve identified them and will be having them be a part of the blog writing team. One might write more about makeup, while another might write about eco-friendly health and beauty tips. Identify which of your employees would be able to help create content. This has the added value of taking all of the burden off of your shoulders.

And if they aren’t ready or willing to write blog posts for you, encourage them to come up with ideas. All of your employees see and hear things that would make for good content on either a blog or Facebook. Encourage them to share those ideas with you, some of which might be the result of their interactions with customers. They can also tell you about interesting events or articles which might be good content fodder to share on Facebook.

5) Read your blog – If your business is blogging, chances are that the only employees who read the blog are the ones involved with creating the content. Encourage all of your employees to read the content you produce. It will help them stay on top of what you are doing, and give them great conversation starters with your customers. Some of those customers might even be there as a result of your blog or social content, so your employees need to be prepared to talk about it.

6) Talk it up – One big mistake that businesses often make is that they create social spaces, and then never tell anyone about them. There is no “if you build it, they will come” in social media. Whether you’re blogging, or using Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or any other platform, do everything you can to let your customers know. A big part of this is equipping your employees to talk about it. They should be telling your customers about your blog or Facebook page. There’s no shame in having them encourage your customers to write a review on Yelp or Facebook. They can remind your customers to check-in on Foursquare or Facebook. Sometimes all you have to do is ask.

7) Connect with one another – As I mentioned earlier, I can understand why some employees and bosses might not want to connect “socially”. To a degree. But there are ways of connecting without actually becoming “friends”. I’m a big proponent of using Facebook’s group platform to create a private network for your employees. It’s rare that all employees are in one location at the same time, and when they are, they are working. An informal group page for your business gives you a chance to connect with your employees at any time. You can use this as a great way to create a culture of collaboration and allow your employees to offer their suggestions.

One final note: No matter how you go about this, or how many of these you choose to implement, you should make sure that you have a solid social media policy in place for your business. This not only protects you and your employees, but offers sound guidelines while encouraging their participation.

What are some other ways you can encourage your employees to get involved?

Related articles

• Why Recognizing Your Employees on Social Media Is Great for Business (mashable.com)
• 3 Ways to Improve Internal Content Sharing (hubspot.com)
• Inside Out: Employees as Our Best Brand Advocates (prsa.org)
• Lost in Translation: Social Media and Outsourcing (inklingmedia.net)
• Six Reasons Social Media Doesn’t Work (spinsucks.com)

Small Business Tip Tuesday: 7 Ways Your Employees Can Enhance Your Online Presence originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 31, 2012.

For the second year in a row, I’ll be teaching a Social Media Marketing class to a group of students at Messiah College. I was invited to create and teach the class last Spring and really enjoyed the experience. Tomorrow nights (1/31) I’ll be teaching this same class for the second time around.

Much of the structure of the class will be the same, but since I have a semester under my belt, I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work. I’ve shifted some things around, including the required books and readings, and I think this time around it will be an even better class. I love that I’m able to work with a group of folks who are digital natives – people who have grown up using social networks.

My class is made up of 20 students, most of whom are majoring in business or marketing, as well as a few from communications and other disciplines. Most are juniors and seniors.

One of the cool things about this class is that a lot has happened in the past year. New platforms have come on to the scene, while some have disappeared. Not only has social media matured a bit, we also have a better understanding of what it is and how it works. I know that my own philosophy and understanding has evolved quite a bit, as has my business model here at Inkling Media.

My goal is not just to teach them about the tools, but help them develop the proper mindset. I want them to take the proper culture with them, no matter where they work, as they seek to bring a human element to business.

So here’s where you come in. A majority of these students are in their final semester of college. In May they will graduate (alongside my daughter who is also a senior at Messiah!) and then out into the “real world”, whatever that is. Some will go on to entry level jobs in their chosen field. Some might even have a job where social media is a major part of their job description. Others will struggle with finding a job, or might go on to grad school, or even start their own business.

I want you to use the comment section below to offer your advice to both me and my students. What do you think they need to learn and understand? How should they be preparing for careers in a world where social media has become an important part of business? What are the obstacles you believe they will face as they seek to put into practice what they learn in this class? And how should they handle those obstacles?

Also, these students have a list of recommended and required blogs that they’ll be reading. What blogs do you feel are most important?

Let me know what you think, as I seek to better prepare these students for a variety of jobs in a digital world.

Related articles

• 20 Social Media Blogs You Should Read in 2012 (pamorama.net)
• The Future of Social Media and Marketing (itconsultancyservicesusa.wordpress.com)
• Lost in Translation: Social Media and Outsourcing (inklingmedia.net)
• 12 Bloggers You Really Should Read in 2012 (dannybrown.me)
• SMBs Embracing Social Media At A Rapid Pace (v3im.com)

Your Advice for Future Marketing & Communications Professionals originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 30, 2012.

Image via Wikipedia

I know business people who still believe that social media is a fad.

And while Facebook will probably disappear someday, I don’t think it will happen anytime soon. Just because something might only be around for a short while, that’s no reason to not try it. Do we only try things that we think will stand the test of time and be here forever? And while platforms come and go, the social aspect of the web is here to stay. In fact, I think it is going to become the dominant part of our online experience, as everything we do online will have some element of social.

There was a time when I used to speak to parent and teacher groups and would proclaim something along the lines of:

MySpace is king. No one is going to touch it.

Yup. I was wrong. In fact, there was a time when I discounted Twitter and didn’t think it was going anywhere. And now it’s my favorite social platform.

I don’t mind being wrong, and I don’t mind admitting it. Some of the biggest names in the tech and social world proclaimed how wonderful and game-changing Google’s Buzz and Wave were. And yet…where are they now?

Any time a new platform comes out, or some new technology bursts onto the scene, whether it’s hardware or software, we rush to judgement. We spend a little time there and we make proclamations as to whether or not it will have legs, or if in fact it really is a game changer. We discuss whether it is a Facebook or Twitter killer. And some of us will be right, while others are wrong.

Look at audio recording media: wax cylinders, wire recorders, transcription discs, magnetic reel tape, cassette tape, 8-tracks, vinyl LPs and 45′s (and 78′s), CDs, and DATs. (if you’re not sure what some of these are, just Google them…there’s an interesting history in there).

Now we’re in a world of almost completely digital recording.

Then what about video? Remember the Beta/VHS wars? Remember how VHS won? Well, where is it now?

What we have online now is what we have. You either take advantage of what’s available, or you don’t.You have to make that choice for yourself, based on your weighing of the evidence.

The one thing you most likely shouldn’t do is wait.

“Oh, I think something better is on the horizon. I’ll wait until that arrives.”

Fact: There is always something better on the horizon. Whether it’s the next version of the iPad, or the next iteration of the smartphone, or a more robust blogging platform. There is always something that will be “new and improved”. And in the technology world, that happens pretty fast.

When it comes to communications technology, communications is communications. But we need to choose how we will communicate with others

When a business owner says:

“I’ll get to it someday”

What I hear is:

“I’ll probably never get around to it”

I’ve never heard a band say, “We’re not going to record an album now, because we’re gonna wait until some better recording technology comes out.”

No, your business exists in the here and now, so why not use at least some of what is available to you in the here and now?

Have you been putting off using some form of social media because you think it’s a fad? Or is it merely on the back burner so you can get to it “someday”?

Related articles

• 5 Tips to Find Your Best Audience on Social Media Platforms (waxingunlyrical.com)
• Nine Reasons Your Social Media Efforts are Missing the Mark (allisondevelopmentgroup.com)
• A Crisis of Social Media Crises: Don’t Be Stupid (inklingmedia.net)
• It’s a Sign! Social Media and the Art of Awareness and Gentle Reminders (inklingmedia.net)
• Don’t Be Afraid to Fail (spinsucks.com)

The Problem with “I’ll Get to it Someday…” originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 30, 2012.

Written & Drawn by Jeff Burkholder.

See previous installments of The Social Life of Frank & Linh.

The Social Life of Frank & Linh: The Masculinization of Pinterest originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 29, 2012.

I’m always on the lookout for creative videos, and I’m always happy when that creativity comes in the form of a music video.

This particular video from Walk Off The Earth has been making the rounds on Facebook and other platforms the past few weeks, so just on the off chance you haven’t seen it, I’m bringing it to you here.

Five musicians, all performing the song “Somebody that I Used to Know” on just one guitar.

Enjoy!

Related articles

• Wacky guitar news: Five people play one guitar (suncda-w8.wpng.newsint.co.uk)
• Social Media Lessons from a Musician (inklingmedia.net)
• Weekend Video: Passion, Performance, and Pressure (inklingmedia.net)
• Spotify: An Indie Musician’s Perspective (inklingmedia.net)

Weekend Video: Five Musicians, One Guitar originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 28, 2012.

The other day I wrote about the art of the gentle reminder, and how social media works best when we don’t try to shout above the noise, thereby creating more noise. And clearly, when we are surrounded by clutter and lots of competition, our initial response is to get louder.

My kids often ask me, “Why are you yelling at us?”

My response is usually along the lines of, “Because you didn’t answer or listen the first time!” But after awhile, even the kids will tune out my yelling.

Then yesterday I got a direct mail postcard in the mail.

OK, not just any postcard. This was a direct mail piece that was HUGE. Because apparently, size does matter. It was a postcard, mind you. Not folded, just a postcard in all its 12″ x 15″ glory. According to the website for the company that produces this behemoth, it is the largest flat mailer allowed by postal regulations. They also use terms like “monster”, “ginormous”, and “hugely oversized”.

This postcard is a locally grown direct mail concept. One side has 10 ads for local businesses (as well as a few for the marketing company, itself), and the other side is one really large ad.

Kinda feels like someone put a billboard through my mail slot. The thing is bigger than my head!

Now after having checked out their website, I do admit that they have a decent sense of humor, but it doesn’t translate to the mailing piece. All it has is…size. Nothing else differentiates it from other direct mail. It’s the same ol’ same ol’…but larger. And their positioning is that smaller direct mail pieces don’t get noticed, so you should buy an ad on this ENORMOUS card.

Except for the fact that the company that produces this IMMENSE card also produces smaller direct mail pieces. So are they admitting that some of their other products are no longer effective?

I should also point out that there is no targeting by any form of demographics or psychographics. They merely send them to every house in the area, addressed to “Local Postal Customer”.

This HUMONGOUS post card is like a radio or television advertiser determining that they have to shout louder and increase the volume in order to stand out from the clutter. Or a store erecting a larger sign, or adding more flashing lights to draw attention.

And now I’ve got this COLOSSAL postcard. And there’s nothing on it to interest me. None of the deals are anything I would ever use. In fact, for one of the restaurants listed, I can get a larger discount by downloading the coupon from their own web site. They paid to offer a lesser deal elsewhere?

Not to mention that the LARGER the postcard, the LARGER the space it takes up in the landfill. Not only does it create more trash, but I might have to wait for my city’s large item pick up day to get rid of it alongside the old dryer that’s sitting in my back yard.

BIGGER doesn’t always mean better. If you need to stand out, don’t get LOUDER. Just be more creative. Back in the day I was on the board and judging panel for the Radio Mercury Awards, which honored creativity in radio advertising. The ads that we chose for these awards were never just louder. They were just plain funny. Or poignant. Or heart tugging. They were creative.

Don’t give in to the temptation to try to out-shout, out-size, and out-glitz the competition.

What other examples have you seen of marketers and advertisers merely trying to be BIGGER and LOUDER? What’s your antidote to the noise?

Related articles

• Apple: A Case Study in Why Brands Should Control Their Stories (waxingunlyrical.com)
• Creating an Ingegrated Marketing Plan using Social Media (inklingmedia.net)
• Tradition or Fear: Which Drives Your Marketing? (inklingmedia.net)
• Small Business Tip Tuesday: Your Business is the Sum of Its Parts (inklingmedia.net)

In Marketing and Advertising, Does Size Matter? originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 27, 2012.

The other night we watched Moneyball in our house (great movie, by the way. Highly recommended) and I got the itch.

It happens about every time this year. Even though we haven’t had the Super Bowl yet, the football season is pretty much over for me (read: Eagles fan. ’nuff said). But when it comes to sports, baseball is my first love, and I anticipate the start of the season in a way that other sports can’t even begin to compare.

And I’m not alone. On Twitter and Facebook I see my friends who are good (Phillies fans) and those on the dark side (Yankees, Braves, Mets fans) all pining away for opening day.

The countdown actually begins sometime in the Fall, but mostly in early winter as we ask the question:

How long until pitchers and catchers report?

We scramble to the Internet and find the answer for our particular team (Just about 3 weeks from now if you’re keeping track. And I am.) It’s that landmark moment when we start to see things improving. In mid-February, pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training in the warmer climes of either Florida or Arizona, and the rest of the players follow a few days later. It may be the dead of Winter and bitter cold, but baseball is just around the corner.

And perhaps that’s part of the charm of our National Pastime.  The start of baseball season coincides with the change of seasons from the cold, dark, bleakness of winter (at least here in the northeast) to the new birth of Spring.

Anticipation. It’s an incredible marketing tool. It’s why baseball’s preseason is much more of an “event” or “experience” than the preseason of any other sport.

The business that can build anticipation into it’s marketing and culture will do well. This is something that Apple does well, as fans eagerly anticipate every announcement from on high about new products. It’s something that Google has done well, as they released new beta versions of their products to a limited audience and we waited for our invitations.

I’ve seen local restaurants do this with their daily features. One client of mine has an entire email database dedicated to their soup of the day. They also have special updates on their Facebook page and a special page on their website for the soup of the day. Why? They discovered that the phone rang off the hook each morning at all 20 of their regional locations, as people wanted to know the soup of the day. The right soup would determine where they went to eat on their lunch break. My client was wise enough to take that as a cue to put that information online. It meets people’s needs and cuts down on the calls. And people eagerly await that email or Facebook post (which always gets a lot of comments, including people responding by asking when their particular favorite will be served).

Anticipation.

It’s what Heinz Ketchup did as they built a campaign around a Carly Simon song. Because we all know that there are those things that we eagerly await, and yet we feel they are worth the wait.

It won’t work for every business, but if you can build anticipation into your business model and marketing, it can be wonderful. When people eagerly anticipate something, it’s because it’s more than a product. It’s because we’ve learned to turn our products into experiences and lifestyles.

And now, I’m eagerly awaiting the day that pitchers and catchers report. I await the first game of Spring Training, and I await the first game of the season. Baseball, for me, is more than a game. It cultivates anticipation. It’s a game filled with something special, or as author W.P. Kinsella says, something “magical”. Why do I anticipate baseball so much? It’s the game of my childhood, and to me, it’s the perfect game, despite it’s imperfections.

In order to understand what it is that I feel, I close with this lengthy excerpt from Kinsella’s “The Iowa Baseball Confederacy” :

“Why not baseball?” my father would say. Name me a more perfect game! Name me a game with more possibilities for magic, wizardry, voodoo, hoodoo, enchantment, obsession, possession. There’s always a time for daydreaming, time to create your own illusions at the ballpark. I bet there isn’t a magician anywhere who doesn’t love baseball. Take the layout. No mere mortal could have dreamed up the dimensions of a baseball field. No man could be that perfect. Abner Doubleday, if he did indeed invent the game, must have received divine guidance.

“And the field runs to infinity,” he would shout, gesturing wildly. “You ever think of that, Gid? There’s no limit to how far a man might possibly hit a ball, and there’s no limit to how far a fleet outfielder might run to retrieve it. the foul lines run on forever, forever diverging. There’s no place in America that’s not part of a major-league ballfield: the meanest ghetto, the highest point of land, the Great Lakes, the Colorado River. Hell, there’s no place in the world that’s not part of a baseball field.

“Every other sport is held in by boundaries, some of absolute set size, some not: football, hockey, tennis, basketball, golf. But there’s no limit to the size of a baseball field. What other sport can claim that? And there’s no more enigmatic game; I don’t have to tell you that. “

Anticipation is built on a sense of wonderment and mystery.

How are you building anticipation into your business model and your online marketing?

Related articles

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Baseball, Your Business, and the Art of Anticipation originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 26, 2012.

I have a friend who has yet to get Internet in her home. (In her defense, she recently moved to a new place). I’ve told her over and over again that she needs to do so for both business and personal reasons. She can only do so much on her smart phone.

So since I bug her a lot, she informed me yesterday, “I got a thing in the mail for a special deal from Comcast. I think it’s a sign!”, as it were some cosmic message from on high. And presumably she will now be getting Internet in her home, after all, you don’t want to go against the signs! (You can’t see me now, but I’m NOT holding my breath).

So, while she was joking (kinda), for her, that direct mail piece was a sign to take action. Which also means she’ll be stocking up on Depends, purchasing a Miracle Ear, and ordering that commemorative plate of Elvis that is “guaranteed” to become a collectible. Because after all, it’s a sign.

Actually, the reason the direct mail “thing” from Comcast worked this time around is because it came to her at a time when she was actively searching for an Internet provider. It served as a reminder. If it had come at any other time, it would have ended up in the trash.

But that’s the beauty of using social media. Many of the purchases and actions we take are because the right businesses find us at the right time.

• You’re looking for a place to go out and eat for dinner, and that new restaurant in town posts something in Facebook about their menu for the evening.

• You need a plumber and before you head to Google or the Yellow Pages, you remember the local plumber who has the funny Facebook posts, and blogs about toilets.

This is how inbound marketing works.

If you start using Facebook, Twitter, or other social channels hoping for rapid returns and a spike in sales, you’ll most likely be disappointed. But if you stick with it and connect with people online, your updates and tweets will serve as gentle reminders to your followers. You are building awareness, and you’ll probably save some money.

DON’T SHOUT. DON’T USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK. IT WILL JUST ANNOY PEOPLE. LIKE LOUD COMMERCIALS AND TELEMARKETING PHONE CALLS DURING DINNER.

Instead, take your time. Use social channels regularly. Consistently. Often.

Be helpful. Provide useful information. And perhaps you’ll catch folks at just the right time. Sometimes just seeing your business name will be all it takes to get them to take action.

So now I know that all I really need to do is go on Facebook and start talking about Internet providers. My friend will see it and have those constant gentle reminders, and know that she has to follow through.

Hey, Jackie: Got Internet?

How do you approach social media with your content? Are you shouting? Or have you mastered the art of gentle reminders?

It’s a Sign! Social Media and the Art of Awareness and Gentle Reminders originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 25, 2012.

Image via Wikipedia

I’m a member of AAA. Mostly because I want them to be there when my battery dies or my car breaks down. My membership is like insurance: it’s peace of mind.

But the other cool thing is that through AAA I get discounts at a lot of places: restaurants, hotels, amusement parks, stores.

The only problem is, I forget. When I go to some place that offers a discount through AAA, I forget to ask. And in most cases, they’ve done nothing to help me remember. No signage, no messaging, nothing.

As business owners we do a lot of things to get people through the door, but then we forget to actually tell our customers. Whether it’s AAA, AARP, or some other discount or coupon special, make sure you tell others about it, both on and offline, and across all platforms.

Certainly there is something to be said for a Facebook only promotion, but don’t just mention it on Facebook. Tell your customers in your business about the promotion. It might just be what drives them to “like” your Facebook page. No matter what you do on any particular platform, or even offline, use all platforms to promote the deal.

Do you double or triple coupons? Remind your customers of that on Facebook or Twitter.

Are you offering a special via Groupon or Living Social? Let folks know about it both in your business and online.

Do you have a coupon in the newspaper or one of those coupon magazines? Use your online social properties to tell your customers to pick one up.

And do you offer any special discounts through AAA, AARP, or certain credit cards or rewards programs? Frequent reminders to your customers might send them your way. You might even want to use signage and QR Codes to direct your in-store customers to your online properties and deals.

In other words, any special deals you offer do you no good if no one knows about them.

Finally, as you decide what to offer, particularly through Foursquare or other online geolocation/offer sites, choose carefully. Your offer or discount should meet five criteria:

1) It must be enough of an incentive to bring people into your store – Sure it’s nice to reward your loyal customers and those who are already in your store, but design offers to bring people through the door, whether it’s a first visit or a repeat visit. Make sure it has enough value to draw them in. A $1 discount probably won’t do the trick.

2) It should somehow be related to your business – If you’re a restaurant, and you’re trying to attract people to your Facebook page by giving away an iPad, you might get a lot of new fans. But are they quality engaged fans? Are they there for the iPad or do they really care about your business? It’s a great prize, but a better prize is something that is of interest to your customers in terms of what you do as a business.

3) It won’t break the bank – Everyone wants a great offer, but if your offer is TOO good, you might lose out. Think carefully about what you choose, and how likely people are to respond. You don’t want to run out (and be the recipient of smack talk online) or have to give so many away that the ROI is in the negative numbers.

4) It is shareable – Once someone has logged on to get a special deal online, give them the opportunity of telling others about it via their social networks. Most probably won’t follow through, but if even a few agree to share, you’ll gain exposure to more people. Remember, the social web is built on social connections and word of mouth. Give your customers the tools to share your deals, and let them do the work for you.

5) It is simple – Keep it simple. Don’t make your customers jump through hoops by visiting 5 pages to fill out multiple forms to get a deal. Don’t make them give away too much personal information. The easier it is to take advantage of a deal, the more likely people are to follow through. Get them in the door. Once you do, then you can “Wow” them with your products and services, and hook them. And then, and only then, should you try to get more information out of them.

In this economy, special deals, and even touting the discounts you already offer, might be just enough to give you an edge over your competitors.

How are you using deals to bring customers through the door? And how are you letting your customers know about the deals you offer?

Related articles

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• How good are discount sites like Groupon? (confused.com)

Small Business Tip Tuesday: If a Deal Falls Over in the Forest and No One Hears, Does it Exist? originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 24, 2012.

Image by audreyjm529 via Flickr

There has been a lot of conversation, particularly on Twitter, regarding the events of this past weekend, as journalists, social media practitioners, and the general public try to figure out what went wrong. Part of the discussion surrounded whether or not this was a primarily a journalism failure or a social media failure. As a former journalist, and someone who works with social media, this is of great interest to me.

There’s a very nice timeline of how this all went down at Poynter.org, but to sum up the events, a report was issued Saturday evening stating that former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was near death. At the time I received a text message from ESPN delivering that news. Not surprisingly, when a statement like that is issued, the rumors begin to swirl.  That’s when things began to get out of hand.

An award-winning online student publication, Onward State, reported Paterno’s death. Shortly before 9 p.m., CBSSports.com picked up on this and also reported that Paterno had died. Other news organizations followed suit.

Also not surprisingly, the story began to make the rounds on Twitter and Facebook. After all, a legitimate news reporting organization had reported it. The only problem was, it wasn’t true. The New York Times and CNN were fairly quick to report that the Paterno family was denying his passing. Eventually, both Onward State and  CBS issued apologies and rightly took the blame on themselves. The managing editor of Onward State even stepped down from his position. As for how Onward State received and reported on the erroneous information, you can read their own explanation which shows that even when safeguards are in place, sometimes they aren’t enough. They thought they had the correct information from multiple sources and went with it. Here is a short segment from that explanation:

But at around 8:00 p.m., one of our writers posted that he had received word from a source that Joe Paterno had died. The source had been forwarded an email ostensibly sent from a high-ranking athletics official (later found to be a hoax) to Penn State athletes with information of Paterno’s passing. A second writer — whom we later found out had not been honest in his information — confirmed to us that the email had been sent to football players. With two independent confirmations of an email announcing his death, managing editor Devon Edwards was confident in the story and hit send on the tweet we had written, informing the world that Joe Paterno had died.

Then shortly before 10:30 a.m. yesterday (Sunday) morning, the Paterno family issued a statement saying Paterno had died. This time the report came directly from the family, and sadly was true.

So what are we to make of this? What takeaways are there for us, regardless of our role? How has social media changed the role of journalism? Here are a few of my thoughts:

• First and foremost this is a failure of journalism, before it is a failure of social media. As general consumers of the news, while we have become cynical, we have also been conditioned to trust legitimate news agencies when stories like this are reported. It’s one thing for me to tweet something, and another thing for legitimate news organizations to tweet reports about that same story.

• Having worked in fast-paced newsrooms myself, I understand how this happens. I understand the pressure to compete. Most media has a deadline, a time by which the newspaper must go to print, or the newscast has to go on the air. But the Internet is more like all-news radio where every second is a deadline. This is a major shift for traditional media.

• We also need to understand that the online realm is where most news is broken these days, whether on SM or on the websites of legitimate news organizations. This isn’t going to change. While a newspaper might have a print deadline, and only publish once per day, they can update the news constantly via their online properties. The Internet levels the playing field.

• Editing and fact checking have been among the biggest losers in this economy as news organizations, particularly print, scale back as they seek to stay afloat in an environment of change. This is a problem. Old media needs to learn how to compete in the digital realm while maintaining both objectivity and high journalistic standards. Accuracy should never be sacrificed at the expense of breaking a story.

I would posit that in a world where consumers get their news from a wider variety of sources than ever, where many stories are broken via social channels, and where the difference between being first or not is only a matter of seconds, that the concept of breaking a story, particularly of this nature, is less important than ever.

For the most part, the general public doesn’t remember, or even care, who breaks a story. Being able to say you were first is merely a matter of pride in most cases, and we all know what they say about pride. If you tweet a story out ten seconds before your competitor, does it really matter?

Journalists need to understand that despite the increased competition, and despite the speed at which news travels these days, accuracy always trumps competition. And this isn’t new. This is Journalism 101: do your homework, know your sources, and fact check.

Mistakes happen. Even the most prestigious of news organizations, like the New York Times, have been caught with their pants down. And this will only become more of a problem in the digital realm. This isn’t going away.

Fortunately, the social web is incredibly self-correcting. While rumors can erupt online, they are generally corrected almost as rapidly. This doesn’t excuse the dissemination of false, or unverified information, but it is comforting. This is a new world. While not everyone is trained as a journalist, everyone has the ability to be a journalist. Citizen journalism is here to stay. Media outlets need to understand this and work out for themselves how they will both tap into this and compete.

For those of us who navigate the social realm, both professionally and personally, we need to be careful. We need to watch what we say and how we say it. Speculation can be a very dangerous thing. We think out loud. We speculate in our own little circles. When I first received the text about Paterno being “near death”, I began to speculate with my family and others around me. But we need to remember that thinking out loud and speculating via Twitter and Facebook has its own set of issues. For many, there is an assumption that if you see something online, it must be true. Clearly, this is a false assumption. We need to cultivate a healthy dose of cynicism. Which in turn creates a greater problem for legitimate news organizations. It’s a potential crisis of credibility.

The “whisper down the lane” effect combined with the scope and speed of platforms like Twitter can cause a lot of damage. I believe that this will be the source of all sorts of legal action in the years to come as we speak our minds online. We need to learn how to filter ourselves better.

In the end, this is the world in which we live, and it’s only going to get faster. We all bear a responsibility. And yet this responsibility is really no greater than before. For journalists, the responsibility is the same as it has always been: report the news in a timely and accurate fashion. Pick up any journalism text or read the ethics code of the Society of Professional Journalists. This is merely a wake up call. Journalists need to do what they’ve always presumably done: strive for excellence, while navigating the rough terrain of the Internet. The platforms and media may change, but the core principals must remain the same.

And journalists aren’t alone. This is the lesson that all businesses and organizations must learn: stick to your core principals while adapting to a new, digital world. Those that do this well are more likely to succeed.

What are your thoughts? Is this a failure of journalism, social media, or both? How does the presence of Social Media change how you conduct yourself and your business?

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Social Media, Journalism, and the Death of Joe Paterno originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 23, 2012.

Written & Drawn by Jeff Burkholder.

See previous installments of The Social Life of Frank & Linh.

The Social Life of Frank & Linh: SOPA Opera originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 22, 2012.

I’m not an emotional person.

It takes a lot to move me, particularly to tears. But yesterday as I was perusing Facebook, I clicked on a video that was shared by one of my friends. What drew me in was that this story was about an autistic girl. I have no real connection to the story other than the fact that I have a friend with an autistic child, and as a result, I’ve connected a tiny bit with a foundation related to this particular form of autism.

Yesterday I also wrote a post about the power of stories, and how businesses and non-profits should be using stories as they communicate and engage with others online.

This is such a story.

I don’t want to tell the whole story. I want you to discover it on your own, via video and the written word. But the story of Carly will move you. I promise.

I can’t imagine what it must be like as a young parent to be told that your little girl is autistic, and perhaps will reach, at best, the developmental level of a 6-year old. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have a child who can’t seem to communicate in any meaningful way, other than flailing and tantrums. And yet, even when others might have given up, Carly’s parents never gave up and did what parents do best: they loved her.

And then at the age of 11, Carly proved everyone wrong. I encourage you to watch this video and I dare you to not be moved:

Now that you’ve heard and seen Carly’s story, I urge you to connect with her, because her story isn’t over. She now uses Twitter and Facebook to continue to tell her story and give hope. Take time to visit her website and read her blog.

Take time and listen to Carly’s voice. Listen to her story.

It’s a story filled with power, and the best part is, the last chapter has yet to be written!

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The Power of One Story: Carly’s Voice originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 20, 2012.

The other day I received an email from some blogging service of some sort with this in the subject line:

You Haven’t Logged in to [insert name of service] for 12 Months (Account Deactivation Warning)

The content of the email was short and sweet, and somewhat redundant:

You haven’t logged in to [insert name of service] for about 12 months now. We have to warn you that your account will be deactivated within 7 days from now. Please let us know if you need any help.

Now I have to say, I only have vague memories of creating an account, and I don’t even remember what the exact purpose or function of the site is. I’m guessing I signed up to check it out, as I do with a lot of services, because that’s part of my job. I need to stay up on the these things. I’m also guessing that I was underwhelmed by the service because I probably left it immediately and stayed away, hence the above email.

Now I understand that I’m probably one of thousands, if not more, of account holders who are receiving the same email. I understand that they can’t really provide individual customer service to all those people, but couldn’t they at least tried to have won me back?

I’m assuming they want people to use their service. And I’m sure they also don’t want dead weight (which is what I was), but how about some flowers? Or chocolate? OK, not really, but a nice “We’ve missed you” would be cool. And how about trying to do a better job of explaining to me who you are and why I might want to return. If I haven’t been there in a year, I probably don’t remember.

Oh, and why not tell me about all the great new features you’ve added in the past year that might draw me back in. I mean, you have added new features, right?

And that “Please let us know if you need any help” rings kinda empty. No, thanks. I’m good. I think I can delete your email without any help.

Heck, I get more love from MySpace in an email that I delete every few months. At least they act like they miss me and really want me back. But this email was more like a stern,

“Hey! Are you in or out? Make up your mind, and either way close the door, there’s a draft in here!”

It’s 2012 and we’re rapidly pushing past web 2.0 to whatever you want to call the next iteration of the social web. It’s time to use people’s names, be friendly, tell me who you are, explain why I should come back, and what I’m missing out on.

It’s like getting an email or phone call from someone saying, “Hey, I’m that girl you met at that party a few years ago. Wanna get together?”.

Um, Could you be more specific? (oh, and just for clarification, I didn’t meet any girl at any party!)

When your customers walk away, they walk away for any number of reasons. Maybe they just don’t need your services anymore. Or they were unhappy with any combination of things from product quality, pricing, or customer service. Perhaps they even moved to a different area.  But if you are going to take the time to contact them, even if it’s a pre-programmed “contact them once a year” situation, take advantage of that contact. Don’t waste that moment, because it’s probably your last chance to even get them to consider coming back to you.

Don’t warn me. Woo me.

But even better, perhaps we should just up our game and conduct business in a way that keeps people coming back for more without us having to beg, cajole, or threaten. If they don’t leave in the first place, we won’t have to worry about how we’re going to entice them to come back.

How are you keeping your customers? Have you found effective means of bringing them back into the fold once they’ve gone?

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To Whom It May Concern: We Really Miss You! originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 20, 2012.

Heard any good stories lately?

Not long ago a man walked into a store here in Lancaster where my wife was working. He told her that he was visiting from Hawaii, but had actually grown up in Lancaster. He proceeded to tell my wife that when he was about 3 or 4 years old, there was a tobacco warehouse just a few blocks away from his home. (At one time Lancaster was a booming tobacco town, with the crop being grown by the Amish outside of the city, and warehouses inside the city). He told my wife that during WWII, the basement of this particular warehouse was used to house German POWs. Once captured, some of those German soldiers were brought to Lancaster and were held in these warehouses, where they were given various tasks related to the processing of the tobacco. This gentleman told my wife that he and his young friends would go up to the windows that led to the basement and offer candy to the POWs who were living and working there.

As a history buff, this sort of thing fascinates me. It’s a part of our local history of which I wasn’t aware, and I would bet that very few other locals are aware of this, either.

In a world filled with sound bites, ad slogans, and 140 character tweets, we seem to forget the importance of stories. But we need to regain the art of storytelling, understanding the importance of stories, as well as the power they wield. Businesses need to tap into these stories as they seek to create content and campaigns for blogs and both traditional and social media outlets.

Here are a few characteristics of stories, particularly within the framework of how we do business.

Stories often surprise us – I love when I find out something new and interesting about a friend or a business. We all have those things that others might not know about us. Sometimes the history of a business or the history behind a location or product might be of great interest to customers.

Stories leave us wanting more – I want to know more about these soldiers. How many of them were there? Where else in Lancaster or in the U.S. were they housed? After the war did they stay here or were they sent home? Also, did the general public realize they were here living in our midst? A good story begs for more. As you tell your story, you may find that your customers ask for more details.

Stories come from multiple perspectives – In this particular case, we heard the story from the perspective of an American remembering back to his Lancaster childhood. But what about that same story from the perspective of the POWs or even the perspective of the tobacco business men or Amish farmers who may have come in contact with them. The story of your business can, and should, be told from your own perspective. But don’t forget the perspectives of your employees, customers, vendors, and others who have been affected by your business in some way.

Stories allow for deeper connections – We talk a lot about how one of the goals of Social Media is relationship building. Well, the way in which we build relationships online or offline is based on how well we get to know one another. Stories are a big part of that. I’ve read a few personal blogs recently made me feel closer to the author because of the details they dared to share. By telling your story, you are becoming the proverbial “open book” and are therefore more approachable. That allows for deeper connections.

Stories can make you vulnerable – I have one friend who works with a non-profit foundation that relates to autism. Jackie’s passion for the organization comes from the fact that her own son has this particular form of autism. I’ve been encouraging her to blog about her experiences – both the frustrations and the joys – on behalf of the foundation. One of her biggest questions is, “How much should I share?”. Obviously she’ll need to set her own boundaries and discover her own comfort level, but she understands that there is an increased level of vulnerability. And vulnerability is a great character quality that is endearing and creates a higher degree of trust. I have no doubt she’ll do well when she starts.

Stories humanize – The beauty of becoming vulnerable through stories is that you can put a human face on things. Jackie, by being vulnerable, is putting a face on autism. When we hear that there are 8-thousand or 5-million or some number of people suffering from a particular disease, we understand that it’s a lot, but then…it’s just a number. By telling stories…our stories, we turn each of those numbers into a name or a face. We can’t identify with numbers, but we can identify with names and faces.

Stories are memorable – My wife could have just met that man in a store, and he would’ve just been another customer. But by telling a small portion of his story, my wife will remember him, when all of the others who come through the doors might just be nameless, faceless individuals who drift off into the streets of Lancaster.

Quiz time: Who is the spokesperson for Quiznos? OK, that might be a trick question, because I’m not even sure they have a spokesperson.

Now, who’s the spokesperson for Subway? I would bet that most of you answered Jared. Why? We remember him because of his story. Subway was smart enough to grab on to Jared’s story and put it at the center of their branding. Jared’s story is prominently featured on the Subway website, even though the campaign is nearly 12 years old. In fact, what makes his story great is that it actually began a few years earlier in 1998 and wasn’t “created” by Subway. It really is Jared’s story. And we remember it.

Stories connect and empower us – When we tell our stories, there is a greater chance that we will find others who share some of our story. Again, one of the reasons why I’ve encouraged my friend Jackie to share her stories of raising a child with autism, is that there was a point when she probably thought she was the only one in her particular situation. But she’s not, and by sharing her story, others who think they’re alone will realize that there are others are dealing with this as well. They’re not alone; someone else understands. That in and of itself can be incredibly comforting and empowering. And it’s a great way for a business to connect with potential customers.

Customers like telling stories – As a consumer, you’ve probably told stories about businesses which you patronize. Some of them might be positive, some might be negative. I could tell you stories about my good experiences with particular businesses, and I could certainly tell you some stories about businesses that would shock you. Your customers are already telling stories, and some might be about you. Hopefully they’re stories with a happy ending! Why not give them a platform to share those stories with others?

Whether you run a business or a non-profit, look for opportunities to tell stories. Tell your story. Let your customers tell their stories. The beauty of stories is that there is a never ending supply of them. You’ll never run out. You can tell them via the printed word, or via audio or video.

How are you using stories to connect better with your customers? Have you found that any sorts of stories are better than others?

Related articles

• What Rockumentaries Teach Us About Business (inklingmedia.net)
• What We Can Learn from the Amish about Online Communities (inklingmedia.net)
• When Stories and Numbers Collide (waxingunlyrical.com)
• Customizing Your Business: With or Without Nuts (joeystrawn.com)
• Jared from Subway Has Important Marketing Advice For You (buzzdemo.wordpress.com)

Once Upon a Time: The Importance of Stories for Your Business originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 19, 2012.

Christina Pappas is a Inbound Marketing Professional with a passion for content marketing, lead generation and social media. She is an avid blogger at The Content Cocktail which focuses on how to leverage a vendor agnostic approach to lead generation in order to increase conversions and bottom-line revenue. Christina is a marketing communications and lead generation professional who has spent most of her career at B2B technology companies and in the hospitality industry.

I had originally set out to write this article about planning (why you should have a plan, what to consider, how to conceptualize one, etc.) but as I thought more heavily on the topic, I started to have second thoughts.

Have you heard the phrase ‘dip your toe in knowing you are going to swim?’ How about ‘crawl before you run’?

Yes? Used them often? I know I have but in most cases it was to ward off the sales person at a company that was selling advertising programs to me.

The only way to dip your toe in and actually know you are going to swim is to have a plan.

Consider that. In order to know you are going to swim you have to have a plan. How about learning to swim? How about starting in the kiddie pool, trying a bit, failing sometimes or failing often and then knowing you are going to swim?

Lead generation is one of my favorite pieces of marketing and tends to be the primary focus of my position at the various companies for whom I’ve worked. It would be fantastic to know I was going to ‘swim’ each time I launched a program or tried something new. But it’s not very realistic.

When I consider the lead generation plan and think through a 3, 6 or 12 month calendar, I consider where I have been the previous 3, 6 or 12 months. Generally, I will look for trends and start calculating ROI numbers for what was spent and what was returned. In the last two positions I have held, there was no historical data. I had to start fresh.

While I do have a plan and do put predictions on what I believe the return will be based on my experiences and the data I have on audience behavior, waiting to ‘swim’ can cost my sales team leads. All the time I am planning and not doing, I am not generating. This hurts.

Have you ever walked into a store and seen a product on a shelf and say ‘hey, I thought of that years ago.’ I thought the same thing when I wrote an essay on how we should be able to access and surf the internet on mobile phones in 1996 that won me a scholarship.

Planning is great but too much planning may be detrimental. You never know if the guy down the street is just a little more edgy than you or has a little less – or no – red tape to navigate through. Your product may be a runner-up because you planned just a little too much for a little too long. Your competitor may have published a whitepaper on the same subject you just wrote on and published it just one day sooner.

Marketing is all about risks, it’s one of my favorite things about being in this field. Planning is wonderful and I am not saying we avoid it all together, but merely suggest that you jump in and just start kicking. You will eventually get to the surface.

How do you balance planning and doing in your business? At what point do you say, “enough with the planning, it’s time to execute.”?

Related articles

• Social Media Marketing Investment Delivers ROI (v3im.com)
• When It Comes to Generating the Leads, Who Wears the Pants? (thecontentcocktail.com)
• Your 2012 Marketing Plan: Tell Me What to Do (businessesgrow.com)
• If You Aren’t Closing the Loop, Then Who’s To Say You Are Closing Anything? (thecontentcocktail.com)
• Participation, Lead Generation and Communities (thecontentcocktail.com)

Finding Balance Between Planning and Doing originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on January 18, 2012.