Every Thursday, ExactTarget encourages insightful marketing discussions on Twitter, called the #NexusCafe chats, and recently I co-hosted with them to talk about brand unity and connecting people to the brands they love - a perfect fit for the inclusion of Definition 6.  Below are some key takeaways from the discussion. 

·  With so many channels of media today, knowing your target audience is critical to a successful campaign. Figure out where they are engaging and use insight to prioritize the rest.

·  Listening to social channels is the first place you should look for a brand-fan connection. Analyzing metrics for visits, engagement, and conversion will help to quantify this connection.

·  Internally, every department (even developers) should see themselves as content creators and truly want to learn new skills that will stretch their knowledge. Content is still king, and it is the lynchpin to creating the connection and uniting people with your brand.

We have put these insights to the test with our work on a Facebook Application for HBO's True Blood, an application with interactive content that engaged fans and their friends. Additionally, content like online video, such as our work with Coca-Cola on the Happiness Machine, serves to engage fans online and spread the brand message. 

Involving your community early on in the process will pay off. If you share brainstorming and allow for fan/follower buy-in, they will engage more with your brand. 

You can view the whole discussion on the ExactTarget blog.

http://www.shutterstock.com

 

Since it's launch this past Tuesday, I've seen some amazing brands take advantage of Timeline Movie Maker for Pages to share their story in a cinematic, engaging way.

 

Here are a few of my favorites:

Facebook Washington DC	Cabaret Divertimento (I have no clue about this show but it's just FUN to watch)
Marines (Happy Fleet Week!)	The U.S. Army
Livestrong	Channing Tatum Unwrapped
Where's Waldo?	Neeta Shankar Photography
Guns N' Roses (Even while on tour in Europe they posted this - really awesome!)	Mercedes-Benz Turkey
The Ultimate Fighter Live	Aruba

Just this small collection of movies really drives home the fact that regardless of what product or service your brand offers and how you position it on Facebook, and other social media channels, every brand has a story to tell.

 

What's your brand story? Have you used Timeline Movie Maker for Pages to tell it? What other movies are you seeing out there? Post your comments below!

 

 

As we rolled out the Timeline Movie Maker last week on Facebook, it's been interesting to see my movie, and friends' movies, as a one minute snapshot of our lives.  And since Timeline Movie Maker highlights the most engaged photos, videos and other content you have shared on Facebook, it gives you insight into your life - kind of like a mini therapy session that prompted me to go on a 40 day detox from drinking and partying!

But seriously, it's a fun way to look back at your Facebook life, and yes, you can edit it after the first time it renders to insert new images, change the music and well, showcase your life's best moments.

Take a look at mine and you can read more about this on my blog for iMediaConnection on what it means for marketers, and how they can use this as an example on leveraging the power of Facebook to create meaningful connections with consumers.
 

On Sunday November 13, 2011 Green Week began and to help support the Green is Universal mission to raise Green awareness and effect positive change to the environment, my company built a new mobile application for iOS and Android devices, Green Square.


My team at Definition 6 was tasked to create the application that would integrate foursquare technology with a “Green” twist.

The Green Square app gives users the ability to easily spot “Green Scenes” nearby and learn site-specific "green" information about the location, or view eco-friendly tips from NBCUniversal talent.  From a user (and foursquare addict) point of view, I love the fact that I can easily see how Green my existing network of friends is, check-in to any foursquare location, and earn custom Green Badges. 

If you are a “Greenie” or an eco-savvy person you can also nominate locations to be deemed Green Scenes by the NBCU team from the app.  Of course, for my fellow foursquare addicts, you continue to earn points on your leaderboard and can keep or claim your mayorships by checking-in from Green Square.

By harnessing the power of the mobile, social, and location-based ecosystem, we were able to develop this app as a way for NBCUniversal to build a stronger, more personal connection with its audience during Green Week.

It was a great project to work on with my team at Definition 6, and the NBCUniversal team, and I’m thrilled with the way the app turned out.  In fact, I look forward to new features and functionality that may be added in future releases, taking into account the feedback and reviews we are gathering this week as more and more users download Green Square.

Take a look for yourself, download the app today for free, and see what’s “Green” near you! http://greensquare.greenisuniversal.com

 

As holiday decorations in stores change and the first snowfall passes, I can’t help but think about the busiest retail season of the year that is right around the corner.  As an email marketer, this means increased frequency, and a higher tolerance to frequency from your subscribers, as well as promotions kicking into high gear.  However, as an email recipient, the next few months represent the most clutter I get from brands all year long!

I’ve put together my top 6 tips to hold your holiday (and all campaigns in general) together as you finalize your messaging and creative and start sending messages.

1. Reinforce that you know me and get personal. – Use the profile information you gather and personalize your messages to me.  Include my name, information about store hours or shipping windows based on my location, reference prior purchases and cross-sell relevant items to complement what I already own.

2. Understand my buying patterns and deliver timely and relevant messages that match up to them. – If you analyze your data and apply some common sense and a little marketing savvy then it will be easy to segment your subscribers and understand where each group is in the bigger picture.  Let’s simplify this: I bought a warm winter coat within the last year (that should last longer than that.)  This tells you that I need warmth but probably won’t want the same kind of coat.  How do you then sell me winter wear when you have great deals? Market a coat in a different category to me (dress, sport, or something I don’t own), Market other winter items to me – gloves, pants, shoes, etc. if they’re part of your offering.  ** The big key here is don’t tell me that the item I bought last year is now cheaper or technology is significantly lagging because you’ll just frustrate me!

3. Give me something exclusive for being a subscriber: value, content, discounts, etc. – Be unique and tie the exclusive content in your email to the action you want me to take (see below.) Don’t have a 20% off coupon in print, social media, email, and on my website.  If I don’t get anything special why would I remain a subscriber when there are much more passive ways I can get the same deal.

4. Make me want to open your email and load images with interesting visual design that renders well on my client. – Understand if I’m more likely to read my email on my smart phone, tablet, or computer and design so it looks the absolute best there and be different. Imagine what kind of success you could have if your email was personal, focused, and not cluttered!

5. Share similar peoples comments and feedback that are like me (because I trust them more than you)  – Pull in feedback on related items from other channels (social, reviews) into your creative.  This is a great way to let your customers be your voice and also grow following and participation in other channels.  It also makes the copy more interesting if it’s from a “regular” person.

6. Inspire me to take action and reward me for it! – Use a clear call to action (never more than two though, especially this time of year), make it easy for me to convert, pre-fill my information, and reinforce the fact that you know how I got into your conversion funnel and reward me as I move through the steps (hopefully 3-4 max).

You may think that it’s too late to implement these steps into your holiday campaigns but as with everything there are varying levels of implementation so start somewhere and pull out a test segment. Let performance guide you to continual optimization and really solid insights move your campaigns into 2012 as you are planning that email marketing strategy and calendar.

Last week I attended a great interactive marketing conference in Indianapolis (and yes, got a side dish of Katy Perry while there!) Of all the things I learned about unified marketing, one of the most interesting sessions I attended was about Email Design in the Mobile Inbox Age.  The presenter was Chris Studabaker from ExactTarget.

The Definition 6 team at the Katy Perry concert from ExactTarget Connections 2011.

Chris answered the question “What is mobile email?” with the following explanation: Email + mobile.

 

 

 

Conversations are happening at record pace all around us across all channels. How do you determine which conversations to listen to? When should you pay attention? How should you respond? How can you start your own?

As a unified marketer, the art of establishing the framework to allow customers, prospects, and employees to have a conversation about your brand is increasingly challenging. When successful, the rewards can be great for all parties involved. So the question is, how do you fuel the conversation?

Here are a few core items to get you started: Stop thinking single media.

People don’t consume messages in a single channel anymore. A personal example of the number of media I consumed (several simultaneously) this morning. On the way to the airport, I was listening to the radio, viewing billboards, reading personal and work email, texting, checking in on 4Square, and checking my Facebook newsfeed.  If I stop and break down my goals by channel, what were my goals? This is what I have to understand as a marketer in order to deliver the right message at the right time.

• Radio: Morning traffic/weather updates enroute to airport (How late was my flight or I going to be??)

• Outdoor: Boredom in the traffic I was hearing about on the radio and sitting in on the interstate

• Personal Email: Plans with friends for the week and planning Halloween activities for the coming weekend

• Work Email: Trying to stay on top of the normal Monday flurry of emails as clients are back in the office so that I wouldn’t be too far behind after a few hours of ‘being unconected’

• Texting: Normal conversations with my inner most circle of friends

• 4Square: Seeing who else was at the airport? Any specials that look good? Getting those early week points on the leaderboard (and trying to earn my Mile High Badge in-flight).

• Facebook: Sharing frustrations about flight delays and seeing what the larger group of virtual friends have been up to since 11:30 last night

The reality is that I was open to receive marketing message during very few of these activities but I was absorbing brands every step of the way.

If you don’t know your target intimately you will be hard pressed to truly engage them.

A unified approach to messaging is essential!

Quit Talking To Me

I don’t trust you and I’m going to ignore what you have to say about your own brand. As a consumer, all I want you to do is have the best product or service possible and allow me to find the information I want, when I want it EASILY.

Let your customers tell me about what you do and why it’s superior.  I will automatically trust them more even if I don’t have a relationship with them because I see them being infinitely more genuine and unbiased.

As a brand, provide the framework for me to silently observe the conversation, obtain facts, and choose if I want to hear from you.

Be Different and Human

The one thing I consistently feel like I’m not getting enough of is human connection. 90% of the time I become loyal to a brand because of its personality or the connection I have and I guarantee you I’m not alone.  Brands are humanized differently based on the channel they are speaking in but the persona must be consistent to reach me, get my attention, and keep delivering.

All of this being said, here are the key takeaways to achieve success in my opinion:

If you’re a marketer – quit planning by channel.  Decide which conversations you want to fuel, where they occur, and build the framework:

• If you’re a brand – know your customers and who you want to be your customers.  You have to go way beyond demographics in today’s world – you need to get intimate. Pull it all together, Behavioural, Psychographic, Attitudinal. Put a name and face on these personas – it will help.  Secondly, if your product or service sucks, fix it!  You can’t afford to waste any more time.

• If you're a consumer – keep expressing your opinion and thoughts. Good, bad, confused, etc., because your peers care what you have to say. And you (collectively) continue to shape the world I work in and we all live in.  The conversation I’m trying to fuel comes from you (and it makes work challenging and fun)!

These are my thoughts on fueling the conversation. As you begin migrating to a unified marketing approach, the conversation becomes more critical to building experiences that unite brands and people.

What do you think?

(Image Credit: Pratts Fuel by conorwithonen)

Recent rumors suggest that Google is moving towards real-time search which would include indexing Tweets.  That means that NOW is the time to look at your Twitter presence.

Google is already indexing tweets just not in real-time, but pages and individual tweets are appearing in search results.

Here's an example:




Here are a few tips to improve search engine optimization with your twitter posts:

1. Choose a good handle
2. Select an account name wisely
3. Make your bio count
4. Spread the word
5. Remember your URL
6. Select the initial characters of each tweet carefully (the first 42 or so become your title tag)
7. Create keyword-rich tweets when possible
8. Optimize for RT (aka retweetability)
9. Shorten those links (and track them)
10. Cut the fat - take the reader to the information they want, don't make them search for it after clicking your link

At Definition 6 we work with businesses and companies to help develop social media strategy and improve social media marketing for our client.  If you are looking for interactive solutions that deliver let us know and we'll be happy to help you take your business to the next level.

Portions of this post have been adapted from an article by Mike Dobbs, read the original post that inspired me here.

After the recent L.G. National Texting Championship this week text messaging has been on my mind.  I came across a great article on ClickZ recently about how to begin integrating text messages with your business and mobile advertising strategy.

The author, Jack Aaronson, listed 7 ways to get started:

• Order Status
• Product Availability and Purchasing
• Ratings and Reviews
• Similar Items
• Multimedia Messages
• Policies and Store Hours/Locations
• In-store Customer Service

There are many other uses for text messaging outside of the retail environment but these are just a few suggestions to help you generate ideas to help your business.  A mobile strategy, when well planned and thoughtfully implemented, can provide additional lift to other forms of media and advertising.

View the full article here or call me at Definition 6 to talk about how we can help develop your mobile marketing strategies.

I recently read an article in BusinessWeek titled "What's a Friend Worth?"  The article gives an interesting perspective about social media strategy and how online media tools can help provide massive insight into consumer and employee behavior.

"What do these relationships say about us and the people in our networks? Companies armed with rich new data and powerful computers are beginning to explore these questions. They're finding that digital friendships speak volumes about us as consumers and workers, and decoding the data can lead to profitable insights. Calculating the value of these relationships has become a defining challenge for businesses and individuals.

Marketers are leading the way. They're finding that if our friends buy something, there's a better-than-average chance we'll buy it, too. It's a simple insight but one that could lead to targeted messaging in an age of growing media clutter.

The second arena for study is inside companies. Businesses such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM (IBM) are researching employees' relationships with an eye to quickening the flow of knowledge and the generation of ideas within their ranks. One team at IBM Research, studying anonymous data of Big Blue's consultants, concluded that employees who forged tighter e-mail connections with their boss brought in on average $588 more in monthly revenue. This is early-stage research, but the goal is to distill patterns of successful communication and replicate valuable links throughout the company.

For most of us, the business value of networked friends is tied to a third area, personal opportunity. In addition to companionship, friends online represent a turbocharged Rolodex for entrepreneurs and job seekers inside and outside companies. These collections of contacts expand social horizons, keeping us in touch with more people who can provide ideas, answers, business leads, and even legal advice. Those who master these connections stand to win a big edge: the connections and brainpower of a large team."

While monetizing social media marketing can, at times, be challenging increased brand awareness and buzz around your product, service, or company can help you reach new consumers with very targeted messaging.

As more and more data is collected and analyzed over time the insights will become more valuable. 

Read the full article here.

Learn more about Definition 6's Interactive Marketing Services.

I'm an Account Coordinator at Definition 6.  I'll be blogging about Interactive Marketing Trends with particular focus on Mobile, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Web 2.0 Applications. 

I'm also a Google AdWords Qualified Individual so I'll be creating posts that link paid advertising to other interactive tactics to create greater ROI.  I hope you enjoy and if there's anything specific you'd like to learn more about just post a comment and we'll start the dialogue!