Leveraging your Fan Base

I frequently advise my small business clients to start blogging. It’s a great way to add content to your website and provide additional information to support your brand position and key messaging. Blog posts also tend to be a bit less formal so they have a different feel. A voice that is consistent with your brand can go a long way towards deepening the reader’s connection with your brand / product / service.

More often than not, clients are reluctant to blog. At first, I interpreted this as a fear of technology. That’s not what it is – it’s time. Small business owners are already doing a little bit of everything and don’t want to take on one more thing. That is where leveraging your fan base comes in.

As consumers, we already know that a 3^rd party product endorsement is seen as more authentic than messaging direct from a particular brand. So, why not leverage the power of your fan base to help develop content for your website? Invite your customers to contribute!

Whistler Blackcomb is in the process of doing just that. In a recent ad in Pique Newsmagazine http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/pique/index.php?cat=C_Classifieds&content=careers+1745, Whistler Blackcomb advertised “Bloggers Wanted”. In exchange for weekly blog posts about their Whistler Blackcomb experiences, successful bloggers will receive a season pass, VIP access to special events and WB swag. What a great way to engage your fans, develop website content and benefit from 3^rd party endorsements!

The goal is to deepen the relationship that customers have with your brand. Putting your customers to work and rewarding them for their efforts is a great way for small businesses to benefit from social media AND save time.

Measurability of Social Media

With any marketing initiative, the ability to monitor and track effectiveness is critical. The emergence of social media channels has given marketers some new tools to work with which is very exciting. It's tempting to just go for it and get out there! Hold on - just for a minute. These tools are cool and it's fun to participate in this new channel, however you can spend a lot of time (time = money) to the detriment of your marketing and business objectives. So, my message today? Social media channels have a place in your marketing plan - but the basics of marketing still apply.

Start with your objectives - Realistic, understandable, measurable, beyond normal, achievable and time bound. Ex: Increase awareness levels for XYZ brand by 20% over the course of ABC marketing campaign by December 31, 2009.

From here, build you strategies and assign tactics that fit and will achieve your objectives. Great.

Now comes the challenge - measuring the impact and effectiveness of your social media tactics. Here are a few thoughts:

• Track the increase in fans, followers, comments etc. This is pretty straight forward and can be effective to measure things like "awareness" or "engagement". It can also be valuable for future initiatives since you are increasing your audience.
• Be bold. Implement an offer, promotion, contest exclusively through one of more social media channels. You obviously need an audience for this to be effective, but you will know really quickly if your offer is compelling and resonates with your customers.
• Use one of the new tracking tools that are available such as Viral Heat, an analytics tool to track and measure your efforts in the social media space. http://mashable.com/2009/07/07/viralheat/

So, add social media channels to your marketing toolbox. Ensure that they fit with your objectives and determine how you will measure and track your success.

Jumping In. Twitter for the Timid.

I've been spending lots of time lately considering the value of the various social media channels, how to use them, how to get the most out of them, and what their value is to my own business. I've been on Twitter for a few months now and it's been a slow, and tentative introduction.

As I was reviewing the various e-mail newsletters that I receive daily, this particular article on Twitter really resonated with me - particularly since I seem to be following the pattern. "Learning Twitter - Come on in, the water's warm!" is a great overview and guide to entering into the world of Twitter.

This channel can be a valuable tool. I recommend deciding what you want to use it for - what are your objectives? That will help give some focus to your exploration. For me personally, being a one-women show based in my home, my objectives include staying informed and expanding my network of resources. I'm enjoying my slow entry and am doing lots of listening. Join me! @betsylinnell

Whistler Film Festival Society hires Betsy Linnell Marketing Management

We are pleased to announce that the Whistler Film Festival Society has hired Betsy Linnell Marketing Management to work on the 2009 Festival Campaign. This year's campaign promises to be very interesting with an integrated strategy that relies heavily on social media marketing. Stay tuned for updates as the campaign unfolds. For more information on the Whistler Film Festival Society and the 2009 Film Festival check out http://www.whistlerfilmfestival.com/