Category Archives: Buyer Persona

Posted on

Why Apple Acquired Topsy: Mobile, Real-Time Data in a One-Screen World

by

 

Twitter on my iPhone

My Tweet on Why Apple Acquired Topsy

 

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal broke the news that Apple acquired Topsy, the Twitter Social Analytics Firm.  First-gut reactions from the tech pundit community are questioning the deal's merits and objectives: 

Mashable.  Christina Warren described her initial reaction to the acquisition: 

"Topsy is an interesting acquisition for Apple because unlike its past purchases of startups, such as HopStop and Locationary, there isn't a clear product application."

"With Topsy, the purpose is less clear. The Journal posits that it could be useful for iTunes Radio — a product that already has direct integration with Twitter Music — or its flailing iAd product. Still, the purpose of acquiring an analytics firm that is so focused on one specific social network is, in a word, odd."

TechCrunch. Matthew Panazarino voiced his skepticism about the Apple-Topsy deal, and he also speculates why Apple pursued it:

"Given that Apple is a Twitter partner already, and hosts login and posting features for the social network on its iOS and OS X platforms, this seems like a confusing deal if all that it's after is the Twitter data firehose. It seems more likely that Topsy has technology or engineers (read: acqui-hire) that can parse trends in a way that Apple wants to incorporate into one of its products."

"If I had to hazard a guess, this might be related to Apple building out the relevancy engine of its App and iTunes Stores. Adding social signals to the search algorithms of its stores could help to improve the relevance of search results and help Apple surface apps that are hotter and more interesting to users. Tracking app trends across social networks would allow them to fine tune categories and collections of apps, and surface apps that are gaining steam more quickly."

My Take: Apple Wants to Know WHAT We're Thinking WHEN We're Thinking AND WHERE We're Thinking

Apple Literally Wants to Get Inside Our Heads.  Their strategy doesn't just apply to selling more Apple stuff (e.g., apps, music, books, movies off of iTunes).  In my opinion, they literally want to get in our heads about EVERYTHING.  

David Meerman Scott's November 26th blog post, Big Data, Rich Data, provides key insights and greater detail on how Apple (and other firms) can convert the real-time data into revenue.  Apple acquiring Topsy for a "mere $200 million" is a steal.  And, since Apple holds $147 billion in cash on hand, they're not even breaking a sweat.   

Capturing Real-Time Data and Converting the Insights into Revenue is Topsy's Business. Here's a screen shot from Topsy's "About Us" webpage:

 

Topsy About Us

Topsy About Us WebPage

Delivering the Right Message at the Right Time in the Right Place

The Big Data, Real-Time Marketing Implications are Huge.  Samuel Greengard's great CMO.com article, Real-Time Marketing: The Reality Ahead, reinforces why Apple gobbled up Topsy. Ironically, CMO.com published Mr. Greengard's article the same day as the Apple-Topsy announcement: 

"Today the Holy Grail is to deliver the right message at the right time in the right place. Of course, that's easier said than done–and breaking through the glut and getting a message to a consumer who is receptive is nothing less than daunting. Nevertheless, the tools and techniques exist to migrate to a real-time framework. "In the past, marketers had to conduct a massive amount of research to understand consumers and behavior," Vivaldi's Joachimsthaler said. 'It's now more about developing methods that allow consumers to draw a map to their doors. It's critical to capture their footprint.' "

But, Why Does Apple Want Twitter Consumer Information?

Mitch Joel CTRL ALT Delete Book

Mitch Joel Describes It Best From his book, CTRL ALT Delete.  The rationale for the Apple-Topsy acquisition comes straight from this section in CTRL ALT Delete: The One Screen World – The Shift From Four Screens Down to One (pages 90 -109). 

The entire chapter describes how consumers operate in a one-screen world environment. The only screen consumers care about is "the one currently staring them in the face."

Mitch further makes a compelling argument: The most important consumer screen resides on their smartphones.

Twitter Is Mobile, Untethered, and One-Screen Savvy.  It's a social media platform focused on telling Apple WHAT We're Thinking WHEN We're Thinking AND WHERE We're Thinking It.  This November 2013 Bloomberg-Businessweek article describes how the Twitter API, its meta data, and tweets provide rich consumer data. 

Here are Mitch's thoughts on Twitter and the one-screen world (from page 99 of CTRL ALT Delete):

"Twitter's metoric rise and continued success have less to do with how many followers Lady Gaga has and much more to do with the fact that it was the first-ever online social network that worked better on mobile than it does on the Web.  The sheer simplicity of those 140 characters of tweets makes it that much more workable and easy for consumers.  Twitter's focus (from day one) was on connecting people as they were on the go.  To this day, everything that Twitter does — from acquisitions to business strategy — is driven by a one-screen-world philosophy." 

Your Turn

You May Not Agree With Me.  What do you think about Apple acquiring Topsy?  Does the deal make sense?  Maybe, it still seems odd?

Either way, please comment with your thoughts.  I'd love to hear from you.

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention.  Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

Related articles
Steve Jobs Is Smiling: Apple's Angela Ahrendts on Brand Ambassadors, Feeling, and Selling
57 Resources to Help College Graduates Land that First Marketing Job
Apple buys Topsy for $200M: a way to listen to Twitter data
Why Apple Needs Topsy in a $200 Million Way
What Benefits Does Apple Get from Acquiring Topsy?
Apple Acquires Social Analytics Firm Topsy
Posted on

Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling: Lessons in Compelling Simplicity from Skype and Google

by

Jumping for Joy on a Beach

Yay! — Jumping for Joy

What Does Pixar Know About Simple, Compelling Storytelling that Most Marketers, Advertisers, and Brands Don't?


A Lot! But, Skype and Google are Damn Good Pixar Storytelling Students Based on Their Viral Reunion Videos. Skype and Google recently published these two (2) brilliant, moving, and emotional stories on their respective YouTube Channels:

  

 

Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling Drive the Skype and Google Reunion Videos

The 22 Pixar Rules of Storytelling Visualized.  Here the link to Pixar's 22 Rules of Story Telling Visualized written by Joe Berkowitz and published by Fast Company (hat tip to Ann Handley).  You can also find Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling Visualized from this Slideshare presentation by Gaby 8A:

 

Which Pixar Storytelling Rules Do You Recognize in the Skype and #googlereunion Videos?  

Let's compare notes.  I see: 

Rule #1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

Rule #2: You gotta keep in mind what's interesting to you as an audience, not what's fun to do as a writer.  They can be very different.

Rule #4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day, ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally, ___.

Rule #5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You'll feel like you're losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

Rule #6: What is your character good at, comforatable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

Rule #7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard. Get yours working up front.

Rule #13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likeable as you write, but it's poison to the audience.

Rule #14: Why must you tell THIS story. What's the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That's the heart of it?

Rule #15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty leads credibility to unbelieveable situations.

Rule #16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What if they don't succeed, stack the odds agains.

Rule #21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters can't just write 'cool'? What would make YOU act that way?

Rule #22: What's the essence of your story?  Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

The Art of the Pitch: Simple and Economic Equals Competitive Advantage

I, Marketers, Advertisers and Brands Fail 95% of the Time on Simplicity.  Rules #5 and #22 are highlighted for a reason because I believe "simple" is a MASSIVE Differentiator.

But, Simple is Hard.


Work Your Ass Off to Craft and Deliver Simple Stories and Themes.   I'm reading and studying Peter Coughter's brilliant book, The Art of The Pitch.  I learned about it through this Mitch Joel podcast: SPOS #296 — The Art of the Pitch with Peter Coughter. 

Listen to Mitch Joel and Peter Coughter's Conversation and Invest in Art of The Pitch.  If you're in the business of selling ideas (as I am), your career depends on reading/studying The Art of the Pitch. I'd selfishly prefer others in the professional services industry don't read Peter's book.  

Why?  I want the competitive advantages he teaches all to myself.

Peter Mentions "Simple" or "Simplicity" in The Art of the Pitch Almost 30 times.  Here are key quotes reinforcing the importance of "simple":

(page 133) "Simplicity is what we seek.  In the visual as well as the oral expression of our ideas."

(page 157) "Your presentation should be so simple that you can boil it down to just a few sentences.  And notice that I said simple, not simplistic."

(page 32) "The audience's ability to assimilate and retain information is limited.  You're only going to be able to make two or three kepy points. So make them and make them memorable.  You need to this in as simple, spare and elegant a way as possible."

Skype and Google "Keep It Tight" 

I Stole That Line From Ann Handley. Ann's post, Lessons From Skype, Your Story is About People (Not Technology) explains this concept better than I can:

"As my buddy Tim Washer and I espouse, the number-one rule for video is to Keep It Tight. In other words, respect the audience’s time, and don’t expect them to invest more than 60 to 90 seconds in your online video."

"But in the case of this particular video, the story of Sarah and Paige was so compelling that I sat through the whole three minutes of it."

"As you know, an Internet minute is like a dog year… so a 3-minute video is really seven times as long."

 
Multiple and Complex Backstories in Both Videos are "Kept Tight."  Dan Lyons published this amazing post on the HubSpot Blog analyzing why The Google Reunion video is so compelling.  More importantly, Dan describes the important historical context between Pakistan and India that's seamlessly weaved into the storyline.  

The filmakers captured the essence of that complex, historical context simply.  Understanding the context of that history lesson is one of many reasons why we root for and identify with the #googlereunion characters.  

 

Simple Stories to Make Us Cry

I published this January 2012 post: Google's Marketing Reinvention — Tell Us Stories That Make Us Cry to analyze Google's use of video to reinvent its corporate image.  Lorraine Twohill, Google's Global Head of Marketing, described her goals to transform consumer perceptions of Google as "a place of cold engineers:"


"If we don't make you cry, we fail.  It's about emotion, which is bizarre for a tech company."

 
Emotional Connection.  If Skype and Google continue creating and publishing these compelling, simple stories, we'll watch them.  These brands may even earn our long-term trust about the roles they play in our everyday lives.    

"And, what's wrong with that …"

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention.  Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

 

 Photo Credit by Nicholas Chan via flickr

 

Related articles
Part Two: 4 More Gurus and Their Books Helping Marketing and Communications Graduates Land that First Job
57 Resources to Help College Graduates Land that First Marketing Job
Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling Mastered by American Authors and Georgia English Bulldog Rescue
Pixar's 22 rules of storytelling
Storytelling – The Key to Great Marketing
5 Writing Rules I've Learned from Pixar
Posted on

Steve Jobs Is Smiling: Apple’s Angela Ahrendts on Brand Ambassadors, Feeling, and Selling

by

 

4 Year Old Hugging German Shepherd Puppy

You Make Me Feel So Good!

Fast Company writer, Austin Carr, published two (2) great articles yesterday about Apple's recent hiring of Burberry CEO, Angela Ahrendts, as its Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores.  Apple created this new position specifically for Ahrendts, and she'll report directly to Apple's CEO Tim Cook.

In one of the articles, Carr shares videos of Fast Company interviews with Ahrendts from July 2013 and early August 2013.  Within the context of these videos, Carr describes what he thinks these interviews signal about Ahrendts' strategy to rejuvenate Apple from an offline (retail) and online perspective.

I think Carr's great article signals something bigger.  I think Apple's hiring of Angela Ahrendts signals Apple's return to the values of what made it an iconic company.   

Hire and Train Brand Ambassdors "Who Know How to Feel" (Versus Salespeople Who Know How to Sell)

Angela Ahrendts' retail philosophy as described in interviews from Fast Company, Apple's New Consumer Experience Chief, Angela Ahrendts, on the Future of Retail by Austin Carr, October 15, 2013

"My dad used to always to say that he could teach anything but he couldn't teach how to feel.  That's the hardest part when you have 11,000 people: How do you teach them how we feel?"  

"The thing is, I don't want to be sold when I walk into a store to be welcomed.  The job is to be a brilliant brand ambasador.  Everyone is welcome. Don't be judgmental whatsoever."

"Don't sell! NO! Because that is a turnoff."

 

 

 

 

I Invested in a MacBook Pro 15 Because of How It Makes Me Feel.  My MacBook Pro makes me feel like I'm a writer / artist.  It's the easiest-to-use, best-looking, slickest, and coolest thing I've ever had the privilege of using.  And, my company-issued iPad is rapidly making me feel the same way in my day job ever since I paired it with a Logitech Ultrathin iPad Keyboard. 

Owning and / or using my MacBook Pro 15 and my company-issued iPad are cherished privileges. That's how good they make me feel.

I Invest in Myself and in this Blog Because of How it Makes Me Feel.  Members of the Social Media ReInvention community know the reasons why I love blogging / writing.  Blogging / Writing forces me to use critical thinking and creative muscles I never knew existed.  Exercising those muscles makes me feel good.

Exercising the other muscles.  That's a different story.  But, I think that's a little more manageable now that my 2-year old daughter finally sleeps throught the night … 


It Comes Back to Shared Values.  It Comes Back to How Did Someone or Something Make You Feel.  

Who are the people, the organizations, the heroes, and the experiences that you cherish most in your life?  For me, it's the ones who share my values.  Those are the people, the organizations, and the experiences that have made the most lasting and positive impression on me.  

For the things that mean the most to you, did any of the above try to sell you on why they should be a part of your life?  Did they try to pitch you and drone on and on with a PowerPoint deck filled with waves of God-awful, just-makes-you-want-to-hurl-all-over-the-room bullet points?  

I doubt it.

Steve Jobs Would Be Proud

I'm Excited About Apple Again.  After watching these videos, I'm excited about Apple's future.  I now believe they're focusing on making us feel the way we all individually felt when we first fell in love with Apple.

You Know Who Angela Ahrendts Reminds Me Of in Those Interviews? This Guy.

Steve Jobs RIP October 5 2011

 

Your Turn

Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.   Comments are open. So let’er rip!


If You Enjoyed This Post, Please Share It and Subscribe to My Blog

Subscribe to Social Media ReInvention

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Ideas that spread win. Please share my work with your friends.

You can unsubscribe any time you like. Many Thanks!

Posted on

Should College Graduates and Current Undergraduates Learn LinkedIn?

by

 

 

College Students are LinkedIn's Fastest Growing Segment

 

It publicly signaled college students are a critical growth driver by announcing its College Pilot Program in July 2012. At that time, LinkedIn cited 20 million college undergraduates as members of the online service. Even more importantly, college graduates and students represent LinkedIn's fastest growing demographic. The company recently announced two (2) new portals serving this fast-growing customer segment:

In parallel with the release of LinkedIn Student Jobs and LinkedIn University Pages, LinkedIn also launched their "LinkedIn – Now For Education" landing page. The landing page is "a buyer-persona friendly" site serving and targeting the following audiences:

  • Students: Recent Graduates, Current Undergraduates, and effective September 12th, high school students
  • Parents: The Alumni Section can help parents locate their 1st degree connections who may be able to help their child gain valuable insights (or even more valuable connections) during the application or research process
  • Academic Institutions: Top universities can be even more aggressive and selective in the students they target and recruit for admission
  • Prospective Employers: Self explanatory

 

 

35 to 54 Year Olds are LinkedIn's Biggest Membership Base

This Business Insider infographic shows LinkedIn's smallest membership segment is 18-24 year olds (e.g., college students and recent undergraduates). 18% of LinkedIn members's are 18-24 year olds versus 40% who are 35 to 54.

 


 

The LinkedIn Grad Guide Video Series

Want more proof LinkedIn wants to attract and grow this important market segment? Check out this video series — classic, targeted content marketing:

 

LinkedIn: Your Career Starts Here

 

LinkedIn Grad Guide Video 1: What is LinkedIn

 

 

LinkedIn Grad Guide Video 2: Building Your Professional Profile

 

 

LinkedIn Grad Guide Video 3: Finding Your Career Passion

 

 

LinkedIn Grad Guide Video 4: Building a Professional Network

 

 

LinkedIn Grad Guide Video 5: Turning Relationships Into Opportunities

 

 

LInkedIn Grad Guide Video 6: Researching & Prepping For Interviews


Conclusion

I smiled when the "youthful-sounding" voiceover in the LinkedIn: Your Career Starts Here video refers to the predominance of LinkedIn's older members:

"It's (LinkedIn) not just for top executives. It's not just for old people with heavy briefcases. It's (LinkedIn) for you. And, it's the perfect place before you start your professional story."

35-54 year old professionals recognize and understand LinkedIn's value in building and maintaining careers. I would love to find some statistics proving/disproving if this demographic comprised most of the service's first-movers and early adopters.

This is a brutal job market for all ages. Unemployed workers over 50 and recent college graduates are especially impacted by the current economy. 50 year-old executives have to work extra hard to find employment. And, the power of a college degree is dwindling.

Thoughtful, savvy personal branding positively impacts careers. Whether we like it or not, an online world accelerates the competitive pressures shaping our professional lives (including our children in their early high school years).

In about 2 weeks, please stay tuned for my next post in this series. I'll summarize my favorite "pearls of wisdom" LinkedIn shares in the six-part Grad Video Series.

Your Turn:  What do you think of LinkedIn's marketing strategy to grow its membership base?  Is opening their service to younger members a smart move?  Let me know in the comments.

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention.  Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.   

 

Note: This is post one in a series sharing resources to help new college graduates and current students land full-time jobs or internships.  If interested, here are the respective links for posts two and three:


Photo credit: chrisinplymouth via flickr

 

Related articles
LinkedIn's Grad Guide Videos: 13 Pearls to Help Recent College Graduates Find Jobs
Part One: 4 Gurus with Books Helping New College Graduates Build a Professional Online Presence
LinkedIn to Open Its Service to High School Students
LinkedIn expands for high school students, universities
LinkedIn connects with career-focused teens
LinkedIn's University Pages: Could this be a game changer?
Posted on

Julie Roehm’s Social Media Strategy Recovered and Reinvented Her Personal Brand

by

I Want a Second Chance

Advertising Age published the following article on January 12th:  Julie Roehm Resurfaces in Senior Marketing Post at SAP.

I started following Julie Roehm‘s marketing career when Fortune Magazine profiled her in its August 2005 article: Yahoo’s Brilliant Solution.  As Chrysler’s Director of Marketing Communications (at that time), she clearly understood online advertising’s emerging impact as a necessary and vital part of a brand’s multi-channel marketing strategy:

(Direct Quote from the Fortune Article): “Here’s the scary part: Roehm rarely misses a chance to talk about how delighted she is with online advertising. Last year she spent 10% of the budget online; this year she is allotting closer to 18%; next year, she says, she will allocate more than 20%. Do the math: In 2006 roughly $400 million of Chrysler’s money that used to go into TV, newspaper, and magazine ads will be spent on the Internet. Says Roehm: ‘I hate to sound like such a marketing geek, but we like to fish where the fish are.'”

A 34 Year-Old Marketing Executive Publicly Declares a $400 Million Bet on Digital Marketing ROI. Wow!  Here’s a gutsy, young, rising, marketing executive superstar who’s publicly stating her $360 million and $400 million bets to achieve digital marketing ROI in the next two years!  Not only did this quantitatively trained University of Chicago MBA convince a highly conservative executive management team to think and invest differently but she also commanded their $2 billion global marketing budget.   

And, Ms. Roehm achieved this with an uprecedented style and flair.   

Fast Forward to After a Highly Publicized Departure at Walmart in December 2006. After numerous high profile promotions and industry accolades, Ms. Roehm abruptly found herself at a personal and professional crossroads. Starting in 2007, her short tenure as a Senior VP of Marketing at Walmart was her last full-time, executive marketing position for the next five years.  

While looking for her next opportunity, Ms. Roehm started her own marketing consulting practice. And, to say she encountered daunting challenges and setbacks during this time is an understatement. A July 2009 Fast Company article, Behind the Rebranding Campaign of Wal-Mart’s Scarlet Woman, and a Fortune Magazine “Where Are They Now” segment discuss her obstacles in regaining a full-time executive position during that five-year period.  

She wanted back in the C-suite.  But, as articulated by Fast Company, Corporate America wasn’t willing to take on “damaged goods.”


How Did Julie Roehm Recover and Reinvent Her Personal Brand? 

The Governing Question.  And, here’s how I will attempt to answer it:  

  • Examine how Ms. Roehm leveraged social media technologies to reinvent her personal brand
  • Offer my opinion on her multi-channel social media strategy and individual channel tactics
  • Conclude why I think her move to SAP fits from a social media perspective

What This Post WILL NOT Attempt.  A lot of content exists online about Ms. Roehm’s departure from Walmart.  I couldn’t avoid it while conducting the research for this post.  

Therefore,

  • I will not rehash any of that online content and provide my personal opinions on it
  • I will not pass any personal judgment on Ms. Roehm in relation to that online content

If you’re looking for a sensationalistic piece, please click to a different website / blog. Because, you’re wasting valuable time by staying here.

If you’re interested in answering the previously stated governing question, I hope you’ll please stick with me for just a little while longer …

1. Roehm Crafted a Personal Social Media Strategy First

It’s About Focus.  Here’s a great article illustrating this point from one of my favorite social media authorities, Lee Oden of The TopRank Online Marketing Blog.  He cites Ms. Roehm as one of “the 40 friends, colleagues, and others,” he consulted for advice on this topic.  Here’s her direct quote from Lee’s post:

Julie Roehm Social Media Strategy Quote

A Home Base Personally Branding Julie Roehm.  juliearoehm.com is her personal website where she controls every positioning aspect of her personal brand:

  • Brand Persona Attributes: C-Suite Executive, Marketing Expert, Smart, a Likable Personality
  • Targeted Buyer Persona: C-Suite Executives in Marketing, Branding, and Public Relations
  • Target Industry Expertise: Retail, Financial Services, Automotive, New Media

 

Julie Roehm-Website 1

Online Assets Focusing on a Cohesive Brand Message.  And, she showcases these personal brand attributes by delivering and linking a cohesive and consistent marketing message among each of these online, personal branding assets:  

  • Her Personal Blog: “I’m an authority who publishes insights on marketing strategy.”
  • Videos (especially from Fox Business News): “A major news network has me regularly comment because I’m a marketing strategy authority.”
  • The Julie Roehm Twitter Feed: “I read, study, and share interesting content on marketing strategy.”
  • LinkedIn Profile: “I’ve held several marketing strategy authority positions or consulted for large organizations as a marketing strategy authority.”

Julie Roehm-Website 2

A Multi-Channel Hub and Spoke Model with Both Long-Form and Short-Form Context.  The multiple channel strategy executed here is worth highlighting in this age of real-time streams via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+:

1. The Marketing Pull.  Her website, blog, and videos contain the long-form context demonstrating her expertise to the target audience.  These online properties give her the runway to provide more details and examples of why she’s a bonafide marketing authority in her target industries.

2. The Marketing Push.  Her LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter contain the short-form context to share content she’s provided on her “pull assets” (i.e., a recently published blog post or tweeting an article link relevant to a specific industry or area of marketing expertise).

Julie Roehm Twitter Page

 

2. Roehm Leveraged Online Video to Her Advantage 

The Julie Roehm Personal Branding Killer App.  Ms. Roehm leverages online video brilliantly.   These videos demonstrate her personal strengths as well as different views of her personality:

  • Articulate and Smart
  • Subject Matter Expert
  • Thinks Quickly on Her Feet 
  • Confidence: e.g, she knows this stuff cold
  • Humor: e.g., she pokes fun at herself and doesn’t take herself too seriously

Plus, notice how each video positions her as one of the following:

  • Julie Roehm, Consumer Analyst and Marketing Expert
  • Julie Roehm, Marketing Strategy Consultant
  • Julie Roehm, Marketing Expert


* Example: Leveraging Online Media in Branding Strategy

CATFOA 2011 – Julie Roehm 2.28.11 from Ech03 on Vimeo.

Additional examples from Fox Business News highlighting Ms. Roehm’s diverse expertise in multiple industries, public relations, and branding strategy.

Note: I provided the Fox Business News videos this way because (1) Fox doesn’t allow the use of video embedding in external sites and (2) The URL in one of the videos produces funky-looking “duplicates” on my published blog post.  Sorry for the inconvenience.


3. Roehm and Her SAP Senior Marketing Executive Colleagues Share a Common Ground: Think Like a Publisher 

Both Her New Boss and a Senior Marketing Executive Colleague Self-Publish a Blog and Use Twitter.  Ms. Roehm, her new boss, and one of her senior marketing executive colleagues agree on an important aspect of a global brand’s marketing strategy: self-publishers win in social media.

How can I make that type of a statement?  Her SAP senior marketing executive colleagues also actively self-publish online content:

And, during the interviewing process, I’m sure Ms. Roehm showed this online content portfolio to her SAP colleagues to make the case for her knowledge, expertise, and creativity in executing a successful social media strategy.

Thinking Like a Publisher Means Creating “Show-Me” Content.  Ms. Roehm started actively blogging in March 2009 and opened her Twitter account in May 2007. That’s given her significant time to create, publish and build a sizable online content portfolio.  To her credit, she aggressively self-published content for the past five years to position herself for senior marketing executive positions.


Conclusion

In the July 2009 Fast Company article cited earlier, Ms. Roehm made the following observation:

“She now ranks cultural fit — geographic and corporate — at the top of her list, adding that her ‘aggressive-aggressive’ personality, as she describes it, doesn’t jibe with the ‘passive-aggressive’ politeness of the South. ‘I wanted to be able to show that I can adapt anywhere, I can do anything. The thing I learned about myself is that I’m not a full-on chameleon, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

I have no knowledge of SAP’s corporate culture.  But, I do know these three (3) things after analyzing her personal social media strategy:

1. Julie Roehm maximized her online personal branding opportunities.  

2. She strategically self-published content that’s tactically distributed via multiple social media channels.

3. Her content delivered and reinforced a consistent brand message highlighting her marketing strategy capabilities and expertise.

Did her online activities alone win her this new professional opportunity?  Of course not.  

But, her online content strategy significantly contributed to winning her new senior executive postion at SAP.  I look forward to tracking Ms. Roehm’s progress because she’s always been someone to watch.

And, I wish her good luck.

 

Did You Enjoy This Post?

If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention.  Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.   

 

Photo Credt by Alyssa L. Miller via flickr

Posted on

Google’s Marketing Reinvention: Tell Stories that Make Us Cry

by

Coffee Heart

I loved reading the January 1, 2012 New York Times article by Claire Cain Miller: Google Bases a Campaign on Emotions, Not Terms.  Her article explains Google's distinctive philosophical change towards marketing and advertising.  For Google to acknowledge investing more time and resources to actively promote its products and services stands in stark contrast to the image of "cold engineers" hating anything related to marketing, advertising, or public relations as described in Ken Auletta's great book, Googled.

Why Google Reinvented Its Marketing 

"A Remarkable Transformation."  What's driving this "remarkable transformation for Google" as noted in the article by Peter Daboll, chief executive of Ace Metrix, a firm that evaluates TV and video ads?

Ms. Cain Miller's article cites two business drivers:

Finding New Revnue Sources Beyond Search Ads.  Google needs new businesses like the Chrome browser and the Google Plus social network to succeed.

Focusing, Paring Down, and Integrating Google's Offerings.  This is part of Larry Page's mission as CEO to pare down Google's product offering and make these products more attractive, intuitive, and integrated with one another.

Does This Sound Like The Voice of a Cold Engineer?

Marketing Emotion.  Even more revealing is that Google acknowledges both a change in marketing strategy and increased advertising investment.  Here are two direct article quotes from Lorraine Twohill, Google's vice president for global marketing:


"As we got bigger, we had more competition, more products, more messages to consumers, so we needed to do a bit more to communicate what thse products are and how you can use them."

"If we don't make you cry, we fail.  It's about emotion, which is bizarre for a tech company."

Sounds Like Marketing From the Heart.  But, make no mistake Google still bases its decisions on rigorous, fact-based data analysis. And, the article further describes the significant data analyses and testing that went into planning its first Super Bowl commercial (e.g., dozens of tests) and a 140-tab spreadsheet used in location planning for Google Zeitgeist (the company's annual conference for it's biggest advertisers).

Don't Pitch. Tell a Story.

The Google Video Advertisements Cited in the New York Times Article.  The article mentions the following successful advertising videos because Google uses storytelling versus product pitching.  I've pulled them all together in this post.

It's Not About Features and Benefits.  Notice how we can all relate to each of these stories.  In particular, the two (2) Google Chrome videos mention nothing about Chrome as the world's fastest web browser.

These stories are moving, emotional, and entertaining.  What's their emotional impact on you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention.  Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.  

Photo Credit via Flickr by thepinkpeppercorn

Related articles
Part Two: 4 More Gurus and Their Books Helping Marketing and Communications Graduates Land that First Job
Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling Mastered by American Authors and Georgia English Bulldog Rescue
Google 'Reunion' Video
Google moves beyond functionality with a wave of emotional Advertising
Open letter to Tim Cook: Apple needs to be more like Google
Posted on

The Business Value Behind Social Media: Part 1 – Social Media Strategy from A to Z

by

ABC alphabet 

David Meerman Scott shared an informative YouTube video in his November 16th blog post, The Business Value Behind Social Media.  The video took place during The SAS Premier Business Leadership Series and included a panel discussion on The Business Value of Social Media with the following participants:

* Martin Giles, The Economist, US Technology Correspondent.  Martin moderated the October 2010 panel discussion.  In David 's aforementioned blog post, he notes how Martin Giles is the best moderator he has ever worked with.  After viewing and studying this video, I understand why. 

* Chris Brogan, President of New Marketing Labs, popular blogger and co-author of Trust Agents and author of Social Media 101.

* Charlene Li, Founder and CEO of Altimeter Group, popular blogger, and co-author of two (2) books, Groundswell and Open Leadership.

* David Meerman Scott, popular blogger and best-selling author of the two (2) books The New Rules of Marketing & PR and Real-Time Marketing & PR. 

 


 

The discussion topics covered the following issues relevant to social media strategy, emerging trends, and several case study examples of its successful execution (or in some cases, unsuccessful):

* How should organizations build a social media presence?

* Who within the organization should own the social media function?

* How can organizations measure and analyze the value of social media?

* Who are the model organizations of modern social media management and strategy execution? 

Part 1 represents the first piece of a multiple-post blog series describing the insights shared in this video.  My goal is to publish the posts from every Saturday morning until completion (but please bear with me if I slip on a date).  Part 1 will be the A to Z Executive Summary provided by Martin Giles at the end of the panel discussion.  In the future posts, I will publish the deep dives generated from the panel's discussion.  And trust me, there's a lot of substance in this panel discussion because I recorded 20+ pages of notes.

Martin's A to Z Executive Summary starts at 1:01:57 of the video.  His Executive Summary recapped Chris', Charlene's, and David's insights from different parts of their hour-long conversation.  Where appropriate, I sprinkled in my point-of-view (I hope you don't mind).

Executive Summary: Social Media Strategy from A to Z

* A = Analytics.  Understanding the value and ROI your social media initiatives produces requires analyzing the data with analytics tools. 

* B = Brogan and Boeing.   Chris did a great job as a contributing member.  Boeing showed it was listening to the conference's live Twitter Feed by acknowledging David Meerman Scott's positive comments citing Boeing as a model organization in social media strategy and execution.  Here' the tweet, Boeing sent to David: @dmscott thanks for citing us during #pbls10. Here's the air show effort DMS mentioned. http://bit.ly/dkQEqC 

* C = Control.  Control in social media means you have to give it up.  Learn to lose control.

* D = Disaster Recovery.  Mistakes will happen in your business. Have a disaster recovery plan in place to address these mistakes through the right social media channels.  For example, if an irate customer makes a highly publicized complaint via their blog, respond quickly by commenting on that customer's blog.  Responding via a press release is a mistake. 

* E = Earpiece and Earning Credibility.  Martin made light of having to constantly readjust his earpiece during the panel discussion.  He also pointed out how much of the discussion focused on "earning credibility" through your social media efforts versus the traditional advertising mentality of "buying credibility."

* F = Facebook and The Future of The Web (two highly debated topics among the panel members). 

* G = Grab Audience Attention. On the World Wide Web, you have to creatively think of ways to grab audience attention.  Martin also said G stands for Go Giants because he lives in San Francisco.

* H = Human.  Be human and don't be afraid to put real human beings on The Web to support and implement your social media efforts. 

* I = Innovate and Influencers.  Identify the online influencers in your impacting your organization's online reputation and think of innovative ways to reach them.

* J = Journalists.  Martin noted The Internet's impact on traditional publishing and how he may be searching for a job soon (so please hire him).  Also, David suggests organizations bring journalists into their social media operations because of their storytelling abilities and gift for creating share-worthy content. 

* K = KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).  Carefully think about and select your KPIs and how they can inform your decision-making.

* L = Charlene Li and Listening. Charlene Li contributes great insights to the panel and cites many different examples particularly in the Fortune 500.  Martin thanks the live in-person and online audiences for listening.  Most of all, he cites how organizations need leverage social media in listening to their respective online audiences.

* M = David Meerman Scott, Modeling (a humorous reference to David's former career as a male model in Japan), and Measurement.  An ongoing and important future trend in social media is understanding how to best measure its impact.

* N = Need to Respond Quickly.  Martin notes how he and his fellow journalists are online 24/7.  Learn to respond in real-time because if you're not, there's a problem. 

* O = Open Leadership and Ownership.  This is the title of Charlene's recently released book (I purchased my copy this past week).  Her book describes the required organizational and leadership attributes required to effectively compete and successfully engage audiences in today's World Wide Web.  In addition, her new book discusses how to determine, manage, and execute the right open leadership strategy for your organization.  Ownership is for who's going to own and execute your social media strategy (and what's the best way to do that).

* P = People and Paris Hilton.  As Martin says, I'll stop right there …

* Q = Questions.  Pose better questions to your audience because we've discussed numerous examples of how really smart companies benefit from seeking audience feedback.

* R = ROI and Real-Time.  The panel shared examples where companies have achieved ROI and how they measure it.  Furthermore, companies who learn or take the initiative to respond and act in real-time will have future competitive advantages in areas ranging from product development, interacting with the media, and capitalizing on real-time events impacting your industry.

* S = Sharing.  Social media is about sharing great content so be willing and generous in sharing it.

* T = Twitter and Trusted Advisor.  The panel provided a number of examples of using Twitter to generate revenues, enhance customer service, and promote content.  Consistency, commitment, responsiveness, and a genuine attitude to help customers make better, informed decisions described organizations developing Trusted Advisor reputations online. 

* U = Understand Customer Insights.  A lot of these insights come from "L" Listening and "A" Analytics.

* V = Virality.  Whatever you're publishing on the World Wide Web, learn to accept that your content will flash across at the speed of light.

* W = Word-of-Mouth.  That's the real goal here.  If you get existing customers and potential customers to talk about you to one another, you've created a fabulous success story.

* X = X  Marks the Spot.  Martin joked this is what he figured what the audience was wondering for what he would write for "X."

* Y = You.  Martin also joked "you" (as in the audience) must be wondering "when I'm going to shut up."

* Z = Zero.  Zero because Martin had zero time left.  

Conclusion

Watching and studying this video was a labor of love.  How many times do you get the opportunity to learn from thought leaders like Brogan, Li, and Meerman Scott interacting on the same stage.  I personally want to thank SAS for publishing and sharing the videos from The Premier Business Leadership Series.  By allowing thought leaders like David Meerman Scott to share this content, everyone in the social media community benefits.

Thank you for reading and if you watched the video, please let me know in the comments.  What did you enjoy and learn?   I would love to hear from you.

Please stay tuned for next Saturday's installment – The Business Value Behind Social Media: Part 2 – Open Leadership, Guidelines, Process Discipline, and Goals. 
   

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention.  Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.   


Photo Credit: By Kyle Van Horn Via Flickr

Posted on

MySpace’s Reinvention Strategy: Focus On Its Core Buyer Persona

by


In Social Media ReInvention Blog, I try to describe how individuals, companies, or entire industries can use social media and/or inbound marketing strategy to reinvent themselves.  This post has a slight twist because it talks about a current social media company reinventing itself — MySpace.  

Remember MySpace?  It wasn't long ago that it was battling for social media supremacy with Facebook.  In the past few years, MySpace has encountered different challenges.  It's new co-Presidents, Jason Hischborn and Mike Jones, have recently described their plans to change the company's direction and focus.  

In this post, I've cited and summarized different sources explaining MySpace's reinvention plans.  The firm's approach looks like it centers on:

* A renewed understanding of its core buyer persona
* Focusing on, winning back, and growing this buyer persona
* Objectives and metrics the company plans to use in measuring its progress

MySpace's Buyer Persona: Under-35-Year-Old Music and Game Lovers
David Meerman Scott defines the buyer persona as "a distinct group of potential customers, an archetypal person whom you want your marketing to reach."  MySpace's core buyer persona can be described as:1

* Self-expressive and creative under-35-year-olds
* Individuals who love music, games, and movies
* 50%+ of its 100 million estimated users are 25 and younger (according to ComScore)
* Deeply engaged users: 13-to-34 year olds who spend 84% of their user time on the site

Giving The Buyer Persona What It Wants.  MySpace's current and future business strategy is to secure exclusive entertainment content.  For example, MySpace users focus their interests in video games (28%) and celebrity and entertainment content (23%).2  High profile celebrity pages will now include updates so the pages have more information and are easier for users to navigate.3  Co-President Jason Hirschorn describes the site as pop culture centric: "You could share your thoughts about the elections in Iraq but it might not be the place that you do that — but you'll certainly talk about what went on in The Hurt Locker and what dress Sandra Bullock wore during the Academy Awards."4

Removing What The Buyer Persona Doesn't Want.  In 2005, Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp. acquired MySpace for $580 million.  This event also marked the decision by co-founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson to position MySpace as a large social portal to make itself more attractive to online advertisers.5  Why? According to DeWolfe in the August 2008 Fast Company article, "some 90% of online-advertising spending goes to big portals."  

New co-Presidents Mike Jones and Mike Hirschborn acknowledge that adding portal-like features features having nothing to do with entertainment was a mistake.  In the last nine months, they've removed sections devoted to weather reports, horoscopes, job boards, and classified advertising.6

Identifying and Attracting Influential Music Fans: Artist Dashboard
The music community (e.g., bands and fans) drove the original growth of MySpace.  13 million+ bands, from Pearl Jam to garage bands use MySpace to promote themselves.  The site is especially important for new bands distributing their own music without a major record label's support.  Paraphrasing Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, "When it comes to music, MySpace has a monster audience."1

The Artist Dashboard.  I find this new feature interesting and similar to the objective of LinkedIn Answers – identifying and recognizing experts.  The Artist Dashboard is designed to target music afficianados (and attract new ones).  It's a variation of the visual dshboard found in the MySpace Music hub and will become available to all MySpace users.  The dashboard will show a user's activity:4

* Who is reacting to what the user publishes (and where they are)
* A series of achievements and badges describing the user's network influence (i.e., most shared playlists or an early trend spotter)

Here's a picture of the dashboard from the Mashable article by Barb Dybwad:

MySpace Artist Dashboard

 

Driving New Growth With Games: Consumers and Developers
At the March 2010 Game Developers Conference, co-President Mike Jones launched a new MySpace Games strategy to showcase online games on the site and attract more developers.  Jones said during the conference: "Just as MySpace made a real commitment to music, to have the best content, we're now making the same type of commitment with games."7

Consumers. Helping users easily discover and share games virally is a key strategy.  Game activity will be shared via users' notifications and streams.  Personalized game recommendations, popular game charts, and the ability to rate games will all be key features.7

Developers. New features and improvements to attract game developers include:7

* Better application engagement and analytics tools to better understand player demographics, how games are discovered, and how they're shared
* App-specific analytics
* Ability to build 3D games
* A new iPhone app, called MySpace Neon, to provide mobile game playing via the iPhone

Tracking and Measuring Progress: Depends on Whether You're an Analyst or a MySpace Executive
Based on my review of the different news sources, the publicized metrics to track MySpace's reinvention progress varies between internet strategy analysts and MySpace's co-presidents:

Internet Strategy Analysts' Metrics.  The internet strategy analysts discussed tracking metrics centering around revenue, numbers of members, numbers of visitors, and time on site.  In each case, the analysts used Facebook as a comparator.

* Revenues.  For 2010, eMarketer estimates $605 million in revenues for Facebook versus $385 million for MySpace (21% decrease).1

* Number of Members.  Facebook has 400 million members versus MySpace with 100 million members.1

* Number of Monthly Visitors.  Facebook had 111.8 million US visitors (95% increase); MySpace had 66.7 million visitors (5% decrease).6 

* Time On Site.  Facebook averaged 267 minutes per month; MySpace averaged 130 minutes per month.6 

MySpace's Metrics.  Jason Hirschborn and Mike Jones have publicly stated the following objectives they will be tracking:

* Revenues. Jones is quoted in the USA Today interview that "MySpace has been good at monetization, others notice that."  He did not disclose revenue targets during the interview.1

* Growth in Numbers of Users: Hirschborn wants numbers of users to grow to 200 million or 300 million (from the current 100 million).  He declined to provide a timeframe for achieving this objective.3

* Percentage of MySpace Members Playing Games. Jones says approximately one-third of MySpace members play games.  Both he and Hirschborn have targeted 50% participation (perhaps as early as the end of this year).3,4

* Number of Monthly Minutes Spent Playing Games.  MySpace members spend 1 billion minutes per month.  The company wants to increase this monthly usage to 2 billion minutes.7 

 

Photo Credit: From Flickr by jim6800

Sources
1 Once-fading MySpace focuses on youthful reincarnation by Jon Swartz.  USA Today, March 10, 2010.
2 What social media users want [STATS] by Jennifer Van Grove.  Mashable, March 18, 2010.
3 MySpace revamps for revival by Sarah Jacobsson.  PCWorld, March 10, 2010.
4 MySpace co-presidents reveal company's plan for the future [INTERVIEW] by Barb Dybwad.  Mashable, March 9, 2010.
5 MySpace, the sequel by Ellen McGirt.  FastCompany.com, August 7, 2008.
6 MySpace looks to the past for its future by Dawn C. Chmielewski. Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2010.
7 MySpace turns to games to regain prominence by Benny Evangelista.  SFGate.com, March 11, 2010.

Posted on

Part 2: Tina Brown and The Daily Beast Understand the Importance of Buyer Personas in Online Strategy

by

David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR and World Wide Rave, talks extensively about defining, identifying, and personally talking with your target buyer personas.  Understanding your buyer personas guides and informs the choices you'll make in executing your online marketing strategy.

I don't know if Tina Brown or members of The Daily Beast team follow or study David's work, but it's clear they understand their audience's time constraints, desire for entertaining engagement, and digital channel preferences (i.e., articles less than 900 words, video mashups, smartphone viewing, etc.).

If someone as high-profile and accomplished as Tina Brown personally meets and interacts with her audience, perhaps we should too (and that's regardless of whether our organizational focus is B2B or B2C).

Understanding Your Audience Starts with Personally Meeting Them

When Brown was the Editor-in-Chief of Vanity Fair, she invested significant time and energy in high-profile marketing events such as the A-List Only Vanity Fair Oscar Parties.  These annual events successfully generated and powered the buzz and upscale image of Vanity Fair.

J0402041[1]In the New Media world, Brown also attends and participates in events that enable her to directly interact with important buyer personas to The Daily Beast.  To her credit, she's personally meeting and conversing with key segments of her target audience.

This year, Brown attended a Chicago conference targeted to women bloggers.  She personally interacted with several of the 5,000+ attendees and learned firsthand the daily issues influence their blogs (i.e., child-rearing, husbands, women's health issues, empty nesting, etc.).  She said the personal experience from attending the conference helped her better understand:

* "Who these people really are"
* The audience for female-focused content was bigger than originally dictated by conventional wisdom
* The audience's needs, desires, and concerns so The Daily Beast can credibly earn "inbound links" from these female bloggers

"Read This, Skip That" and "The Daily Cheat Sheet" Focus the Attention of a Busy, Overwhelmed Audience

J0386036[1]The " Read This, Skip That" editorial mantra is driven by the fact that The Daily Beast's upscale and well-educated audience is already "information-overwhelmed."  To Brown, focusing the audience's attention is a significant challenge.  If you want to successfully compete in an online world, focusing the audience's attention is critical.

The Cheat Sheet quickly and simply displays The Daily Beast's viewpoint on what is the day's essential reading.  Brown and her team know they're competing for our fleeting time and attention.  During the Q&A session, Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs.com, highlighted this clever curation strategy of The Top 10 Stories.  Brown acknowledged how this curation strategy "makes people's lives easier" versus "adding to the existing noise."

In addition, Brown cited their weekly, Sunday morning video mashups as another time-saving feature for her audience.  These mashups summarize the week's events in mainstream news, entertainment, and politics.  It's a convenient and efficient option for consuming news highlights so the audience member can spend more time enjoying other weekend activities after a long workweek (i.e., time with family and friends or a round of golf).

 

Posted on

Executive Summary: What Any Business Can Learn About Successful Online Marketing and Audience Engagement from Tina Brown and The Daily Beast

by

Thank You to MarketingProfs.com for The Digital Marketing World Fall 2009 Virtual Conference

J0105220[1] For the past 6+ months, I've been a Premium Member of MarketingProfs.com.  I am incredibly grateful for the outstanding content and  services that Ann Handley, Allen Weiss, Beth Harte, and the entire MarketingProfs team GENEROUSLY deliver and share with the professional marketing community.  MarketingProfs does an outstanding job in ensuring that all marketing professionals continue learning and improving their professional performance.

One of the many services they graciously provide for free is The Annual Digital Marketing World Virtual Conference.  The Fall 2009 Conference was stellar and a phenomenal example of the collective excellence The MarketingProfs Team consistently delivers.  The MarketingProfs Digital Marketing World Conference is available as an onDemand archive until December 16, 2009.  I highly encourage you to check it out and let Ann, Allen, and Beth know what you think.

The Tina Brown Keynote Address

Tina Brown MarketingProfs Tina Brown, the renowned magazine editor, best selling author, and founder of TheDailyBeast.com shared her insights and experience on successfully competing for the attention and engagement of online audiences.  I found Brown's observations highly instructive, and Ann Handley deftly facilitated the thought-provoking and entertaining Q&A session. 

I've written a series of five (5) posts detailing my interpretation of the many applicable business lessons from Brown's keynote address.  They're hyperlinked from this home page so you can easily access the different topics of greatest interest to you.  In addition, I've added some of my own commentary from studying the content on The Daily Beast website.  If you're strictly looking for the highlights here you go, and I hope you'll jump in the conversation and add any additional lessons you picked up.

Executive Summary of the Key Lessons Learned from Tina Brown and The Daily Beast

Part 1: Success in Online Publishing and Social Media Requires ReInvention (Even for a Tina Brown)
* In the Online World, We are All in the Business of Sharing
* Social Media is How You Invite the Audience to Join the Conversation
* Participation is the Currency of an Audience-Driven Marketing World

Part 2: Tina Brown and The Daily Beast Understand the Importance of Buyer Personas in Online Strategy
* Understanding Your Audience Starts with Personally Meeting Them
* "Read This, Skip That" and "The Daily Cheat Sheet" Focus the Attention of a Busy, Overwhelmed Audience

Part 3: Tina Brown of The Daily Beast — Online Differentiation Starts by Establishing Your Point-of-View (POV)
* If You Don't Have a Budget, Get Yourself a Point of View
* The Daily Beast Defines Its Point-of-View Around "Where News and Culture Collide"
* Emotion Further Differentiates a Point-of-View
* Generating the News Drives Audience Engagement. Aggregating It — Not So Much

Part 4: What Tina Brown and The Daily Beast Measure to Drive Competitive Advantage and Audience Engagement
* Employ Metrics that Increase Your Organization's Competitive Advantage
* Evaluate How Specific Audiences Interact and Engage with Your Content

Part 5: The 3 T's According to Tina Brown — Team, Trust, and Timing at The Daily Beast
* Combine the Talent of Media Veterans with the Tecnological Savvy of Digital Natives
* Delegating Trust Allows Tina Brown to Directly Focus on Brand Extension Strategy
* Timing is Everything Because the Right Story at the Wrong Time is the Wrong Story