Tag Archives: Audience Engagement

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Audience Engagement: Responding to Blog Comments in Real-Time

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Audience Engagement 

David Meerman Scott recently published a new book, Real-Time Marketing & PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Now.  I'm looking forward to reading David's latest book because his content and insights are outstanding.  He's also published a series of blog posts and a new eBook to introduce his concepts driving real-time marketing and PR. 

I commented on one of the posts titled: Make Your Web Site a Real-Time Machine: A Manifesto.  Here are some screen shots of our dialogue:

DMS Real Time Blog Comments 

 DMS Real Time Blog Comments 2

 

David Responded to My Respective Comments in Real-Time

Speed wins in the Internet Age.  David responded to my first comment in less than 30 minutes! His response to my second comment arrived in less than 2 hours.  To say I'm impressed by his actions is an understatement.

   

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

David's responsiveness is impressive because his book talks about achieving competitive advantages by connecting with customers in real-time.  Even though he was in a different part of the world for a speaking gig, he took the time to genuinely acknowledge my blog comments.  His actions and real-time speed demonstrate his consistency and credibility in thoughtfully engaging and conversing with his audience.

 

Conclusion

Credible audience engagement occurs when you consistently practice what you preach.  In the blogsphere, achieving credibility for one's individual online and professional reputations is critical.  When I read David's responses, I can see these aren't cursory acknowledgments.  And that means a lot to me, because I took the time to read and understand his published insights from both the posts and the eBook.  This is why I often link to his blog posts and cite his content.  It's also evidence of how he consistently works to engage and maintain the trust of an audience he's worked hard to cultivate.

 

Bonus: Links to David's Real-Time Posts and a Recent Video

When you have a chance check out David's posts because they describe the competitive advantages real-time marketing and PR can have in:

* Capitalizing on Real-World Events as These Events Unfold in Real-Time
* Developing New Products and Services
* Testing Marketing Messaging and Positioning With Target Audiences (before final product launch)
* Understanding the Current and Future Implications for Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Here are the links and a video he's published describing a great case study in competitive advantage when leveraging real-time marketing and PR:

* Make Your Web Site a Real-Time Machine: A Manifesto (the new eBook is also here)
* Developing Products Based on Instant Gratification
* How B2B Companies Use Real-Time Blog Posts to Get Trade Media Exposure
* How Real-Time Communications Drives Measurable ROI at Fortune 100 Companies

 

Real-Time Marketing & PR from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.

Photo Credit: By Martin Thomas Via Flickr

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PM360 Online Social Media Think Tank Article: What’s Hot, What’s Next in Social Media

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PM360 Logo In the April 2010 Issue of PM360, I'm featured as a contributing author to PM360's Social Media Think Tank Article: What's Hot, What's Next in Social Media.  I was both thrilled and humbled when they asked me to participate in providing some observations on the use of social media in the pharmceutical industry. 

In the article, I described Johnson & Johnson's extensive participation in social media channels and opinions from their communications leaders on what's driving their success.  Also, I provided my personal opinions on potential audience engagement metrics to help an organization in prioritizing time invested in social media.

This is the first time I've been asked to provide opinions on social media to an industry publication so I cannot begin to express my gratitude for this opportunity.

If you have a few moments, please check out the PM60 article.  Eight (8) additional contributing authors are featured (and trust me they're all a lot smarther than I am).  I wrote the second article listed on the website. 

I hope you don't mind me sharing this quick post.  Really, a short post from Tony Faustino – Yeah, Right …

 

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A Great Example of Online Listening & Brand Monitoring: The Ritz-Carlton

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How Many Times Per Day Do We Ask Ourselves These Questions
* Will major companies or brands ever understand the importance of "listening" to online conversations?
* Is this this whole concept of "online listening" just a matter of hype and social media hocus-pocus?
* Does showing online audiences that we're listening really do anything (e.g., start engagement, build goodwill, do anything?)

The Ritz-Carlton Gets It …

J0402585[1]I recently read a great article in Forbes.com: How Ritz-Carlton Stays at the Top.  The article is an interview of its CEO, Simon F. Cooper, who describes a number of the processes and the organization's famous service culture such as:

* Its Famous Service Motto: "We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen."

* Employee Trust: Every Ritz employee is permitted to spend up to $2000 per guest to make sure a guest is satisfied (and that's per guest incident not per year)

* A Compelling Objective: Create an Absolutely Wonderful Stay for a Guest

The Ritz doesn't just talk-the-talk, they walk-the-walk.  Their organization carries the distinction as the only service company in America to receive the Malcolm S. Baldridge Quality Award twice.  

The Ritz-Carlton's Senior Director of Public Relations, Alison Sitch Demonstrates Online Listening, Engagement, and Brand Monitoring

I tweeted about the Forbes article late Wednesday evening around 9 pm – 10 pm and referenced the $2000 per guest factoid because I thought that was pretty cool.  I learned a lot from reading the article, and thought my Twitter Followers might enjoy reading it too. 

Here's what impresses me about the Ritz-Carlton's online listening engagement by Alison Sitch — Check this out:

Ritz Carlton Example 1* I received a "Mention" in my Twitter stream the following morning from @RitzCarltonPR (Alison Sitch) thanking me for the tweet I sent about the article — Unbelievable!

* Not only did Alison thank me but she also sent out 11 "thank you tweets" acknowledging 60+ people who also tweeted about the Forbes.com article (based on my quick scan of her Twitter stream).

* I have never received any type of "thank you note" or communication from a large or prestigious organization like the Ritz-Carlton for any tweets I send (and I've sent out a lot of tweets).

I just think this is a great example of what Chris Brogan says is "showing others how we can be human at a distance." In a cynical age where there's more mistrust than trust in the business world, isn't it great to hear the words "thank you?" 

* If you received a thank you note like this wouldn't it make you feel good too? 

* Wouldn't it make you feel like there's someone genuinely trying to treat you well and wasn't taking your kindness for granted? 

* Isn't that something important to all of us as human beings (whether we're communicating online or in-person?

Please tell me what you think in your comments.

It made me feel really good, and I'm now following @RitzCarltonPr (aka Alison Sitch) on Twitter.  Here's Alison's Twitter profile in case you'd like to follow her also:

Ritz Carlton Twitter Profile

 

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What Ross Kimbarovsky, crowdSpring Co-Founder, Taught Me About Personalizing Audience Engagement

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Ross Kimbarovsky, co-founder of crowdSpring, wrote a phenomenal Mashable article titled, 10 Small Business Social Media Marketing Tips.  Every professional marketer should read this article for his fantastic advice that readily applies to any business thinking about social media marketing execution.  The article shares both "beginner" and "advanced strategies."

A Case Study in Audience Engagement

More importantly, I'm genuinely impressed by the personalized responses Kimbarovsky provided to the reader's comments.  After reviewing about 45 of his responses, I stopped counting. These personalized responses ranged from "I'm glad you found the article helpful" (for the commenters who provided quick "thank you-type" comments) to longer and thoughtful replies. 

I think we could learn a lot about genuine audience engagement by studying his responses.  Kimbarovsky demonstrates the importance of listening and individualized treament.  If I could ever generate comparable numbers and types of responses for my content, I would be overjoyed. 

But generating the responses or initiating the conversation is only half the story.  The other half is carefully listening to each individual — and isn't that really the art of great conversation … 

If you think I'm full of it, read this eMarketer article, Consumers Demand Brand Interaction.  One of the study findings shows that new media contact with companies and brands fosters goodwill in a majority of users with at least 70% of the respondents reporting positive impressions, stronger connections and a greater willingness to engage with the company.

Great Examples We All Could Learn From

Check out Kimbarovsky's personalized responses here — it's a clinic in genuinely listening, responding, and engaging an audience:

TF Mashable Response

 

 

Ross K Response to TF

 

 

Harriet Meth Mashable Comment

 Kimberly Yow Mashable Response

Jeff Ramos Mashable Response

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Part 1: Success in Online Publishing and Social Media Requires Reinvention (Even for a Tina Brown)

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Tina Brown candidly described her first two months in online publishing as bewildering and challenging.  She learned the new vocabulary and terminology of social media "on-the-fly."  To her credit, she invested the time and commitment to "figure it out.".  In addition, she continues learning about social media from her talented employees (particularly the twenty-something employees).

If someone with Tina Brown's experience, savvy, and past achievements is willing to reinvent her thinking to successfully compete online, shouldn't we embrace that solution-oriented attitude also …

In the Online World, We Are All in the Business of Sharing

J0439493[1] The New Media model of freely sharing content took Brown a relatively long time to understand.  According to her, "it took her awhile to get it."  Keep in mind, her previous frame of reference originates from the Old Media print world of dog-eat-dog competition.  The rules of engagement required you to "scoop your competition" and ensure that no one got a piece of your story.

Contrast that attitude with the social media principles of "being in the business of sharing." Brown finds this concept of freely sharing content as "fascinating science," and it's this trait of online publishing that she finds enormously interesting.

Social Media is How You Invite the Audience to Join the Conversation

J0386497[1]Old Media strategy relies on a "push model" or as Brown refers to it "the old binary way of traditional media."  In this model, the news agency writes the story and announces it to complete the communication transaction.  Today, publishers and their organizations must engage with their audience in conversation about topics in news and culture.

Executing inbound marketing and social media is how The Daily Beast invites its audience to interact (e.g., a pull model).  When Brown and the team acquire a story, they immediately decide how to socially market it.  These marketing tactics include:

* Identifying and contacting the Top 25 websites obsessed with the news story
* Tweeting the story on Twitter
* Commenting on influential blogs that are also covering the same story
* Encouraging Facebook Fans of The Daily Beast to post the article on The Daily Beast Fan Page.
* Feeding the Beast: This tactic represents a smart way of inviting audience participation

Participation is the Currency of an Audience-Driven Marketing World

As mentioned earlier, the social media world is about sharing content.  According to Brown, you need to:

* Identify "where your audience lives"
* Pitch them "where they care" and
* Pitch them what interests them

J0442513[1] Engaged audiences actively participate in the conversation and publish her/his won content. Brown emphasized how you have to be inventive, enterprising, and open to the people and places you market to because "the old ways just don't work anymore."  She summarized this observation by saying: "People don't want to participate in passive marketing."

Brown is absolutely correct.  I'm a good example of her insight regarding active versus passive marketing because I:

* Wrote this blog post series about what I learned from Tina Brown and The Daily Beast
* Chose to follow the Daily Beast on Twitter (@thedailybeast)
* Posted a story on The Daily Beast's Facebook Fan Page (the article describing how Paul Shaffer got his job with David Letterman)
* Bookmarked the mobile URL for The Daily Cheat Sheet on my iPhone
* Embedded The Daily Beast Widget in my iGoogle Homepage
* Subscribed to The Daily Beast Email Newsletter

 

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Part 3: Tina Brown of The Daily Beast — Online Differentiation Starts by Establishing Your Point-of-View (POV)

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"If you don't have a budget, get yourself a point-of-view."

Tina Brown shared this credo as a major learning from her early, publishing career.  This was my "eureka moment" while listening to her keynote address.

Her insight applies to any highly, competitive arena whether it's online publishing, running a small business, or writing an amateur blog (like this one).  Simply stated, your individual POV defines and differentiates your competitive advantage.

The Daily Beast Defines Its Point-of-View Around "Where News and Culture Collide"

J0309266[1]According to Brown the online news available before The Daily Beast comprised two segments (1) "eat-your-peas" news aggregation or (2) the extremes of tabloid-related entertainment news.

The Daily Beast Team does aggregate news but further defined an organizational goal to create original, editorial content with "clarity, sophistication, and seduction."  Brown wanted to create an online forum that:

* Showed "this is the place to be" and "we aren't a tacky organization"
* Produced differentiating content that was "clear, time-saving, but still provided glamor and seduction"
* Displayed the raw and visceral power of the World Wide Web

To Brown, the web is not just a sophisticated medium.  It's a visceral medium that provides all members the opportunity to participate in being entertained, provoked, and seduced.  These unique properties of online communication are what The Daily Beast looks to opportunistically exploit.

Emotion Further Differentiates a Point-of-View

J0422459[1] Brown repeatedly emphasized the importance of finding and touching the human side of a story.  You want to personally and emotionally reach people.

One of the best examples she cited was The Daily Beast Cheat Sheet article titled Hillary's Rough Patch.  The article touched upon how Hillary Clinton still battles the long shadow cast by her former, president husband.  Brown noted that the "I am not channeling my husband" statement from Mrs. Clinton represented how many influential, professional women want to distinguish themselves individually.

It was a major news moment where the conversations of culture and news converged.  More importantly, it provided The Daily Beast a timely opportunity to provoke their audience in an engaging conversation.  This Daily Cheat sheet article generated 24 reader comments.  After reading them, I think that The Daily Beast successfully accomplished its mission in provocation and engagement.

Generating the News Drives Audience Engagement.  Aggregating It – Not So Much.

J0402035[2] Brown made a strategic choice to employ a hybrid news strategy: News Aggregation Coupled with Original Editorial Content.  In her opinion, authentic audience engagement cannot occur if "you're just picking up other people's news stories."  That's why she genuinely believes in "generating the news."

It's hard to argue with this observation.  After all, personal blogs and their reader-associated comments are the ultimate example of individual, POV and online conversation (or in my case, just hearing the sound of my own voice – I'm kidding).  When you write a blog post, you participate in the overall conversation and express your view.  Millions of us read blogs for the personal enjoyment of agreeing or disagreeing with another person's POV.

Isn't that the point of any enjoyable conversation whether or not that dialog takes place in-person or online …

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Part 4: What Tina Brown and The Daily Beast Measure to Drive Competitive Advantage and Audience Engagement

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I've been blogging since August 2009.  It's a continuous learning experience that's all about trial and error.  That process goes beyond understanding what content people find interesting and includes figuring out a writing process for ideas, setting weekly writing goals, experimenting with the TypePad blogging interface, registering a domain name for this blog (sometimes to great frustration, but that's the topic of a future blog post), and getting better at promoting my blog to more people than just my wife.

On a daily basis, I study the Google Analytics results that measure traffic for Social Media ReInvention Blog (even though I already know the traffic volume is small — Ha!).  For now, I'm okay with that because my 12 month goal is to continue learning how to improve my blog's content and promotion.

The starting point for all improvement is measurement.  One of my favorite professors in business school, the late Dean Kropp (and a great guy too), passionately shared the following mantra about operational strategy to me and his students: "What Gets Measured is What Gets Done."  Those words continue to have a lasting influence on me.

For Tina Brown, one of the reasons she measures and evaluates The Daily Beast's performance is because her primary investor, Barry Diller, wants to know how his investment is performing.  She didn't go into specific detail about how they measure ROI at The Daily Beast, but it's clear they're implementing metrics.  Here's what I took away from Tina Brown's keynote address regarding performance measurement.

Learning #1 Employ Metrics that Increase Your Organization's Competitive Advantage
J0400509[1] According to Tina Brown, The Daily Beast books ~59 television appearances per month for its contributing writers.  In addition, she estimates that ~30,000 blogs link to The Daily Beast per month!

It's very telling that Brown mentioned her love of working with talented writers. She remarked how so many people have so much to say, but they lack a credible and visible forum to voice their views.  There's no question Tina Brown wants The Daily Beast to become the writer-driven forum of choice.

My rationale for that opinion: The Daily Beast measures and promotes metrics showing why a talented writer professionally benefits from The Daily Beast's reach and exposure.  Tracking and espousing these outcomes gives The Daily Beast a competitive advantage in attracting outstanding writing talent.  If you're a writer searching for an influential and visible forum to expose your ideas/opinions, these metrics demonstrate why The Daily Beast is a compelling professional destination.

Learning #2 Evaluate How Specific Audiences Interact and Engage with Your Content
J0382632[1]It sounded like Tina Brown and The Daily Beast are trying to measure audience engagement via a process similar to BusinessWeek.com's current audience engagement initiative (i.e., ratio of writer output to reader input and segmented by topic, author, etc.).  If you'd like to learn more, here's a link to the August 2009 eConsultancy interview with John Byrne, Editor-in-Chief of BusinessWeek.com. 

Brown believes authentically engaged readers "participate in the day's conversation."  I agree because engaged Web 2.0 participants (or is that now Web 3.0) exhibit engagement through measurable social media behaviors. 

In my opinion, a back-of-the-envelope list of these measurable social media behaviors could include but are not limited to:

* Tweeting or retweeting specific article links on Twitter
* Writing blog posts inspired by a specific topic (like this one)
* Document content links in those blog posts (e.g., inbound links)
* Sharing content through social bookmarking sites like Delicious, Digg, and Stumble Upon
* Uploading and distributing the selected content via YouTube or Vimeo
* Sharing content and cataloging it in URL shortening services like bit.ly
* Posting discussion questions or opinions about the content in LinkedIn Discussion Forums (and the member comments these questions or opinions generate)

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Part 5: The 3 “T’s” According to Tina Brown: Team, Trust, and Timing at The Daily Beast

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#1 Combine the Talents of Media Veterans with the Technological Savvy of  Digital Natives

J0442176[1]During the Q&A session, Tina Brown disclosed that The Daily Beast team is small (~35 people).  She spoke highly of her experienced editors formerly with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), and how they work closely with a savvy technology colleague from the Comcast Social Media Division.

Even more importantly, she explained that these former WSJ teammates learned social media execution quickly by working frequently with heavily experienced New Media team members.

Ann Handley, the MarketingProfs.com Q&A moderator, described these technologically savvy young turks as "Digital Natives."  Brown remarked how her 20-year old interns at The Daily Beast can complete assignments quickly and efficiently because these "Digital Natives" are well-versed in social media and search engine technologies.  In Brown's mind, there's no question that the younger generation who grew up online have developed an "online subtlety and flexibility" over there older counterparts.

Her instincts are correct and are validated by this Forbes Insights Report titled: The Rise of the Digital Suite: How Executives Locate and Filter Information.  In this report, I would say that the aforementioned Digital Natives bear a strong resemblance to the segment described as Generation Netscape in the Forbes Insights Report. 

#2 Delegating Trust Allows Tina Brown to Directly Focus on Brand Extension Strategy   

J0341915[1] In Brown's opinion, one of the challenges she routinely addresses at The Daily Beast is "frantically looking" at every detail to drive future growth.  Creating a viable brand extension strategy requires significant time commitments.  Brand extension strategies she shared during the keynote address included:

* A regular "This Week in Culture" segment on NPR News
* The recently announced Beast Books joint venture with Perseus Books
* Personal appearances by Brown on MSNBC's Morning Joe to promote The Daily Beast Cheat Sheet

I'm convinced Brown wouldn't be able to focus on brand extension if she were involved in every detail of operations.  Some these brand extension strategies require her direct involvement because of her business connections and sheer cachet and star power.  It sounds like she delegates trust and responsibility to her talented team members.  Delegating trust and  responsibility will need to increase so Brown can spend more time in creatively extending The Daily Beast Brand.

#3 Timing is Everything Because the Right Story at The Wrong Time is the Wrong Story

J0400499[1] One of the guiding principles Brown instinctively draws upon from her journalism days is "The Right Story at the Wrong Time is the Wrong Story."

She explained that you have to understand when the "window of people's attention is open or slammed shut."  However, when the topic "hits the boiler" and people's attentions are engaged — this is your opportunity!  The speed of the Internet further fuels the opportunity especially if you can align the news moment with emotion.

The example Brown cited here was the Quentin Tarantino movie, Inglourios Basterds.  One of The Daily Beast writers knew the daughter of one of the 30 soldiers portrayed in the film.  The Daily Beast interviewed this woman who expressed her view that her father's life bore little resemblance to the one described on-screen.

When The Daily Beast published this interview, My Father, The Inglourious Basterd by Kim Masters, the story garnered significant traffic.  It was an emotional, 1st person account that intersected with an important cultural moment.  If The Daily Beast published this interview 3 months prior to the movie's release, expressed interest would be low.

Bottom Line:  Good old-fashioned timing that's informed by past experience and instinct can successfully guide when to act opportunistically.  Pay attention to the conversations currently engaging your audience because that determines if you can win.