Tag Archives: Inspiration

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3 Lessons on Reinvention, Trust, and Commitment from Peter King, Author of Monday Morning QB

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HBO Sports recently televised an interview between Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel correspondent, Mary Carillo and Peter King.  King is the author of the popular, online Sports Illustrated column, Monday Morning QB. 

The embedded video previews the longer Carillo-King interview televised by HBO in late January 2011.  I enjoyed this interview because it provides relevant lessons on:

  • Personal Reinvention Via Social Media Technologies
  • The Significance of Trust and Reputation (Professional & Online)
  • The Power of a Relentless Work Ethic

Lesson 1: Reinvent and Adapt to Change

A Traditional Print Journalist Who "Gets" Online Media.  King started Monday Morning QB (MMQB) with SI.com 13 years ago.  He told Carillo he's better as a new media journalist because he understands:

1. Real-Time Marketing & PR: The importance of immediacy because speed wins

2. Content Quality: Volume is great but it's worthless without quality

3. Content Volume: The Internet rewards high volume (but always remember #2)

Bonus: Read Mitch Joel's great article, The Answer to a Dilution in Attention.

He Understands Social Media's Hub-Outpost Model.  King's Monday Morning QB functions as his online home base while Twitter and Facebook serve as outposts.  Both Twitter and Facebook point his readers back to Monday Morning QB.  Here are links to his social media channels

Bonus: If you want to learn more about the benefits of the "hub-outpost model" for online publishing, I highly recommend Debbie Weil's latest eBook: Why Your Blog is Your Social Media Hub.   

Here's an image of Debbie's eBook (with the download link) from the Why Your Blog is Your Social Media Hub Homepage:

 

Debbie Weil eBook Cover 

Debbie knows what she's talking about.  Plus, Debbie's THE industry authority on corporate blogging.  Here's the Amazon link to the latest, Kindle edition of her best selling book, The Corporate Blogging Book. 
 


Lesson 2: Trust is Everything 

If You Want People to Trust You, Directly Engage Them.  King inspires a loyal, tribal-like audience.  As I write this post, here are the latest online stats on Peter King and Monday Morning QB (and counting):

  • 503,193 Twitter Followers
  • 5,902 Facebook Fans
  • 3 million weekly page views (according to the Real Sports longer interview)

Study how King converses with his audience in MMBQ Mail: Packers Owe Lions, Eagles Thanks for Super Bowl Run.  This piece shows how much he loves talking NFL Football with everyday fans (because he's a fan too). 

Look how he answers selected readers' email questions with their names.  The selected readers seeing their names and questions published in King's column must feel great!  

In the embedded video, King shows Carillo how he alerts his 500K+ Twitter Followers via TweetDeck when the latest edition of his column goes live.  It's Social Media Engagement and Content Promotion Strategy 101!

Relationships Founded on Trust and Respect.  Former Super Bowl-winning NFL coach and NFL executive, Bill Parcells, described to Mary Carillo why NFL coaches, players, and executives want to work and engage with King.  They Trust Him.  

In the longer interview, Parcells explained how he respected and admired King's work ethic and integrity.  He witnessed how King would do anything to get a story but not at the expense of compromising himself personally.

King has invested 26+ years in building his professional network and reputation.  That vast network and stellar reputation provides access to A-List NFL coaches, executives, owners, and players.  This makes King's Twitter Feed the place for breaking, real-time news events in NFL Football.

Lesson 3:  Unrelenting Commitment

Be Relentless.  Peter King covered the NFL for New York Newsday from 1985 to 1989.  To succeed, he had to build professional trust with Bill Parcells (then the New York Giants head coach).  This was no easy task considering Parcell's sometimes antagonistic relationship with the New York sportswriters.

But, King persevered and won Parcells over.  How?  Parcells told King he'd be willing to help him if he'd come to the Giants practice facility before 6:30 AM.  After that time, Parcell's focused solely on Sunday preparation.  

King's solution?  Arrive at the Giants facility before Parcells.  Parcells remarked how King would greet him at 6 AM (sometimes earlier) at the facility gates.  King consistently demonstrated this work ethic and desire to Parcells.

And, he eventually won and earned Parcells' respect and trust.  That's why Parcells nicknamed King, "Relentless."

Be Commited.  The embedded video doesn't give full justice to King's required weekly, workman-like commitment in publishing MMQB during the NFL season:

1. Completes Sunday evening work on NBC Football Night in America around 10:30 PM

2. Works on MMQB's initial drafts from 11 PM to 5:30 AM 

3. Boards the 6 AM Amtrak train to Boston

4. Refines / Posts final draft before 8 AM SI.com deadline 

Wow!  And, that doesn't include all his other professional and personal responsibilities …

Conclusion

Inspiring Success Stories Like Peter King Don't Happen Overnight.  Members of this community know Successful Social Media Marketing Is Neither Free Nor Easy.  There's nothing free in social media.  There's nothing free about achieving success.

Peter King achieved his stature over the course of a 26-year career.  He's invested significant time in:

  • Adapting to change (i.e., building new skills to compete in online media)
  • Building professional and online trust (i.e. integrity and authenticity)
  • Working relentlessly (i.e., doing what it takes)

Competitive Differentiation.  Some traditional, print journalists aren't online media fans.  Here's a piece describing Frank Deford's opinions about traditional, investigative newspaper reporting versus the proliferation of online, citizen journalism (i.e., blogs).

King continues developing new technology skills married with hard-won journalistic instincts.  Every MMQB post represents how he sees and seizes online media opportunity. 

He epitomizes earning audience attention in a digital age.  He masters blogging, tweeting, and facebooking as both journalistic mediums and competitive differentiators. 

What are you doing to competively differentiate yourself or your organization?  How are you earning audience attention? 

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3 Social Media Tips for Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love

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Oogy Book Cover

 

My wife and I recently discovered a wonderful and touching book: Oogy – The Dog Only a Family Could Love.  It was a complete accident how my wife and I randomly found Oogy's book in a local Barnes & Noble.

The author, Larry Levin, describes how he and his family fell in love with Oogy and learned about his horrific life as a bait dog in an illegal dogfighting operation.  If you're an animal and dog lover like I am, you will love this book and fall in love with Oogy just as Mr. Levin's family did.  Oogy's remarkable story is one of redemption and how we can all find love, inspiration, and hope after enduring significant tragedy.

I want others to discover this great book and experience the joy it brought me.    So I started thinking, how are Mr. Levin and Hatchette Book Group (the book's publishers)leveraging social media as part of the overall marketing strategy?  After doing some Google searches, I learned they are using different social media channels (i.e., YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter) as part of a traditional book tour where Mr. Levin and Oogy make personal appearances at bookstores and various animal protection events in the Philadelphia area.

Here's Oogy's Facebook and Twitter addresses:
* Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OogytheBook
* Twitter: http://twitter.com/OogyTheDog

So here are my quick thoughts on the current use (and maybe some potential future use) of social media to build public awareness of the book, Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love …

   

Tip #1: Create an Oogy the Book YouTube Channel 

I love how Mr. Levin and the publishers are consistently using this YouTube video to promote the book.  We get to meet and hear Mr. Levin talk about Oogy, and he shares pictures of Oogy with Mr. Levin's family.  The video has currently racked up ~38,000 views! 

 

 

 

Video is such a great online medium that I suggest Mr. Levin and the publishers create their own YouTube Channel (i.e., Oogy The Dog or Oogy The Book) and build a big video library showing:

* Mr. Levin speak during the promotional tour or animal protection awareness events
* Impromptu interviews with attendees of these events (i.e., what do they love about Oogy?)
* Oogy affectionately interacting with children and other dogs at these events

The Oogy Facebook Fan Page has lots of great pictures showing how much children love seeing and petting Oogy.  But, wouldn't it be great to see this interaction captured on video? 

The book describes in great detail Oogy's affectionate and loving nature, and I think seeing these behaviors in video would have a huge impact for people who can't travel to a Philadelphia-area event to meet Oogy and Mr. Levin.  Oogy and Mr. Levin's ability to travel to other parts of the U.S. are limited because Oogy associates being placed in a crate with having his ear torn off.  This means any promotional appearances beyond reasonable driving distance of the Philadelphia area (i.e., the Midwest and West Coast) are highly unlikely. 

I think giving people "virtual access" to Oogy via videos would expand "the reach" currently limited by where Mr. Levin and Oogy can drive to.   

 

 Tip #2: Publish an Oogy Blog to Improve His Google Search Rankings

Blogging still continues to be the Number 1 way to improve your online presence and increase your Google search engine results pages (i.e., SERPs).  The creative content Mr. Levin could publish in a blog are limitless, and the search engine optimization rewards (i.e., SEO) would be huge.  In addition, I did a quick search on the name "Larry Levin" and it appears there's already another "Larry Levin" who has already built a large and visible online presence through his own online activities.  So, publishing the blog provides Oogy another channel for increasing his Google Search Rankings through other keywords (i.e., illegal dogfighting, animal rights, animal protection) beyond his author's name.

One of the best articles I've read explaining the Google Ranking benefits of blogging is from Social Media Examiner: The Fastest Way to Increase Your Google Ranking by Jim Lodico.  The article explains the two important things a blog does when you incorporate one into a website:

1. A blog adds naturally occuring, keyword-rich pages
2. A blog increases the potential for incoming links from high-quality websites

 Blog Posts Increase Your Number of Indexed Pages in Google.  Over the course of a year, let's say Mr. Levin publishes two (2) blog posts per month (so roughly 24 pages per year).  That investment of time is already significant because the average small business website includes anywhere from 10-20 static web pages.  By maintaining the blog and with each new blog post, Oogy gets a new indexed page in Google.  The analogy that the Social Media Examiner article provides is that every new indexed page in Google is like buying a ticket in a lottery.  The more tickets you hold, the better chance of winning the top spot in the Google Search Engine Rankings.  That's the big difference between websites that remain static versus those that are more dynamic (e.g., keep adding new web pages for indexing by publishing blog posts).

Blog Posts Increase Your Chances for High Authority Incoming Links. Google rewards websites receiving large numbers of incoming links.  More importantly, Google highly rewards websites receiving incoming links from high authority websites such as the New York Times, USA Today, or other high-ranking blogs.  What if an Oogy blog post received an incoming link from a news story from one of these news outlets or from a high-ranking blogger who writes about animal protection and animal rights?  Essentially, Oogy's Google Search Rankings would skyrocket. 

 

Tip #3: A Blog Gives Oogy an On-Line Home Base With Digital Flexibility

 Scott Monty recently wrote a great blog post titled: "We'll Always Have Blogging." Even though Scott's article focuses on the benefits of corporate blogging, his key points are highly applicable to things Mr. Levin and his publishers could do in promoting Oogy online. 

A Blog Can Give Oogy an Integrated, Online Home Base.  Oogy already has his own Facebook and Twitter pages.  This is great how Mr. Levin and his publishers are leveraging popular social media channels.  But, a blog could further increase Oogy's online visibility by providing an online home base integrating all of Oogy's social media channels (i.e., YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter).  "Sharing widgets" on each blog post can make it easy for readers to promote Oogy's blog posts through a channel of their choice.  Most of all, an integrated home base and an integrated content plan will allow Oogy's story and content to spread wherever his current fans or new fans happen to search for it.

Blogs Provide Long-Form Content and Context That Twitter and Facebook Can't.  When it comes to telling a story (and providing that story's overall context), nothing online can match a blog.  Oogy's story, the people who saved him, and the joy and love he brought these same people are very moving.  And, you can't express those ideas / feelings in a tweet of 140 characters or less.  As Scott's article points out, marketing is about storytelling (and a blog would convey Oogy's story outstandingly).

Oogy's Blog Could Host a Variety of Content. Blogs can support a wide variety of content (i.e., text, videos, photos , or a combination of all of the above).  This variety of choices gives Mr. Levin and his publishers multiple ways to deliver content about Oogy:

* Videos: Oogy with children and other dogs; Interviews of book event attendees; Interviews of other key people in the book who were touched by Oogy

* Text: Excerpts from the book; Observations or thoughts from a recent book event; Dates of upcoming events where Oogy and Mr. Levin will be appearing; Guest posts by other authors greatly impacted by Oogy (i.e., members of the Ardmore Animal Hospital who saved Oogy or Mr. Levin's sons)

* Photos: Pictures from book signings; Pictures of Oogy with Mr. Levin's family that didn't make it in the book.

 

Conclusion

Like so many other fans of this book, I simply can't get enough Oogy!  In my opinion, integrating social media strategy (especially a blog) as part of the current traditional book promotional tour could increase Oogy's current popularity to a new level.  I want more people to learn about Oogy's gentle soul and the incredible story behind the team of people who saved him, and the significant impact he's had on these people's lives.