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Archives for May 2012

Another Facebook Competitor Bites The Dust? Instagram vs. Camera

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Credit: Facebook.com

Today’s news is somewhat disturbing for Instagram lovers such as me and several tens of thousands of others who have loved the app for its simplicity and ability to snap a photo on the run via iPhone and upload while also sharing with connections on Twitter and Facebook in addition to the Instagram stream.

Facebook was apparently already under development with its new Camera photo sharing mobile app, set for launch later today, when it agreed to acquire Instagram for $300 million in cash and 23 million shares (that’s $1 billion). That private bedroom deal made CEO to CEO was quick, quiet and involved few others. It made Instagram founders gazillionaires, too.

Facebook promised the backlashing Instagram fans that it would allow Instagram to stay independent. It is still promising that today; however, one can only imagine the lure by Facebook to win over Instagrammers to Camera.

Looking at the flipside of this issue, hail to Facebook. Here’s what it did well:

1. Directly responded to analysts during its roadshow pre-IPO who said there is no Facebook mobile strategy. (This has plagued Facebook for months, and it was a major risk for the company to go IPO without a solid solution in place.)

2. Literally erased a key competitor from the space with the flip of a button and a few hundred million dollars. No lengthy boardroom chats and discussions, no public back and forth on purchase price and takeover threats, and no grandstanding. Just an honest-to-goodness-back-of-the-envelope acquisition between two wet-behind-the-ears CEOs (well each is under 35-years-old, right)?

3. Proved to new shareholders it means business in creating a solid foundation for success into the future. I’m not sure, however, exactly where monetization of Camera plays out; Instagram is free.

Listen a minute. I can hear the Instagram backlash already this morning as folks in all the time zones west of Indiana awake with their morning coffee. I’ll be signing on to Camera this afternoon when it comes online; I want to be one of the early adopters so I can write again about how well Facebook launches a brand new app to whet the whistle of we would-be professional photographers.

How To Write Twitter Profiles With 10 Tips

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I was drawn to Twitter.com last week for something I don’t recall and decided to follow a bunch of peeps who had kindly followed me. I can really only do this en masse via Twitter’s platform and not via HootSuite, my app of choice.

Reviewing about a few hundred profiles all at once to determine if someone was fit to follow was a cringeful (yep, that’s a word) experience. I was taken aback that peeps still aren’t writing Twitter profiles with substance.

Here’s what I saw that I didn’t like:

  • Locked profiles. Why do this when were all trying to engage? If you’re afraid, maybe you shouldn’t be on Twitter anyway? If someone is stalking you, then just delete that individual profile instead of turning away everyone else.
  • I Love My Wife. Are you so sexy that women are asking for your phone number, Guys? Should I say “single and seeking” on my profile and should my friend say “In love with my hubby?” I wonder if this is a statement to appease the wives who wonder what the heck their husbands are doing online all the time and with whom? Too much personal for me.
  • Nothing. For goodness sakes, add something to your profile. Add some key words that describe your job, who you want to follow, your hobbies, where you live, if you’re a student, or something descriptive.
  • Wacked avatar. I’ve written about this in the past; you need an avatar someone can align to, can feel comfortable about, that is not an animal or a building. We’re communicating on a very social platform; show me your face!
  • Caps. Please don’t scream at me. I don’t need to see your profile in all caps, especially when you’re spouting off about yourself, too.
  • Sales Pitch. Folks selling products? Fine, I respect that, but please be more creative with the profile. Rather than carry on about the product features, tell my why I should engage with you? I’m gonna pass you by because you’re a product and not a person.

What else have you seen that I didn’t add above?

10 Tips

So, here are 10 tips for how to write a Twitter profile (just short of turning all the above around into positives):

1. Be personable and show me who you are with key words that give me a sense of your profession and interests.

2. Limit family talk but not all the time. If you want to talk about your family, please do, but don’t ever assume you have to add the number of children in your household (unless you’re a mommy blogger or mom seeking same and then you’re probably not going to follow me anyway?) or whether you’re in love with your spouse. This goes into your goals (see below) for Twitter — personal or business?

3. Keep politics out of your profile unless you’re running for election. That will be the death of your brand. The U.S. is too divided today to accept either side of the aisle in casual tweets.

4. Share something about your aptitude. Maybe you work for a living as a professional? Maybe you teach? Maybe you’re a pro boxer? Musician? Whatever, Share that as it gives someone an opportunity to follow you with a common thread.

5. Always provide your . I seek that often in someone’s profile and am disappointed when I can’t find it. Hmm, I better to ensure it’s there!

6. Please add an avatar of your face? It is so frustrating not being able to visualize someone on the other side of a tweet after so many years of tweeting together. (I’ve been told people hide for various personal reasons.)

7. Can you show me some personality? You’ve got a short space to describe who you are, but challenge yourself to be creative and show as many sides of yourself as you can.

8. Take your profile to Twellow and We Follow; register yourself to connect with like-minded Tweeps. When you synch your Twitter account, your profile is how you attract new followers.

9. Write a profile with the goal of attaining something – new business, a job, a guest blog post, or something. If you’re seeking a spouse, head to Match.com.

10. Set goals for your Twitter experience (different than a goal for your profile). Are you on Twitter for business or personal reasons? Write content in alignment with  your goals. A profile is a mirror of that ultimate strategy.

 

 

 

 

Content Marketing Requires Message Mapping

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In a high-level discussion with a colleague recently, we surmised there are three buckets in which we play in the social media world:

  • App developers
  • Big data masters
  • Content marketers

 

 

Although these three seem siloed; in fact, they’re not. The common thread is content marketing, where I play.

  • Everyone expecting to deliver a successful app to the space requires spot-on messaging to enhance content.
  • Anyone dissecting analytics and big data for marketers requires spot-on messaging to deliver the analysis for use in content marketing.
  • Anyone executing content marketing requires message mapping to deliver spot-on messaging.

What is Message Mapping?

There still seems to be great confusion about when to use a message map or if a mind map will suffice. I’d like to shed more light on this topic and help business owners understand the importance of each.

This is a core public relations tool used at the start of any strategic campaign and also prior to launch of a business. A message mapping exercise can be executed any time, actually. If a leadership team is interested in tweaking and perfecting messaging to launch new products or services, or complete a merger or acquisition, then a message map comes into play. Sales teams can even use message maps, as well.

When you develop a message map, a three-hour session with an integrated leadership team is drilled down to a messaging platform that becomes a creative suite of sound bites. Everyone likes to call it the elevator speech. It is and it’s so much more.

Message maps allow the encapsulation of a story about a company’s history, its products, its services, its people/founders, its competitors, its pricing, and industry all within one map that looks like a hub with quadrants and sub-sections.

When questions are asked of an executive, the message map provides all the prompts for the answer and then some. I’ve known executives to minimize the map and keep it in their wallet for easy reference. Nowadays, it’s easier to pull it up via mobile device.

As a content marketer, I recognize how critical a message map is to the success of any social media marketing campaign. I prefer to use a message map or messaging platform to draft social media posts for Twitter and Facebook. I prefer to reference a message map to ensure that approved language is added to corporate blog posts, too.

When there isn’t a message map, there is no unified voice. Think about that. Most of my clients that are smaller don’t want to invest in message mapping exercises. When they don’t, there is no approved corporate content to communicate externally. Messages become a tangled web and the team can become confused how to communicate and best portray the company.

For anyone starting or dabbling in social media marketing, I encourage this exercise. The outcome provides a foundation to build upon as your company grows. It is a critical component to the success of your positioning and the strength of your brand.

Lastly, a message map is NOT a mind map. From what I understand, mind maps allow for the tracking of tasks, actions and future programs via in-depth schematic like a roadway. Still confused? Ask me; ready to shed more light any time.

Personal Branding CeeLo Green Style

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I am always inspired with blog fodder in my numero-uno favorite ‘zine, . This month’s edition just graced my kitchen table (yes, it’s always cluttered with reading material I never read), and on the cover is my new fave “hyphenate, a strung-together mash up of titles made mandatory when no single job description suffices.” His hyphenate is ~singer-writer-producer-personality-actor-entrepreneur-mentor-freak.

, aka Thomas DeCarlo Calloway, age 37, graces the cover with Purrfect the Persian (that’s why I like CeeLo, he has great taste in felines) ranked number five in Fast Company’s List of the . What an amazing accolade, and when you read the story , you’ll nod in agreement.

Did you watch ? I DVR’d the entire season (first time ever). This man absolutely cracked me up with his sultry, sexy lady-killer approach alongside his serious appreciation and compassion for his final two contestants on The Voice.  He felt like big brother and big daddy all in one – such a many-faceted hyphenate.

Here is the second reason I was interested enough to write about him today:

“It’s all strategy, a careful cultivation of image through massive exposure, but at its core is a sense of purpose.”

Read that again! How powerful, how spot-on for someone creating a personal brand within the most hotly cluttered industry in the world – Hollywood and the U. S. music scene.

  • Hyphenate. I’ve never seen this word used as a noun, but it goes. Maybe one of the reasons I was compelled to write about is because I feel like a bit of a hyphenate myself; let me try:

PR professional-social media leader-brand marketer-professional blogger-strategist-business coach-writer-creative idea generator-mentor-blahblahblah

Please add yours in comments!

  • . So many years ago, I recognized I was the brand. Companieshired me, regardless of where I worked and what I named my companies (I’ve had two other formal companies).

Reading this piece about CeeLo (I never knew of him prior to watching The Voice) is affirmation that a personal brand must be cultivated every day on all mediums, channels and in a variety of methods.

How do you promote your personal brand? There’s a ton written on this topic; I’ve not read their articles. Taking pointers from CeeLo, I’d suggest a purposeful mix of intelligence, zany fun, sophistication, and professionalism work quite well. For sure, personal branding is not a cake walk. Perseverance helps, and well, making $20 million a year might be somewhat effective, too.

Soulati Media On The Street: Laura Click of Fly Blue Kite Marketing

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Oh, how I love being behind the camera, even if it is an iPhone 4S. This snazzy little gizmo takes good video with awesome sound quality, too. Here in another installment of Soulati Media On The Street,  you have the privilege of meeting Ms. Laura Click of Fly Blue Kite Marketing. She comes to you direct and front and center from Social Slam 2012, the premier event we all just attended IRL (that’s in real life, in case you’re a noob like me).

Laura informs us of ALL her secret and fave channels on the Interwebz…watch for one little brief minute, and you’ll see where she spends most of her time. Thanks for playing, Laura!