Relationships, relationships, relationships

When it comes to social media, it's all about relationships, relationships, relationships (to borrow the timeless expression about real estate). What's exciting about social media is that these relationships can no longer be Potemkin's Villages constructed by companies. They can't be cardboard cutouts of engagement. These have to be the real deal.

Regarding "why corporate social media fails" - that's the issue. Being real. Real is what builds the relationships. Real demands that companies trust their consumers as much as the consumers trust them and their products (and the money they spend on those products). We socialmediaphiles can type till we're blue in the fingers, but companies have to trust their consumers. Really.

The reason why is that they don't have a choice anymore. That's not nearly as apocalyptic as it sounds. It's an exciting time to be in marketing! Embrace change, Corporate America/World. You'll gain ground vs. your competitors because of it.

Update about no updates

It's a cop-out, I know, but I had a tough couple of weeks of illnesses; not mine, but rather my family and my feline companion.

The family are fine, but my cat didn't make it. The show must go on. I suppose that would constitute my observation about marketing as well as life. Sometimes despite your most valiant efforts in [life/marketing] you get overtaken by other events; then you get back on stage and do your damnedest.

Humor: making it work

Still on the hunt for the best B2B voice, but wanted to dive in on a great, underrated consumer campaign: the Travelocity Gnome campaign. What's working?

1. Voice and message balance. The creatives really nailed the slightly edgy, self-deprecating humor that resonates with the online-savvy, 25 - 45 crowd. Humor has to identify and "be one" with the audience--but not offend. This Travelocity does deftly.

2. On-message. Inserting humor is comparatively easy, but it's tricky to use humor without distracting from the message. The Travelocity campaign manages to walk that fine line successfully, for the most part.

3. Social media elements. The Facebook component of the campaign has been simple and easy, pitting 2 locations against one another for voting. Plenty of terrific photos. Once again, the humor and personality is present but not over the top.

4. Differentiated. Competitors like Expedia are taking themselves very seriously. Travelocity gets the creative advantage of being the underdog--and they're using it well.

I confess I originally thought that the Gnome would be short-lived. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next from McKinney.

The Hunt for the Best B2B Voice Begins

There was a great article last week from MarketingSherpa entitled “Copywriting Lessons from Social Media.” It’s so good I won’t regurgitate it here, but it’s worth a read, both for writers and every marketer who makes a request from a writer. In short, an honest voice is so rare in copy that it sings when you finally see one.

Even rarer? A great B2B voice.

I can think of a few B2B TV ads (which air during the Sunday a.m. talk shows) that use humor to make the point about a B2B product. In web copy, we tend to get shy and return to our “innovative, industry-leading solutions” and other such gobbledygook. The trick for the copywriter is striking a balance between features and benefits. Obviously the B2B audience is less about having fun than getting useful information about your product. But that doesn’t preclude a great voice.

I am now officially on the hunt for the best B2B voices. Top 5 will be featured in a one-of-a-kind praise-ridden blog post by this humble copywriting blogger. Submit suggestions in the comments.

Tips from the trenches: webinars

I’ve been writing a lot of webinar programs lately, because they STILL work and can be highly cost-effective for driving revenue. Here are some tips:

Leverage happy customers. This is two-fold: 1) to include in the webinar presentation itself, to tell your story to others then 2) to get testimonials for other webinars. Solicit feedback in follow-up thank you emails.

Tell a story. It’s true for any presentation, and this includes webinars. Stories take your ideas from the realm of the abstract and transform them into something real and personal. Even (especially) a product demo needs some concrete examples with which your audience and identify. Use challenges faced by your actual customers (better yet, feature that customer and let them speak in person at the webinar) and show how things have improved.

Looks matter. You don’t need to be a presentation wizard, but a few animations, colorful text or photos can make a world of difference.

Invite often—but not too early. Unless it’s a one-of-a-kind, can’t-miss, groundbreaking webinar, folks aren’t going to feel capable of planning that far ahead. I’ve seen a lot of success with webinar invites sent the day before and day of the webinar (obviously, test to see if this applies to your target customers).

Leverage content after the fact. Creating a great webinar is a lot of work, so use the content in whitepapers, testimonials, audio/Podcasts, on-demand replays, etc.

Quality with a capital "K"

I drove past one of those letter-board signs this morning, one describing a service or product as "quality." As a copywriter, I cringe at the word, for a variety of reasons:

1. ____ Quality Widgets. Good or poor? The best or the worst? Quality originally was a noun, not an adjective, and it still screams for a modifier when immediately preceded by a noun.

2. Don't make me think. Good ol' Seth. Quality is abstract--it's not going to create an emotional reaction. It's going to make me keep driving. Did I remember what that sign was about? Nope.

3. Accuracy. Don't waste characters. Is "quality" really the strongest adjective out there for your particular product? Is there another word that's more specific? Of course there is.

A Vitamin for Building a Facebook Fan Base

I learned of a bold move by VitaminWater yesterday. I was reading through a LinkedIn discussion of examples of great copy on the web, and several writers admired VitaminWater.com (in comments dated about a month ago). When I went to the site… I was redirected to the product’s Facebook fan page. I was so surprised that I tried it again, then took a closer look at the Facebook page to see that the content is focused on March Madness. Ah ha, it’s a temporary promotion.

And it’s a bold move. When I mentioned this to fellow marketers, they replied, “How annoying!” and “Who would go to vitaminwater.com anyway?” This latter question is actually a great one because the answer is: fans. Fans who aren't looking to study their copy--fans who would much rather engage with their beverage of choice.

Rather than having a middleman website driving folks to your Facebook page, why not drive them straight to the source, where they spend a lot more of their time? I am impressed with this idea and with the derring-do of the execs who approved it. It is a powerful way to jumpstart your Facebook presence. Also a little scary to relinquish control, even for four weeks of a basketball tournament.

Will be interesting to see if this becomes a trend for products to use during short-term promotions to build a Facebook fanbase—or even a more permanent brand engagement method?