Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’

Foursquare Marketing E-book by Trivera President Tom Snyder released by Penguin Books

Friday, December 10th, 2010

Hot off the virtual presses, Penguin Books has released The Complete Idiot’s Mini Guide to Real-Time Marketing by Trivera President Tom Snyder. This e-book is a quick read, and is essential for anyone with a brick and mortar location who wants to capitalize on the segment of Social Media known as Geo-location marketing.

Foursquare is a website that allows members to use their mobile devices and smart phones to “check in” wherever they go, and if they wish, Tweet about it or post it to their Facebook page. While originally a way for people to hook up with their friends, Foursquare’s point system and badge awards turned it into a game. It wasn’t long before businesses started to figure out how to use it to drive traffic to their locations by offering special prices and other promotions to people who checked in at their locations.

About the new e-book, Penguin says: Social media marketing is here in force and is the wave of the future. Using it wisely can mean big profits — with little expense. But marketing in real-time on Foursquare.com is unlike other social media, and can be both confusing and daunting. Fear no more! The Complete Idiot’s Mini Guide to Real-time Marketing with Foursquare gives you everything you need to know to make marketing on this website popular and profitable. In this invaluable guide, you’ll learn about creating and managing your venue, superusers, badges, creating specials, and finding customers — all the basics for a great Foursquare marketing campaign and so much more!

The Complete Idiot’s Mini Guide to Real-Time Marketing takes you through the steps to get you familiar with the site, make sure your location is “check-in”-ready, helps you create specials, measure and improve upon your success, and even offers a few case studies of several successful businesses who have used Foursquare to make their cash registers ring.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Real-Time Marketing is only $1.99 and is available for the Kindle at Amazon.com or for the Nook at BarnesandNoble.com

Tags: @triveraguy, Foursquare, Social Media, Social Networking
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The Dilemma of Authenticity, Transparency and Limited Resources

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

The foundational components of any effective Social Media strategy are authenticity and transparency, especially if blogging and microblogging are part of that strategy.

The power of Social Media comes from the personal brand that is being built by an author, and the benefit a corporate brand derives by having that person engage an audience in the Social Media community.

But what if the real voice and face of your brand is just too busy to participate?

My company has been the online services partner for one of our area’s most visible brands for nearly a decade and a half. While they know their brand better than anyone else, we know their brand in the online space as well as, or even better than they do. If they could afford to pay me enough to leave the company I own and be on their payroll, I’m probably the most qualified person to BE them in the Social Media sphere. But they can’t, and so we work with them as a vendor.

For blogging, we told them that unless it was actually the corporate face of the brand who’s doing the blogging, they really shouldn’t do it. A ghost-written blog is not a blog… it’s really PR and needs to be renamed as such and moved to the appropriate area of the site. And so we used an integrated installation of WordPress on their site to post their press releases, giving them the RSS benefits of a blog, but clearly labeling it as “The News” and not a blog.

However, as an already popular location on Foursquare, not being on Twitter or Facebook wasn’t an option for them. That put me in a weird position. Having developed their Social Media strategy, voice, rules and roles, and needing to accommodate their lack of time and internal resources, we decided to make Twitter a co-effort. Initially, I posted each Tweet, but only after their review and sign off. It was a clumsy process with some of them taking several back and forth edits prior to posting. However, that process resulted in an even better understanding for us, and an educational process for them. Eventually they realized it was just easier for them to post themselves, and a year later, we’ve gotten them to actually be doing all the Tweeting and Facebooking themselves. We still continue to monitor for brand mentions and let them know when they need to respond to something. But we showed them how to monitor, and they usually are finding things to post or Tweet about just as fast as we would have. We still help them develop Social Media based promotions, and take care of the Web and housekeeping aspects of the strategy, but for the most part, they have become pretty much self sufficient.

It was a difficult path, because initially, it could have been regarded as a violation of the authenticity and transparency that Social Media requires. But the alternative was a brand eroding silence in the Twitter-sphere and on Facebook.

It’s a tough decision that many are faced with: outsource or not participate. But because not participating is not an option, this creative approach may be the only solution available.

Tags: Milwaukee, Social Media, Web 2.0
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10-4, Social Media – We Got Ourselves a Convoy!

Monday, August 9th, 2010

When I started my digital agency back in 1996, I constantly ran into critics who called the Web “The CB radio of the 90′s.” Eventually, as the web demonstrated it was more than just a flash in the pan, time has proven those critics wrong. But, I’m wondering where those same critics are today who would claim Social Media is the “CB radio of this decade?”

I ask because, unlike the criticism of the web, this time they could be right!

Friends in the Social Media universe know me as Triveraguy (my profile name on Twitter). But, back in the 70′s, another Social Media “community” knew me as Grouchy Bear.

The medium was CB, or “citizen’s band” radio. The radios themselves had both a receive and transmit function, allowing anyone to engage in short blast broadcast conversations with other people who also had one. Originally used almost exclusively by the over-the-road truck driving community, it spread to include just regular folks, some using mobile devices, others using desktop units. The general communication happened on channel 19, where a constant cacophony of messages filled the airwaves… everything from truck drivers warning of speed traps or drunk drivers, stalled motorists asking for assistance, truck stops inviting drivers to their business or regular people just talking about such inane topics as where they were (your “10-20″) and what they were doing. As groups of friends and followers formed, other sideband channels became the gathering places for those communities. “Lower Channel 15″ was the hangout for me, Bird Lady, Lannon Rich and at least a dozen others whose handles I’ve long forgotten.

The CB community used its own nomenclature…an almost secret code language…that longtimers helped create, and caused newbies to have to monitor for awhile before they dared to jump in and actively participate.

Community “leaders” emerged who organized meetups to allow all these people who had never met each other face to face to see the other folks behind the handles. Connections were made, and relationships were built. I even met a great guy I ended up hiring and we are friends to this day.

Non CBers just thought we were all nuts, but we were convinced everyone needed to be using CB radio. And our nearly evangelistic fervor drove our “non-enlightened” friends, neighbors and relatives crazy. But then CB radio started to show up in the consciousness of mainstream America. The movie “Smokey and The Bandit” hit the theaters and was a huge hit. C.W. McCall’s song “Convoy” made the top of the charts and produced a movie of the same name. And there were the popular TV shows like “Movin’ On” and “The Dukes of Hazzard” that glorified the whole CB lifestyle. We had arrived, and we knew it would only be a matter of time before we took over the world.

If you’re one of us who are active in Social Media, I’m sure you see the stunning parallels. The reason I “get” Social Media is because, for me it really is just another stop in a series of subcultures that began with the hippie subculture of the 60′s and early 70′s, and after the CB radio adventure, went on to other religious, business and technological subcultures and has now culminated in Social Media. If you’ve ever been a part of a large multi-level marketing, religious or hobby-based subculture, you know exactly what I’m talking about when I say every one of them has so many of the same characteristics as Social Media, it’s scary.

But all good things come to an end. In rare cases, subcultures grow and become so mainstream that they stop being subcultures and become part of the fabric of the culture at large. Others sink into insignificance and obscurity. Often it’s because people move on with their lives. Sometimes, the technology that makes it possible gets trumped by something new. Frequently the whole subculture simultaneously has a “what were we thinking?” epiphany and it dies from mass exodus.

Universal acceptance for the CB subculture never materialized. It ended up being just another fad that exploded for a time, but eventually returned to its roots, still being used to this day, but almost solely by truckers.

So what ultimately happens to the Social Media subculture? Its fans believe Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and all the others will be like the Web and leapfrog into mass acceptance and live happily ever after. But, we’ve already seen MySpace begin to lose its luster. While nearly half of all Americans have a Facebook profile, Twitter’s penetration is still significantly smaller, and according to Forrester Research, only 1% use check-in services regularly. With a business impact that’s tinier than its zealots are willing to admit, its insider lingo, club-like characteristics, evangelistic fervor and the fact that in most markets, the Social Media community is only large enough to support the one or two businesses that are trotted out by the media as the “examples of success,” the jury may still be out.

You could always tell a CBer by the long antenna on his car, truck or house. One of our clients told us the other day that she could tell us Twitter people because of the antennae that we have growing out of our own heads!

So all irrational exuberance aside, what do you think history predicts is next on the horizon for Social Media? Is Social Media headed for a “10-7” or will the future be “clean and green with the shiny side up and the greasy side down?”

Tags: Milwaukee, Social Media
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Confessions of an Accidental Blogger

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

As an early adopter, I have always been one of the first to jump aboard new technology and new ideas. I’ve been using PC’s since the most basic units cost more than a used Toyota. I have been a High Definition TV zealot since I first saw it at a Las Vegas broadcaster convention 20 years ago and had one in my living when the only thing on TV in HD was the reel of 20 0r 30 nature videos played over and over on Public TV. I had one of the first devices that was called a Smart Phone so long ago that, when compared to today’s Droids and iPhones was about as smart as a turtle on a fence post. I was introduced to the Web in 1994 and have been involved in Web development since the only Web creation tool was notepad and an FTP program.

Although Social Media is now a mainstream phenomenon, I’ve been participating in the “Social” Web since the days when online communities were nothing but DOS text on a black screen over a 14.4 modem. While the land rush is now on to sign up for MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Foursquare profiles, I was among the first to participate in all of them.

So, you’re probably thinking if I’m such an early adopter, why did it take me so long to create my own blog?

I actually have been blogging since 1996. It just wasn’t called that. My monthly email newsletter for my company was called Websight Insight, and every issue had two or three articles on Web marketing best practices. After it was sent to the mailing list, the articles became a part of our Web site. Those have continued all along, and eventually became a part of the WordPress installation for news and articles in a new site we developed a few years ago.

But I still never had my very own blog, at my very own domain name… until now. You’ll find my new blog at triveraguy.com

Still not sure that floods of people will be here to read what I have to say. I have approximately 6,000 followers on Twitter who have clicked through 37,000 times on links I’ve promoted to other people’s blogs. So maybe I can drive some folks to my own stuff. While all of my content between 1997 and 2001 got lost due to several site redesigns and migrations, I’m confident that what is here will be of value to people trying to figure out how digital media fits into their business strategy…matter of fact as I’m going through the archives to add all my content to this blog, I’m thinking much of it is actually pretty darn good if I say so myself. Even the really old stuff.

So do with this thing what people in the Social Media world do…Delicious it, Digg It, Reddit it, StumbleUpon it, Bookmark it, Tweet it, Wave it, Buzz it, Fark it, Fave it, comment on it, snag the RSS feed, but most important, I hope you do with the information what some “fans” have been doing for 14 years: read it and use it help your business.

And let me know what else I can do for you or a topic I can cover.

Tags: blogging, Milwaukee, Social Media
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How I Make You Smarter…and Your Business More Successful…One Tweet at a Time.

Monday, April 12th, 2010

People who follow me on Twitter know that a prominent component of the way I use that Social Networking tool is to post links to helpful articles. As the primary brand voice of Trivera, my goal is to help people learn both about me and FROM me. And so while just about any time of day, you’ll see me using Twitter to opine, engage, interact, and sometimes just be goofy, every weekday during business hours my Tweet-stream contains posts like: “5 reasons your Web site is losing money http://ow.ly/1wqy,” “19 Tips for Driving Traffic to Your Blog http://ow.ly/1vZCT“ and “10 signs your iPad has made you the most annoying person ever http://ow.ly/1vGUQ.”

Those articles come from blogs, email newsletters and forums and are specifically chosen to help you become better at what you do, and show up about once an hour between 9am and 5pm, Monday through Friday. Whether you’re a small business owner, Web developer, marketing professional, or just a student of the digital world, the articles I link to are specifically, and strategically selected to give you a few nuggets of helpful wisdom in a quick read (or scan).

Part of my daily regimen is an early morning check of my RSS feeds, industry newsletters and a few quirky and obscure Web sites to find informational resources for myself. Of the hundred or so articles I see, and the 20 or 30 I read, I pick the 7 or 8 that really represent the cream of the crop and share them with my Twitter followers. The common denominator is that they’re short, well written, accurate, organized, timely and helpful. I often re-write the headline if I think I can better communicate the benefit of the information and improve the likelihood that people will go read them. And I use Hootsuite to shorten the URL and schedule them to trickle out during the day rather than deluge everyone with a flood of information all at once.

Some critics have questioned why I do it, pointing out that they can get all of this in their own RSS feed. But I know from my own daily exercise that, because anyone can blog, much of what fills the blogosphere is poorly written, filled with errors, or both. I’ve earned the trust of my followers to be the filter that only allows the best of the best.

The evidence shows that I must be doing something right. In addition to shortening long URLS and allowing me to schedule my posts, Hootsuite allows me to measure metrics. Since I began doing this and keeping track a little over a year ago, over 31,000 people have clicked through to read what I’ve posted. And by even being able to see which articles are the most clicked on, it allows me to fine tune the choice of articles to make sure that I’m tweeting the types of content that people find most helpful.

The good news is that you don’t even have to be on Twitter to benefit from the articles. Bookmark this link and just my tweets with shortened links will show up in your browser. If you have an RSS reader, add this feed to it, and the articles will show up there.

Since we’ve been in business, it’s been my goal raise the level of the Web intelligence of the market. I don’t have the time to blog as often as I’d like, and even when I do, someone else has probably already blogged about my topic before. But the combination of these articles and my blogs (which also end up in these Tweets and feeds), seem to be doing a great job of educating the market. In addition to making followers smarter, it also establishes me as an authority without having to spend hours a week writing my own blogs, which is a tactic we also recommend to some of our clients.

The world of the Web is changing rapidly. Web 1.0 is giving way to Web 2.0. While many of my tips are focused on Social Media, I still link to articles on Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing and making your site successful. But there’s no doubt where the market is headed, and by following my posts, you can be equipped with the information you need to ride the wave.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the most clicked through article ever is You’re doing Social Media. That’s good. But not Mobile? Uh-oh…

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Tom Snyder is Founder, President and CEO of Trivera Interactive, a Midwest New Media firm. Tom is a Web guy, wine snob, music junkie, Ex-Milwaukee Radio Guy, HDTV expert, and political wonk.

Tags: @triveraguy, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, Web 2.0
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The Social Media Lovefest in Milwaukee – Unique or Universal?

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

An amazing wave has swept this great city on a great lake.

Having spent all of my 56 years in Milwaukee, I’ve always been proud when I hear visitors gush about what residents know all too well: The people of Milwaukee are the nicest folks they’ve ever met. So it’s only natural that a platform that is comprised of interaction and communication would flourish in a town like ours.

Social Media…and more specifically, Twitter and now FourSquare have made significant marks on the landscape of Brew City, including:

Almost constant media coverage of Social Media as a phenomenon.

Businesses like Streetza Pizza, AJ Bombers and Blatz Liquor whose successes have been almost entirely fueled by the support of the Social Media community.

A nearly 400 seat sellout for our Social Media University – Milwaukee, fueled almost exclusively by promotion using Social Media, with virtually no promotion in traditional media.

3-4 well-attended, targeted Social Media training/networking events every week, and so many large-scale Social Media events that it’s been hard for us to schedule our next Social Media University Milwaukee without conflicting with one of them. (Note: SMUM2 is currently firming up its date and lineup ).

Great relationships built between dozens of local media celebrities and average folks (stories of which could easily be an entire blog).

The amazing new collaborative spirit that has emerged between many of the creative, technology, and new media people and organizations who have co-existed here for years, but have just met and begun to work together in the past twelve months.

Milwaukee consistently ranks among the top US cities in the Twtvite lists of upcoming social media events.

A recent Tweetup at AJ Bombers drew so many people that attendees were awarded the first Foursquare “Swarm Badge” in the entire Midwest. An upcoming Tweetup at our own office already has enough interest that it could potentially become the first non bar/restaurant to result in a “Swarm Badge” for its attendees.

As we commemorate the first anniversary of a Tweetup that the Tweetup Girls held at the Iron Horse Hotel that seemed to be a pivotal moment, some with whom I talk are convinced that this is unique to Milwaukee. When I go to Tweetups and other Social Media focused events and feel the Twitter-love, the sentimental part of me is prone to believe it. Other less parochial folks insist that, while it’s big here, this same thing is happening in cities all over the country…and the world. And my logic has to admit that this must be the case.

Your thoughts? Is the Social Media love fest we’re enjoying here in Milwaukee real and unique to us?

—-

Tom Snyder is Founder, President and CEO of Trivera Interactive, a Midwest New Media firm. Tom is a Web guy, wine snob, music junkie, Ex-Milwaukee Radio Guy, HDTV expert, and political wonk.

Tags: Milwaukee, Social Media
Posted in Blog | 17 Comments »

Social Media Got Your Pants on the Ground?

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

“…pants on the ground, pants on the ground, looking like a fool with your pants on the ground…”

Last week, I went to the Social Media Breakfast expecting to be an attendee. Due to a speaker cancellation, I ended up being on the panel. The topic was “Snake Oil Salesman or Social Media Expert.” With Trivera‘s production of last summer’s Social Media University – Milwaukee putting us on the radar screen as local Social Media gurus (or Snake Oil Salesmen), I was a logical candidate.

The discussion moved to a point where the final answer was going to hinge on whether a Return on Investment could be demonstrated for a Social Media program. The issue became the difficulty of calculating an ROI down to a meaningful and accurate number.

Tallying the “R” is the easy part. Tools exist to allow you to measure hits, monitor click throughs, calculate conversions, and figure out the impact of Social Media sites on your top line revenue. Small and large companies alike are already trumpeting specific revenue success directly attributable to Social Media initiatives.

It’s calculating the “I” that’s the sticky wicket.

Social Media tools are often touted as being “free.” Creating a blog, a Twitter account, a Facebook fan page or a LinkedIn profile can cost nothing. You can hire a company to create and administer a more robust Social Media presence, build a Facebook application, use tools like Radian6 or SM2 to monitor your brand buzz or create and distribute press releases using Pitchengine. While that will cost money, that outlay comes with hard numbers you can add to your equation. The part of this that drifts into the haze is the value of the time and effort that it takes to create and develop the relationships that will make Social Media campaigns successful. How do you count the cost in dollars for a company’s CEO to write blog on a Saturday, a small business owner’s dozens of Tweets during and after business hours, a salesman’s participation in a LinkedIn discussion, a marketing director’s evaluation of the growth of numbers of fans and followers, or a Customer Service Representative’s ongoing discussions in a community site engaging with fans of their brand or defending it against detractors?

Without that hard number on the investment side, accurately calculating the ROI on Social Media is nearly impossible. So does that mean there IS no ROI? My friend Augie Ray responds to that that question with this great quote (one that he isn’t even sure where it came from): “I’m not sure what the ROI is for putting on pants in the morning, but I do know I can’t conduct business without them! “

So it is with Social Media. Many, maybe even most companies, can prove no real quantifiable ROI. But they do know that they’re doing more business with it than they would without it.

Unfortunately, a successful Social Media program takes more effort than just putting on your pants. A Twitter account that consists of a tweet a week with no real engagement is like doing business in your boxers. A blog that hasn’t been updated in months is like leaving your Levi’s in the dryer. A LinkedIn profile without interaction, participation, or status updates is akin to walking out the door without your Dockers. A Facebook fan page with no entries, no promotion and a dozen fans is the equivalent of leaving with your Haggars in a heap on the floor.

Is there ROI in Social Media? There can be. A well developed Social Media strategy with the proper tools, patience and consistency will always have a higher ROI than one without it. Can you calculate it? Not to a decimal place.

But begin a Social Media program without them, and you could find yourself looking like…

Tom Snyder is Founder, President and CEO of Trivera Interactive, a Midwest New Media firm. Tom is a Web guy, wine snob, music junkie, Ex-Milwaukee Radio Guy, HDTV expert, and political wonk.

Snake Oil Salesman or Social Media Expert

Tags: Augie Ray, ROI, Social Media
Posted in Blog | 2 Comments »

12 Interactive Marketing Resolutions for the New Year

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

by Chris Remington

Here are 12 things to think about as you take your interactive marketing to the next level in 2010:

Have a plan – Yes, there are many tentacles to the interactive marketing beast, but with a well-crafted strategic plan it can be tamed. Start small if you must, but the important thing is to have a plan, execute it, and refine it over time.

Analytics are your friend – WebTrends, Omniture or Google Analytics; no matter which one you use (you do have analytics on your site, don’t you?!) take time to mine for the nuggets of information they offer about your site, your customers and how they consume your interactive content. Use this to power your plan (see H above).

Pretend you are your customer – You are too close to your product(s) and your industry. Think like your customer would think. Knowing what they would call your product(s), how they would search for it on a search engine, and where they gather online to converse about it, will help you massage and finesse your web content so it speaks to them in their language.

Performance indicators are key – What are the top two or three goals of your website and interactive marketing strategy? Customer engagement? Brand awareness? eCommerce transactions? Lead generation? Pick your goals, ensure you can monitor and track them, tailor content to achieve them, and track the effectiveness of your actions.

You can do it – While others would argue the fact, interactive marketing is not rocket science. It is still about the 4 P’s from Marketing 101 – product, place, price and promotion. Smart online marketing is no different than smart offline marketing. Research, plan, execute, monitor, refine. Repeat. Know the limitations and aspirations of your internal team as they relate to your interactive marketing efforts. Empower them. Empower yourself. You and your team know your strategy best. Go for it. Hire outside help when (if) needed.

Not doing anything still has a cost – Yes, the website you built and paid for in 2003 still functions, but does it still work? A website with old or static content and a tired look sends a message that you are complacent, not innovative, and don’t care to engage your customers. Can you really afford to NOT spend money on your interactive strategy?

Embrace change – See N above. Research to see if your customers (and your internal team) have an appetite for consuming your web content in video form, on mobile devices or via Social Media. Don’t change for change sake, but if your customers and industry are ‘going there’ you should too. With a plan, of course (see H above).

Web-enable content – See E above. Your website can likely streamline workflows and improve customer service with only minor enhancements. Would product installation videos on your site reduce customer service calls? Would a password protected media room enable your customers, dealers or distributors to download their own sell sheets, logos or ad templates? If so, web-enable this content and free up your marketing support team to pursue more important projects.

YouTube? Twitter? Facebook? – Social Media is all the rage. Make sure you are ready to embrace it. If a goal of your Social Media presence is to drive traffic to your website, ensure the site is rock-solid first. If the answers are yes when you ask yourself if your website content is compelling, if it is up-to-date, if it is user-friendly, and if there is no doubt about the site’s call(s) to action, they you are ready to develop a Social Media strategy. Think of your website as the bull’s-eye of a target – only when the bull’s-eye is rock-solid should you venture to the next ring of Social Media.

Engage your audience – Your customers are talking about you online. How good of a job does your site do to encourage and facilitate that conversation? Do you know where else these conversations are occurring online? If not, learn. If so, what value are you bringing? Recognize and thank those who talk positively about you. Reach out to the naysayers and turn their lemons into lemonade. You will be viewed as someone who cares and ‘gets’ the new transparent world where your customers, not you, are in control of your brand.

Authority, Relevance, Popularity – These are three things that search engines consider when ranking your site. Look at your website content and interactive strategy through these lenses and if what you are doing shows search engines (and the consumers who use them) that you are an authority, your content is on the mark and others find it useful, you are on your way to better rankings and more traffic. If your interactive marketing efforts aren’t enhancing your authority, relevant, or positioning you as a popular player in your space, don’t do them.

ROI – The great thing about interactive marketing is it is quantifiable and measureable. Return on investment is easy to analyze. Assign action items to your interactive marketing strategy like obtaining more leads, increasing eCommerce transactions or reducing customer service calls. Measure, adjust and measure again. Repeat. The important thing is to have a plan, make the investment (see N above) and monitor the effectiveness.

——————-

Chris Remington is an account executive for Trivera Interactive. Trivera specializes on Online Brand Management for companies and organization that understand and appreciate the power of the Internet and Social Media to re-inforce their brand. In addition to helping Trivera clients, Chris also speaks at local business events, and teaches at the University of Phoenix.