Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

Archives for November 2011

Book Week at DannyBrown.me – Brand Against the Machine by John Morgan

Brand Against the Machine by John MorganIt’s been a while since I did any book reviews here. Not that there weren’t a ton of books that could be reviewed – 2010 and 2011 saw more social media and marketing books released than there are reasons for Klout to exist. Probably.

But so many of them said the same thing, or seemed to be just a collection of blog posts reformatted for print, that it seemed pointless to share here, since you could easily find more value from the people mentioned here and save your book money for something really good.

Like Brand Against the Machine, by John Morgan, and easily one of my favourite business books of the last 18 months or so.

So why is it so good, and brought me back into book review mode? Let’s dig in.

No Fluff, No Filler

The problem with many business books is that they feel disjointed. They have 20 chapters, and two are good with the rest seeming to try and make a point that doesn’t need making.

With John Morgan’s Brand Against the Machine, though, you’re hooked from the very first page. Not only that, but you find yourself nodding your head along to so much – if not all – of what John’s saying.

He makes salient points that we all should know, and yet every day we let others think, say or do. He shows the importance of why the brand is everything (sorry, product whores). And you know what? He’s right.

Yes, the product or the content is key; but the perception and reality of who and what’s behind the product or content is what really sells and keeps people coming back for more.

It’s something that others may have spoken or written about before; but none have written it in the manner?that John does. Every point is forced home – but it’s in such a way that you can’t help but get?imbued by everything?and want to run outside and start putting everything into practice.

John’s humour helps too, since you smile at both his wording and admonishments, as well as his self-effacing manner. Which helps immensely when talking about the kind of brand that draws so much ire.

Personal Brand Isn’t a Dirty Word After All

I’ll admit, I’m not?a huge fan of the personal brand moniker. While I understand the reason for it, I find many of the people that?preach personal?branding are egotistical asshats.

However, in Brand Against the Machine, John Morgan shows that peoples’ perceptions of you defines their perception of your product, service, content or whatever it is you have to sell or share. That in itself immediately makes you a brand.

Get your own brand right, and you can take on the big companies with a fraction of the budget. Your content will be shared; your products will have a warm audience; and your customers will trust you and want to?stay with you.

That personal brand will carry across into how your employees feel around you, and?again that will define?the success of your business.

So, like it or not, you are a personal brand – deal with it.

Buy It, Brand It

There’s?so much that you’ll take away from Brand Against the Machine that a mere review here can’t possibly do it justice. It’s short punchy chapter after short punchy chapter of real, solid advice on making you stand out from everyone else, and what you need to?do to believe you can.

It’s not airy-fairy buzzwords to make people swoon and feed John grapes – instead, it’s a business book that will teach you how to use your brand/business and yourself as the key weapon?to beat anyone.

If you’re getting the feeling I love this book, you’re right, and if you buy one single book for Christmas, make it Brand Against the Machine. You will not regret it – that’s a promise.

Rocks, Foundations and Immediate Communities

Beautiful foundations

One of the things we always talk about in this space we share is support.

How we can encourage our online communities to rise to challenges and how the players on the field encourage others. Yet what are we doing offline with our ?immediate communities??

Are we offering the same support and encouragement to them? Or even thanking them for their support and encouragement to us?

Often we take this support for granted ? after all, they?re our friends and family and? well, that?s just what friends and family do, right? We?d do the same for them so there?s no need to recognize it.

But there is.

Every day we get through problems or tough times because of our support networks.

It doesn?t matter if it?s just an email to ask how our day is going, or a helping hand at a challenging time ? it?s the presence and thought that offers the actual support, even if we don?t realize it. They?re the rocks and the foundations on which we stand and grow.

My rock is my wife.

She does incredible things every day without realizing she?s doing them. She takes the stress out of my life just by being there, and I probably don?t tell her that enough. If I?m ever backed into a corner and I can only choose one person to have my back, my wife would be it. Every time.

If my wife is my rock, then her mum is the foundation on which she?s built.

There are many mother-in-law stereotype jokes that do the rounds but my wife?s mom couldn?t be farther from them. She was one of the first to be there for my wife and I and she?s never been far from us since then. It?s clear to see where my wife gets her strength and beauty from, both inside and out.

We build online armies every day. Our communities are the rocks and the foundations on which everything stands. We support people we?ve never met (and likely never will) simply because we can.

Yet as strongly as we and they connect, we do so because of the foundations already behind us.

Are you keeping yours strong?

image: zoompict

Introducing Social Media to Your Business

Social Media Landscape

Fact ? too many businesses still need to wake up and realize that social media is not ?one of these Internet fads? that will disappear.

Fact ? because of this mindset, too many businesses are potentially missing out on extra business that could mean the difference between staying afloat and going under. So why the problem?

One of the main reasons is that businesses ? whether it?s the CEO, top-tier management or otherwise ? are looking at social media as an individual medium, much like PR or marketing.

This is where the cracks start to appear. Social media benefits companies the most when it?s used as?part?of an?integrated?campaign.

Social media is also perfect for reaching out and connecting with your audience, as opposed to just selling them something. Sure, you?re still selling your brand or product ? but this time, it?s in an ?encouraging to ask questions? approach instead of ?this is us and you?ll like it? one.

Accepting that social media needs to be approached as an integrated strategy rather than a standalone campaign is the first step businesses need to take. After that, the job gets a little bit easier.

Define Your Audience

Just like any market or product, social media is made up of different audiences. As a business owner, you wouldn?t launch a new product onto a more traditional marketplace without some in-depth market research first ? don?t ignore this on social media.

Knowing your audience is key to succeeding in business social media. You need to know if your audience are participants or promoters. Why the need to differentiate? Simple –

  • Participants?are social media users that may use numerous social media sites and applications, but don?t really ?take part? in the medium. They?re like the visitors to your business website that may purchase something and then interact with you no further. There?s nothing wrong with this ? but as a method of expanding your brand, you may need to look elsewhere.
  • Promoters?are the users that like to share information ? whether it?s recommending something via Twitter or their blog, if they come across something they like they will pass that information on. This is where your use of social media can help build your name. Just remember that social media works both ways. Don?t try and cheat the system ? give back just as much (more, even) as you receive.

Have a Clear and Defined Goal

Another area where businesses are failing to adapt social media to their needs is that they don?t have a clear goal on what they want to achieve. Many hear the phrase ?social media? and immediately feel they need to be a part of this buzz, jump straight in without any forward thinking, and are then disappointed with the (lack of) results.

Ask yourself who you want to connect with and why, and then research the areas of social media that are most relevant to your needs. Demographics are one of the key points of knowledge for any campaign ? make sure you know where your demographics are playing online. A?social map?can help here.

Again, though, don?t try and play the system ? cheaters will soon be found out, and your brand can suffer irreparable damage if seen as merely a self-promotional company on social media.

Tools of the Trade

Once you have your audience and your goal set out, you need to use the tools that will help you the most. There are numerous available, and this is where building your social media connections can help, by advising what ones they use and what results they achieve.

Some of the best free examples of business tools include?Monitter?(which allows you a view on Twitter discussions of keywords);?Google Alerts?(giving you insight into what?s being said about you); and?Social Mention?(letting you gauge social reactions and reach to your topic or keywords and allowing you to jump in on conversations elsewhere).

Getting into social media shouldn?t be a hard decision for businesses to make ? it?s either right for you or it isn?t. Social media is a long-term strategy, not? a short-term fire sale.

Understand that, and you begin to understand social media.

Image:?fredcavazza

On Moving On and Jugnoo

So, if you ever read my bio (whether here on the blog’s sidebar, or on any of my social networks), you may have noticed that I recently updated my professional description.

Whereas before it was for Bonsai Interactive, as of last week it became Jugnoo, Inc. So, what was the change?

Simple – I’ve stepped down from my role at Bonsai to become Director of Retention and Social Media at Jugnoo, Inc.

While my time at Bonsai was fun, and we were lucky enough to work with some great clients, the direction began to change in the last few months and I felt it was time to move on.

Enter Jugnoo.

I’ve known the VP of Marketing at Jugnoo for a while – Hessie Jones – and we just got chatting about a few things. She told me about Jugnoo and my interest was piqued. Cue some more conversations, and I was delighted to join the team.

So what the heck is Jugnoo? Well, here’s the official blurb:

Making Your Business Social is Our Business!
As an internet media technology company, Jugnoo gives both consumers and businesses the tools and services they need to stand out on the social web. Up to now, it’s generally been larger corporations that have had the time, resources and knowledge to truly benefit from the social web. Jugnoo intends to level the playing field for the benefit of all.

In the bigger picture, Jugnoo is a technology and media company that has an umbrella of products for both consumers and businesses. The first product is JugnooMe, which is currently in beta phase for launch early 2012. Its primary goal is to make social media easier to add to the marketing mix for small-to-medium businesses.

There’ll be a lot more information coming from both this way and the Jugnoo team soon, and I’ll be reaching out to folks in our target audience with some more details shortly.

For now, my sincere best wishes to Troy and Bonsai on their success ahead, and my gratitude to the clients that I’ve gotten to know over the last two years – it’s been a blast, and I wish you well.

In the meantime, feel free to connect with Jugnoo on Facebook and Twitter, and look forward to sharing more details soon.

Cheers!

Social Media Marketing Success Doesn?t Have To Be A Hunt For A Four-Leaf Clover

Four Leaf Clover Social Media

This is a guest post by Stacey Acevero.

The rise of social media has created all sorts of new opportunities for small business marketers to get the word out, but it has presented challenges too.

The days of sending press releases to media outlets with the hopes of being lucky enough to get some coverage are long gone, morphing into constant opportunities to catch the next social media sharing phenomenon.

Today, it?s not enough to hit just those traditional media outlets.

You need to create a social media survival kit to help your business? content fly on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and countless niche sites across the digital horizon.

Take heart, shareable content is not as rare (or hard to create) as you might think. With just a few tweaks, your content could be the talk of the sharing community.

Try these four tips to help make your press releases more social media friendly:

  1. Understand your audiences.?You?ve heard it before: make sure you are writing content geared toward your audience. Before you can write for them, you must understand who makes up that group. It?s more than just the specific prospects you are trying to appeal to; search engines are your readers too.?This is where search engine optimization comes in. Make your content highly rank-able with optimized keywords and phrases. The computerized audiences will love them ? but don?t forget that your primary readers are still human.
  1. Provide opportunities for sharing. Incorporate buttons that will allow readers to share on a number of networks. You may have thought of Facebook, Twitter and good-old-fashioned email, but you should also include sites such as:
  • Tumblr
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • Delicious
  • Reddit

Making your content easy and compelling to share is just one more way to motivate readers to spread your word.

  1. Tap into viral trends. All those videos, photographs and jingles floating across the web are making the rounds for a reason.?? Take a look at the top memes (virally spread ideas) and ask yourself, what can I do to make my content more playful, provocative or just plain different?

You may find that a simple video aimed at a niche site is the crux to a viral campaign that spreads to networks everywhere.

  1. Use your press release as a palette. Don?t think of your press release solely as a way to get out information. Put creativity into every element of your template by adding videos and photos to make the complete piece better positioned for social media marketing success.
  • Experiment with quirky or bold headlines
  • Use subtitles that ask questions or identify different takes on your topic
  • Use links, multimedia and photos to tell your story

Stay away from PR speaks; nobody has the time or interest to read it. Write like a storyteller and remember, there are millions of speed-readers on the net who skim content to determine readability.

Find a way to appeal to these scanners in an instant so they won?t just finish your press release, they?ll want to share it as well.

Think about the content you?ve been motivated to share. What about it drives you to let others in on the treasure you?ve found?

Translate that to your press release. If it?s important,? interesting and valuable, then with a few touch-ups you can make it eminently shareable too.

Shareable = Social Media Marketing Success!

So, your turn – how are you finding success in social media? Let’s hear your best practices below!

Stacey AceveroAbout the author:?Stacey Acevero is the social media community manager of PRWeb, where she engages the online community through PRWeb social channels such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn daily with articles and conversation about PR, small businesses, SEO, social media and more. She is all about creative social media marketing ideas as well as building the PRWeb brand. Stacey also pens of some of PRWeb?s case studies. Connect with Stacey on Twitter at @SaceVero.?