Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

Latest posts from Danny Brown

Enjoy the latest posts from Danny Brown, and feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments after the post.

The Jugnoo Social Strategy Manifesto

At Jugnoo, we’re in the middle of a very aggressive summer release schedule (including a new website!), with several big updates to our social dashboard.

I’ll be sharing more information about these shortly, and how they can help your business (especially from a social CRM angle), but in the meantime, I thought I’d share our “manifesto”.

These are the four key tenets that define us as a company, and how we intend to help you understand your customers better, as well as build loyalty with your customers.

Jugnoo social strategy

Cementing everything we represent as both a company and as a technology platform, our message is simple:

1. Stimulus

Create awareness and stimulus at the very moment customers or prospects are the most receptive to your product or service. Target the right audience using Social Intelligence. Result:? Generate Leads.

2. Research

Consumers and businesses research online from numerous sources before making any purchase decisions. Be visible and engage prospects as they evaluate which brand or product to purchase. Result: Promote Product and Brand.

3. Buy

Make your business social, engaging and recommendation-based. Result: Increase Sales.

4. Experience

Listen to customers in real-time through Social Monitoring. Satisfy current customers and prospects to show that they matter, building increased loyalty and advocacy. Result: Loyalty and Advocacy.

As I said, we’re on a very aggressive release schedule, and there are a lot of cool tools and visual data solutions that we’ll be sharing soon – not to mention increased social analytics, team workflows, social hubs and some fun additions to our existing social dashboard.

Stay tuned – and if you want to check us out in the meantime and get used to the dashboard prior to our updates, you can .

Cheers!

Your 10 Point Checklist to Help You Grow Your Blog

Grow your blog

For many bloggers, there are a variety of blogging goals ? growing your blog, monetizing your blog, attracting more readers and more.

While the intent of setting goals is always a good one, often it can be easier said than done. Things get in the way, like life, work and more, and even the most intent blogger can soon let their goal slide.

Yet it doesn?t need to be this way. Just like any commitment, it just takes willpower and stamina. The good news for bloggers is that stamina can be replaced by a blog schedule or maintenance calendar.

With that in mind, here are 10 steps you can take to help you grow your blog .

1. Evaluate Your Blog

Every blogger has goals when they first start out. These vary depending on the blogger. It can be traffic and readers/subscribers; making money; raising awareness of your expertise; or many other reasons.

So check how you?re doing on your goals, and make a list of what you haven?t (yet) achieved.

2. Prioritize Your List

Once you have a list drawn up, start to prioritize from top to bottom in order of the things you want to achieve first.

If there are some that you feel have equal priority, think which one you could leave for another day versus one that?s really bothering you with its absence. Make that one your very top priority, or Want.

3. Build a Reverse Schedule

Now that you have your most important Want as a priority, you need to build a schedule that defines how you?re going to meet this goal. The easiest way to do this is to make it a reverse schedule.

This involves starting as if you?ve succeeded, and then work your way backwards from there to see what pain points you might meet along the way.

These could include vacations, work schedules, family events, etc ? anything that takes?time away from your blogging and therefore your?goal. Then, adjust your goal?s finish date accordingly and make it more realistic based on the pain points.

By making?something realistic, you?ll have a far better chance of achieving it.

4. ?Gather the Tools

Now that you know what goal you?re going to work on first, and the time it?s going to take you, you?ll have a better idea of the tools you need to make it happen. So, for example, if it?s monetizing your blog, you may want to look at affiliate products.

If it?s gaining readers, consider an email list tool. If it?s a redesign of your blog, start looking at themes and frameworks to help you in this.

My preferred choice is the Genesis framework (affiliate link) purely because they make it easy to get going, and provide a rock-solid basis to start your blogging journey. Tools maketh the artist; choose yours wisely.

5. Set Your Success Metrics

Now that you have your Wants and Goals in mind, and the tools needed to get there, you need to set some success metrics. The reason for this is simple ? if you?re not measuring your progress, you don?t know how successful you?re being. This will stop you from making necessary adjustments.

So, if your goal is to monetize, aim for X amount by month 1, then month 2, then month 3, and so on. Same for readers, subscribers, email list members, percentage of visitors from search results and more.

Keep monthly comparisons as these will help you plan an Exit Strategy.

6. Plan an Exit Strategy for Your Blogging Goals

In business, there?s an option called an Exit Strategy. This can be knowing when it?s time to sell a business, or leave?a failing one. But you can also use this for your blog.

If your goals aren?t being met, sit down and ask yourself why.

  • Is your subscription box not prominent enough?
  • Have you picked the wrong affiliates?
  • Are you passionate about your topic?

Knowing where you?re failing ? and why ? will help you either switch paths on the fly, or cull altogether and start afresh.

7. Leave Your Blog Alone

While this might sound crazy ? after all, how can you grow your blog if you leave it alone? ? it?s not. When I say ?Leave your blog?, I mean spend around 70-80% away from it. You should only be there when writing content and replying to comments.

The rest of the time? Promote, promote, promote.

Share on social networks; take part in #BlogChat; comment on other blogs; join communities like BlogEngage and ComLuv; and present at local and national blogging events.

Simply put, the more you get out and about and get to know other people, the more you?ll find those people come to your blog and begin to share it.

8. Have a Locked Down Hard Stop

The biggest mistake many bloggers make when trying to achieve their goals is letting them drag on for?too long when they?re not working. Don?t make this mistake too.

When you have the date you want to achieve something by ? the realistic one we spoke about earlier ? stick to it. If it doesn?t work, it probably wasn?t meant to be, so try something new.

There?s nothing wrong with failing ? failure is just another path to success. Remember this, and you?ll understand what it means to be successful.

9. Re-Evaluate and Redefine

Depending on how you prioritized your goals, you should have a good idea of how many are realistic throughout the timescale you set out to measure your success. Don?t take on too much ? remember, grow your blog in one area and solidify that success, then move onto the next area.

At the end of 12 months, look back at what worked, what didn?t, and then start the process again. Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint ? true success comes from longevity, not a fast burn.

10. Read For Bloggers By Bloggers

Okay, hands up, this is kind of a cheeky one. Kind of. Yes, I?m biased, but I really feel we have a great collection of some of the best tips around when it comes to growing your blog, and both our core authors and contributors offer something different in how they present their tips.

We know the pain points you?re experiencing, because we?ve been through them and overcome them.

Yet we?re still learning too ? and that shared experience will help you grow your blog the way you want it to. So keep on dropping by and subscribe to get the latest posts ? you know it makes sense. ;-)

The Psychology of Being Memorable

Consumers love simplicity.

We don?t want to be confused with multiple messages and options. We just want to buy the product or service that we need at that time and have it work, or improve our lives. Make our lives simpler.

Simple works. Simple means we can concentrate on other things. So when I?m shopping with you, why not make my experience the same whether I?m buying from you online or offline?

Direct the Traffic

I?ve been on some fantastic e-commerce websites that make shopping a cinch. Clean, well laid out and simple breadcrumb directions to the deals I?m interested in. I?ve then gone to other retailers that would make excellent poster boys for double servings of spaghetti ? they?re just all over the place and falling out the bowl.

Do customers really like this scattergun approach?

I?m not a huge fan of IKEA ? I think a lot of their stuff is chintzy, and just wouldn?t look right in my home.

BUT? I am a huge fan of the layouts in their retail stores. You go in the front entrance, and you simply follow a path until you reach the checkouts. You never feel lost, or cluttered ? everything is relaxing.

The Psychology of Being Memorable

It?s not surprising ? IKEA have mastered the psychology of shopping. They theme areas and direct you to where you?re most likely to purchase at a given time, all by simple layout structure.

Their websites follow this simplicity, with each country following the same design, and this has turned the Swedish furniture giant into one of the most successful retailers around. You have to respect that whether you like them or not.

It?s not just retail where IKEA?s mindset can be used. Think about everywhere you offer something to your visitors; customers; potential clients; new and existing employees; media enquiries; blog readers. Think about how you?re guiding them to where you want to be and how you can help them return.

You don?t need the psychology of shopping to help make you memorable; but you do want to be remembered, especially for the right reason.

Right?

image: taking leave

Sunday Shorts – Canada Day Edition

Canada Day

Here in Canada, today is officially Canada Day.

Celebrating the Constitution Act of 1867 (originally called the British North America Act), it’s the date that Canada became a country in its own right.

I’ve been here since Christmas 2006, and I’ve never met kinder people, enjoyed more beautiful open land, and simply appreciated the culture of this amazing country.

To celebrate in the style of this blog, I thought I’d share some quick and interesting stats on Canadians online.

Canadians Love Facebook

When 52% of a population is on Facebook, or just over 17 million users, you know it’s one of their favourites – and so it is with Canadians and the Big F. More than just 52% of the population, though, of Canadians online, more than 67% of them use Facebook. The largest demographic is 25-34, with over 4 million users, followed by the 18-24 age group. So I guess I should leave then.

Source: socialbakers

Canadians Love the Mobile Web

Of all the Internet users in Canada, one third of them browse from a mobile platform. 59% of these users are under the age of 35, with almost two thirds of them having been online for more than 10 years. The most popular manufacturer in Canada is Samsung (Android), followed by LG, RIM (BlackBerry), Apple and Nokia. Though with RIM’s curren woes, expect that to change drastically in the next 12 months.

Source: Stats Canada; comScore

Canadians Love Social Media, Full Stop

Maybe it’s the fact that Canada is such a wide open country, and you can go days without meeting another human (okay, maybe a wee exaggeration), but Canadians love the social web. From a report that Ipsos Reid carried out last year, it’s clear to see Canadians are very active online, and across all demographics.

  • 50% of all Canadians have at least one social network profile.
  • 45% visit a social media site at least once a week.
  • 32% of social media users have increased their time online for the previous 12 months.
  • 30% more Canadians are on Twitter than they were in 2010.
  • Linkedin usage has more than doubled in the last 12 months, accounting for 14% of Canadians online.

Source: Ipsos Reid

So, yeah – Canada loves the Internet. Oh, and they also make damn fine music – Happy Canada Day!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDRPtg0kmJU[/youtube]

Influential Mentions Aren’t the Same as Word Of Mouth Returns

True reach through word of mouth

Earlier this week, I took a look at why the social influencer – as identified by the likes of Klout, Kred, etc – isn’t anywhere near as valuable as an Instigator.

The post created a great discussion (which is still ongoing) around both sides of the coin, and whether it was just a case of semantics or if an Instigator was the true “influencer”.

I just wanted to expand on that a bit more, especially on why the influencer marketing model (as it currently stands) may be even more worthless (at least as far as real results go).

The Reach Effect

Looking at how Klout sells the “benefits” of its service, it attracts brands by selling them the golden ticket of putting their product or service in front of Klout’s army of influencers.

After all, the social web is built on who’s the most influential, right? The more followers, the more reach – the more reach, the more action. Eh – maybe not.

Reach is one of the most overrated metrics around. While saying “Reach 200,000 consumers” might sound great to a brand, it’s a bullshit metric. It’s assuming all 200,000 followers of a Twitter influencer, for example, are online at a given time, waiting to see that one awesome tweet about a product.

The other issue with reach is that it’s just a calculated number. Twitter user A only has 1,000 followers, but the combined number of all the followers that follow Twitter user A and their followers make up the “200,000 consumers” reach. And half of them might be bots.

So, reach is out of the question.

The Return on Perks

Once Klout (and others) have sold an ad campaign to brands, they turn that into Perks (or Rewards). This allows people with a certain score or above to apply to get free stuff – shower gel, cookies, or even a test drive in a new car.

A recent example is car manufacturer Chevrolet, who offered a loan of the newly-launched Sonic to 130 “influencers” with a Klout score of 45 and above. Looking at the results, you’d say it was a success:

  • 16,000 positive mentions online
  • Three discount requests
  • One car sold

As a case in raising awareness, 16,000 mentions isn’t chump change. Or is it?

The cost of a Klout Perk starts at $25,000. Considering Perks can be shampoo giveaways, let’s assume the Chevrolet campaign cost more than $25k. You’ve then got to add gas costs for the loans. And insurance. And sales people’s time for both the test drives and then the follow-up calls. And the discounts offered.

And these are just the basic costs. So, for that one sale that brought around $14k into the Chevrolet coffers, there’s a major negative return sales-wise. And I don’t care what business you’re in, you can’t survive on goodwill mentions alone.

Now, it’s true that a car purchase isn’t an impulse buy – there’s a longer process involved, to compare models, showrooms, offers, and more. So it may be that we’ll see more returns on the Chevrolet campaign. Let’s just hope the 130 people involved actually like the Chevy brand and weren’t just along for the free ride.

The Return on Silence Versus Word of Mouth

Of course, this is all conjecture, since Klout are very quiet when it comes to reporting the financial successes of their Perks programs. Sure, they’ll bleat about having 700,000 Perks across 350 campaigns since launching two years ago, but how many of these resulted in real sales to the brands involved?

If I had 350 campaigns, and even if just 10% of them resulted in positive ROI for the companies involved, I’d be shouting that from the rooftops, to both attract more brands and silence the critics.

Klout’s own silence in this regard is deafening, and can be taken however you wish to view it.

Compare that to true word of mouth campaigns and researched demographics – where the idea of Instigators versus Influencers comes up – and it’s a different story.

Paramount and Super 8

When Paramount was getting ready to launch their big Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams collaboration, Super 8, they created a hashtag on Twitter for the event, #Super8Secret. This was to build buzz and awareness for the movie with secret early showings across the U.S.

The result?

  • 9 million impressions in 24 hours (impressive, even for a flawed metric)
  • 150 tweets per minute
  • Over $1 million sales for sneak preview tickets
  • Exceeded Paramount’s expectations for opening weekend sales by more than 50%

Unfortunately, I don’t have the cost of the campaign – but creating a hashtag on Twitter and then letting it run amok is probably less than the instant million dollars it created, never mind the opening weekend sales.

The reason the Paramount effort worked – and offered a profitable financial return as opposed to just mentions and a negative sale – is the audience was eager, targeted, and actual fans of the product (in this case, the joining of Spielberg and Abrams).

They took action from Paramount’s instigation instead of just tweeting about the deal. Compare that to the Klout Chevy Perk, and how that (so far) offered more reactions (loans for free) over actions (one purchase, negative return).

Look Beyond the Numbers

The comparisons and results between Chevy and Paramount shouldn’t come as? surprise, though. Klout puts its partners in front of eyeballs based on their in-house metric, which has shown to be flawed time and time again.

Additionally, Klout creates the profiles on its site – you, as a number, don’t have a say in that unless you opt out. So the numbers they promote to their ad partners is skewed from the start.

A proper marketing campaign, on the other hand – media buy, ad buy, email campaign, social media – integrated and targeted will trump the influencer buzz every time (or pretty much every time).

Because smart marketers look beyond the numbers and look to how their effort contributes to the numbers that matter instead.

Which, at the end of the day, is what really matters, no?