Behavioral economics

There is a lot of interesting things going on in the fairly new field of behavioral economics. A while back I took a course through Coursera.org held by Dan Ariely. I truly recommend it to anyone that is even remotely interested in human behavior and motivations.

Watch a talk by him on TED here:
Are we in control of our own decisions
What makes us feel good about our work

Another interesting and rather mindblowing video is this one on the correlation between language spoken and likelihood to save money

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How to use Pinterest for Business – Hubspot e-book

Pinterest is still new enough for me to think not everything has been said, but “old” enough for it to make sense for marketers to take a look at it for their own brands. In Sweden it hasn’t really hit home yet, but in US most brands you would expect have already adopted Pinterest as a new channel.

Hubspot is a though leader in all things online marketing and I decided to write an “exective summary” of their Pinterest guide to help myself and hopefully you. Please note that the facts are from Hubspot, but that the wording and thoughts are my own, and therefor nothing Hubspot can be held accountable for.

The basics
The goals of Pinterest use is brand recognition, driving traffic , new leads
If you brand is design related it’s possibly even more important that you check it out.

Register your Pinterest account with the same email address you use for your Twitter account, to easily share your pints through Twitter too.

Choose your username and complete your profile information. Company name and logo is good to use, and don’t forget a link to your website.

Make sure not to hide your Pinterest profile from search engines. There is a choice to do so in the Settings, and it’s automatically set to off.

If you use a “Pin it” button on your pages, it’s easy for visitors to share your content. However, these are no-follow links, so they won’t affect your SEO. But will probably affect your website visits.

Since you will be curating content, make sure you’re citing the source of the pins. The picture will link back to the site you found it on and/or the pinner you pinned it from, so that should be easy enough 🙂

Create a few boards before you start to build your following, otherwise ppl won’t know why they should follow you or your board.

Cross-promote your pins through your website, blog, Facebook and Twitter etc But, as always, don’t overdo it

Create boards based on keywords in your SEO strategy, and make them GOOD! Basically this helps you position your brand as a thoughtleader in the field.

Remember
Don’t forget to measure impact with your analytics tool!

What pictures/topics/boards send more traffic than others?

Try to become the go-to pinner for a certain topic relating to your industry (remember those keywords)

Whenever possible, inclued links back to your website and LP’s in your pins. The combined impact from clicks and re-pins will give you some good traffic.

Use hashtags – preferably the same ones you use on Twitter (and Instagram)

Board ideas
Employees, with short bio
Executives ,with short bio, media mentions, interviews, etc
Images from your blogposts (around a specific subject)
Infographics (your own or those you find interesting)
Book covers (that you’ve written, around a subject dear to you etc)
Photos of smiling customers using your products
User generated board (host a contest)
Create a video gallery (yes, it’s possible!)
Behind the scenes (helps make your brand relatable and humanized – therefore interesting)

Lessons learned from other brands
It’s all about what you share, not necessarily what you sell
Think outside the box of how you typically use social media to market your brand
Follow Pinterest’s lifestyle credo & make your brand page personal for your fans
Even if your company isn’t exactly devoted to “pretty things”, it doesn’t mean you can’t be on Pinterest

I want it all
Download the Hubspot e-book for more juicy info on Pinterest for Business
and follow Hubspot on Twitter while you’re at it!

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Are you using LinkedIn the way you should?

Do you consider yourself an average user of LinkedIn? Chances are you do! And yet, there are so many angles to the networking community left to investigate.

Down to basics
Name, title, picture, education, earlier work – its all very basic really. And yet, it took me 5+ years to fill in my profile to 100%. How many % complete is your profile?

What’s in a name
If you’re lucky you have a name people remember after hearing it once. If you’re like me, you have a fairly common name. But maybe you have a specialty? Some creative individuals add that right after their name (in the same field), ensuring it shows up everywhere your name does. A bonus is it supports the title section of your profile.

Your title, sir
Does your title and company say enough about your skills? Or are there other keywords that should be included? At first glance your name and title section is all another member can see, so make sure it reflects your areas of expertise (especially useful for groups and discussions)

Bells and whistles

• Even though you might not use LinkedIn at work, make sure to link to any website that relates to what you know. Work website or blog, you own blog related to your line of work, whatever fits the bill really
• Add your areas of expertise as short keywords (but many of them). It helps people find you in general search as well as get a quick overview of what they could ask you about
• Explore the add on’s. You can show a custom reading list, your latest tweets, presentations or a feed from your blog. All this will help you build the personal brand you want and it can act as a conversation starter
• Join groups that are in your area of interest and join the discussion

 

Last but not least
Interact with people! Find ppl you know, but also ppl you’ve only met once or twice. However, unless you know them really well, make sure to change the standard message to something a bit more personal when you send a contact request!

Happy networking!

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Are you kiddin’ me with this?!

25th of April was my latest post… I’m at a loss for words! Sadly it’s about the same time that I stopped spending time on online marketing as well.
But as the song goes – Enough is enough is enough is enough…
I answered a survey from a community I used to be a member of and I realized how much energy and valuable input online gives me. Tips from Twitter in form of blogs, articles, feedback from tweeps. New SEO rules dictated by Google. New ad channels (or old ones suddenly worth taking a look at). There are just so many factors in play that to do online you need to live and breath online.

Although Twitter has evolved a lot and doesn’t provide the community spirit it did1-2 years ago, it’s still a source of information and it’s still only as good as you make it. The original though holds true: put quality content out there and demand quality from those you interact with. The fact that online marketing is becoming a standard element within marketing shouldn’t lure us into thinking it’s all said and done.

Alarmingly this “everyday business” is still widely unknown to the people dependent on it. Adwords and SEO are not synonyms. Link building isn’t link building isn’t link building (seriously, do have a look the sites that link to you – if it’s about apes, the alps and anacondas it’s not a high quality site).

I guess that’s one of the reasons why so many “social media experts” still have more work than they can handle!
And it’s a reason for me to keep this monologue going 😉

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It can be just that simple

I’m on vacation in Aruba and even though it’s a pretty small island with only about 100′ people living here (and probably the same amount of tourists at any given day) there is A LOT of restaurants to choose from and around a gazillion jewelers.

So what happens – I as a tourist use TripAdvisor to plan out my trip, mark 20 or so spots on a Google map and arrive at the island without any internet connection 😀 (I got it now of course, but I also know the island better)

Instead I turned to cupons they handed me at the airport…can you belive it?! I couldn’t! But they’re good!! Not the coupons, but the fact that they come in little books, with info about the restaurant and a map of the surrounding area. BELIVE ME when I say Arubian maps leave a lot to the imagination – we’ve used those small pieces of map puzzle…

Obsiously the people responsible for these booklets of cupons are either very smart, or very lucky. I wouldn’t have even picked one up if I would have had internet the first day – but I didn’t – and the info I got was good enough for me to pick up several kinds of booklets as I’ve seen them…

And no, I haven’t actually used any of the cupons for discounts, but I’ve used them for info and spotted a couple of new restaurants in the process!

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Corporate responsibility is a fashion word

Sweden’s beloved (and hated) H&M got caught doing the doo doo in New York.

To be honest, Wal-Mart got caught too…but they had a spokesperson saying “Strange, I will HAVE to investigate this” or something of the sort… H&M made the journalist call someone else, that then didn’t answer…and OH-OH, who got to be the bad boy in this?!

The HUGE problem I see is actually not that it happened! The ENORMOUS problem is that H&M has a Corporate Responsibility executive employed(!!) And that they have only been able to say this on their Facebook Fanpage:

H&M is committed to taking responsibility for how our operations affect both people and the environment. Our policy is to donate any damaged usable garments to charity. We’re currently investigating an incident in a NY store that is not representative of our policy. We will follow with more information as soon as we are ab…le. H&M’s US sales operation donates thousands of garments each year through Gifts In Kind Int’l.

You probably won’t be able to find it – it took me 4 clicks 12 hours after the statement. My first reaction was “damaged”?!! – this clothes weren’t damaged before you slashed them!

So WHAT is the issue?! Well, totally disregarding the cruel and NON-responsible way this H&M store handled old and unsellable items – H&M has had all the chances to make amends!
Please just say, “This is appalling, we will certainly go to the bottom of this!” and then publish your corporate responsibility strategy (One you MUST have if you aren’t make “corporate responsibility” into fashion as well…)

Everyone can make mistakes, and a world-wide company will most definitely make them. But, you MUST find a way to handle PR in social media! Hint: it’s not via your PR agency… Social media is about participation, not control!

If you don’t like it, don’t EVER ask us for “our opinion” that is “very valuable” to you – you won’t like the answers!

——- update 11-01-10 —–

See this in the light of a bigger issue at SEO & Social media by Jesper Åström – H&M’s twittering has bothered me for some time, since they seem to think it’s just another “spray&pray channel”, but maybe they’re just suffering from the issues raised by Jesper. Maybe they should even get Jesper & Honesty to help them out!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… CY: wait… I: wait… YCat: wait… I: wait… Top: wait… C: wait…

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Brand identity

This post is partially in Swedish, and I apologize for that. I’ll translate bits and pieces, but as you know, it’s never the same as the original. Nevertheless, I read a blog post that struck a cord with me – because it was well-written, but also because the issue currently is extremely relevant in my work life.

I’ll steal a picture from this blog post (in Swedish):

Basically this picture, and the blog post is centered around not the identity of a brand, but the level on which the brand identity is attached. Either you have a brand connected to a Product (PR), a Category (KA), a Competence (KO) or an Attitude/Role (AR).

There is a connection between brand extension success and level of brand identity. If you want to do what Virgin does (music, airplanes, coke) you have to find your bottom line in your Attitude, your Role in the market.

I would like to think that many would thrive if they just got out of the Product-focus or even Category belonging and instead zeroed in on their core Competence to see in what other areas that would make them more money, more fame. Of course Coca-Cola as a product is doing pretty good on it’s own, but I don’t think anyone minded when Ikea started to sell food and build their own shopping centers. (Well, possibly some people did mind, but none of them collected the revenue).

A slightly different problem, and perhaps a cause of getting stuck in the Product/Category part of the pyramid is this:

Mycket av att skapa starka varumärken handlar om sånt som en del av oss betraktar som självklarheter – konsumentnytta, tydlighet, konsekvens i alla led, öppenhet o.s.v.Men däremot helst inte om att försöka sammanfatta varumärket i några enkla “värdeord” utan någon som helst koppling till konsekvenser i ändrad attityd och ändrat beteende. Vi behöver modeller och systematik för att kunna förstå och tolka vår omvärld, men behöver samtidigt också inse att enbart några enkla modeller eller värdeord räcker inte för att skapa starka varumärken.

The comment is from this Swedish blog, and I’ll try to translation:

Creating strong brands has a lot to do with stuff that some of us sees as given – consumer benefit, distinctiveness, consequences in all aspects, openness etc. But preferably not to do with trying to summarize the brand in a couple of “brand values words” without any connection to consequences like a change in attitude or a change in behavior. We need models and systems to grasp and interpret our surroundings, but at the same time we need to realize that a couple of simple models or brand values won’t be enough to create those strong brands.

Said and done! Both the post and the comment above are written by Mats Rönne, and the blog post is addressing a “You”, a “You” that made Björn Alberts (author blog post 2, where Mats commented) ask – Who are “You”?

That You are me – and hopefully you (!) – and all the other people that want to care for the brand they work with, and that want to see it succeed. People that see a brand value stating “Innovative” and actually keep that in the back of their head throughout the workday. People that sees the “employee cult” of Ikea and Google as something working in favor of their brand. People that believe in “living the brand” and that would act as brand advocates out of their own will. Hell, even people that understand the business and take responsibility  but know zipp about branding will due 😉

However, “You” are not the people that sit in a seminar, come up with 3 words and then go back to doing business the way they’ve always done them. However those guys NEED You to help them!

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In the midst of CMS

So, we’re on the hunt for a CMS at work. Or well, me and the designer is on the hunt. Others mainly ask if we aren’t done already or just don’t say anything. Oh, did I mention we started the search last week?!

So my problem was – A) Go with WordPress – yes of course, but with the issues bound to arise and the enormous interest in learning new tools (well, not, obviously), I can just feel the gray hairs starting to grow on my head.

B) .net or no .net – Everything we do today is on Microsoft servers – oh wait, no, all but one – and all dev and IT are used to Microsoft – so to yank out the websites and host them on Linux – yet again, it will be my gray hairs I guess. Or, mainly the designer guys ’cause I just don’t have a technical background and this is waaay out of my league.

C) Just don’t bother, do a quick search, email our requests and go from there. Said and done!
Found some promising ones, and got good feedback from 2 of them – Kentico – .net & sh*t expensive – and CookieJar – I love this one but it’s Java.

I also got contacted by Alterian – very nice sales rep, but just TOO much, I can’t even get through the description of the tool, and that is what I’m supposed to work with every day…

Oh and then we have “the other open sources” – time consuming work to figure out if they have what you need, but the sensation of “free” is grand – until you hit a problem, and there is ju no-more-time for trial-and-error…

And so, the hunt continues!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… CY: wait… I: wait… YCat: wait… I: wait… Top: wait… I: wait… L: wait… C: wait…

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Twitcam-could-be-your-next-meeting

Came across Twitcam today, thanks to @unmarketing

Although I have my tweeps at Twitter (sorry, just had to…) to thank for a bunch of knowledge, it’s at times like this that I get really excited about the possibilities of Twitter.

For one,  although the Twitter website is next to impossible to use if you want to tweet in a serious way, there are gazillions of  3rd party applications to discover. Today it was Twitcam, by LiveStream’s turn – video broadcasting tool, with great sound, easy UI and good picture quality. And at the same time there is a live twitter chat unfolding. It’s like #hashtags with a brain!

And the other thing is the utter immediacy of Twitter. Scott (@unmarketing) tweeted that he started the live video and seconds later I had tuned in. Me and about 100 other people – all interacting with Scott at that second, many of us far away from North America.

Other examples is Inbound Marketing University by Hubspot and a local food-festival in Stockholm – I found both by chance on Twitter, ant the very separate activities gives an idea on variety of  Twitterers already engaged.

There is of course stress related implications for those who cannot master the art of Twitter or that are not curious enough to want to know “everything”. But apart from that…

…think of the possibilities for even the smallest company to create value for  themselves and their customers!

As Scott kindly pointed out, everything you write will end up on your Twitter account. Plus anyone with a Twitter account can join! So it’s not private, but Twitter isn’t about being private – on the contrary – it’s about networking, being real and standing up for your opinions. It may seem scary to not be able to hide behind generic e-mail replies or have time to edit and re-edit whatever you put out there – but I do belive the customers will appreciate the personal approach even more in the future.

Also, a hilarious real-time bonus was Scotts handling of a tea-loving spammer! Nothing is as sweet as live snubbing!

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Buzz can only live for so long

The wave is upon us… but no one seems to see it coming! (Updated – some people can see it coming, and will pay for it)

Dave does a good job of describing the issues with wave and he really touches the nerv – HOW exactly will it work?!

The other nerve is of course – 100 000 people (or so) will get an invitation – I’m surely not one of them, and then it will spread by word-of-mouth and invitation. Presumably this is what will happen, and it will create a “need” for the wave.

Only problem – I need it NOW! I needed it in may… I already know how I want to use it, and the buzz won’t work much longer for me. Although for others – they haven’t even heard the buzz yet, they will most certainly want wave by the time they can actually have it.

Gmail worked like this. I heard about it, how great it was and a week later a friend sent me an invite. I was so late in the game I never even used my invites!

Spotify… we’ll they’ve just taken it to the next level. They’ve been in beta for oh, 2-3 years now. I have an account, of course – but truth is, if I hadn’t gotten it a year ago, I would probably not be interested anymore.

Buzz can just live for so long in my mind

A Swedish professor at Stockholm School of Economics has actually written a good book on the subject of anticipation, called Nextopia.

The longer the wait, the greater the happiness is and the more people are willing to “pay” for the expectations.

Iphone is of course the best example. It was “THE best mobile phone ever” before anyone had even held one in their hand.
The first batch sold out in a blink of an eye and the price was lowered with 30% in 3 months – but that didn’t matter since “everyone” had already bought it anyway. It was a new take on “early adopter”.

And Micael Dahlén is right – I’m willing to PAY for Wave! Unlike some people, I’m not willing to pay in money – as Google’s products are “free” – but I’m willing to pay in time, in blog posts, in discussions, in selling their product to my co-workers (read forcing them to use it). The momentum has been building from the first time I saw the developers preview and now it’s time!

For some, it’s time to use and evaluate Wave
For me, it’s time to go and read another blog post! 🙂

Does this mean I won’t use Wave whenever it’s publicly released? I seriously doubt it! But I guess it depends on if they do a Spotify or not – after all, the Iphone hype totally played over before I even thought of buying one, and now, it’s just too late 🙂

Feel free to comment on your experiences of Wave – or your expectations!

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