May
27

10 Reasons NOT to do Inbound Marketing

Traditional marketing as we know it is fading out, and fast (the rate is variable based on the medium). Internet and ‘inbound marketing’ is now in and companies are adopting its techniques left and right. However, here are 10 things you must be aware of that will happen if you implement inbound marketing.

1. You will develop a community around your product that will LOVE it, rave about it and spread the word, and very fast if you do it right. Beware of a sudden rush of buzz and followers!

2. You will get an unusually high amount of inbound leads online through different inbound marketing lead techniques such as website contact forms and emails. Hope your queue and servers are ready for this!

3. Your name will be spread all over the Internet, and fast. If you don’t like to be talked about, don’t use inbound marketing. If you are the only one who likes to talk about you and no one else, then I highly suggest NOT using inbound marketing…

4. You will have to hire socialites and Internet techies. This means new hires and interviewing highly connected and very smart people. (Hope HR is ready!)

5. You will have to learn a new type of writing: instead of advertisement and radio lingo, you will need to start writing blog posts and internet content. And who wants to do that? …

6. You will meet people at events that you had only met on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Are you ready to meet your peers and brand evangelists in person? If you like to stay behind the scenes, do NOT meet these people!

7. You will have to take a leap of faith and be ready to let go of the control of buzz around your brand to see what customers have to say about you. This means actually LISTENING to what customers have to say, respond to feedback and interact with them on a daily basis. Valuable information could be gathered from this. But, who wants to do this anyways?

8. You will have to spend extra time and money learning SEO, HTML, website development and management, and fixing bugs. Forget that, just stick to your old traditional ways to save money.

9. You may have to be featured in an online video to personally talk about your product and seem excited about it. If you like to pretend that you like the product you market and advertise for without being seen, then definitely stay behind the media and continue with impersonal outbound marketing.

10. Instead of telling people why they must love your product, inbound marketing may force you to find customers who already love it and find out why. These customers may come from your website, emails, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and many other sources. This may be a game changer to find out why people really do love your product, not why you want them to love your product, so watch out!

May
25

10 Most Outstanding Viral Media Pieces

1. Incredible graphics and technology! Step into the Sensory Box by Superbien

2. High speed water picture. See more here.
high speed water picture

3. Interesting take on a bag design…
duck bag

4. Take a second look at this…notice 3D to 2D?
3D image

5. Wait, what?
marlboro and campbells

6. Amazing techie wallpaper. See the site here.

Hirzberger Events – Digital Wallpaper from Strukt Studio on Vimeo.

7. Pretty intriguing music video production, especially since they did it all in only one take. Definitely watch the whole thing and you’ll get it.

8. The skill that this guy has is incredible! Danny MacAskill – Inspired Bicycles.

I like how he fakes messing up at first then stuns everyone with his skills.

9. One word: AMAZING! The best soccer goals street style. Via YouTube.

10. I find beatboxing so incredible. Check out Rahzel – If your Mother Only Knew

May
24

How I Landed a Job Using Social Media

backupifyA month ago I received an amazing job offer, and it all started with Twitter.

I started off college as a marketing and advertising major, and upon graduation became heavily involved with social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube) to network, share ideas, and meet potential employers. I then developed a blog to demonstrate my ideas and theories to showcase my passions and knowledge.

After about a month or two of networking on Twitter, I ‘met’ Dharmesh Shah, co-founder of Hubspot and investor in Backupify (among several other things). He stumbled upon my blog and commented on it to give me more advice about entering the Boston marketing field.

Rob May, founder and CEO of Backupify saw that Dharmesh also tweeted to me (and then was driven to my website that Dharmesh commented on) and made the connection.

Rob then tweeted to me asking if I was looking for a job around Boston this summer, we exchanged emails, and then met up in person for an informal dinner interview. About a week later, I received a job offer from him to be Backupify’s Marketing Analyst and take over most of the company’s marketing initiatives. I was absolutely thrilled with this position since I would be able to utilize my social media and blogging expertise which I have done for my personal brand, and now I can do that for a company that I strongly believe in.

Because of the amazing way that my career search journey turned out, I encourage all who are looking for a job/career to start demonstrating their skills and they will get picked up. I never imagined that my dream job would find me just by me doing what I loved to do, but it worked out perfectly.

If you love writing, start blogging and networking with fellow bloggers. If you love social media, start tweeting and making online connections. If you love humanitarianism, start volunteering and keeping track of your connections there. I guarantee it will land you a job if you act with diligence and passion and make connections in the field you are interested in.

May
21

6 Reasons Why Blog and Internet Security Matter

website hackerAs some of you may have noticed in the past week, I was unable to post any new blog posts. This being because my site was hit by the Pharma hacker attack since my site is hosted through GoDaddy. I thought my site was safe and passwords secure, but that simply was not enough. Thus, the entire Site Admin page’s skin was nearly impossible to navigate.

Having never dealt with an issue like this, it took awhile to find out how to fix it. I got the run around from GoDaddy and they finally took out the malware JavaScript that was in my stylesheet. However, it was still not functioning correctly so I tried to look up information on the WordPress blog forum to no resolve.

After researching, calling GoDaddy and running my own tests, I found the following ways to keep your online life safer, not just to avoid hacks, but avoid identity theft and break-ins to your sites.

1. Ensure that your passwords are unique and not the same for all your sites. If you make the password the same for all your social media sites, website and email, and someone hacks into one of them, there is a high likelihood that they will try to get into your other sites. You can use a program called KeePass which is a password manager to save all your passwords across all sites. It also allows users to easily copy and past usernames and passwords right into the site login.

2. Run regular tests on your site for malware or other hacks. I had no idea for a few days that my site was hacked since I was not familiar with what a hack looked like. The front end of my site looked normal, so I never thought to check. A colleague then told me about the Pharma attack, I contacted GoDaddy and the malware was finally removed.

3. Run security and virus checks on your computer regularly. If your computer is infected with a bug or virus, it may transfer over to your site. Some bugs are designed to attack as much as possible and can get into your cookies, which then transfers over to the data on your sites. Keeping all aspects of your computer and online life safe and secure helps avoid any security issues.

4. If you have a website, occasionally check that no other person has hacked into your site and made themselves an admin or user. This can be done fairly easily if they are a good hacker, so ensure no one has done this since they can have full access to all your information and even lock you out of your site.

5. Keep your account information private. Never tell someone over the Internet what your login is to any site, give them access to a site, approve access to your site from a third party site that you aren’t familiar with, or talk about site specifics over the Internet. Believe it or not, people are searching for that data and can pick it up if you leave it out there for them. For example, if you are promoted to approve or deny access to a site of yours from a site you don’t know, just deny it since it may be a malicious program. I would even be hesitant to give a well known site or person access to my site to go in and fix it since you never know what they do with that data afterwards (you hope they are ethical and dispose of it properly).

6. Backup all your information on a regular basis. You never know when your site will go down, an account could be accidently deleted or you decide to deactivate your account. In order to prevent data loss, you must backup your information. Backupify offers a full line of services to backup accounts from Facebook to Twitter to WordPress and many more. You then can easily go into your account there and find any information that has been backed up so you never lose important data. This process is so important today, especially when your website is compromised like mine and you could lose data. [disclosure: I just started a new job at Backupify]

While some of these precautions did not apply to what happened to my site and how it could have been prevented, they are issues I have come across and would like to warn all against. The Pharma attack I had was fairly unpreventable since it was more on the side of web hosting servers being vulnerable. After reading a lot about the attack on GoDaddy sites, I have read much more negative feedback on the company than positive and am considering switching from them to a more reliable one.

Even if attacks like these are unavoidable, it is still so important to protect your information as much as possible on the Internet. As business has moved online so much and there are more and more malicous hackers, you must be that much more cautious.

Readers: Have you encountered a similar situation or know other ways to help protect yourself online?

May
20

Generation Y Can Have Immediate Impact

Generation Y doesn’t remember a time without computers and the internet. They don’t know an age of being unable to find anything they want instantaneously. They’ve never used newspapers and magazines as a primary source for information. They scan through other programs the second what they’re watching on television goes to commercials. They burn mix tape CD’s instead of hoping to hear something we like on the radio.

Having used the internet their entire lives, Generation Y understands how it works and can make an immediate impact for companies marketing initiatives as employees or integral parts of outside marketing agencies. Generation Y’s entire life experience includes the internet, as if they were inherently born with the understanding of how to use it effectively.

Generation Y resumes should read “Well versed in the internet since age 9.” More importantly, Generation Y began closing their eyes and ears to traditional marketing mediums without having to just “deal with it” for decades before making that decision.

Being a part of Generation Y myself, I know this and you should too. We want the keys to the internet marketing car. We are not first time drivers. We’re experienced professionals, connecting with each other online since grade school with mediums such as AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and Facebook the second it was launched. We don’t search something, we “Google” it. We don’t need the training other employees might require to immediately make an impact in social media. We GET it.

Companies should be taking advantage of the wave of social media and search engine marketing by giving more responsibility to their Generation Y employees.

Younger employees are the key to a successful company. Help them grow and develop while keeping them involved in company decisions, especially those involving internet marketing and other areas they’ve grown up with. Employees that stay at companies for a long-time became more efficient and therefore valuable. We have the drive and determination to do a great job and make an impression. Many Generation Y employees just need the opportunity.

Billy MacDonald is the Co-founder and Inbound Marketing Specialist for Siphon Marketing Siphon helps get found by prospective customers through search engines and designs and builds website which sell their products and services. Billy specializes in search engine marketing and frequently speaks and presents for groups on social media for business and search marketing. He can be found on Twitter @BillyMacDonald.

May
06

Stop Making Excuses!

Stop making excuses for not being on social media!

Yes, it means you lose control of your content. Yes, it means being in places your buyers are, not where you want to be. Yes, it means you must take a leap out of your comfort zone.

However, it is more than worth it. Why? Read on…

You don’t have anything to lose because you can always delete something that is not working out. Social media can actually be very fun and exciting for you and your company.

So why social media?

1. Tell Your Story. If you create buyer personas for your market demographics, you can then tailor your company’s story directly to an interested market. You may have different personas in or between social media sites, and every persona has different needs. You can create several different stories and promote them on social media and your interested market will pick that up. It would be great to even interview your market and find out what they want or hear their story to share on your community site.

2. Earn Attention by Publishing Your Way In. The old way of marketing was to buy advertising space, beg your way into media through PR and buy your way in by direct selling. Now, you must earn this attention by publishing your content on YouTube, a blog, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and more.

On the web, you are what you publish.

3. Encourage Sharing. Those interested markets will willingly want to share information they find valuable. It is not word of mouth anymore, it is word of mouse. The mouse (or trackpad) helps listeners share your story with others. Consider yourself lucky to have these Internet marketing capabilities which allow interested people to share your information so quickly and to a large following. You can encourage sharing by making a link on your blog for readers to retweet, share on Facebook or Google Buzz, send in an email, or submit to delicious or other bookmarking sites. You can add the same capabilities to an email as well.

4. Lose Control of Your Content. This may sound like a scary statement, but it is the best and fastest way to gain viral attention. You must lose control of your content in order for it to be shared and spread around the Internet. You can do this by giving out free information or tools to help your market succeed and solve their problems. They will appreciate this and spread the word. Hubspot does this VERY well with all their free webinars, tools, and blogs.

5. Put Down Roots. Be in the places where your buyers are, not where you want to be. It is much easier to gain attention in spots where your market is already comfortable being instead of enticing them to join a site where you are. For example, if your market is a huge NFL following, you must be on NFL related blogs and sites to talk to them and gain attention.

6. Point the World to Your Virtual Doorstep. One you have established great content, a firm standing on social media sites, and a good following, then drive people to your site through inbound marketing. No one will visit your site if they have no idea who you are, what you do, and what you write about. That is why you must first get involved on sites where your market is, develop relationships, THEN drive them to your site and get a lead.

Although social media may seem scary to a company who is afraid of negative feedback, wants a firm hold on their content, and does not know how people will react to them on social media, it can gain you rewards two-fold. By allowing yourself to lose control of your content, share it, and manage your fear, you are taking a great leap and starting a viral rave.

You may find markets that you didn’t even know existed who want your product or service, people may love what you do and are willing to share it, and your market may need and want your free content and become very loyal to you. The possibilities are endless when it comes to social media.

Social media is actually a very natural thing for the Internet. The Internet was designed to be a collaborative, social environment and up until recently, it really was not. Finally it has come full-circle and people are using it in a social, collaborative way. So by getting on social media, you are doing exactly what the Internet was intended for.

Get out there and make those valuable connections and talk to and listen to your market!

May
05

PlacePop Demo Review Part II

A few months ago I was introduced to a new entrant into the location-based market called PlacePop. They contacted me and asked for my input because I am active in the smart phone and location-based markets. I made my first demo review of this application here.

There have been many new improvements to this application recently, including a much simpler user interface, ability to search for people to follow, affinity programs, and integration with other languages.

Check out my second demo below and let me know what you think!

May
04

It’s NEVER About YOU!

It’s never about you… in social media at least.

It is never about you, your products, services, goals, etc. It is about your community and what they want. The Internet was designed to be a collaborative social environment; hence social media on the Internet. Therefore, when you establish some type of community around your brand online, whether it is on Twitter or on a Ning community, you must talk about the consumers’ interests, feedback, and build on the relationships.

Consider your community a gift. If people are forming a community online to talk about your product, or joining your already established community, be thankful for that. To show your thanks, ask your community to discuss their thoughts, ideas, feedback, concerns, improvements, etc. This helps to build better relationships and confirms the reason why each consumer is there.

Think of it like this: You walk into a grocery store and are immediately greeted by the store manager who proceeds to tell you who he was, his position, how long he had been there, what he had done to improve the store, and then guided you around and told you about every fabulous feature of the store during your shopping trip. Annoying, right? Instead, wouldn’t you want to be in the store (preferably not even bothered by the store manager unless you want to ask a question, give feedback, or be greeted) and do what YOU needed to do?

The same goes for a community. People come there out of self interest to get something out of it. Whether that is to find out more about your product, ask a question, give a suggestion, or just praise the great job the company is doing. Consumers do not want to enter your community and be bombarded with brand advertisements and features; quite simply they do not care. The only real thing they care about is how their problems can be solved and how you can help them get there.

Your community may look to you for their success, so give them more tools to succeed. For example, a customer of CVS may join the forallthewaysyoucare.com community to share medical stories, gather resources, speak with others for ideas, and join forums on particular topics of interest. They do this because they know that your site serves as a resource to help solve problems and give them tools to succeed. They do not go there to be bombarded with sales pitches or advertisements. This methodology is called “Equip Instead of Sell!”

So whether you are in the biomedical, high tech, toy, or food industries, it is still never about you in social media. Talk about the customers and their thoughts and concerns, and you will realize amazing relationships will start to grow, and in turn ROI (return on influence) and ROI (return on investment) will shortly follow.

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