www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO3lmDjHZL4

Lately at Byron New Media, we have been writing and thinking a lot about the content we create and our clients create as part of Social Media Marketing campaigns. I created a Cinchcast Social Media Content for Brands, 3 Purposes outlining three major themes for the content marketers create for Social Media;

• Core Content -- this is regular, consistent content that serves your community and reinforces brand image and values
• Community or Conversational Content -- this is content that will demonstrate that you are listening and that you have empathy with your community
• Creative Content -- this is high content and or high emotional value content that moves viewers to share

The video above is a great piece of branding. Highly emotional content that it NLP terms anchors positive emotion to the Robbins Brothers brand. I might be a softy, but I can imagine lot’s of people sharing this video with their friends. At the end of this “experience” people are reminded that this romance was brought to by Robbins Brothers, perceptually linking all those positive emotions to  Robbins Brothers.

The take home message. Be clear about your brand and invest in high concept, high touch content that reinforce Brand Image and Brand Values.

Facebook's Roadmap to the platform for Developers

Earlier today Facebook announced details of a roadmap for releasing more details of the intricacies of the Facebook platform for Developers. Ok again in English, because plenty of people will be discussing this news for the more technically minded. I want to make sure that business people understand how important this development is.

Facebook, the most inhabited Social Media network on the planet (more than 390,000,000 users spent between somewhere between 15 and 19 minutes a day on the site). Has since 2006 opened up parts of the pipes, bells and whistles that make Facebook work, to third party developers. This has increasing meant that savvy brands and small businesses have been able to create presences inside Facebook and to provide their regular website visitors with the opportunity to interact with their friends on Facebook.

Who cares you might say. However imagine this, imagine your business is a pool shop, summer is approaching you have crafted a series of articles about maintaining a clean pool. You start to share these articles via a Facebook page carefully crafted for your business which is building you a little bit of a fan base. Next you order a pallet of bags of a special salt for conditioning pools and announce a special on your website. Using Facebook Connect (code for some of those special pipes and whisltes) people placing their orders on your regular pool shop website with click of a button can let all of their friends on Facebook know about your Super Salt Special.

Now whether you run a pool shop, a restaurant, a golf resort, or a massage clinic I’ll bet you pounds to peanuts that people don’t spend an average of 15 minutes a day on your site. Not only that but the architecture and culture of Facebook is all about friends sharing with friends so, when that customer comes to your website and orders that Super Salt Special you bet that they want to share this kind of information with their friends.

A Facebook Page for your business is a great way to position your brand.

First, a huge caveat on this example, it’s super simplified, it requires a certain amount of technical dexterity to “connect the bells and whistles” and develop the kind of brand presence required on Facebook to have serious credibility. Lastly discounting is the simplest strategy in the book but it can seriously undermine your brand. It’s a strategy we all understand and makes for an easy example however your Social Media Marketing strategy need to be a component of your overall Marketing strategy (an increasingly important component) but not an add-on.

Second, back to that Facebook announcement. The roadmap means that more of Facebook‘s bells, pipes and whistles are being opened up to developers. That means more and more opportunity for smart companies and brands to develop a sophisticated presence in Facebook and to cross-pollinate with their own proprietary Facebook application and linkages between their own web properties and Facebook.

It means that if you don’t have a Facebook presence for your business now is the time to start, and if you do now is the time to innovate to ensure your Facebook presence and integration tightly matching your brand and business values, culture and objectives. Why, because 6, 8, 9 months ago having a Facebook page for your business was innovation, that is changing now and in the not too distant future it will be the rule rather than the exception.

If you would like to find out more about how Byron New Media can assist you develop Facebook presence for your business, please contact us.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueB2PPyHaNs

Social Media can be a very direct medium, it’s quite intimate. Social Media Marketing is subtle, it can become direct but it starts more obtuse.  As someone wanting to market in the personal space of Social Media it is far more engaging to have a good time and allow other sot do the same.

The video above is brilliant touch in subtly, and watching it I found myself have a pretty good time. It will no doubt position BB&A (the company that posted it on Youtube) as being capable and great to work with. At no stage do they attempt to broadcast their brilliance but instead show themselves getting the job done.  I had a feeling when I met Mark and Gideon (founders of BB&A) on Twitter about a month ago, that here was a company and a couple of guys who really get Social Media and who will do well leveraging it to benefit their business. Tip of the hat lads! Social Media subtle like well … Elvis???

Sound familiar? Marta Kagan is the marketing genius who gave us What the F**K Is Social Media? (a cheeky but mind bending look at the world of Social Media as it relates to Business and Marketing) and the Social Media Serenity Prayer:

“Lord grant me the courage to thoroughly explore the world of social media on behalf of myself and my customers before plundering ahead like a bull in a china shop; the strength to accept [and admit] the fact that I might not know what the f**k I’m doing; and the wisdom to know when to ask for help. Amen.”

2 years on (I know the presentation says 1 but it is 2 years since the last presentation) Marta is diving back in for another look. This time she compares starting Social Media with Teen Sex!

I know she knows how to swear and get your attention. Behind her sassy bravado is a well researched carefully crafted look at Social Media in Business content, you really don’t need to her anymore from me, so here is the F**king Slideshow (I wouldn’t normally swear on this blog, but for some reason it seems ok today).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=spiJe8ungmU

Now you can go to Social Media Kit- Developing a Social Media Strategy for Your Business or Brand and register to receive all 5 videos and a free Social Media Strategy template.

Leave us a comment below, let us know how the video helped you or what we left out and what you would like to know more about.

Byron New Media- Social Bookmarking via Delicious

Social Bookmarking is a powerful way to rapidly share content with your tribe or target audience. When combined with a smart aggregation service like Friendfeed you can share valuable content to a number of touchpoints (Social Media Outposts) with one or two clicks. This is a great way to streamline your Social Media Workflow.

A word of warning to those looking for short cuts. Most tools can be used for good or bad, if you are not mixing your Social Bookmarking with other original content, your output will soon become quite bland. Promoting the good work of others is an important component of Social Media Strategy, however demonstrating no original thought reeks of a robot. So think balance and you’ll be fine.

You can make your won Word Cloud at Wordle.

Four Pillars of a Social Media Strategy

First Social Media Strategy Pillar -- Listen

Understand the conversation in your niche or market before creating any significant content. Understand context and hear the pain of your target audience.

Second Social Media Strategy Pillar -- Engage

Uncover your ideal clients/customers/partners in their natural Social Media settings and make contact in a way that enables a meaningful relationship.

Third Social Media Strategy Pillar -- Connect

Create or adopt Social Media spaces where your new tribe can connect with your, your content and one another.

Fourth Social Media Strategy Pillar -- Share

Having recognised and adopted the first three pillar. Share meaningful content in the right setting and context, that empathizes with the pain being felt by your tribe and demonstrate your leadership.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai9Eg9arZQU

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