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Startups: Social Media Chaos

September 12, 2013 By 5 Comments
Startups: Social Media Chaos

Startups: Social Media Chaos

When you first heard the word “startup,” you thought there’d be maybe a year or two of work, but not about the crazy, crazy chaos that would be involved. Every day the entire wheel has to be reinvented, and nobody is really sure what they should be doing. The social media is a huge, chaotic mess. Then again, there’s strategy. The “strategy” word brings up thoughts of high school chess club, the Civil War, and business plans. But it’s not nearly that bad, I promise.

Brain Dump

Start out by writing down all the things you can think of doing. Consider organizing those items into categories. These can be very large items. They might be by platform. For instance, “Come up with 12 board names for Pinterest.” Or “Create Facebook posts and images to go with them.”  Can you feel your blood pressure going down as you do this?

Choose a Starting Point

If you’re the social media manager, then you’ll have to do it all, so consider picking a starting point. What is the most important platform for your audience? Start there. If you’re not very social media savvy, LinkedIn is the one that many people feel most comfortable using. Many people also feel comfortable on Facebook, since they use it to connect with friends. Once you have worked that first platform into your schedule, move onto the next one.

Set Aside Time in Your Schedule

For instance, I like to start my day on Twitter. I like to be online tweeting and engaging by 8 am. You might prefer later in the day. And you don’t have to read a bunch of studies ~ to be successful, come up with your own schedule! Your chances of success will be much higher if you balance your own rhythms with your work.

Drowning

Feel Like You're Drowning?

Feel Like You’re Drowning?

You may have the feeling that you are drowning in too many unmanageable expectations. People may be giving you contradictory instructions, or your team may not give you any hint at what they really want. In that case, you will need to come up with your own expectations and what is reasonable for you.

Have You Emerged from Chaos?

If you’re trying to start a new brand’s social media, I’d love to hear how you handled the pressure!

 

 

 

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Startups: Social Media Graveyards

September 10, 2013 By 2 Comments
Feel like you're getting left behind?

Feel like you’re getting left behind?

Your startup got a running leap at social media, pinning three million pictures of dogs wearing costumes. The Twitter was active for exactly nine days. Facebook went dormant after the intern left for vacation and never returned from Vegas. Uh-oh. Is your startup’s social media turning into a graveyard of dead platforms, populated by the ghosts of dogs in funny outfits?

Best Intentions

Maybe you had all the best intentions of getting onto social media. You wanted to keep up with the other Startup Joneses to drive business. So starting everything at once seemed like a good idea at the time!

There’s no “There” There

Now everything has turned dark and sad. Without an actual person to consider strategy, post, and interact, nothing is happening on your social media. People click on the badges, and see tumbleweeds, and hear the sound of one sad crow whistling out of the side of his beak. Wait. Is that even a thing? Never mind! We’re painting a sad, sad picture: stay with me here! Would you blame the person for wondering if your startup is viable?

Answers

Social media populated by dogs wearing costumes?

Social media populated by dogs wearing costumes?

If you start your social media, realize that it’s going to take some time. You’ll need a full-time person who’ll set strategy and create content. That person needs to dedicate time every day to keep all the platforms running, and to engage online.

Where Will You Find Such a Person?

Try reading interesting blog articles about this issue. Have you read any good posts on the subject lately? If the person’s style matches your brand, that could be a good fit. Ask friends for recommendations. You want someone reliable, with good writing skills, who can listen and engage online.

To Sum Up

Don’t let your platforms grow up to be tombstones. There are enough ghosts on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook already.

How is the State of Your Social Media?

Is your Pinterest pining for the fjords? Does your Twitter lack tweets? Does Your Facebook need a facelift? Tell me a sad story in the comments below! Thanks!

 

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PoCchat: Driving Online Connections Offline

September 8, 2013 By 8 Comments
PoCchat: Driving Online Connections offline

PoCchat: Driving Online Connections offline

Recently, I had the good fortune to co-host Bobby Umar’s #PoCchat on Twitter. PoC stands for Power of Connection. I “discovered” Bobby through his dynamic TEDx presentation The 5 Cs of Connection. I really appreciate having the opportunity, and thought I’d go a little deeper into my own personal reasons to “Drive Online Connections Offline”–the topic of the tweetchat.

By the way, here are the numbers that our tweetchat generated:

PocChat: Driving Online Connections Offline

PocChat: Driving Online Connections Offline

 

Connecting Offline

Similar to @IdeaBloke, whenever I go somewhere now, I consider if there’s someone I could meet from online. Better still, are there two people I could meet? For instance, I recently met one of my new besties, @CarlaKerstens through friend @WClements1 on Twitter, and then we met at Twitter. Since then, we’ve texted, Facebooked, tweeted, had meals and drinks, gone to Big Sur, the Exploratorium, and drunk hot chocolate at @TCHO.

@Ideabloke always tries to look up people he knows from online

@Ideabloke always tries to look up people he knows from online

WordCampSF

At WordCampSF, I met up with friend Ruby Rusine (@SocialChirps) who had traveled from Sacramento for her first WordCamp. Although we had never met before, we spent many hours together, and, by the end of WordCamp, had each invited the other to stay the next time we needed a place. And also got to visit with my friend Darla @DarlasRock, who I’d met because we’d both gone to see @BrianSolis for his #WTF talk and giveaway at @Yammer.

WordCampOC

One of my favorite experiences was traveling to WordCamp Orange County, where I got to meet my online friend Peter Woolvett (@CustomerSpecs) in real life. We met up with a third friend, @Gidgey, sat together, and attended many of the same talks. During a few slow times, we snuck out together for espresso and sorbet, attended an after-party, and searched out unusual breakfast places. Laughter ensued.

More Friendship Than Business

When @Gidgey traveled up north to see her family, I got to meet her talented and lovely sis, @TheMcCannski, and travel to Marin together. In addition, we met up with the rest of her family and had brunch together. And recently, when another friend, whom I met on Twitter, came down for a conference, we met up and she stayed with me.

The Bestest

Hammin' it Up in Sedona

Hammin’ it Up in Sedona

Last year, I met up with nine women whom I met through Twitter, among them Pam (@PamAnnMarketing), Bridget (@Gidgey), Roxanne (@r3SocialMedia), Cyndi (@SoSchatze), Wendy (@MrsPickle_), Amy (@TheFabulousOne), Kendra (@Kendra_Hubbard), Deirdre (@TankGirlMktg), and Kirti (@DiyaMarketing). At first our comraderie centered around business. Now we are friends and I can’t imagine life without them–since we talk every day. This year, we are doing another in-person meetup. Next year, we hope that the always effervescent Ali (@AliSilversmith) and Jen and the “other Bridget” can join us. And of course we give each other support, friendship, advice, and business, too. A few of us are breaking off to do still another meetup with a few others who tweet for automotive businesses.

Connections

I would not hesitate to call up any of these people–now friends–if I needed a shoulder to cry on, or for personal or professional advice. What I would advise others is not to be afraid to deepen your online relationships by, as Bobby Umar would put it, “asking the tough questions.” Then when you meet in person it’s like you’re meeting an old friend in the flesh.

How About You?

These are just a few examples of people I’ve met through online connections. If you’ve met people from online, offline, how did it go? I’m really interested in your stories!

 

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Rebranding for Startups

September 5, 2013 By 2 Comments
Rebranding for Startups

Rebranding for Startups

You might have read about some of the issues that can affect startups. As a social media manager, rebranding will probably affect you more than any other issue. Suddenly, your team has decided to rebrand. Where does that leave you?

Different Messaging

If you think of your brand as a cake, then your social media platforms are your ingredients. Every image on Pinterest, every tweet on Twitter, and every Facebook post are affected by your branding. As the social media manager, you are the baker who now has to create a new recipe. So where do you start? What questions should your team be asking?

Meet with the Branding People

Ask those responsible for the rebranding to give you a few words that will represent the new brand. To continue with the cake analogy, what was once chocolate may now be lemon chiffon. Your old words were “thick,” “fudgy,” and “goodness.” Your new words are “light,” “fluffy,” and “luxurious.” Each new ingredient in your cake will have to match those words.

Work Closely with the Branding Team

Rebranding Changes Can Be Far-Reaching

Rebranding Changes Can Be Far-Reaching

As the baker of this new creation of lemony goodness, your job is to work closely with the branding team. If you don’t, your consumers will go elsewhere for their baked edibles. Your kitchen will get a bad rep.

When your brand was Cutesy Wootsy’s Handcrafted Cakey Beauties you’d say things like “Hewwo! A widdle birdie sat on my shoulder and sang me a widdle dittie, which inspired this cutesy-wootsy wecipe for a magical gumdrop babycakes.” After the rebranding to Duchess Throckmorton von Chandelier’s Exquisite Pastries for the Discerning Palate, that sentence might read, “Good Evening mesdames et messieurs, your humble servant requests the pleasure of your company at the unveiling of a sugar-infused feast for the senses. Kindly collect in the anteroom anon, for a tasting.” Hopefully, these examples were not too subtle.

Changes Can Be Far-Reaching

Now that you know how much work you have ahead of you, you’re going to need some of Duchess von Chandelier’s lemony chiffon cake, for real. You might be surprised at the sheer complexity and number of elements involved in all your social media platforms. For instance, does the Facebook page banner match the new brand? What about the background on your Twitter page? What happens to all your followers when there’s a sudden change? How or when will you announce the change? How will you migrate? How will you know if your rebranding has been successful?

What Rebranding Have You Had to Do?

Have you been on a startup team that had to rebrand? What advice would you have for others?

 

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Best Posting Times: Social Media

September 3, 2013 By 13 Comments
Best Times to Post on Social Media

Best Times to Post on Social Media

By now you’ve read a million and a half articles about the best times to post on social media. I’ve read them all, too, and honestly, I think people just write those articles to puff themselves up and make you feel bad (the article in the link above is a good one, by the way). One study says the weekend is best. Another says 9 am. A third says after dinner. My opinion? Whenever you have time to post is a good time. Maybe the middle of the night wouldn’t be the best time, but even then.

Chicken or Egg?

Let’s say you did start posting in the middle of the night. Now at first you might not see so many people. But after awhile, maybe your friends would be all the insomniacs and zombies who are up late at night. That would be your audience because you’d have something in common with them. Would that be so very awful? Would you actually change your hours or schedule posts just because some dumb study said that you should post at a certain time, even if you weren’t awake then?

What About Weekends?

Chicken or Egg?

Chicken or Egg?

Some people don’t post at all on weekends, but say that was the only time you had available. You could post on weekends and then have time to engage with people if that was when you were free. And maybe you’d capture more attention because a lot of people don’t post then. So people relaxing around the house and checking in might find it a perfect time to engage with you.

People Talk to People Who Are Like Themselves

If you’re looking for a “tribe,” then why not try posting when you have the time, instead of going by a study? Or use a combination of, say, Facebook’s analytics and Twitter tools to figure out the best times for your audience. Personally, I’m not going to twist myself into a pretzel because of some study.

When Do You Like to Post?

Do the studies about when to post drive you crazy? Do you ignore the studies and do your own thing, or do you prefer to “follow the numbers” on social media? I’d love to hear from you!

 

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Startup Pivots: Social Media Nightmare?

August 29, 2013 By 4 Comments
Startups and Pivots: Social Media Nightmare?

Startups and Pivots: Social Media Nightmare?

Nothing can make a social media manager want to reach for a bottle of antacid faster than his or her team mentioning the word “pivot.” After all, engagement on social media takes time, and a pivot can happen in the blink of an eye. Where do you start, if you have to pivot? Pivot, if you’re not already aware, means a dramatic change in direction. Startups face other issues, too.

Calm Down

Realize that a pivot is not the end of the world. You may think that all your relationship building efforts have gone to waste, but realize that that’s not true. You have strengthened your abilities at building relationships, and you still may be able to engage with some of the same people, although maybe in different ways. So take a few deep breaths. And maybe a large glass of chardonnay. Or two. You probably do not need to start from scratch.

Ask Questions

You may still be connected with the same organizations, but maybe connected with different people in that organization. Ask:

  • What is the reason for the pivot?
  • Who will your new audience be?
  • Can you leverage your existing audience?
  • Is there any overlap between the new and the old audience?

Maintain Some Transparency

Startups and Pivots: Social Media Nightmare?

Startups and Pivots: Social Media Nightmare?

Think back to a time when you had a favorite radio station. One day, you turn on your favorite mariachi station and you hear hard rock! Ay, chihuahua! Que pasa? Will your audience feel the same way when they tune into your social media “station” and suddenly hear a different tune? Yes! So mentioning beforehand that there will be a change is generally a good idea unless you want your audience to say hasta la vista!

Have Realistic Expectations

Any pivot is going to require more work, and a flexible attitude. Your content will have to be reworked. This will take time and effort. The entire team may need to be involved. Prepare for a few late nights. Also realize that you may be able to repurpose some content.

Reach out

Get help from others on the team. They are struggling to reformulate their ideas at the same time that you are. Don’t expect to have all the answers right away.

Have You Had to Pivot?

Has your team drastically changed their path overnight? How did you handle it?

 

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Caterina Rando’s Speaker Training: Aha Moments

August 27, 2013 By 8 Comments
Caterina Rando Speaker Training: Aha Moments

Caterina Rando Speaker Training: Aha Moments

This past week, I attended Caterina Rando’s Thriving Speaker Platinum Program. The two day intensive is the first of a three-part series to teach how to be a great speaker. If you’re considering learning more about speaking (and how to get more business through speaking), I highly recommend it. Here are a few things I learned.

Don’t Speak at Every Opportunity

Some trainers suggest that you speak every chance you get, no matter the audience. But Caterina suggests that you only speak in front of your ideal audience. After all, you don’t want to come home depressed, do you? So my best audience is ambitious, tech-savvy startups where I can potentially be part of a team.

Plan

Know what you’re going to say, roughly, but don’t have it all memorized. Just know the high-level touchpoints, the beginning, and the ending. The middle part lets you connect with your audience, and stray from a script if you want. Planning is important for startups using social media, too.

Gauge the Audience

Caterina Rando's Speaker Training: Aha Moments

Caterina Rando’s Speaker Training: Aha Moments

Always make eye contact, listen, and be flexible. As Caterina says “Look around at all the beautiful people!” This is easier said than done and Caterina teaches you how to stay connected. For instance, the two speakers before me told dramatic emotional stories. The audience was moved to tears. Then I decided to change my topic from an emotional one to lighten the mood. I talked about the wonders of my new Zipz shoes!

Arrive Early

It’s always a good idea to be early, for several reasons. You can talk to people who’ll be in the audience, rearrange the room if it’s not perfect, check the acoustics, and set yourself up for success.

Speak Often

You can’t be a successful speaker if you only speak once in a blue moon. To be successful, you really need to speak as often as possible, keeping in mind that it’s important to target your ideal audience.

Learn from Someone Who Models

These are just a few ideas, and they may sound obvious. But Caterina brings the ideas to life. She models the best ways to speak, in a nurturing and safe environment. She is dynamic, inspiring, and kind. And she wants to teach you how to monetize! How cool is that?

Do You Loathe Public Speaking?

Would you rather get a root canal than speak? Both experiences can require a prescription for pain killers. Share some of your best or worst experiences in the comments! Or I will hunt you down and make you stand up and talk.

 

 

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Startups and Social Media: Planning is Sexy!

August 22, 2013 By 6 Comments
Startups and Social Media: Planning is Sexy!

Startups and Social Media: Planning is Sexy!

You might have read my recent post about the Six Issues that Startups have with their social media. I’ll be diving a little deeper into each one now. So why is planning sexy? Because you can’t spell success without sexy! Well, you can, but it would be dumb. Plus, everyone wants to succeed and be sexy! You can’t argue with logic, man.

Get Someone on Board

Get someone who lives in the social space. That means, they’re involved in social media every day. You want someone who breathes this stuff, not someone who pins one pin every month to Pinterest, or checks their Twitter account every July (no matter what!). They need to be reading Mashable, TechCrunch, using the top social media platforms, and knowing what direction social media is going.

Have Someone Who’s in Touch with the Team

Your social media manager doesn’t have to be a developer, but they should be able to communicate with the technical team. They need to be involved in meetings so they understand your product, so they can speak on your behalf. They need to have someone to contact in case of emergencies or if they are out of town, too.

The Social Media Manager Can Get the Word Out!

Social media is about connection, engagement, and social capital. Your social media manager can start to build excitement about the product even before launch. Why not share some behind-the-scenes glimpses into your world so people are interested in where you’re going as a brand? For instance, if you’re attending a big conference, you could be posting pictures of the team.

Be Generous First

Listening is such an important and overlooked (and sexy!) skill. Without listening, how will you know what your customers really want? With social media, you can be listening even before you launch! Know what the conversation is so you can join in.

Connect, Connect, Connect!

Your social media manager can build connections pre-launch

Your social media manager can build connections pre-launch

Your social media manager can build  the connections that you’re going to need before you launch, so when you do launch, you’ll get out of the gate get much faster. They can drive business offline and into real life meetings for you, make introductions, and set up everything on your social media to reflect your brand promise.

What Did I Forget?

Why else is planning sexy? Please leave your comments below! Thank you!

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Startups & Social Media: 6 Issues

August 20, 2013 By 13 Comments
Startups & Social Media: 6 Issues

Startups & Social Media: 6 Issues

Your startup’s new product is almost finished and you look up and–uh-oh!–did anyone think about creating a social media strategy to spread the word about your terrific new app? Wait. Wasn’t the intern going to do that? Didn’t we write a note about it on that napkin that got thrown away with the pizza? Oh, just a sec. It was on the pizza box! Sound a little too familiar?

No Planning

Social Media Strategy Written on a Pizza Box?

Social Media Strategy Written on a Pizza Box?

Issue: You’re making a product, or creating an app, or a new platform, but don’t have anyone on the team to do the social media. If the technical team handles the social media, this means that there will be additional strain put on them to explain all the twists and turns of the product while they are learning the ins and outs of social media and while also doing a launch.

Fix: Have someone on board to do the social media before you think you need them. Yes, that’s right. They can

  • get the word out
  • be in sync with the rest of the team, and
  • learn about your product even before the product launches.

Not only that, but your social media manager can be out forging relationships with whomever you need to know on your behalf. However, if you really want to do everything yourself, you might want to read about first steps for startups.

Pivoting

Issue: You used to sell your app to consumers; you are shifting to an enterprise-only model. So you will need relationships with a whole different crowd of people.

Fix: The relationships you’ve already made aren’t a waste of time. Those people all know other people, right? Focus attention on your new demographic, and see how you can leverage the social media relationships you’ve already made.

Rebranding

Frequent Meetings Are a Must While Rebranding

Frequent Meetings Are a Must While Rebranding

Issue: You didn’t really think about your name, look and feel, or the user experience at the starting gate. Although you have a great product, you now need to pull in some marketing wizards who can do their magic and rebrand. How will you migrate the social media?

Fix: Communication is key. Everyone needs to be talking to everyone else frequently or the social media won’t reflect the new brand promise. So frequent meetings, communication between key players, and all that groundwork will go towards making a more solid social media strategy. Even a 15- or 20-minute meeting can make a difference in keeping everyone informed. The more your social media manager or team knows, the easier it will be for them to make an emotional connection with your customers.

Chaos

Issue: Too much chaos. Yes, being in a startup is a fun, fun thing. Except when it’s not.

Fix: Write everything down and put dates on things. This includes account names and passwords for all your social media accounts, at the very least.

Management Changes

Issue: Does everyone know everyone else? Was the new marketing wizard fired last week? Does everybody know that that happened? Did the CEO run off to France to do a dance in his underpants? (Just making sure you’re reading…but you get the point, right?)

Fix: Create an organizational chart! Or at least a list in an Excel spreadsheet. And inform the team with an email letting them know what just happened. Update the spreadsheet and post it where everyone has access. Even thought you might think it’s a special secret (shh!) just for you, it actually does help the entire team.

Being in Overwhelm

Deer in the Headlights?

Deer in the Headlights?

Issue: You’re struck by that “deer in the headlights” feeling whenever you think about social media.

Fix: Pick a starting point. What would get you the most momentum the fastest? Would it be Pinterest? Google Plus? Twitter? Facebook? I suggest you look at the platforms with the most traffic, not the trendier ones. Start where your customers are. Keep it simple to avoid overwhelm.

Your Issues?

If you work with a startup (or even if you don’t), I’d like to hear from you! Maybe you handle the social media for a brand. What is your biggest issue?

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Battling Content Thieves, Part 2

August 15, 2013 By 2 Comments
Battling Content Thieves

Battling Content Thieves

You might have read my first post about content thieves and what you can do to battle them. The first steps were relatively easy, but I have to admit feeling a bit stuck knowing exactly how to proceed after the first few steps. However, this dilemma was solved after attending WordCamp San Francisco and meeting the friendly Bryan Villarin (@Bryan on Twitter), who works at Automattic as a Happiness Engineer. Yes, that’s his real title.

So if you don’t have time to go and meet Bryan Villarin in person, here are some of the things he recommended.

Do a Google Search for a Unique String

So for example the Google search “Battling Content Thieves” brings up an article on Yahoo, which is the original, or Part 1 of the article you’re reading right now. Since I am syndicated on Business to Community, that article is legitimate. But if you find non-legitimate uses of your content while doing your search you may want to take some other steps.

Read Some Background Material

Battling Content Thieves

Battling Content Thieves

Bryan recommended a couple of useful articles. The first, Content Theft – What to Do outlines how to discover the host’s contact information and contact them if necessary. That and the following article, Prevent Copyright Theft, offer excellent and easily implemented things you can do to prevent theft.

Find the hosting site

At the bottom of godaddy.com’s site, under Resources, there’s a Whois search link. Type in the domain and then get the email address of the person or company who owns the site. If, after having sent the first email, you don’t hear back, you can send email to the domain provider. Within your email you should…

File a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) Notice

After you’ve filed the paperwork, with all the required parts filled out, then the other party gets a few days to respond. If you’ve done your homework, and your content really was lifted, then usually the content is quickly removed, from what I’ve heard. Most hosting providers do not want to deal with stolen content.

Have You Ever Had Your Content Stolen?

What happened? Did you pursue any action? Hire a lawyer? Let me know in the comments! Thanks!

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