Izeafest: Notes on Social Media

Izeafest 2009 – Notes from @prtini

Ted Murphy – Keynote
• Brands propel business – driving traffic back to main site
• Traffic driven by conversations and bonds from conversations
you’re having
• Brand Promise
o Personal branding examples:
 Problogger – being useful, educational
 Ted Murphy – fun loving, running, crazy, leader,
tweeter, etc
 Gary Vee – energy, “crush it”
o Need a personal branding statement
 Gary Vee: Crush It
 Ted: Disruption with a smile
 Mike: Own your 30 lines.
• Identity
o Name
 Proper name vs. persona
 Things to consider: domains, twitter profile,
Facebook page, YouTube
 Goal: Own the search for your name.
o Design
 Logo is the single unifier
 Common logo mistakes:

 Designing a logo if you’re not a designer
 Using clipart as your logo
 Using a photo of yourself
 Creating a logo that only works in full color
 Photos: “Quality is your friend”
 Hire a professional
 Capture your personality
 Get the rights for publication in all media
 Blog – needs to be as professional as everything else
you do
 Example: The Pioneer Women
 Common mistakes:
• Using a common template
• Designing a blog if your not a designer
• Going crazy with display ads
 Link content with display advertising
 Secret: Coordinate
o Communication style
 Be consistent with your tone
 Define your look
o Embodiment
 Be just as awesome in real life
• Contribution
o How you make a difference
o Contribute things you are passionate about and good at
o Primary and secondary (job, talent, etc)
• Promotion
o Think of personal brand like a business
o Invest in yourself
• Monetization

Brian Clark (@copyblogger) -- Traffic 03/10/2009
20:35:00
←

←3 steps to authority:
• Viral content
o Value – What others perceive as valuable
o Focus – know what you’re trying to teach or communicate,
and stay laser-focused on that message. Otherwise, you’re
attracting bad copy.
 Start with the end in mind
 Don’t stray just for traffic – it’s a self-defeating exercise
o Headlines – in an attn environment, a unique, ultra-specific
promise of valuable can’t-miss content
 If they think they’ll read it later, they won’t. They need
to be drawn in immediately
o Hooks – attract attention and increase engagement with a
unique approach
 Don’t pander to everyone with your hook
• Social media content promotion
o “Nothing spreads on its own unless it does”
o Other blogs – create relationships with other bloggers in your
niche by participating in the comments; do something for
them first before asking for a link
o Social media content hubs – traffic distribution hubs driven by
voting and bookmarking (Digg, Delicious, Reddit,
Stumbleupon, etc)
 ZenHabits built his blog off of this
 You’re after links – they bring direct traffic
 Was primary focus 2 years ago; now Brian doesn’t even
focus on it
o Social networking – build and leverage your network (e.g.,
Twitter)
 Choose 1 platform and own it, build and build, work it.
 Brian chose Twitter (doesn’t see value from FB). A lot of
blog content shared on Twitter is marketing-related

 Got fans on the blog? Drive to Twitter … and vica
versa.
 “From a pure content marketing standpoint,
retweets are what you live for”
 Find valuable content that fits into 140 characters
– anything related to your core purpose. It’s
about value.
• SEO
o Search engines love a lot of content
o It’s the last step. It doesn’t need to be done while you’re
creating the content.
 Create the best headline that will attract readers
o 4 factors:
 Clean code
 Killer content
 SEO copywriting – the right keywords in the right place
 Titles, URLs (shorter=better), subheads, internal
links
 “Writing for people or writing for search engines?
People use search engines. You’re always writing
for people.”
 Use keywords and synonyms in subheads
 Don’t feel bad about repeating yourself. But,
always link to previous article. Then, you’re in
control of the anchor text
 User experience
 Design matters
o Try to get keywords right in the beginning. You want people
to link to you using the right anchor text
o 58% of SEO has nothing to do with the text on the page
• “I don’t care about traffic; I care about subscribers.”
←Resources:
• Google “viral copy”
• Google “authority rules”

SEO (@sugarrae and @graywolf) 03/10/2009
20:35:00
←
←Tips about SEO:
• Write for words people will search
o Those need to be in the title tags
• When blogging, you either want categories OR tags to categorize
o Index those, not the date
o Funnel all links to one section
o Pick which search engines will index and block the rest
• .edu and .gov sites carry more weight
• If Google doesn’t value any of your links, you need to “get noticed”
– create some “link bait” or star power
o Need to get trusted authority
• The point of search engines is to help people who don’t know who
you are – not people who already know you.
• Don’t Make Me Think – the more questions you make a user ask,
the more likely they’re going to leave
• SPAM: “Sites Posted Above Mine”
• Custom Query String: Wordpress plug in that shows specific
number of categories/pages
Yoast.com – best SEO plugins for Wordpress out there.
Also offers an e-newsletter

Personal Branding on Twitter (@prsarahevans)
Heather Biddulph
←
←What works?
• Hedgehog concept – (Good to Great) Be the best at something.
• Two rules:
o Build, build, build
o What’s in it for me?
• The best time to build a network is when you don’t need one.
←
←Building a brand via:
• Trust
• Fan base
• Credibility
• Niche
• Expert
←
←What to share:
• Tools and news
• Personality
• Interaction
←
←Developing a strategy:
• Who are you/your brand?
• Who do you want to communicate with?
• What do you want to accomplish?
←What’s your umbrella?
• Increase network & personal connections
• Improve relations between PR, bloggers and journos
• Better the nonprofit world

If something doesn’t fall under the umbrella, don’t do it. The
worst thing you can do is make a promise you can’t keep.
←
←Never underestimate the value of a strong email distribution list
←

Social Media Promotion 03/10/2009 20:35:00
←
←Lucretia Pruitt @geekmommy
←David Binkowski @dbinkowski
←Chris Heuer @chrisheuer
←Wendy Piersall @emom
←Warren Whitlock @warenwhitlock
←
←Key takeaways:
• Social media is very situational. Want to do things right in the way
the market approves of.
• We want to buy from people we know, like and trust
• What we’re doing now is no different than what good businesses
have been doing forever.
• Do you need a personal brand?
o Yes, if you need to develop business, be a brand ambassador,
etc
o No, if you’re building an affiliate site or some other content-
driven site
• Personal brand is a nice buzz word. It’s your reputation. If you’re
trying to develop a brand that isn’t who you are, that’s a problem.
• “Don’t become somebody you’re not, just to fit the personal brand
you designed.”
• Best way to get noticed: Organically and naturally
• Get out and meet people.
• Find out what cause people care about
o Taking traditional community relations  online
• Promote other people. What can I do to give to help other people?
If you’re not getting enough, give more.
• Look, listen, learn, join, lead. Get prepared to be the leader. Earn
trust over time.
• The pitch doesn’t matter. Who are you? Why should I trust you?
• Use the su.pr – the Stumbleupon link shortner
• When the telephone started, people dictated what they wanted
said. When email originated, people thought they didn’t have time
for that either.
• Comes down to innovation. Find the unmet need.

• Not about your time commitment, it’s about your commitment over
time.
• Is a newsletter part of social media? Definitions don’t matter. Chris
says it’s media that can be shared, so sure. Social media isn’t the
object of the tool – it’s what we do with it.
• Test & learn
• Reach matters, but feedback is critical. Qualitative.
• Time of the day: What’s the best?
o Su.pr will give you day parts – best time to tweet
o 8:30-9:15, around lunch and later in the day is best
o But, depends who you’re trying to reach. GNO is 9-11 p.m.
o Check Analytics and see when your peak is. That’s when you
should push your efforts.
o Top bloggers will follow the media cycle. Throw-away news:
Friday evening. Big news: Monday or Tuesday morning.
• Fail fast.

Influence (Aaron Brazell @technosailor) 03/10/2009
20:35:00
←
←How we deal with people impacts how we get things done
• It doesn’t matter if you’re a rock star or not – it’s not about you,
your celebrity
←
←There’s a difference between being a celebrity and influencer
• Celebrity will get you attention right now
• Influencer will get you attention long-term
←
←What’s the mark of an influencer?
• A person who is hungry – wants to know as much as they can about
the agenda, cause, etc
o No one cares about what you already know. You want to
know more.
o Not about what you can do – it’s about how much you want to
know.
• Create conversations, situations, environments that allow you to be
effective.
o Create environments where people want to know what you’re
saying
• Respond
o Big difference between response (thoughtful) and reaction
(knee-jerk)
 If you want to be an influencer, you can’t react. You
have to respond.
o Allies – you have to build alliances with people. You can’t do it
on your own.
o Quality
o Transparency
 Do what you say, say what you do.
 People know what they’re going to get, where you’re
coming from
 Transparency build trust
 Brand is not a logo or a look. Brand = trust.
o Charisma influences people.

 Know how to talk to people
o Unsung
 People who just do what they do because it makes a
difference. They’re not out to be a hero
 Love what they do … and they just do it
o Inspire
←
←@1stmeritbank – Aaron had a problem with his bank. Complained on
Twitter, they responded. DMd him a couple times to follow up. They built
trust with Aaron by responding and following up with him.
http://technosailor.com/2009/07/10/first-mariner-bank-a-new-shining-star-
in-social-media-pr/

Navigating & Networking (@lizstrauss) 03/10/2009
20:35:00
←
←The Internet works the same way as real life, but with a slightly different
culture because we can’t see each other
←Be who you are – consistently
←
←If you want to get more people to come to your blog, be there. Be the
person behind the screen.
←
←Internet-famous is different than Oprah-famous
• There was never a perception of being able to reach Oprah
• Online, people expect to be able to reach you
←
←Evolution of a blogger
• Enthusiastic blogger
• Disillusioned learner – around 6-9 months
• “I’m a sham” – people talk to you like you’re an expert, but you
don’t think you are.
o Not true. Everyone brings something to the Internet.
←
←Be as positive on the “back channel” (DMs, emails) intercoms as you are
on the front channel (public tweets, messages)
←
←Not sure what your passion is? What are you always talking about? What
do people ask you for help with? What problem are you solving?
• Solve your problem for other people. Solve it for yourself first, then
be generous about solving it for other people.
←
←There’s a difference between helping people (for free) and “doing things”
(which should be for payment)
←
←Playing vs. playing for keeps
• If you don’t have a goal for your blog, get one.
• If you’re going to blog for business, play for keeps. Own it.
Leave space for the conversation – ask questions, invite guest-posters, etc

What Advertisers Want 03/10/2009 20:35:00
←
←Brett Bumeter @brettbum
←George Smith @georgegsmithjr
←John Andrews @katadhin
←Jeff Jaffe @jaffejuice
←Zena West @zenawest
←
←Advertisers aren’t sure what they want yet from bloggers
←
←Challenge: Thinking about new media with traditional media lenses
←
←As efficiency grows, as advertisers learn what’s effective in this case, you’ll
see bigger budgets
←
←Whether you have 2 people talking about something, or 200,000, it’s still a
conversation.
• Use blogs, twitter, etc to educate, provide customer service, give
product info
←
←From a big-brand perspective, how do you find the right bloggers?
• Assess the content strategy and consistency. Does that match up
with the brand?
• Connection, passion, not just about the traffic numbers
←
←Companies can’t outsource everything to PR, marcom firms. “If you want
to be involved in the social space, you have to participate.”
←
←Advertisers want to see quality themes – not just the basic, free templates
←
←The only currency that exists in the blogosphere is currency
←
←Sponsorship vs. advertisement
←
←Bring your community in on the program. If you’re reviewing a product,
ask for a second to give away to your readers.
←

←Marketing is a commitment, not a campaign
←
←The mommy blogging concept works because moms (and dads) are the
portal into the home.
←
←When trying to show value as a potential advertising channel, use case
studies, results.
←
←If you’re asked to review something that you don’t like, keep the review
straightforward, simple. Offer suggestions. “Keep it above board.”
• Give at least three things that the company could have done better
• If you only give 5-star reviews, you’ll lose credibility
• If you’re offering a negative review, it’s nice to give your product
contact a heads up
• A product review is not an advertorial or an advertisement
• Consider using video for reviews

Chris Brogan 03/10/2009 20:35:00
Think of “you, the brand” like a 360-degree business
• The NASCAR-ification of the brand
• 1950-2006 advertising – stick a famous person next to a product
• Now: What are you willing to represent
←
←Jay-Z moved from music to businessman
←
←If you’re going to share yourself with other brands, blogs – bring it back to
your home base. Start to build your own equity
←
←Social media makes real things happen
• Print ads aren’t pulling, circulation is down – need to find new ways
of doing things
←
←Who’s my audience? The only difference between an audience and a
community is the way the chairs are facing
←
←Trade pubs are the only kinds of publications still making $$ because they
align with a very specific audience
• Find people who have a passion; better= find people with passion
and money
←Be everywhere.
• Odds are, you’re not commenting enough. Comment in heartfelt
way, not in ways that only serve your agenda
←Be helpful.
• Write about other people and what they can do with that info
• Give your content “handles” – give someone something they can
use and they’ll come back for more.
• Be aware. Not self-involved.
←Be the priest. Build the church.
• Make a movement happen. Be at the center – empower others to
do really good stuff.
• Make people feel like they’re on the inside
←Be there before the sale.
• It’s easier to sell on the inside, to people who know you.
←This is farming, not manufacturing. It’s a slower process.

←Don’t be the SM person. SM person will get cut. And, it’s stands out apart
from the company, instead of being integrated fully into the business
←
←The DNA of Disruption
• Don’t wait for people to give you permission to do stuff
• Are you getting ideas from outside?
• Stop. Collaborate. And Listen.
• Can you be the fringe? Can you cut out other people’s messes?
←Take initiative. Just do.
• Start with a goal if you’re going to make a business out of it. Have
many paths to achieve the goal.
←Assess often.
←
←Don’t fall in love with your own idea so much that you don’t see another
way to do it.
←
←It’s not about the tools – it about connecting to other people.

Izeafest: Notes on Social Media

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