Rockstar Social Media Commerce

”
WHO IS ADII?
“Calling myself a Rockstar is the
best marketing decision I have
ever made!”
• Entrepreneur, co-founder of WooThemes and creator
of Rockstar Awesomeness
• Honours degree in business strategy (Stellenbosch
University)
• I’m not a web designer / developer / geek
• Past delegate of Nomadic Marketing (2007) • Passion for business models and the marketing of
• Been working as a freelance designer / developer those business models
(self-taught) since beginning of 2007
• After the dot com bomb: challenges to create value /
• Used only social media marketing to build my own earn a ROI online (especially in current economic
and my businesses’ reputation climate)

HISTORY & OVERVIEW OF WOOTHEMES
•
• Online Startup founded by myself in November Top-notch functions features at an entry-level cost
2007 (as Premium News Themes), rebranded as
• Licenses: $70 - $150
WooThemes in July 2008 (with then co-founders
• 3 Month Club Subscriptions: $150 - $225
Magnus & Mark)
• Compared to custom designed / developed WP
• 3 additional (full-time) team members located at our
solution: $2K - $10K (R20K - R100K)
“HQ” in Cape Town
• Templates designed to be modiﬁed according to user
• Template solutions for WordPress-powered
requirements; more of a starting point than an end-
websites (digital products)
result
• Wide variety of templates: Business, CMS,
• You purchase: the template, as well as extensive
Multimedia, Blog, Portfolio, Photoblogs & Videoblogs
technical & customisation support (“buying into” a
community)

THE WOOTHEMES TIMELINE
GROWTH BASED ON SALES & MEMBERSHIP FIGURES:

Jul ‘08 Aug ‘08 Sep ‘08 Oct ‘08 Nov ‘08 Dec ‘08 Jan ‘09 Feb ‘09 Mar ‘09


Rebranded as Woo
8 Themes (1 Free)



1 New Theme



1 New Theme
Featured in Web
Designer Magazine



4 New Themes
1 Free Theme
Recurring Subs
3-for-1 Halloween



4 New Themes
2 Free Themes



2 New Themes
4-for-1 Xmas Special



3 New Themes
Permanent 2-for-1



3 New Themes
2 New Team Members
Free Icon Set



3 New Themes
Featured in Web
Designer Magazine


OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS

WOOTHEMES BLOG / RSS FEED

WOOTHEMES TWITTER STREAM

WOOTHEMES E-MAIL NEWSLETTER

ADII ROCKSTAR BLOG / RSS FEED

ADII ROCKSTAR TWITTER STREAM

AFFILIATE NETWORK


• Main website (http://www.woothemes.com) doubles as a
commercial / promotional / information website, along
with a blog
• RSS feed published throughout the site; subscribers
WOOTHEMES E-MAIL NEWSLETTER notiﬁed of all updates (news, blog posts & new themes)
• We blog about: internal news / promotions, new themes,
ADII ROCKSTAR BLOG / RSS FEED theme concepts, user feedback / engagement,
competitions, industry / related news
• Currently: 1200-odd RSS subscribers
•
AFFILIATE NETWORK Currently: 650K+ pageviews / month (Google Analytics)
• No “focused” SEO strategy
• Only 18% of our trafﬁc from search engines (of which 50%
search for “woothemes”, “wootheme” or “woo themes”)


Example: The WooContest
• Users could submit theme design concepts (no coding)
• 3 weeks
WOOTHEMES E-MAIL NEWSLETTER • 1st, 2nd & 3rd prize = $3500 USD
• Purchased 6 additional concepts = $2000 USD
• Value: Themes & Marketing (!!)

AFFILIATE NETWORK



WOOTHEMES TWITTER STREAM • http://twitter.com/woothemes - Official WooThemes
Twitter Stream
WOOTHEMES E-MAIL NEWSLETTER • Twitter activities complimented by our respective,
individual Twitter profiles
ADII ROCKSTAR BLOG / RSS FEED • We tweet about: promotion of blog posts, Twitter-
specific competitions, ask quick questions of our users &
ADII ROCKSTAR TWITTER STREAM answer user questions
• Use Twitter Search to monitor any mentions of
AFFILIATE NETWORK WooThemes: ability to respond / market


”

WOOTHEMES TWITTER STREAM Example: Productum Contest
Act quick! WIN a free copy of our new theme
Productum: http://bit.ly/GElML
ADII ROCKSTAR BLOG / RSS FEED 8:04 AM Mar 10th from TwitterFox

• New Theme (Productum) was released
AFFILIATE NETWORK • Re-Tweet competition to win one of a few free copies to
the new theme
• Tweets link back to WooThemes
• 250+ mentions of Productum and / or WooThemes in a
hour
• Free & Viral Marketing


”

WOOTHEMES TWITTER STREAM Example Tweet: Promotion
new business / cms theme by @adii... http://
bit.ly/qn8m9


AFFILIATE NETWORK


”

WOOTHEMES TWITTER STREAM Example Tweet: Adding Value
great modiﬁcation of our typebased theme by
@screename: http://bit.ly/16xDF9


AFFILIATE NETWORK


”

WOOTHEMES TWITTER STREAM Example Tweet: Communicate
@SocialMtgExpert We are going to ﬁx that
when we update the backend. Just drop us
an email and we will reset it for you.
10:43 AM Mar 19th from TwitterFox in reply to SocialMtgExpert

AFFILIATE NETWORK



• Currently: +- 9K subscribers
• Consisting of WooThemes users, afﬁliates or any other
ADII ROCKSTAR BLOG / RSS FEED interested party
• Generally: monthly newsletters consisting of highlights
ADII ROCKSTAR TWITTER STREAM from the blog (sometimes includes exclusive content)
• Average of 48%** recipients open newsletter
AFFILIATE NETWORK
• 55%** of those recipients click link back to the website
• These users spend 4+ minutes on the site and view 3+
pages (goal achieved?)

** Stats based on estimates from CampaignMonitor




• http://adii.co.za
• Personal publishing platform
• Stats: 1700 RSS subscribers, 1K daily uniques (very niche
following)
AFFILIATE NETWORK
• I blog about: business, design, strategy, branding,
marketing, social media, development etc.
• I don’t blog about: WooThemes





•
ADII ROCKSTAR TWITTER STREAM http://twitter.com/adii
• Micro-blogging
AFFILIATE NETWORK
• More of a marketing channel compared to blog
• Stats: 2200-odd followers (top Twitter-er in SA?)
• Include additional 2000 followers on team members’
proﬁles (4K+ in total)




”

Example Tweet: Marketing
email from @woothemes user: quot;Your after sale
AFFILIATE NETWORK
support is great. Even some of your answers
in your forums go beyond what is required.quot; :)
8:33 PM Mar 17th from twhirl




”

Example Tweet: Viral
RT: @mikestopforth: @adii you would not
AFFILIATE NETWORK
believe how many people here at #sxsw know
about #woothemes - and LOVE you guys!
(naturally)
9:01 PM Mar 16th from twhirl




”

Example Tweet: Momentum
hoping small UI (and ultimately usability)
AFFILIATE NETWORK
tweaks will improve the quot;support experiencequot;
of @woothemes users (back- & frontend)
9:59 AM Mar 5th from twhirl

SOCIAL MEDIA GROWTH
GROWTH ON ALL PLATFORMS / CHANNELS ARE INTER-RELATED TO SALES / TURNOVER GROWTH:

Growth


SOCIAL MEDIA GROWTH

Growth
WWW


SOCIAL MEDIA GROWTH

Growth
WWW
Twitter - Woo


SOCIAL MEDIA GROWTH

Growth
WWW
Twitter - Woo
RSS - Woo


WHY THE NEED FOR PERSONAL PROFILES?

• “Champions of our own cause”
• WooThemes is also = Adii, Magnus & Mark
• Personalities of the founders are reﬂected in the way that WooThemes conducts business & communicates with
stakeholders
• Raising personal / individual proﬁle = value to WooThemes’ marketing activities

SOCIAL MEDIA GROWTH

Growth
WWW
Twitter - Woo
RSS - Woo
Twitter - Adii







•
AFFILIATE NETWORK Our banners published on other blogs / websites
• Affiliates earn a commission
• Currently: 25 - 30% of sales generated via affiliate links
• Top 2 affiliates responsible for about 5% of our traffic on
monthly basis
• Affiliate banners / links = more credible (and viral) than
paid advertising

TAKE-AWAY
DISCLAIMER...

• Sorry... But this may not be that easy for you...
• The average WooThemes user / stakeholder already knows about blogs, RSS, Twitter, affiliate networking etc.
• Reason: Our products are related to these services (i.e. online) and there is thus a relevance / benefit to being active on
those channels, as well as being a WooThemes user.
• Your clients / customers / stakeholders may not have heard of any of these technologies before.
• This should however not prevent you from incorporating these “marketing” principles, as they can be implemented
irrespective of the specific technology involved.
• All channels mentioned are just channels; not a marketing strategy.
• The Strategy = Social Media = User Engagement & Community Building
• Social Media is not (only) technology

TAKE-AWAY
FIRST STEP: USER ENGAGEMENT

• The majority of your marketing budget should go towards engaging with customers / stakeholders; the rest can go
towards advertising / brand awareness / PR.
• Social Media = Social (Online & Off) + Media (medium, technology, channel)
• So it’s about a conversation... On way or another... Online is just easier!

USER ENGAGEMENT 101
• INVOLVE YOUR USERS
• WooThemes Support Forum = Crowdsourced Support
• Feedback on theme concepts
• ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR USERS
• WooThemes Showcase = View great user modiﬁcations of any WooTheme
• Re-Tweets on Twitter
• Engagement via blog comments
• LOVE YOUR USERS
• Everyone loves freebies / competitions
• Add value constantly (2-for-1)
• Reward users via afﬁliate setup (say thanks for their attempts at taking your message viral)

TAKE-AWAY
STEP TWO: BUILD YOUR COMMUNITY

• Ultimate Goal: To have a community of users who are fanatical about your company & your products / services.
• People are part of communities because they feel safe / comfortable and they’re after some geek cred.
• Acknowledging & Ranking (within a community) of users via their social proﬁle.
• This way, your users become the champions of your company <---- MASSIVE CREDIBILITY!

QUESTIONS & GOODBYE
• WooThemes: http://www.woothemes.com
• WooThemes on Twitter: http://twitter.com/woothemes
• Adii Rockstar: http://adii.co.za
• Adii Rockstar on Twitter: http://twitter.com/adii

• Icons by: http://wefunction.com

Rockstar Social Media Commerce

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