Marketing and PR. 11. 1 The Old Rules of Marketing and PR Are Ineffective in an When You Have ......
#WileyAtBEA Social Media Sampler THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
MORE THAN 300,000 COPIES IN PRINT IN MORE THAN 25 L ANGUAGES
NEW RULES of MARKETING & PR
The
Completely Updated Revised & ion Fourth Edit
HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA, ONLINE VIDEO, MOBILE APPLICATIONS, BLOGS, NEWS RELEASES & VIRAL MARKETING TO REACH BUYERS DIRECTLY
Making Everything
™
Easier!
4th Edition
Facebook Marketing
Learn to:
tCreate, administer, and customize your Timeline tBuild your fan base tIntegrate Facebook with other marketing plans and measure results tUse events, contests, and polls to promote your brand
D AV I D M E E R M A N S C O T T
John Haydon
The Complete Social Media Community Manager’s Guide Essential Tools and Tactics for Business Success
SERIOUS SKILLS.
BETH KANTER KATIE DELAHAYE PAINE FO R E WO R D BY L AU RA A R R I L L AGA-A N D R E ESS E N
MEASURING THE NETWORKED NONPROFIT
N E W
Marty Weintraub and Lauren Litwinka
Y O R K
T I M E S
F O R E W O R D
B Y
B E S T S E L L E R
T O N Y
H S I E H
RENEGADES WRITE THE RULES
U S I N G DATA TO C H A N G E TH E WO R L D
Edited by
WILLIAM T. PAARLBERG
Facebook.com/WileyNews Twitter.com/WileyNews
How the Digital Royalty Use Social Media to INNOVATE
Amy Jo
MA RT I N
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
MORE THAN 300,000 COPIES IN PRINT IN MORE THAN 25 LANGUAGES
NEW RULES of MARKETING & PR
The
ly Complete pdated U & d e s i Rev ition Fourth Ed
HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA, ONLINE VIDEO, MOBILE APPLICATIONS, BLOGS, NEWS RELEASES & VIRAL MARKETING TO REACH BUYERS DIRECTLY
D AV I D M E E R M A N S C O T T
3GFTOC
04/15/2013
21:47:10
Page 13
Contents Foreword by Robert Scoble Introduction
xxi 1
The New Rules Life with the New Rules What’s New Writing Like on a Blog, But in a Book Showcasing Successful Marketers
I How the Web Has Changed the Rules of Marketing and PR
2 4 6 7 8
11
1 The Old Rules of Marketing and PR Are Ineffective in an Online World
13
Advertising: A Money Pit of Wasted Resources One-Way Interruption Marketing Is Yesterday’s Message The Old Rules of Marketing Public Relations Used to Be Exclusively about the Media Public Relations and Third-Party Ink Yes, the Media Are Still Important Press Releases and the Journalistic Black Hole The Old Rules of PR Learn to Ignore the Old Rules
16 17 18 19 20 20 21 22 23
2 The New Rules of Marketing and PR The Second Most Important Communication Revolution in Human History Open for Business The Long Tail of Marketing Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, Please Bricks-and-Mortar News Advice from the Company President The Long Tail of PR
xiii
25 26 27 30 31 32 34 35
3GFTOC
04/15/2013
21:47:11
Page 14
xiv Contents The New Rules of Marketing and PR The Convergence of Marketing and PR on the Web
3 Reaching Your Buyers Directly The Right Marketing in a Wired World Let the World Know about Your Expertise Develop Information Your Buyers Want to Consume Buyer Personas: The Basics Think Like a Publisher Staying Connected with Members and the Community Know the Goals and Let Content Drive Action Content and Thought Leadership
II Web-Based Communications to Reach Buyers Directly 4 Social Media and Your Targeted Audience What Is Social Media, Anyway? Social Media Is a Cocktail Party Facebook Group Drives 15,000 People to Singapore Tattoo Show The New Rules of Job Search How to Find a New Job via Social Media Insignificant Backwaters or Valuable Places to Connect? Your Best Customers Participate in Online Forums—So Should You Your Space in the Forums Wikis, Listservs, and Your Audience Creating Your Own Wiki Social Networking Drives Adagio Teas’ Success
5 Blogs: Tapping Millions of Evangelists to Tell Your Story Blogs, Blogging, and Bloggers A Blog (or Not a Blog) Understanding Blogs in the World of the Web The Four Uses of Blogs for Marketing and PR Monitor Blogs—Your Organization’s Reputation Depends on It Comment on Blogs to Get Your Viewpoint Out There Work with the Bloggers Who Talk about You Bloggers Love Interesting Experiences How to Reach Bloggers around the World Do You Allow Employees to Send Email? How about Letting Them Blog? Not Another Junky Blog The Power of Blogs Get Started Today
36 37
38 39 40 43 43 46 46 48 49
51 53 54 55 56 58 59 61 64 67 69 70 72
76 78 79 81 84 85 86 87 89 90 91 92 94 94
3GFTOC
04/15/2013
21:47:11
Page 15
Contents
6 Audio and Video Drive Action Create Goodwill with Customers What University Should I Attend? The Best Job in the World Have Fun with Your Videos Audio Content Delivery through Podcasting Putting Marketing Back in Musicians’ Control Podcasting: More Than Just Music Grammar Girl Podcast
7 The New Rules of News Releases News Releases in a Web World The New Rules of News Releases If They Find You, They Will Come Driving Buyers into the Sales Process Reach Your Buyers Directly
96 96 98 99 101 103 104 106 106
109 111 111 112 114 115
8 Going Viral: The Web Helps Audiences Catch the Fever Minty-Fresh Explosive Marketing Monitoring the Blogosphere for Viral Eruptions Creating a World Wide Rave Rules of the Rave Film Producer Creates a World Wide Rave by Making Soundtrack Free for Download Using Creative Commons to Facilitate Mashups and Spread Your Ideas Viral Buzz for Fun and Profit The Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Jerry Garcia’s Toilet Clip This Coupon for $1 Million Off Fort Myers, Florida, Home When You Have Explosive News, Make It Go Viral
9 The Content-Rich Website Political Advocacy on the Web Content: The Focus of Successful Websites Reaching a Global Marketplace Putting It All Together with Content Great Websites: More Art Than Science
10 Marketing and PR in Real Time Real-Time Marketing and PR Develop Your Real-Time Mind-Set Real-Time Blog Post Drives $1 Million in New Business The Time Is Now Crowdsourced Support
116 117 118 120 121 123 124 125 126 127 128
131 132 134 135 136 138
140 141 144 146 149 154
xv
3GFTOC
04/15/2013
21:47:11
Page 16
xvi Contents
III Action Plan for Harnessing the Power of the New Rules
159
11 You Are What You Publish: Building Your Marketing and PR Plan What Are Your Organization’s Goals? Buyer Personas and Your Organization The Buyer Persona Profile Reaching Senior Executives The Importance of Buyer Personas in Web Marketing In Your Buyers’ Own Words What Do You Want Your Buyers to Believe? Developing Content to Reach Buyers Marketing Strategy Planning Template The New Rules of Measurement Asking Your Buyer for a Date Measuring the Power of Free What You Should Measure Registration or Not? Data from an e-Book Offer Educating Your Salespeople about the New Sales Cycle Obama for America Stick to Your Plan
161 162 164 165 168 169 170 172 174 177 181 182 182 183 184 186 187 192
12 Online Thought Leadership to Brand Your Organization as a Trusted Resource Developing Thought Leadership Content Forms of Thought Leadership Content How to Create Thoughtful Content Leveraging Thought Leaders Outside of Your Organization How Much Money Does Your Buyer Make?
13 How to Create for Your Buyers An Analysis of Gobbledygook Poor Writing: How Did We Get Here? Effective Writing for Marketing and PR The Power of Writing Feedback (from Your Blog) Brand Journalism at Boeing
193 193 194 199 202 203
205 206 207 209 210 211
14 How Web Content Influences the Buying Process
213
Segmenting Your Buyers Elements of a Buyer-Centric Website Using RSS to Deliver Your Web Content to Targeted Niches Link Content Directly into the Sales Cycle A Friendly Nudge
214 216 221 222 223
3GFTOC
04/15/2013
21:47:12
Page 17
Contents xvii
Close the Sale and Continue the Conversation An Open-Source Marketing Model How a Content Strategy Grew Business by 50 Percent in One Year
224 224 226
15 Mobile Marketing: Reaching Buyers Wherever They Are 232 Make Your Site Mobile Friendly Build Your Audience via Mobile Geolocation: When Your Buyer Is Nearby QR Codes to Drive People to Your Content The Mobile Media Room An App for Anything Cyber Graffiti with WiFi Network Names as Advertising
16 Social Networking Sites and Marketing Television’s Eugene Mirman Is Very Nice and Likes Seafood Facebook: Not Just for Students How to Use Facebook to Market your Product or Service Increase Engagements with Facebook Groups and Apps Why Google Plus Is Important For Your Business Check Out My LinkedIn Profile Tweet Your Thoughts to the World Social Networking and Personal Branding The Horse Twitterer Connecting with Fans How Amanda Palmer Raised a Million Dollars via Social Networking Which Social Networking Site Is Right for You? You Can’t Go to Every Party, So Why Even Try? Optimizing Social Networking Pages Integrate Social Media into an Offline Conference or Event Start a Movement Social Networking and Crisis Communications Why Participating in Social Media Is Like Exercise
17 Blogging to Reach Your Buyers What Should You Blog About? Blogging Ethics and Employee Blogging Guidelines Blogging Basics: What You Need to Know to Get Started Pimp Out Your Blog Building an Audience for Your New Blog Tag, and Your Buyer Is It Fun with Sharpies (and Sharpie Fans) Cities That Blog Blogging Outside of North America What Are You Waiting For?
233 235 236 237 240 241 242
245 246 247 248 250 253 255 257 260 262 264 265 266 269 270 271 272 273 276
279 280 282 283 286 287 288 289 290 292 293
3GFTOC
04/15/2013
21:47:12
Page 18
xviii Contents
18 An Image Is Worth a Thousand Words
294
Photographs as Compelling Content Marketing Why I Love Instagram How to Market an Expensive Product with Original Photographs Sharing with Pinterest Infographics
294 296 297 298 300
19 Video and Podcasting Made, Well, as Easy as Possible
303
Video and Your Buyers Business-Casual Video Stop Obsessing over Video Release Forms Your Smartphone Is All You Need Video to Showcase Your Expertise Getting Started with Video Video Created for Buyers Generates Sales Leads Podcasting 101
20 How to Use News Releases to Reach Buyers Directly Developing Your News Release Strategy Publishing News Releases through a Distribution Service Reaching Even More Interested Buyers with RSS Feeds Simultaneously Publishing Your News Releases to Your Website The Importance of Links in Your News Releases Focus on the Keywords and Phrases Your Buyers Use Include Appropriate Social Media Tags If It’s Important Enough to Tell the Media, Tell Your Clients and Prospects, Too!
303 304 305 306 307 309 311 312
315 316 317 318 318 319 319 321 322
21 Your Newsroom: A Front Door for Much More Than the Media Your Newsroom as (Free) Search Engine Optimization Best Practices for Newsrooms Start with a Needs Analysis A Newsroom to Reach Journalists, Customers, and Bloggers Really Simple Marketing: The Importance of RSS Feeds in Your Newsroom
22 The New Rules for Reaching the Media Nontargeted, Broadcast Pitches Are Spam The New Rules of Media Relations Blogs and Media Relations How Blog Mentions Drive Mainstream Media Stories Launching Ideas with the U.S. Air Force How to Pitch the Media
324 325 325 327 333 334
336 337 337 338 339 342 344
3GFTOC
04/15/2013
21:47:13
Page 19
Contents
23 Newsjacking Your Way into the Media Journalists Are Looking for What You Know Get Your Take on the News into the Marketplace of Ideas How to Find News to Jack When the Story Is Already (Sort of) about You Twitter Is Your Newsjacking Tool Beware: Newsjacking Can Damage Your Brand Newsjacking for Fun and Profit
24 Search Engine Marketing Making the First Page on Google Search Engine Optimization The Long Tail of Search Carve Out Your Own Search Engine Real Estate Web Landing Pages to Drive Action Search Engine Marketing in a Fragmented Business
25 Make It Happen Your Mind-Set Manage Your Fear Getting the Help You Need (and Rejecting What You Don’t) Great for Any Organization Now It’s Your Turn
347 349 350 353 358 359 360 361
363 365 366 367 368 369 372
374 376 376 377 381 384
Acknowledgments for the Fourth Edition
385
About the Author
387
Preview: Real-Time Marketing & PR
389
Preview: The New Rules of Social Media Book Series
409
Have David Meerman Scott Speak at Your Next Event!
417
Index
419
xix
3GFBETW
04/15/2013
16:41:4
Page 21
Foreword
Y
ou’re not supposed to be able to do what David Meerman Scott is about to tell you in this book. You’re not supposed to be able to carry around a $250 video camera, record what employees are working on and what they think of the products they are building, and publish those videos on the Internet. But that’s what I did at Microsoft, building an audience of more than 4 million unique visitors a month. You’re not supposed to be able to do what Stormhoek did. A winery in South Africa, it doubled sales in a year using the principles discussed here. Something has changed in the past 10 years. Well, for one, we have Google now, but that’s only a part of the puzzle. What really has happened is that the word-of-mouth network has gotten more efficient—much, much more efficient. Word of mouth has always been important to business. When I helped run a Silicon Valley camera store in the 1980s, about 80 percent of our sales came from it. “Where should I buy a camera this weekend?” you might have heard in a lunchroom back then. Today that conversation is happening online. But instead of only two people talking about your business, now thousands and sometimes millions are either participating or listening in. What does this mean? Well, now there’s a new medium to deal with. Your PR teams had better understand what drives this new medium (it’s as influential as the New York Times or CNN now), and if you understand how to use it, you can drive buzz, new product feedback, sales, and more. But first you’ll have to learn to break the rules. Is your marketing department saying you need to spend $80,000 to do a single video? (That’s not unusual, even in today’s world. I just participated in such a video for a sponsor of mine.) If so, tell that department “Thanks, but no thanks.” Or even better, search Google for “Will it blend?” You’ll find a Utah blender company that got 6 million downloads in less than 10 days. Oh, and 10,000 comments in the same period of time. All by spending a few xxi
3GFBETW
04/15/2013
16:41:4
Page 22
xxii Foreword hundred bucks, recording a one-minute video, and uploading that to YouTube. Or study what I did at Microsoft with a blog and a video camera. Economist magazine said I put a human face on Microsoft. Imagine that. A 60,000-employee organization, and I changed its image with very little expense and hardly a committee in sight. This advice isn’t for everyone, though. Most people don’t like running fast in business. They feel more comfortable if there are lots of checks and balances or committees to cover their asses. Or they don’t want to destroy the morale of PR and marketing departments due to the disintermediating effects of the Internet. After all, you can type “OneNote Blog” into Google, Bing, or Yahoo! and you’ll find the OneNote team at Microsoft. You can leave a comment and tell them their product sucks and see what they do in response. Or even better, tell them how to earn your sale. Do they snap into place? It’s a new world you’re about to enter, one where relationships with influentials and search engine optimization strategy are equally important, and one where your news will be passed around the world very quickly. You don’t believe me? Look at how the world found out I was leaving Microsoft for a Silicon Valley start-up. I told 15 people at a videoblogging conference—not A-listers either, just everyday videobloggers. I asked them not to tell anyone until Tuesday—this was on a Saturday afternoon, and I still hadn’t told my boss. Well, of course, someone leaked that information. But it didn’t pop up in the New York Times. It wasn’t discussed on CNN. No, it was a blogger I had never even heard of who posted the info first. Within hours, it was on hundreds of other blogs. Within two days, it was in the Wall Street Journal, in the New York Times, on the front page of the BBC website, in BusinessWeek, Economist, in more than 140 newspapers around the world (friends called me from Australia, Germany, Israel, and England, among other countries), and other places. Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft’s PR agency, was keeping track and said that about 50 million media impressions occurred on my name in the first week. All due to 15 conversations. Whoa, what’s up here? Well, if you have a story worth repeating, bloggers, podcasters, and videobloggers (among other influentials) will repeat your story all over the world, potentially bringing hundreds of thousands or
3GFBETW
04/15/2013
16:41:4
Page 23
Foreword xxiii
millions of people your way. One link on a site like Digg alone could bring tens of thousands of visitors. How did that happen? Well, for one, lots of people knew me, knew my phone number, knew what kind of car I drove, knew my wife and son, knew my best friends, knew where I worked, and had heard me in about 700 videos that I posted at http:// channel9.msdn.com on behalf of Microsoft. They also knew where I went to college (and high school and middle school) and countless other details about me. How do you know they know all this? Well, they wrote a page on Wikipedia about me at http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Scoble—not a single thing on that page was written by me. What did all that knowledge of me turn into? Credibility and authority. Translation: People knew me, knew where I was coming from, knew I was passionate and authoritative about technology, and came to trust me where they wouldn’t trust most corporate authorities. By reading this book, you’ll understand how to gain the credibility you need to build your business. Enjoy! —Robert Scoble Co-author, Naked Conversations Scobleizer.com
3GFLAST
04/15/2013
19:21:41
Page 1
Introduction
A
s I write this, it is several months after Barack Obama was reelected president of the United States. While there are many reasons for his winning a second term, one that stands out is his campaign’s use of the ideas in this book; their use led to more engagement with voters online. The Obama campaign used social networking to reach and engage voters, rather than just advertising to them online, as the Romney campaign frequently did. And people responded by showing their online support. For example, at the time of the election on November 6, 2012, the Obama for America Facebook page had 32 million “Likes,” while Mitt Romney’s Facebook page had about 12 million. Barack Obama’s Twitter feed had nearly 22.8 million followers on Election Day, while Mitt Romney had just 1.7 million. Social networks matter in the daily lives of voters. The Social Media and Political Engagement report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project finds that 66 percent of American social media users— or 39 percent of all American adults—have used social media for civic or political activities such as showing support for a candidate, encouraging others to vote, or posting their thoughts about the election. Against that backdrop, we might well speculate that voters engaged with the Obama campaign online may have made the difference in the election. This significance goes beyond U.S. presidential elections. For any business, nonprofit, or other organization, the old rules of marketing and public relations don’t apply anymore. Television advertising, direct mail, robocalls, and other interruption-based techniques don’t win elections—or sell products—like they used to. Also in early November 2012, Hurricane Sandy barreled up the U.S. East Coast, causing billions of dollars in damage and knocking out power to tens of millions of people. Companies helped victims in the immediate aftermath by publishing helpful information. For example, Duracell used its Facebook page to alert people to the availability of mobile recharging stations set up in 1
3GFLAST
2
04/15/2013
19:21:41
Page 2
Introduction
areas without power, so consumers could charge their mobile phones for free. Using the web to drive people to an offline initiative is an important aspect of the New Rules. But while companies like Duracell succeeded in helping those in need (and generated tremendous goodwill with customers as a result), others used online media to selfishly advertise amid the crisis. American Apparel promoted a 36-hour, 20-percent-off sale to people located in states affected by Hurricane Sandy. That’s right: Despite the loss of life, homes, and property, some companies still tried to use the storm as a hook to market products. This traditional advertising approach backfired tremendously, with critics taking to social networks like Twitter to voice their disgust with American Apparel and other companies seen as exploiting the suffering. Mainstream media took notice and wrote about these companies’ failures too. The web provides tremendous opportunities to reach buyers directly, and I’ll show you how to harness that power. I’ll also discuss the pitfalls. There used to be only three ways to get noticed: Buy expensive advertising, beg the mainstream media to tell your story for you, or hire a huge sales staff to bug people individually about your products. Now we have a better option: publishing interesting content on the web—content that your buyers want to consume. The tools of the marketing and PR trade have changed. The skills that worked offline to help you buy or beg or bug your way into opportunity are the skills of interruption and coercion. Online success comes from thinking like a journalist and a thought leader.
The New Rules At the height of the dot-com boom, I was vice president of marketing at NewsEdge Corporation, a NASDAQ-traded online news distributor with more than $70 million in annual revenue. My multimillion-dollar marketing budget included tens of thousands of dollars per month for a public relations agency, hundreds of thousands per year for print advertising and glossy collateral materials, and expensive participation at a dozen trade shows per year. My team put these things on our marketing to-do list, worked like hell to execute, and paid the big bucks because that’s what marketing and PR people did. These efforts made us feel good because we were doing something, but the programs were not producing significant, measurable results because we were working based on the rules of the past.
3GFLAST
04/15/2013
19:21:41
Page 3
Introduction
At the same time, drawing on experience I had gained in my previous position as Asia marketing director for the online division of Knight-Ridder (then one of the largest newspaper companies in the world) my team and I quietly created content-based, thought leadership marketing and PR programs on the web. Against the advice of the PR agency professionals we had on retainer (who insisted that press releases were only for the press), we wrote and sent dozens of releases ourselves. Each time we sent a release, it appeared at online services such as Yahoo! and resulted in sales leads. Even though our advertising agency told us not to put the valuable information “somewhere where competitors could steal it,” we created a monthly newsletter called The Edge, about the exploding world of digital news. We made it freely available on the homepage of our website because it generated interest from buyers, the media, and analysts. Way back in the 1990s, when web marketing and PR was in its infancy, my team and I ignored the old rules, drawing instead on my experience working at an online publisher, and created a marketing strategy using content to reach buyers directly on the web. The homegrown programs we created at virtually no cost consistently generated more interest from qualified buyers, the media, and analysts—and resulted in more sales—than the big-bucks programs that the “professionals” were running for us. People we never heard of were finding us through search engines. We had stumbled on a better way to reach buyers. In 2002, after NewsEdge was sold to The Thomson Corporation, I started my own business to refine my ideas and teach others through writing, speaking at conferences, and conducting seminars for corporate groups. The objective in all this work was to help others reach buyers directly with web content. Since then, many new forms of social media have burst onto the scene, including social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and Pinterest, plus blogs, podcasts, video, and virtual communities. But what all the new web tools and techniques have in common is that they are the best way to communicate directly with your marketplace. This book actually started as web marketing on my blog. In January 2006, I published an e-book called The New Rules of PR,1 immediately generating remarkable enthusiasm (and much controversy) from marketers and businesspeople around the world. Since the e-book was published, it has been downloaded more than 250,000 times and commented on by thousands of 1
www.webinknow.com/2006/01/new_complimenta.html
3
3GFLAST
4
04/15/2013
19:21:41
Page 4
Introduction
readers on my blog and those of many other bloggers. To those of you who have read and shared the e-book, thank you. But this book is much more than just an expansion of that work, because I have made its subject marketing and PR and because I’ve included many different forms of online media. I’ve also conducted years of additional research. This book contains much more than just my own ideas, because I blogged the book, section by section, as I wrote it. And as I have done revisions, including this fourth edition, I’ve continued to blog the stories that appear here. Thousands of you have followed along, and many have contributed to the writing process by offering suggestions through comments on my blog, Twitter, and by email. Thank you for contributing your ideas. And thank you for arguing with me when I got off track. Your enthusiasm has made the book much better than it would have been if I had written in isolation. The web has changed not only the rules of marketing and PR, but also the business-book model, and The New Rules of Marketing & PR is an interesting example. My online content (the e-book and my blog) led me directly to a print book deal. I published early drafts of sections of the book on my blog and used the blog to test ideas for inclusion into subsequent editions. Other publishers would have freaked out if an author wanted to put parts of his book online (for free!) to solicit ideas. John Wiley & Sons encouraged it. So my thanks go to them as well.
Life with the New Rules The New Rules of Marketing & PR has sold remarkably well since the initial release in June 2007, remaining a top title for more than six years among thousands of books about marketing and public relations. It even made the BusinessWeek best-seller list multiple months. Wanna know the amazing thing? I didn’t spend a single penny advertising or promoting it. Here’s what I did do: I offered advance copies of the first edition to approximately 130 important bloggers, I sent out nearly twenty news releases (you’ll read later in the book about news releases as a tool to reach buyers directly), and my publisher alerted contacts in the media. That’s it. Thousands of bloggers have written about the book over the years (thank you!), significantly driving its sales. And the mainstream media have found me as a result of this blogger interest. The Wall Street Journal called several times for interviews that landed me quotes in the paper because they read
3GFLAST
04/15/2013
19:21:41
Page 5
Introduction
about my ideas online first. I’ve appeared on national and local television and radio, including MSNBC, Fox Business, and NPR. I’ve been interviewed on hundreds of podcasts. Magazines and newspaper reporters email me all the time to get quotes for their stories. How do they find me? Online, of course! And it doesn’t cost me a single penny. I’m not telling you all this to brag about my book sales or my media appearances. I’m telling you to show you how well these ideas work. But the coolest part of my life since the book was published isn’t that I took advantage of the new rules of marketing and PR, nor that this book has been selling like hotcakes as a result. No, the coolest part of my life right now is that people contact me every day to say that the ideas in these pages have transformed their businesses and changed their lives. Really! That’s the sort of language people use. They write just to thank me for putting the ideas into a book so that they could be enlightened to the new realities of marketing and PR. Every day I get exciting feedback from people who are charged up about the new rules. Take Jody. He sent me an email to tell me the book had an unexpected effect on him and his wife. Jody explains that, to them, the really exciting and hopeful idea is that they can actually use their genuine voices online; they’ve left behind the hype-inflated, PR-speak their agencies had used so tediously. Or Andrew. He left a comment on my blog: “David, your book so inspired me, I decided to start a brand-new business (launching shortly) based around the principles you espouse. You cogently expressed many of the things that I’d been grappling with myself. So your book has certainly changed one life.” Mike wrote to say that his company’s software, which helps small and medium-size businesses get found by the right prospects and capture more leads, takes advantage of all the trends and techniques described in the book. He purchased a bunch of copies to share with everyone in his organization. Larry bought copies for all the members of his professional association. Richard did too. Robin, who works for a company that offers public relations services, purchased 300 copies for clients. Len, who runs a strategic marketing agency, sent copies to his clients as well. Julie, who is a senior executive at a PR firm, handed out copies to all 75 of her staff members. People approach me at conferences asking me to sign wonderfully dog-eared, coffee-stained, Post-it-noted copies of the book. Sometimes they tell me some funny secrets, too. Kathy, who works in PR, said that if everyone read
5
3GFLAST
6
04/15/2013
19:21:41
Page 6
Introduction
it, she’d be out of a job! David told me he used what he learned to find a new job. While all this incredible feedback is personally flattering, I am most grateful that my ideas have empowered people to find their own voices and tell their own stories online. How cool is that? Now let me disclose a secret of my own. As I was writing the first edition of this book, I was a bit unsure of the global applicability of the new rules. Sure, I’d found a number of anecdotal stories about online marketing, blogging, and social networking outside North America. But I couldn’t help but wonder at the time: Are organizations of all kinds reaching their buyers directly, with web content written in languages other than English and for cultures other than my own? I quickly learned that the answer is a resounding yes! About 25 percent of the book’s English-language sales have come from outside the United States. And as I write this, the book has been or is being translated into more than 25 other languages, including Bulgarian, Finnish, Korean, Vietnamese, Serbian, and Turkish. I’m also receiving invitations from all over the world to speak about the new rules. In the past few years, I’ve traveled to many countries, including Bulgaria, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, Spain, Estonia, Latvia, Turkey, Croatia, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and the Dominican Republic. So I can say with certainty that the ideas in these pages do resonate worldwide. We are indeed witnessing a global phenomenon.
What’s New This fourth edition of the book builds on the completely revised third edition with another extensive rewrite. I have checked every fact, figure, and URL. But I’ve also listened. In the past few years, I’ve met thousands of people like you, people who have shared their stories with me. I have drawn from those experiences and included in these pages many new examples of success. Including so many new stories and examples has resulted in my removing many of the originals, but I’m convinced these exciting replacements are even more valuable. And for those of you who have read earlier editions, you’ll still find many fresh ideas in these pages. I’ve made some more significant additions as well. The tools of marketing and public relations are constantly evolving. Consider this: When I wrote the first edition of the book, Twitter didn’t even exist and Facebook was only available to students. Now Twitter is an essential tool of marketing and
3GFLAST
04/15/2013
19:21:41
Page 7
Introduction
Facebook is used by a remarkable 1 billion people worldwide. And those are just two examples. The real-time web has sparked a tremendous opportunity for reaching members of the media directly—as they are writing breaking news stories. So I’ve added a brand new section on Newsjacking, the technique of injecting your ideas into a breaking news story to generate tons of media coverage. And in the time since I wrote the third edition of the book, marketing using images has exploded. So I’ve added a section on highly visual social networks like Pinterest and Instagram, as well as the use of Infographics.
Writing Like on a Blog, But in a Book Because the lines between marketing and PR have blurred so much as to be virtually unrecognizable, the best online media choice is often not as obvious as in the old days. But I had to organize the book somehow, and I chose to create chapters for the various tools, including blogs, video, forums, social networking, and so on. But the truth is that all these techniques intersect and complement one another. These online media are evolving very rapidly, and by the time you read these words, I’ll no doubt come across new techniques that I’ll wish I could have put in the fourth edition. Still, I believe that the fundamentals are important, which is why Chapter 11 (where you’ll start to develop your own online marketing and PR plan) is steeped in practical, commonsense thinking. The book is organized into three parts. Part I is a rigorous overview of how the web has changed the rules of marketing and PR. Part II introduces and provides details about each of the various media. Part III contains detailed how-to information and an action plan to help you put the new rules to work for your organization. While I think this sequence is the most logical way to present these ideas, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t flip from chapter to chapter in any order that you please. Unlike a mystery novel, you won’t get lost in the story if you skip around. And I certainly don’t want to waste your time. As I was writing, I found myself wishing that I could send you from one chapter to another chapter with hyperlinks, like on a blog. Alas, a printed book doesn’t allow that, so instead I have included more old-fashioned references where I suggest you skip ahead or go back for review on specific topics. I have also included hundreds of URLs as footnotes, so you can choose to visit the blogs, websites, and other online media that I discuss. You’ll notice that I write in a
7
3GFLAST
04/15/2013
8
19:21:41
Page 8
Introduction
familiar and casual tone, rather than the more formal and stilted voice of many business books. That’s because I’m using my “blog voice” to share the new rules with you. It’s how I like to write, and believe it also makes things easier for you, the reader. When I use the words company and organization throughout this book, I’m including all types of organizations and individuals. Feel free to mentally insert nonprofit, government agency, political candidate, church, school, sports team, professional service person, or other entity in place of company and organization. Similarly, when I use the word buyers, I also mean subscribers, voters, volunteers, applicants, and donors, because the new rules work for reaching all these groups. Are you a nonprofit organization that needs to increase donations? The new rules apply to you as much as to a corporation. Ditto for political campaigns looking for votes, schools that want to increase applicants, consultants hunting for business, and churches seeking new members. This book will show you the new rules and how to apply them. For the people all over the world interacting on the web, the old rules of marketing and PR just don’t work. Today, all kinds of organizations communicate directly with their buyers online. According to the International Telecommunications Union,2 an agency of the United Nations, the Internet is now used by one third of the world’s population. Even more remarkably, there were 5.3 billion mobile subscriptions at the end of 2010. It’s projected to rise to 5.6 billion by 2013. That’s enough for more than three quarters of the world’s population—more people than have access to a toothbrush. So it’s no surprise that, in order to reach the individuals who would be interested in their organizations, smart marketers everywhere have altered the way they think about marketing and PR.
Showcasing Successful Marketers The most exciting aspect of the book is that, throughout these pages, I have the honor of showcasing some of the best examples of marketers building successful programs on the web. There are nearly 50 profiles throughout the book, many of them in the marketers’ own words from my interviews with them. These profiles bring the concepts to life. You’ll learn from people at Fortune 500 companies and at businesses with just a handful of employees. 2
www.itu.int/
3GFLAST
04/15/2013
19:21:41
Page 9
Introduction
These companies make products ranging from racing bicycles to jet helicopters and from computer software to hamburgers. Some of the organizations are well known to the public, while others are famous only in their market niche. I profile nonprofit organizations, political advocacy groups, and citizens supporting potential candidates for political office. I tell the stories of independent consultants, churches, rock bands, and lawyers, all of whom successfully use the web to reach their target audiences. I can’t thank enough the people who shared their time with me, on the phone and in person. I’m sure you’ll agree that they are the stars of the book. My favorite part is that many of them are people who read earlier editions and shared their success with me. How cool is that? You can read this edition and be equipped to create programs that could grow your business and lead you to achievements that might inform readers of future editions! As you read the stories of successful marketers, remember that you will learn from them even if they come from a very different market, industry, or type of organization than your own. Nonprofits can learn from the experiences of corporations. Consultants will gain insight from the success of rock bands. In fact, I’m absolutely convinced that you will learn more by emulating successful ideas from outside your industry than by copying what your nearest competitor is doing. Remember, the best thing about new rules is that your competitors probably don’t know about them yet. Finally, I must give credit to the thousands of smart people who found success with the new rules before I ever put the ideas into print. They deserve the credit for pioneering the ideas I’ve chronicled. Thank you for your interest in the new rules. I hope that you too will be successful in implementing these strategies and that your life will be made better as a result. —DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT
[email protected] www.WebInkNow.com twitter.com/dmscott
9
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:50
Page 11
I
How the Web Has Changed the Rules of Marketing and PR
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:51
1
Page 13
The Old Rules of Marketing and PR Are Ineffective in an Online World
S
everal times in the past few years, I have thought about buying a new car. As it is for billions of other global consumers, the web is my primary source of information when I consider a purchase. So I sat down at the computer and began poking around. Figuring they were the natural place to begin my research, I started with some big automaker sites. That was a big mistake. I was assaulted on the home pages with a barrage of TV-style broadcast advertising. And most of the one-way messages focused on price. For example, at the end of 2012 at Ford,1 the headlines screamed, “100 Hour Sales Event Year-End Celebration. Our freshest lineup now with Big Savings.” Chrysler2 announced a similar offer: “Big Finish 2012.” And over at Chevrolet,3 they were offering the Cruze model with “0% for 60 Months.” I’m not planning to buy a car in the next 100 hours, thank you. I may not even buy one within 100 days! I’m just kicking the virtual tires. All three of these sites assume that I’m ready to buy a car right now. But I actually just wanted to learn something. Sure, I got flash-video TV commercials, pretty pictures, and low financing offers on these sites, but little else. I looked around for some personality on these sites and didn’t find much, because the automaker websites portray their organizations as nameless, faceless corporations. In fact, the three sites I looked at are so similar that 1 2 3
ford.com chrysler.com chevrolet.com
13
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:51
Page 14
14 How the Web Has Changed the Rules of Marketing and PR they’re effectively interchangeable. At each site, I felt as if I was being marketed to with a string of messages that had been developed in a lab or via focus groups. It just didn’t feel authentic. If I wanted to see TV car ads, I would have flipped on the TV. I was struck with the odd feeling that all of the big three automakers’ sites were designed and built by the same Madison Avenue ad guy. These sites were advertising to me, not building a relationship with me. They were luring me in with one-way messages, not educating me about the companies’ products. Guess what? When I arrive at a site, you don’t need to grab my attention; you already have it! Automakers have become addicted to the crack cocaine of marketing: bigbudget TV commercials and other off-line advertising. Everywhere I turn, I see automobile ads that make me think “This has got to be really freakin’ expensive.” The television commercials, the “sponsored by” stuff, and other high-ticket Madison Avenue marketing might make you feel good, but is it effective? No. These days, when people are thinking of buying a car (or any other product or service), they usually go to the web first. Even my 78-year-old mother does it! When people come to you online, they are not looking for TV commercials. They are looking for information to help them make a decision. Here’s the good news: I did find some terrific places on the web to learn about cars. Unfortunately, the places where I got authentic content and where I became educated and where I interacted with humans weren’t part of the big three automakers’ sites. Edmunds Forums4 is a free, consumerdriven, social networking and personal pages site. It features photo albums, user groups based on make and model of car, and favorite links. The site was excellent in helping me narrow down choices. For example, in the forums, I could read more than 2,500 messages just on the Toyota FJ Cruiser. I could see pages where owners showed off their vehicles. This is where I was making my decision, dozens of clicks removed from the big automaker sites. Since I first wrote about automaker sites on my blog, hundreds of people have jumped in to comment or email me with similar car-shopping experiences and frustrations with automaker websites. And while I certainly recognize that the automakers have improved their sites since I first wrote about them, the focus is still on advertising. Something is seriously broken in the automobile business if so many people tell me they are unable to find, 4
edmunds.com/forums
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:51
Page 15
The Old Rules of Marketing and PR Are Ineffective in an Online World
directly on a company site, the information they need to make a purchase decision. But it’s not just automakers. Think about your own buying habits. Do you make purchase decisions based on your independent research, via information you find with search engines like Google? Do you contact your friends and colleagues via social media like Twitter and Facebook and ask them about products and services you’re interested in? If so, you are not alone. And yet many sellers fail to reach you in this process. In the years before she headed to college, my daughter researched appropriate schools by searching online and connecting with her friends. Over the course of her high school years, she carefully narrowed her choices down to a handful of schools that were a good fit for her. When applications were due, she was all set. Yet in the months leading up to the application deadline, she received hundreds of very expensive direct-mail packages from universities around the world. Many sent large, thick envelopes containing glossy brochures with hundreds of pages. These efforts were completely wasted, because my daughter had already made up her mind. This huge investment in directmail advertising simply didn’t work.
Before the web, organizations had only two significant options for attracting attention: Buy expensive advertising or get thirdparty ink from the media. But the web has changed the rules. The web is not TV. Organizations that understand the New Rules of Marketing and PR develop relationships directly with consumers like you and me.
I’d like to pause here a moment for a clarification. When I talk about the new rules and compare them to the old rules, I don’t mean to suggest that all organizations should immediately drop their existing marketing and PR programs and use this book’s ideas exclusively. Moreover, I’m not of the belief that the only marketing worth doing is on the web. If your newspaper advertisements, Yellow Pages listings, media outreach, and other programs are working for you, that’s great! Please keep going. There is room in many marketing and PR programs for traditional techniques.
15
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:51
Page 16
16 How the Web Has Changed the Rules of Marketing and PR That being said, there’s no doubt that today people solve problems by turning to the web. Just consider your own habits as you contemplate a purchase. Consider another form of marketing, the art of finding a new job. Several times per month, I receive email or phone calls from people who are searching for work. They usually send their CV to me and want to “network” with me to find a job. What these people are doing is advertising a product (their labor) by sending me an unsolicited email message. Like the auto companies and the universities, the typical job seeker is advertising a product. Yet the vast majority of these people are not positioning themselves to be found on the web because they don’t have a personal website, they aren’t blogging or creating online videos, and except for maybe a Facebook or LinkedIn profile, they aren’t active in social media. They are not creating the content that will help an employer to find them when they need new staff. If you aren’t present and engaged in the places and at the times that your buyers are, then you’re losing out on potential business—no matter if you’re looking for a job or marketing your company’s product or your organization’s service. Worse, if you are trying to apply the game plan that works in your mainstream-media-based advertising and PR programs to your online efforts, you will not be successful. So take a minute to ask yourself this simple question: How are my existing advertising and media relations programs working?
Advertising: A Money Pit of Wasted Resources In the old days, traditional, nontargeted advertising via newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and direct mail was the only way to go. But these media make it very difficult to target specific buyers with individualized messages. Yes, advertising is still used for megabrands with broad reach and probably still works for some organizations and products (though not as well as before). Guys watching football on TV drink a lot of beer, so perhaps it makes sense for mass-marketer Budweiser to advertise on NFL broadcasts (but not for small microbrews that appeal to a small niche customer base). Advertising also works in many trade publications. If your company makes deck sealant, then you probably want to advertise in Professional Deck Builder magazine to reach your buyers (but that won’t allow you to reach the
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:51
Page 17
The Old Rules of Marketing and PR Are Ineffective in an Online World
do-it-yourself market). If you run a local real estate agency in a smaller community, it might make sense to do a direct mailing to all of the homeowners there (but that won’t let you reach people who might be planning to move to your community from another location). However, for millions of other organizations—for those of us who are professionals, musicians, artists, nonprofit organizations, churches, and niche product companies—traditional advertising is generally so wide and broad that it is ineffective. A great strategy for Procter & Gamble, Paramount Pictures, and the Republican U.S. presidential candidate— reaching large numbers of people with a message of broad national appeal—just doesn’t work for niche products, local services, and specialized nonprofit organizations.
The web has opened a tremendous opportunity to reach niche buyers directly with targeted information that costs a fraction of what big-budget advertising costs.
One-Way Interruption Marketing Is Yesterday’s Message A primary technique of what Seth Godin calls the TV-industrial complex5 is interruption. Under this system, advertising agency creative people sit in hip offices dreaming up ways to interrupt people so that they pay attention to a one-way message. Think about it: You’re watching your favorite TV show, so the advertiser’s job is to craft a commercial to get you to pay attention, when you’d really rather be doing something else, like quickly grabbing some ice cream before the show resumes. You’re reading an interesting article in a magazine, so the ads need to jolt you into reading an ad instead of the article. Or you’re flying on US Airways from Boston to Philadelphia (which I have frequently done), and 20 minutes or so after takeoff, the airline deems it important to interrupt your nap with a loud advertisement announcing vacation destinations in the Caribbean. The goal in each of these examples is to get prospects to stop what they are doing and pay attention to a message. 5
sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/01/nonlinear_media.html
17
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:51
Page 18
18 How the Web Has Changed the Rules of Marketing and PR Moreover, the messages in advertising are product-focused, one-way spin. Advertisers can no longer break through with dumbed-down broadcasts about their wonderful products. The average person now sees hundreds of seller-spun commercial messages per day. People just don’t trust them. We turn it off in our minds, if we notice it at all.
The web is different. Instead of one-way interruption, web marketing is about delivering useful content at just the precise moment a buyer needs it. It’s about interaction, information, education, and choice.
Before the web, good advertising people were well versed in the tools and techniques of reaching broad markets with lowest-common-denominator messages via interruption techniques. Advertising was about great “creative work.” Unfortunately, many companies rooted in these old ways desperately want the web to be like TV, because they understand how TV advertising works. Advertising agencies that excel in creative TV ads simply believe they can transfer their skills to the web. They are wrong. They are following outdated rules.
The Old Rules of Marketing
Marketing simply meant advertising (and branding). Advertising needed to appeal to the masses. Advertising relied on interrupting people to get them to pay attention to a message. Advertising was one-way: company to consumer. Advertising was exclusively about selling products. Advertising was based on campaigns that had a limited life. Creativity was deemed the most important component of advertising. It was more important for the ad agency to win advertising awards than for the client to win new customers. Advertising and PR were separate disciplines run by different people with separate goals, strategies, and measurement criteria.
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:51
Page 19
The Old Rules of Marketing and PR Are Ineffective in an Online World
None of this is true anymore. The web has transformed the rules, and you must transform your marketing to make the most of the web-enabled marketplace of ideas.
Public Relations Used to Be Exclusively about the Media For nearly a decade, I was a contributing editor at EContent magazine. I currently write for the Huffington Post, contribute guest articles to many other publications, and maintain a popular blog. As a result, I receive hundreds of broadcast email press releases and pitches per month from well-meaning PR people who want me to write about their products and services. Guess what? In five years, I have never written about a company because of a nontargeted broadcast press release or pitch that somebody sent me. Think about that: Tens of thousands of press releases and pitches. Zero stories. Discussions I’ve had with journalists in other industries confirm that I’m not the only one who doesn’t use unsolicited press releases. Instead, I think about a subject that I want to write about, and I check out what I can find on blogs, on Twitter, and through search engines. If I find a press release on the subject through Google News or a company’s online media room, great! But I don’t wait for press releases to come to me. Rather, I go looking for interesting topics, products, people, and companies. And when I do feel ready to write a story, I might try out a concept on my blog first, to see how it flies. Does anyone comment on it? Do any PR people jump in and email me? Here’s another amazing figure: In more than 10 years, only a tiny number of PR people have commented on my blog or reached out to me as a result of a blog post or a story I’ve written in a magazine. How difficult can it be to read the blogs and Twitter feeds of the reporters you’re trying to pitch? It teaches you precisely what interests them. Then you can email them with something interesting that they are likely to write about rather than spamming them with unsolicited press releases. When I don’t want to be bothered, I get hundreds of press releases a week. But when I do want feedback and conversation, I get silence. Something’s very wrong in PR land.
19
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:51
Page 20
20 How the Web Has Changed the Rules of Marketing and PR
Reporters and editors use the web to seek out interesting stories, people, and companies. Will they find you?
Public Relations and Third-Party Ink Public relations was once an exclusive club. PR people used lots of jargon and followed strict rules. If you weren’t part of the in crowd, PR seemed like an esoteric and mysterious job that required lots of training, sort of like being a space shuttle astronaut or court stenographer. PR people occupied their time by writing press releases targeted exclusively to reporters and editors and by schmoozing with those same reporters and editors. And then they crossed their fingers and hoped that the media would give them some ink or some airtime (“Oh, please write about me!”). The end result of their efforts—the ultimate goal of PR in the old days–was the clip, which proved they had done their job. Only the best PR people had personal relationships with the media and could pick up the phone and pitch a story to the reporter for whom they had bought lunch the month before. Prior to 1995, outside of paying big bucks for advertising or working with the media, there just weren’t any significant options for a company to tell its story to the world.
This is not true anymore. The web has changed the rules. Today, organizations are communicating directly with buyers.
Yes, the Media Are Still Important Allow me to pause for a moment to say that the mainstream and trade media are still important components of a great public relations program. On my blog and on the speaking circuit, I’ve sometimes been accused of suggesting that the media are no longer relevant. That is not my position. The media are critically important for many organizations. A positive story in Rolling Stone propels a rock band to fame. An article in the Wall Street Journal brands a company as a player. A consumer product talked about on the Today Show
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:51
Page 21
The Old Rules of Marketing and PR Are Ineffective in an Online World
gets noticed. In many niche markets and vertical industries, trade magazines and journals help decide which companies are important. However, I do believe that, while these outlets are all important aspects of a larger PR program, there are easier and more efficient ways to reach your buyers. And here’s something really neat: If you do a good job of telling your story directly, the media will find out. And then they will write about you! Public relations work has changed. PR is no longer just an esoteric discipline where companies make great efforts to communicate exclusively to a handful of reporters who then tell the company’s story, generating a clip for the PR people to show their bosses. These days, great PR includes programs to reach buyers directly. The web allows direct access to information about your products, and smart companies understand and use this phenomenal resource to great advantage.
The Internet has made public relations public again, after years of almost exclusive focus on media. Blogs, online video, news releases, and other forms of web content let organizations communicate directly with buyers.
Press Releases and the Journalistic Black Hole In the old days, a press release was actually a release to the press, so these documents evolved as an esoteric and stylized way for companies to issue their “news” to reporters and editors. Because it was assumed that nobody saw the actual press release except a handful of reporters and editors, these documents were written with the media’s existing understanding in mind. In a typical case, a tiny audience of several dozen media people got a steady stream of product releases from a company. The reporters and editors were already well versed on the niche market, so the company supplied very little background information. Jargon was rampant. What’s the news? journalists would think as they perused the release. Oh, here it is—the company just announced the Super Techno Widget Plus with a New Scalable and Robust Architecture. But while this might mean something to a trade
21
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:52
Page 22
22 How the Web Has Changed the Rules of Marketing and PR magazine journalist, it is just plain gobbledygook to the rest of the world. Since press releases are now seen by millions of people who are searching the web for solutions to their problems, these old rules are obsolete.
The Old Rules of PR
The only way to get ink and airtime was through the media. Companies communicated to journalists via press releases. Nobody saw the actual press release except a handful of reporters and editors. Companies had to have significant news before they were allowed to write a press release. Jargon was okay because the journalists all understood it. You weren’t supposed to send a release unless it included quotes from third parties, such as customers, analysts, and experts. The only way buyers would learn about the press release’s content was if the media wrote a story about it. The only way to measure the effectiveness of press releases was through clip books, which noted each time the media deigned to pick up a company’s release. PR and marketing were separate disciplines run by different people with separate goals, strategies, and measurement techniques.
None of this is true anymore. The web has transformed the rules, and you must transform your PR strategies to make the most of the web-enabled marketplace of ideas.
The vast majority of organizations don’t have instant access to mainstream media for coverage of their products. People like you and me need to work hard to be noticed in the online marketplace of ideas. By understanding how the role of PR and the press release has changed, we can get our stories known in that marketplace. There are some exceptions. Very large companies, very famous people, and governments might all still be able to get away with using the media
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:52
Page 23
The Old Rules of Marketing and PR Are Ineffective in an Online World
exclusively, but even that is doubtful. These name-brand people and companies may be big enough, and their news just so compelling, that no effort is required of them. For these lucky few, the media may still be the primary mouthpiece.
If you are J.K. Rowling and you issue a press release about a new book, the news will be picked up by the media. If Apple Computer CEO Tim Cook announces the company’s new iPhone at a trade show, the news will be picked up by the media. If Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie issue a press release about adopting another baby, the news will be picked up by the media. If President Obama announces his pick to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, the news will be picked up by the media.
If you are smaller and less famous but have an interesting story to tell, you need to tell it yourself. Fortunately, the web is a terrific place to do so.
Learn to Ignore the Old Rules To harness the power of the web to reach buyers directly, you must ignore the old rules. Public relations is not just about speaking through the media, although the media remain an important component. Marketing is not just about one-way broadcast advertising, although advertising can be part of an overall strategy. I’ve noticed that some marketing and PR professionals have a very difficult time changing old habits. These new ideas make people uncomfortable. When I speak at conferences, people sometimes fold their arms in a defensive posture and look down at their shoes. Naturally, marketing and PR people who learned the old rules resist the new world of direct access. It means that to be successful, they need to learn new skills. And change is not easy. But I’ve also noticed that many enlightened marketing executives, CEOs, entrepreneurs, nonprofit executives, and professionals jump at the chance to
23
3GC01
04/15/2013
16:17:52
Page 24
24 How the Web Has Changed the Rules of Marketing and PR tell their stories directly. These people love the new way of communicating to buyers and are eager to learn. Smart marketers are bringing success to their organizations each and every day by communicating through the web. Here’s how to tell if the new rules are right for you. Consider your goals for communicating via marketing and public relations. Are you buying that Super Bowl ad to score great tickets to the game? Are you designing a creative magazine ad to win an award for your agency? Do you hope to create a book of press clips from mainstream media outlets to show to your bosses? Does your CEO want to be on TV? If the answers to these questions are yes, then the new rules (and this book) are not for you. However, if you’re like millions of smart marketers whose goal is to communicate with buyers directly, then read on. If you’re working to make your organization more visible online, then read on. If you want to drive people into your company’s sales process so they actually buy something (or apply or donate or join or submit their names as leads), then read on. I wrote this book especially for you.
™
g Easier! Making Everythin
4th Edition
k o o b e Fac g n i t e k Mar Learn to: tCreate, administer, and customize your Timeline tBuild your fan base tIntegrate Facebook with other marketing plans and measure results tUse events, contests, and polls to promote your brand
John Haydon
Intro I 1 2 3 II 4 5 6 III 7 8 9 10
Marketing in the Age of Facebook Researching and Understanding Your Target Audience Developing a Facebook Marketing Plan Building Your Facebook Presence Getting Started with a Facebook Page Configuring the Best Admin Settings for Your Facebook Page Enhancing Your Facebook Page with Applications Engaging with Your Customers and Prospects on Facebook Creating a Remarkable Presence on Facebook with Content Marketing Going Public with Your Facebook Page Engaging with Your Fans Measuring Success with Facebook Insights
IV 11
Marketing beyond the Facebook Page Using Facebook Advertising to Promote Your Business
12
Using Facebook Offers to Promote Your Business Using Facebook Groups and Events to Promote Your Business Cross-Promoting Your Page Understanding and Using Facebook Social Plug-Ins The Part of Tens Ten Common Facebook Marketing Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
13 14 15 V 16
17 18
Introduction Getting Started with Facebook Marketing
Ten (or So) Business Etiquette Tips for Facebook Ten (Okay, Eight) Factors for Long-Term Facebook Marketing Success
Introduction
W
ith more than 1 billion active users — including 618 million who log in every day — Facebook has become a virtual world unto itself. Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg originally started Facebook as a dorm room exercise to extend the popular printed college directory of incoming freshmen online, but he has since developed it into an international organization employing more than 4,500 programmers, graphic artists, and marketing and business development executives with offices across the United States as well as in Dublin, London, Milan, Paris, Stockholm, Sydney, and Toronto. These days, on average, more than 3 billion posts are liked and commented on, and more than 450 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every single day! For many, Facebook is a social experience, a place to reconnect with an old college chum or poke a new friend. But in April 2007, Zuckerberg did something so revolutionary that its aftershocks are still being felt throughout the business web. He opened his virtual oasis to allow anyone with a little programming knowledge to build applications that take advantage of the platform’s social graph (or network architecture). In that open software act, Facebook redefined the rules for marketers looking to gain access to social networks, and it will never be business as usual again.
About This Book Facebook Marketing For Dummies provides you, the marketer, with in-depth analysis of the strategies, tactics, and techniques available to leverage the Facebook community and achieve your business objectives. By breaking down the web service into its basic features — including creating a Facebook Page for your business, adding applications for your Page, hosting an event, creating a Facebook group, advertising, and extending the Facebook platform to your website through social plug-ins — I lay out a user-friendly blueprint to marketing and promoting your organization via Facebook.
9781118400388-intro.1.indd 1
4/29/13 11:55 AM
2
Facebook Marketing For Dummies, 4th Edition
Foolish Assumptions I make a few assumptions about you as the marketer and aspiring Facebook marketing professional: ✓ You are 13 years of age or older, which is a Facebook requirement for creating your own profile. ✓ You’re familiar with basic computer concepts and terms. ✓ You have a computer with high-speed Internet access. ✓ You have a basic understanding of the Internet. ✓ You have your company’s permission to perform any of the techniques I discuss. ✓ You have permission to use any photos, music, or video of your company to promote on Facebook.
Conventions Used in This Book In this book, I stick to a few conventions to help with readability. Whenever you have to enter text, I show it in bold so it’s easy to see. Monofont text denotes an e-mail address or URL (for example, www.facebook.com). When you see an italicized word, look for its nearby definition as it relates to Facebook. Numbered lists guide you through tasks that must be completed in order from top to bottom; bulleted lists can be read in any order you like (from top to bottom or bottom to top). Finally, I often state opinions throughout the book. I’m an avid marketer of the social network medium and hope to serve as a reliable marketing tour guide to share objectively my passion for the social network.
What You Don’t Have to Read This book has been designed to be a modular guide to Facebook marketing. You don’t need to read the book in a linear fashion, chapter-to-chapter, but rather you can use the book as a research tool to help you market your company on Facebook. You can also use the index to find exactly the topics that are of most interest to you. I’ve incorporated real-life marketing scenarios to help you get a sense of what has worked and not worked for other marketers using Facebook. Following are some other helpful guidelines to using this book:
9781118400388-intro.1.indd 2
4/29/13 11:55 AM
Introduction
3
✓ Depending on your existing knowledge of Facebook, you may want to skip around to the parts and chapters that interest you the most. ✓ If, as a marketer, you have a good working understanding of Facebook, you can skip the first two chapters. ✓ If you want to set up a Page for your business, go directly to Chapter 4. ✓ If you have a Page and want to start going viral with your marketing, go directly to Part III. ✓ If you have a Page for your business and are interested in advertising and promoting it, go directly to Part IV. ✓ Don’t read supermarket tabloids. They’re certain to rot your brain. How This Book Is OrganizedI organized this book into five parts. Each part and the chapters within it are modular, so you can jump around from topic to topic as needed. Each chapter provides practical marketing techniques and tactics that you can use to promote your business, brand, product, or organization in the Facebook community. Each chapter includes step-by-step instructions that can help you jump-start your Facebook presence.
Part I: Getting Started with Facebook Marketing How can you effectively add Facebook to your overall marketing mix? Before you can answer that question, you have much to consider. Part I gives you an overview of some of the topics I discuss in detail in the book, such as how and why to build a presence on the social network, how to leverage content to build a fan base, how to put viral marketing features to work for you, and how to build a winning strategy for your business. You need to make a subtle mind shift along the way that I can only describe as being more open and transparent. Many companies struggle with this transition, but those that embrace it go on to have a new level of relationships with their customers and prospects.
Part II: Building Your Facebook Presence All marketers young and old are looking to build a Facebook presence for their companies, small businesses, or clients. In this part, I show you how to secure a spot for your business on Facebook, how to design a compelling Facebook Page, and to use applications to further expand your presence within Facebook. I also discuss how to cross-promote your Page and measure your Page’s fan engagement activity.
9781118400388-intro.1.indd 3
4/29/13 11:55 AM
4
Facebook Marketing For Dummies, 4th Edition
Part III: Engaging with Your Customers and Prospects on Facebook Here I discuss the strategies for going public with your Page. In this section, you learn how to promote your Page, engage fans, and measure your campaign’s success on Facebook. I show you specific strategies and tactics that have been proven to grow your fan base and increase awareness of your Page. I also show you how to measure success on Facebook so that you can quickly find out what’s working and what’s not.
Part IV: Marketing beyond the Facebook Page Part IV helps you create a new source of revenue for your business. I tell you how to advertise on Facebook by targeting a specific audience, creating and testing your ads, and then measuring your ads’ success. I tell you how to use Facebook Groups, Events, and Offers to go beyond your Facebook Page. I also show you how to use Facebook Social Plugins to integrate Facebook into your website.
Part V: The Part of Tens The chapters in this part give some quick ideas about how to conduct yourself on Facebook: common mistakes to avoid, and recommended Facebook etiquette.
Icons Used in This Book This icon points out technical information that’s interesting but not vital to your understanding of the topic being discussed.
This icon points out information tht is worth committing to memory.
9781118400388-intro.1.indd 4
4/29/13 11:55 AM
Introduction
5
This icon points out information that could have a negative impact on your Facebook presence or reputation, so please read the info next to it!
This icon points out advice that can help highlight or clarify an important point.
Where to Go from Here If you’re new to Facebook and an aspiring Facebook marketer, you may want to start at the beginning and work your way through to the end. A wealth of information sprinkled with practical advice awaits you. Simply turn the page and you’re on your way. If you’re already familiar with Facebook and online marketing tactics, you’re in for a real treat. I provide you with the best thinking on how to market your business on Facebook — based, in part, on my own trials and tribulations. You might want to start with Part II of the book, but it wouldn’t hurt to take in some of the basics in Part I as a reminder and read about some of the new menus and software features. You’re sure to pick up something you didn’t know. If you’re already familiar with Facebook and online marketing tactics but short on time (and what marketing professional isn’t short on time?), you might want to turn to a particular topic that interests you and dive right in. I wrote the book in a modular format, so you don’t need to read it from front to back, although you’re certain to gain valuable information from a complete read. Regardless of how you decide to attack Facebook Marketing For Dummies, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the journey. If you have specific questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to me via my Facebook Page at www.facebook. com/inboundzombie. I’d love to hear your personal anecdotes and suggestions for improving the future revisions of this book. And in the true spirit of sharing on which Facebook is built, I promise to respond to each of your comments. Occasionally, we have updates to our technology books. If this book does have any technical updates, they will be posted at www.dummies.com/go/ facebookmarketingfd4eupdates. Here’s to your success on Facebook!
9781118400388-intro.1.indd 5
4/29/13 11:55 AM
Chapter 1
Marketing in the Age of Facebook In This Chapter ▶ Understanding why Facebook is huge ▶ Getting acquainted with the marketing potential of Facebook ▶ Determining whether your business needs a Facebook Page now
I
f Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populated in the world, just behind India and China. As of the publication date of this book, Facebook has more than 1.2 billion people worldwide! Facebook continues to grow at a staggering rate because it continues to fit the needs of both consumers and businesses. Consumers use Facebook to connect with friends, share photos, reunite with family members, and get recommendations for cool and useful products and services. All Facebook users have a Facebook profile, which includes a main image or avatar; a Timeline listing their latest activities and comments from friends; and a sidebar that includes tabs for photos, personal information, and other apps. Businesses use Facebook to reach potential and current customers by using Facebook’s plug-ins to make their websites more social, publishing useful content on their Facebook Pages, and by conducting highly targeted ad campaigns within the Facebook community. The primary tool for businesses is the Facebook Page, which has features that allow businesses to publish content, to engage with fans who respond to that content, and to analyze how Facebook users talk about their business with their Facebook friends. Because Facebook provides features useful for both consumers and businesses, it has become an attractive platform for virtually all industries to achieve very specific business goals, such as ✓ Increasing brand awareness: All size companies are penetrating Facebook’s massive community with Facebook Ads and Facebook Pages. ✓ Launching products: Brands are now using Facebook to announce new products with Facebook Ad campaigns and custom apps as part of their overall product launch strategy.
9781118400388-ch01.1.indd 9
4/29/13 9:28 AM
10
Part I: Getting Started with Facebook Marketing ✓ Customer service: More and more companies have realized that Facebook Pages are a very inexpensive way to enhance existing customer support channels, simply because posting resolutions to basic product issues or answers to questions on Facebook means important information can be seen by many customers. They also realize that an increasing number of consumers expect to be able to get their issues resolved by contacting the company via its Facebook Page. ✓ Selling products and services: Businesses like Zipcar are selling their services on Facebook through the use of e-commerce applications that can be added to a Facebook Page. This book shows you how you can achieve some of these business goals. In this chapter, I give you an overview of why Facebook has gotten so huge, and how marketers are taking advantage of its potential. I also explain why you need to create a Facebook Page for your business.
What Is Facebook and Why Is It So Popular? The social networking site Facebook was launched in 2004 by a kid at Harvard University named Mark Zuckerberg. It started out with the name “Thefacebook” (shown in Figure 1-1) and was available only for Harvard students, or anyone with a harvard.edu e-mail address. The social network spread quickly throughout Harvard because it was exclusive. Although it was originally launched as a network for Harvard students, Facebook was eventually made available to students at other universities and then finally to anyone with access to a computer. Now, just a few years later, it has become the largest social networking site in history. As of the publication date of this book, Facebook has more than 1.2 billion users worldwide.
Figure 1-1: Screenshot of The facebook. com as it appeared in 2004.
9781118400388-ch01.1.indd 10
4/29/13 9:28 AM
Chapter 1: Marketing in the Age of Facebook
11
But it’s not just the biggest social networking site in history. It’s also the most active. According to Facebook ✓ 660 million people now share and connect on Facebook every month using mobile devices. ✓ 584 million people on average use Facebook every day. ✓ The average user has 262 friends. ✓ People spend more than 700 minutes per month on Facebook. But let’s talk about you. If you’re like most people, your mom is on Facebook. Most of your friends are on Facebook. Maybe you reconnected with a long-lost high school friend using Facebook. Maybe you even met your spouse there. You might be wondering why Facebook — and not Myspace or FriendFeed — has gotten to where it is today. Although an entire book can be written on this topic, it’s worth exploring briefly here.
Facebook facilitates connection Karen Graham and Tim Garman are brother and sister who were reunited after 40 years because of Facebook. Separated at birth and adopted by two separate families, they were reunited only when their younger sister, Danielle, began searching for them on Facebook. After three months and more than a few dead ends, Danielle found the Facebook profile of Karen Graham’s daughter. She messaged her with, “I think your mom is my mom’s daughter,” which eventually led to the reunion.
shy nerd who was bullied by the “cool kids.” Needless to say, I wasn’t very excited to get friend requests from many of these classmates. But with Clark, I said, “Now that’s someone that I’d be very interested in reuniting with!” I remembered Clark as being extremely smart and creative. (The figure shows Clark [left] with me in Chicago.) We initially connected through a Facebook Group someone created for our high school, and then we arranged to connect in Chicago when I was there on business.
Today Karen and Tim are very close, and attend family gatherings around holidays and reunions. Obviously the two had a desire to meet each other, but they lacked the means to find each other until Facebook provided the opportunity for connection. Similarly, in 2011, I was able to meet an old friend I hadn’t seen since high school. In middle school and high school, I was a very unpopular,
9781118400388-ch01.1.indd 11
4/29/13 9:29 AM
12
Part I: Getting Started with Facebook Marketing Here are a few reasons why Facebook has blown past all other social networks: ✓ Facebook has used existing social connections to promote the platform. From day one, the sign-on process has included inviting anyone you’ve e-mailed! Its assumption is that if you’ve exchanged an e-mail with someone, there’s a good chance you have some kind of pre-existing relationship with that person, and would be more inclined to invite them to join you on Facebook. ✓ Facebook is heavily covered by mainstream media. Whether it’s a newspaper article about a teacher getting fired for thoughtless comments about a student, or a TV interview with two siblings separated at birth but reunited on Facebook, not a day goes by without some kind of mention of Facebook in the news. ✓ Facebook keeps us connected. Young people famously use Facebook to stay connected, but they’re not alone. One of the fastest growing segments on Facebook is people over 55. Many of them use Facebook to keep up with their children and sometimes grandchildren.
Understanding the Marketing Potential of Facebook In the 1950s, this gadget called the television exploded throughout American culture. At first, there were black-and-white TVs and then toward the end of the decade, there were color TVs in every middle-class living room. As more consumers started watching TV instead of listening to the radio, marketers had to adopt their strategies to the new medium. Successful ad executives and writers took the time to understand how TV fit within American culture. They researched how and why TV became a focal point for families at the end of each day (remember TV dinners?). They researched the ways men watched TV differently from women, and which television shows kids preferred on Saturday morning. Only after this research were they able to create successful TV advertisements. They learned to condense their messages to 30 seconds. They created ads with jingles that imitated popular TV themes, and effectively placed their products within popular shows. In the same way, today’s successful advertisers must research today’s new medium — Facebook — to come to an understanding of how best to use it to market their brands.
9781118400388-ch01.1.indd 12
4/29/13 9:29 AM
Chapter 1: Marketing in the Age of Facebook
13
If you’re reading this book, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about how brands like Harley-Davidson and Starbucks, as well as thousands of small businesses and nonprofits, are using Facebook to market their products and services. Through a variety of strategies and tactics, these businesses are tapping into Facebook to achieve a variety of objectives: ✓ They’re increasing awareness of their brands through highly targeted Facebook Ads. ✓ They’re getting to know what their customers really want by having daily conversations with them. ✓ They’re launching new products and services with Facebook Pages and custom Facebook applications. ✓ They’re increasing new and repeat sales with coupons, group deals, and loyalty programs. Part of the reason why these businesses are successful is that they understand Facebook is not just a static website — it’s a way for people to connect and be heard.
Leveraging the power of word-of-mouth marketing Word of mouth is the most powerful way to market any business. In fact, many studies have shown that consumers are more likely to make purchase decisions based on recommendations from people they know than from a brand’s marketing materials. Each time a user likes, comments on, or shares content on Facebook, that action spreads to his network of friends. This is how “word of mouth” happens on Facebook. (See Figure 1-2.) According to a July, 2009 Econsultancy study, 90 percent of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know. And this makes perfect sense. Think about the last time you made a major purchase decision (a car, a TV, or even a contractor). Which influenced you more in that decision: an ad about that product or service — or the experience of a friend who purchased that product or service?
9781118400388-ch01.1.indd 13
4/29/13 9:29 AM
14
Part I: Getting Started with Facebook Marketing
Figure 1-2: The National Audubon Society benefits from the wordof-mouth marketing that’s generated by 1,210 likes, 103 comments, and 473 shares.
The most powerful aspect of Facebook is the deep ties among users. Large portions of friend networks are based upon work relationships, family relationships, or other real-life relationships. Some marketers refer to these connections as strong ties, meaning they go beyond the boundaries of Facebook. Such connections are in contrast to weak ties — online connections that lack stated common interests or goals. Think about it this way: Would you be more influenced by the Facebook friend with whom you went to college, or the Facebook friend who sent a friend request simply because she met you at a concert this past weekend? When a Facebook user likes, comments on, or shares a piece of content you publish on your Facebook Page, many of that user’s friends can also see that content. And those friends essentially view those actions as digital word-ofmouth recommendations.
Marketing tools for all kinds of businesses Facebook offers marketers a number of unique ways to interact with customers and prospects, including the following: ✓ Facebook Pages, Groups, and Events: These tools are free for any business and have the very same social features (including News Feeds; comments; and the capability to share links, photos, videos, and updates) that more than 1.2 billion people use to connect with their
9781118400388-ch01.1.indd 14
4/29/13 9:29 AM
Chapter 1: Marketing in the Age of Facebook
15
friends on Facebook. In other words, Facebook allows businesses to connect with customers in the same way these customers connect with their friends. This business-is-personal paradigm has helped Facebook transform the way companies market themselves. ✓ Facebook Ads: Facebook Ads, which can be purchased on a cost-perclick (CPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM) basis, are increasingly popular because they enable marketers to reach as narrow or as wide an audience as desired, often at a fraction of the cost of other online media outlets, such as Google AdSense. (See Figure 1-3.) And because Facebook members voluntarily provide information about their personal interests and relationships (or friends), Facebook has a wealth of information about its members that advertisers can easily tap in to. The new Facebook marketing paradigm is rewriting all the rules. As marketers scramble to understand how best to leverage this powerful new communications channel, those who don’t jump on board risk being left behind at the station.
Figure 1-3: Facebook Ads like this one are an extremely costeffective way to target your exact customer based on a variety of factors.
Understanding Why Your Business Needs a Facebook Page The best (and easiest) way for you to establish a presence for your organization on Facebook is with a Facebook Page. A Page serves as a home for your business, as well as a place to notify people about upcoming events, post offers, provide your hours of operation and
9781118400388-ch01.1.indd 15
4/29/13 9:29 AM
16
Part I: Getting Started with Facebook Marketing contact information, display news, and even display photos, videos, text, and other types of content. Pages also allow you to carry on conversations with your customers and prospects, providing a new means of learning more about what they want from your business. Facebook Pages are visible to everyone online, regardless of whether that person is a Facebook member. This allows search engines, such as Google and Microsoft’s Bing, to find and index your Page. This can improve your company’s positioning in search results on those sites. Here are a few important components that make Facebook Pages the core marketing tool for all kinds of businesses: ✓ The Publisher: The Publisher serves as the central component of a Page and allows you, the Page administrator (admin), to post status updates and links, and to upload content such as photos, videos, and links. These actions generate updates and display as stories on your fans’ News Feeds. ✓ Like button: When someone clicks your Facebook Page’s Like button, she is expressing her approval of your Page. That action creates a story in her News Feed, which is distributed to her friends, who are then more likely to like your Page because they trust her recommendations. ✓ Cover image: The cover image is the large image at the top of every Facebook Page. It’s the thousand words that express what your business is about! ✓ Views and applications: Facebook Pages include various different views (sometimes called tabs), including Photos, Events, and Videos. When Facebook users click the view icons on your Page, they can see all of the content for that view. (See Figure 1-4.) You can customize your Page with a host of applications (apps). Facebook offers a wide range of apps that you can use on your Page, anything from contest and promotion apps to RSS feeds from your favorite news services. (I discuss apps in detail in Chapter 6.) ✓ Message feature: All Pages include an option to allow Facebook users the ability to send the Page administrator private messages. (See Figure 1-4.) This is a very similar feature that all Facebook members use to send private messages to their friends. The message featured on your Page (if you choose to use it), allows you yet another opportunity to connect more personally with your customers and prospects.
9781118400388-ch01.1.indd 16
4/29/13 9:29 AM
Chapter 1: Marketing in the Age of Facebook
Figure 1-4: Facebook Pages include various different views and apps that users can explore when they visit your Page.
17
The messaging feature
Views and apps
Attracting new fans that are friends of customers Marketers can post updates — also called stories — to engage fans around relevant discussions. When these updates appear in their fans’ News Feeds, they can like, comment on, and share that story, which in turn is seen by their friends. When nonfans see those stories in their News Feeds, they can also comment on or like your Page story and even visit your Page directly to engage with other stories and/or become a fan or a connection of your Page. Additionally, when they mouse over the name of your Page in their News Feeds, a small pop-up window called a hovercard appears in which they can also like your Page and see more detailed information about your business. (See Figure 1-5.)
Figure 1-5: Facebook users can like your Page from your hovercard by hovering their mouse pointer over the name of your Page in their News Feeds.
9781118400388-ch01.1.indd 17
4/29/13 9:29 AM
18
Part I: Getting Started with Facebook Marketing
Changing first-time customers into repeat customers In marketing, getting people’s attention and keeping it is paramount for success, and things are no different on Facebook. This principle applies to your current customers in addition to your prospects. After customers have liked your Facebook Page, it’s your job to nurture and grow your relationship with them by providing added value. In other words, you must use your Facebook Page to enhance the benefit that your customers get from doing business with you. You do this by continually posting interesting and relevant content on the Page, which I discuss in Chapter 7. For example, a car dealership can post auto-maintenance or travel tips — in addition to discounts on oil changes and other services — on its Facebook Page to turn a first-time customer into a lifetime customer.
9781118400388-ch01.1.indd 18
4/29/13 9:29 AM
Contents at a Glance Introduction ...................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Introducing Kickstarter ......................................................... 5 Chapter 2: Laying the Foundation for Your Kickstarter Campaign ........................................................................................... 19 Chapter 3: Deciding How Much to Ask For .......................................... 47 Chapter 4: Creating a Realistic Timeline .............................................. 73 Chapter 5: Setting Up Your Campaign .................................................. 83 Chapter 6: Managing an Active Campaign............................................ 99 Chapter 7: Kickstarter for iPhone ....................................................... 133 Chapter 8: Seeing the Light at the End of Your Campaign ............... 145 Chapter 9: Ten Unique Reward Ideas ................................................. 159 Chapter 10: Ten Resources to Help with Your Campaign ................ 173
Index ............................................................ 181
9781118505434-ftoc.2.indd vii
4/24/13 2:36 PM
Introduction
K
ickstarter has gone from a small startup Internet company in 2009 to one of the leading tools used to fund tens of thousands of creative projects. The company uses a concept called crowdfunding, or bringing together many people to support a concept, product, or idea. Crowdfunding works by allowing individuals to provide financial backing to a project they want to see come to fruition. However, Kickstarter is different from other types of fundraisingoriented platforms. The people posting campaigns are not asking for donations for a favorite charity or cause; they are asking backers to believe in their idea. Kickstarter has quickly become a mainstream way to get a creative project made, whether it’s backing for a feature or documentary film or preselling copies of a book. According to a July 2012 report in Publishers Weekly, Kickstarter has already revolutionized the graphic novel industry, quickly becoming the second-largest publisher for this type of work. Everyone from Academy Award–winning writers to long-established musical acts are using Kickstarter to get their latest projects off the ground without waiting for a studio or publisher to come along. Thanks to the nature of digital giving (using a credit card over the Internet), backers can come from anywhere and support projects at any level, from $1 to $10,000 and beyond.
About This Book This book is mostly for anyone considering — or in the process of — raising money for a project via a Kickstarter campaign. You find a little bit of information about backing projects and an introduction to what Kickstarter is all about, too, but the book’s focus is squarely on raising funds through Kickstarter. Whether your project is just a spark of an idea or a fully conceived one for which you simply need the funds, this book can help you with your Kickstarter campaign. This book will give you a step-bystep guide to conceptualizing your Kickstarter campaign, gathering the pieces needed and tools available to maximize your push, as well as deciding what to do after your project is funded.
9781118505434-intro.3.indd 1
4/30/13 12:12 PM
2
Kickstarter For Dummies I offer tips to help you accomplish your goals at every stage in the process: determining how much to ask for, managing your campaign throughout the fundraising timeframe, and more. Throughout the book, you also find case studies about successful campaigns and how they applied concepts I explain in a chapter. Kickstarter is a powerful tool — not only to raise funds for your idea or project, but also to create a community. The Kickstarter website has tools for backer updates, links to Facebook, and opportunities to be seen by other enthusiasts in your neighborhood or category. I help you identify ways to use these tools for sharing your idea with a large, previously untapped audience.
How This Book Is Organized This book begins with chapters that cover the basics of Kickstarter, including how the site’s all-or-nothing approach works and a history of some of the most successful campaigns. The middle chapters address the process for creating your campaign, uploading content, and getting approved. The last chapters look at what to do after your project is funded and offer a list of ideas for unique backer rewards.
Foolish Assumptions I assume in writing this book that you know the basics of how to use a computer and the Internet, as well as basic communication tools like e-mail and Facebook. I also assume you understand the basics of loading photos and videos up to the Internet and the idea of dragging-and-dropping elements in a program. However, I do not assume to know why you are using Kickstarter. I don’t know about your project, your hopes, and goals. My goal is to give you the tools needed to create a successful Kickstarter campaign and transform your idea into reality.
9781118505434-intro.3.indd 2
4/30/13 12:12 PM
Introduction
3
Icons Used in This Book I use some basic icons throughout this book to help you quickly scan and find useful information and tips. When you see the Tip icon, you’re getting a quick tidbit of handy information on using Kickstarter. Some information is important to remember as you use Kickstarter, so when you see this Remember icon, be sure to tuck the information away for future reference. Watch out! As with any online tool, you might need to avoid some pitfalls or do a vital task as you participate. Also, because Kickstarter is always changing, I alert you to some potential issues in advance.
Where to Go from Here The simplest route is to read this book in order, from beginning to end, but that certainly isn’t mandatory. If you’re brand new to Kickstarter or will be setting up your account as you read this book, I recommend reading the chapters in order. After you read this book, keep it handy and use it as a reference as you navigate Kickstarter. Please keep in mind that web interfaces can change at any moment and without notice. The overall concepts in this book apply no matter how Kickstarter or the other tools mentioned throughout this book change their interfaces. So please know that we checked that all the information in this book was accurate as the book went to press, but some minor details in the steps and the way the websites look are likely to change. For major updates related to the book, you can also check out this book’s web page at www.dummies.com/go/kickstarterfdupdates.
9781118505434-intro.3.indd 3
4/30/13 12:12 PM
Chapter 1
Introducing Kickstarter In This Chapter ▶ Getting a handle on crowdfunding ▶ Understanding how Kickstarter works ▶ Taking advantage of Kickstarter ▶ Spotlighting how Kickstarter is different
“I
get by with a little help from my friends. . . .” It’s a line from one of the Beatles’ most popular songs but also a mantra for millions. People seek help for everything — and many great communities and companies are built thanks to the generosity of a group of people, all working toward a common goal. That concept has been frequently translated to charitable endeavors. How often have you been asked to donate $5 for a bake sale or $25 for a fundraising walk? When you hear statistics about millions being raised for a charity through a race or telethon, it’s because a large group of people backed the charity — some on a large scale at a high level, some on a smaller scale at a more modest level. The essential idea, though, is that a large group of people backed a cause. Whatever was done was done by a crowd. This phenomenon has a name — crowdfunding — and it’s one of the essential concepts behind Kickstarter. In the sections that follow, you learn what crowdfunding and Kickstarter are all about, discover their advantages, and how Kickstarter specifically uses the crowdfunding concept to help people with funding their creative projects.
Looking at the Concept of Crowdfunding Crowdfunding is not a new idea. As I mention earlier, countless charity organizations have used crowds to meet their fundraising goals.
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 5
4/30/13 12:14 PM
6
Kickstarter For Dummies You even see crowdfunding on a very basic level in most households. Each member contributes something to the overall success of the house. Dad contributes X, Mom contributes Y, kids contribute Z. Together, the crowd makes the house work, and unlike donating to a charity out of the goodness of your heart, people involved in this scenario want something out of their backing. In this case, all the members of the household work together to benefit from a stable residence, protection from the elements, and a sense of community. Kickstarter was born in 2009 to help creative people get their projects made with the support of many (“a crowd”) while promising these backers something in return. It’s not an altruistic model. People back the projects with the expectation that they will get something for their money. Unlike a traditional process of trying to prove your concept to a movie studio, publisher, or agent, people are using Kickstarter to have their own network of friends, business and professional associates, industry peers, and family validate their concept by backing the project — in a way, judging whether it will be successful before it is even distributed. This model is revolutionizing many aspects of business, with creative people from all walks of life turning to Kickstarter to make their projects into realities without waiting for an industry insider to give it the green light.
A brief history of Kickstarter In 2001, Perry Chen was a musician living in New Orleans. He wanted to create an event that would dovetail into the city’s famous Jazz Festival — but he didn’t have the funds to put on something of this scale by himself. He ended up not trying to fund the event himself, but it got him thinking about the idea of asking a group to back an event or program, trying to make something happen. It wasn’t until 2009, after he met up with co-founders Yancey Strickler and Charles Adler in New York, that Kickstarter was born. In the last three years, the company has grown exponentially, creating a viable tool for creative types to make their dreams into realities. The model seems to be working. As of March 2013, individuals using Kickstarter have ✓ Launched 89,400 projects ✓ Funded 37,300 projects — a success rate of 43% ✓ Raised $434 million
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 6
4/30/13 12:14 PM
Chapter 1: Introducing Kickstarter
7
Understanding How Funding on Kickstarter Works The number of launched projects on Kickstarter (89,400 and counting, as I write this chapter) is much larger than the number of successfully funded projects (37,300). What does that mean? Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing approach to fundraising. This means, if you don’t hit your fundraising goal within a certain timeframe (about 30 to 60 days), you get nothing. As a result, you need to be very strategic in your planning, goal-setting, and backer solicitation, all of which I cover in depth in this book. When you launch a Kickstarter project, your fundraising happens via your Kickstarter campaign page. Potential backers see a description of your concept, your fundraising goal, and an assortment of backer rewards which you determine. A potential backer chooses his or level of support for your project; that person’s pledge goes toward your goal. Figure 1-1 shows an active Kickstarter campaign page, where you can see such details as the project’s video, funding goal, and days remaining.
Figure 1-1: This campaign page shows the video, funding goal, and days remaining.
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 7
4/30/13 12:14 PM
8
Kickstarter For Dummies Over the weeks, your dollars raised will increase and your amount to reach your goal will decrease (ideally) each day until your campaign is over. Kickstarter makes its money by taking a percentage (or fee) from your funds raised. Similar to a marketing fee, you are basically paying a commission to Kickstarter to use its website to promote your campaign. If your Kickstarter campaign is successfully funded, Kickstarter will take 5 percent of your final total for its fee. However, if you come to the end of your Kickstarter campaign and have not reached your project goal, you do not receive any of the pledges listed to date. You have to raise your minimum goal amount to receive any of your backer pledges. You also do not pay anything to Kickstarter, since your campaign was not successful. In this book, I explain how to prepare for your Kickstarter campaign so that you’re well-positioned for funding success. It’s also important to remember that Kickstarter is designed to get your project up and running, and you need to have a plan after your Kickstarter campaign is over. Chapter 10 looks at some of the tools available for creating a business plan for your project, setting yourself up for the opportunity to sustain your project after the campaign is over, and for making money in the future.
Recognizing the Advantages of Kickstarter You might be a little intimidated by an all-or-nothing approach, and by the prospect of asking backers to help you reach your goal. However, this model has advantages for both you and your backers: ✓ A firm deadline forces you to focus on your campaign and on soliciting backers: If you weren’t working against the clock, you might be tempted to wait around to see what backers come in, instead of actively soliciting support. This format encourages you to move your project along quickly. ✓ The all-or-nothing approach is less of a risk to your backers: Since nothing gets funded if the project does not reach its goal (that is, prove its value), backers don’t have to worry about supporting a potentially losing project. They know their accounts will not be charged unless a lot of other people also believe in the idea.
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 8
4/30/13 12:14 PM
Chapter 1: Introducing Kickstarter
9
Kickstarter also makes it easy to spread the word about your project and build community: ✓ Backers can share their passion for a project with a click of the mouse: Because your fundraising happens online, backers can encourage others to get behind an idea through a Facebook or Twitter post that includes a link to your campaign page. Likewise, bloggers and journalists can boost awareness of your campaign and send potential backers your way with a link on their own blogs or websites. For example, Figure 1-2 shows a post about the Caravan Pacific Kickstarter campaign; the post appeared on the popular blog, Design Sponge. ✓ Using Kickstarter to get your project off the ground truly creates a sense of community: Your backers feel like they are really making it happen and are often thrilled to get in on the ground floor of something.
Figure 1-2: Example of how word can spread with just a click of the mouse.
✓ You retain creative control over your project: In the past, if you wanted to create a film, art show, project, or play, you needed financial backers. That might mean investors or a publisher or a studio behind you. The advantage was that potentially one major investor might give you the funds needed to make your concept come to life — but also exert influence and pressure to change your project to meet his or her specifications. You would gain a backer, but you might end up losing creative control.
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 9
4/30/13 12:14 PM
10
Kickstarter For Dummies One of Kickstarter’s greatest advantages is that you can still solicit the backing needed to get your project off the ground, but you maintain complete creative control, delivering a product that matches your vision. Kim Krizan, writer of hit movies, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, knew Kickstarter was the right vehicle for her when she wrote a tongue-in-cheek book about femme fatale and wanted to produce it on her own terms. Being a successful, established writer, she said on her Kickstarter page that she could “just get it into the hands of a publisher . . . I could also put it online and be done with it. But I thought it would be so much cooler to take it directly to you.” She decided to use her audience to make the project happen without the pressure of a publisher. As shown in Figure 1-3, Krizan secured 183 backers and beat her $10,000 goal by almost $1,000, so she’s on her way!
Figure 1-3: Successful Kickstarter campaign page for Original Sins: Trade Secrets of a Femme Fatale.
Knowing What Kickstarter Does and Doesn’t Fund Unlike other web-based tools soliciting funds, Kickstarter is not a fundraising tool for charity.
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 10
4/30/13 12:14 PM
Chapter 1: Introducing Kickstarter
11
Kickstarter is for projects only, not causes or fundraising drives. Your campaign must be for a specific creative project or concept. If your campaign is determined to be a charity fundraiser, the Kickstarter team will deny your application. Along those same lines, Kickstarter does not allow “Fund My Life” projects. You cannot have an open-ended campaign to raise money for a trip to Bora Bora or help you fund a sabbatical. Kickstarter campaigns are for specific projects and costs. If it appears your Kickstarter campaign is to fund a vacation or allow you to quit your job, it will be denied. Kickstarter also doesn’t allow certain types of content, such as knives, real estate, bath and beauty products, and nutritional supplements. This means projects such as ReadyCase, an iPhone case that includes a multitool with regular and serrated blades, as shown in Figure 1-4, wouldn’t have been a good fit for Kickstarter, even though it’s a legitimate project. The creators of this case chose a different crowdfunding site called Indiegogo.
Figure 1-4: Example of a project that would not meet Kickstarter guidelines.
Indiegogo differs most clearly from Kickstarter on one key issue: It’s not an all-or-nothing approach. Indiegogo has several models that allow you to keep your backer pledges even if you don’t reach your goal, for a higher fee. For the full list of content Kickstarter does and doesn’t allow, check out the Prohibited Uses section of the Kickstarter guidelines at www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines. The next section goes into more detail about how you can familiarize yourself with Kickstarter’s terms and conditions.
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 11
4/30/13 12:14 PM
12
Kickstarter For Dummies
Reading the Fine Print Before You Start Before you launch or back a campaign on Kickstarter, you need to make sure it’s a good fit for the site and understand all the terms and conditions. As I mention in the preceding section, you won’t get far on Kickstarter if your project doesn’t meet Kickstarter’s guidelines. You must also meet Kickstarter’s residency requirements. (You must live in the U.S. or the U.K. and meet certain requirements in each country.) And don’t forget, if your campaign is successful, Kickstarter takes a 5 percent cut of your funds, which is how the website stays in business. Of course, you probably bought this book because you’re eager to get started on raising the funds for your project. But you’ll do yourself a huge favor if you read all the details and requirements first. If your campaign is successful, you’ve most likely started a small business for yourself, even if you don’t plan to run it forever. That comes with certain commitments to Kickstarter, your backers, and your tax bill. In the following sections, I point you to the key areas of the Kickstarter site that help you become familiar with Kickstarter’s terms and the responsibilities you take on if your campaign is successful. I also point you to features on the Kickstarter site that help you run a successful campaign. To find these tools, click the What Is Kickstarter? link at the top of the Kickstarter home page, as shown in Figure 1-5.
Reading through the FAQ For a quick snapshot of all the parts of Kickstarter, click the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) link, and you see the page shown in Figure 1-6. Here you see three main sections: ✓ Kickstarter Basics: Discusses the concept behind the website, how you might use it, your responsibilities as a Kickstarter user, and getting involved with other Kickstarter projects. ✓ Creator Questions: An overview of the main things you have to keep in mind and remember as you plan, upload, and launch a Kickstarter campaign.
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 12
4/30/13 12:14 PM
Chapter 1: Introducing Kickstarter
13
✓ Backer Questions: Are you considering backing another Kickstarter project? This section shows the top questions and issues when it comes to pledging money to support another Kickstarter project.
Figure 1-5: Click the What Is Kickstarter? link to find help and guidelines.
Figure 1-6: A list of the main FAQ categories.
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 13
4/30/13 12:14 PM
14
Kickstarter For Dummies
Going to Kickstarter’s virtual school Attending Kickstarter’s virtual school, shown in Figure 1-7, can help get you oriented right away. Kickstarter School is just what it sounds like — sections of the site presented in a classroom or textbook style, showing the main steps of launching a Kickstarter campaign: 1. Defining your project 2. Creating rewards 3. Setting your goal 4. Making your video 5. Building your project 6. Promoting your project 7. Project updates 8. Reward fulfillment
Figure 1-7: A look at the topics in the Kickstarter School.
Following Kickstarter’s guidelines Earlier in this chapter, I discuss how Kickstarter — works and offer an overview of its guidelines. When you click the Guidelines
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 14
4/30/13 12:14 PM
Chapter 1: Introducing Kickstarter
15
link, you see a comprehensive list of all things to take into consideration when planning a potential Kickstarter campaign (as shown in Figure 1-8), including community guidelines.
Figure 1-8: A look at the comprehensive guidelines.
Discovering the Crowdfunding Process Running a successful Kickstarter campaign is a lot of work, but most of it is the fun kind of work because you’re doing it to support your passion and creative idea. The following steps walk you through the overall process of a Kickstarter campaign and point you to the chapters where you find out more about each phase of the process: 1. Make sure you have a clearly defined project. To start, you need to make sure your idea is clear and unique. Then you need to figure out how to communicate why your project needs to be made in a straightforward and succinct way to your backers. You find help doing just that in Chapter 2. 2. Figure out what your fundraising goal should be and how much your rewards need to cost in order to meet that goal.
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 15
4/30/13 12:14 PM
16
Kickstarter For Dummies Because Kickstarter requires you to ask for a certain amount of money, you have to figure out the minimum amount of money you need to cover the costs of creating your project — and the different levels of donations you need to meet that goal. Chapter 3 goes into detail about building an accurate budget. 3. Set a realistic timeline. Kickstarter requires you to raise your funds in a certain amount of time, and your backers will also want to know when they’ll receive the rewards you’re offering. Your campaign and your relationship with your backers will go much more smoothly if you think through your timeline in advance. In Chapter 4, I lay out some suggestions on how to build a timeline that works for both you and your backers, taking into account such factors as troubleshooting possible delays, handling holidays, and watching out for industry factors that might influence your planning process. 4. Prepare your campaign and submit it for Kickstarter review and approval. Steps 1–3 are all up-front work. You want to make sure you’ve thought through the important details before you start developing your campaign page through Kickstarter’s dashboard for project creators. This step is where you take all the content and data you’ve been developing and enter it into what amounts to a proposal that Kickstarter will review. If your project meets all of Kickstarter’s requirements, you receive an e-mail that Kickstarter has approved your project. Chapter 5 walks you through each part of the Kickstarter project setup process and gives you helpful tips to ensure that your project makes it through the review process smoothly. 5. Launch your campaign and promote your project on a day-to-day basis. You can’t just launch your campaign and hope for the best. To reach your funding goal, you need to reach out to friends, family, and your personal and professional communities. You also need to promote your deadline. Chapter 6 helps you stay on top of all the key tools, both online and elsewhere, that help you reach out to potential backers and the backers you gain throughout your campaign. Chapter 7 orients you to the tools in the Kickstarter-sponsored iPhone app that help you manage an active campaign while you’re on the go.
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 16
4/30/13 12:14 PM
Chapter 1: Introducing Kickstarter
17
6. Stay in touch with backers as you create your project and deliver backer rewards. Remember, when you get to the end of your Kickstarter campaign, that doesn’t mean your project is over — far from it! Your backers have invested their own money in your project and are likely interested to hear how it’s going. You have a unique opportunity to continue building community among your backers as you create your project. You also have to manage the nuts and bolts of delivering the rewards you promised your backers in a timely manner. Kickstarter has tools to help you with all these, and in Chapter 8, I walk you through the steps of using each one. You also find my tips for finishing your campaign and building upon it to ensure long-term success. In Chapter 9, you find ten unique reward ideas, and in Chapter 10, ten resources beyond Kickstarter that can help you throughout the stages of your Kickstarter campaign. Each of these chapters gives you even more ammunition for Kickstarter success!
9781118505434-ch01.3.indd 17
4/30/13 12:14 PM
THE
OF
MARKETING
when to tweet, what to post, how to blog, and other proven strategies
Contents
Acknowledgements
ix
Introduction
1
Part I
Content
7
Chapter 1
E-Books
9
Chapter 2
Webinars
25
Part II
Channels
35
Chapter 3
SEO
37
Chapter 4
Twitter
53
Chapter 5
Facebook
75
Chapter 6
Pinterest
101
Chapter 7
Blogging
109
vii
viii Contents Part III
Middle of the Funnel (MOFU)
127
Chapter 8
E-Mail Marketing
129
Chapter 9
Lead Generation
153
Part IV
Analytics
171
Chapter 10 Analytics
173
Index
185
4 Twitter
53
Twitter is my favorite social site. I love the simplicity, the flexibility, and the vast audience. I remember a time before the word retweet existed, when it took only 30 or so tweets from about as many people for a phrase to become a trending topic worldwide. It is the perfect platform for the distribution of marketing content. Describe a link, paste it in the box, and hit Tweet. Your followers can then click and read, and if they’re so motivated, they can share that link with their followers. It’s the most elegant viral mechanism yet invented. I hold some controversial points of view about Twitter, but none without data backing them up. And that’s what this chapter is—my most important Twitter data (and the best collection of it anywhere). I’ve long been interested in the idea that “engaging in the conversation” is the single most important function of social media marketing, so I’ve applied my analysis to test that statement in a variety of places. One of those places has been Twitter. I looked at millions of Twitter accounts and separated them into two groups: those with more than 1,000 followers (the first orange bar in Figure 4.1) and those with fewer than 1,000 followers (the first black bar in Figure 4.1). I then compared those two groups by the percentage of their tweets that started with an “@” sign to arrive at a reply percentage. I repeated this analysis with accounts having more than 1 million followers (the second orange bar in Figure 4.1) and accounts with fewer than 1 million followers (the second black bar in Figure 4.1) and found similar results. 55
56 Channels Percentage of Tweets That Start with “ @ ”
18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0%
>1,000
1 million 1,000
