5 Content Marketing Tips

1) Everything is content.

Let's face it, you're so close to your brand that you may miss some amazing content opportunities... but relax... here's how you will never miss anything ever again. Just remember 'everything is content'. Whether you're a B2B or B2C, the stuff you do, the hallways you walk, the people you work with, the emotions you feel, the challenges you face are ALL RELATE-ABLE BY SOMEONE. Sorry for yelling. Tell those stories. Snap a photo, write a blog entry, take a video. I promise you, great content opportunities completely surround you at this very moment. The skill - which can be taught - is to recognize that everything is content and content is all around you.

As a life long Marketer I was always searching for that unique thing that would put my brand over the top. It hit me one day that I was surrounded by these things. In fact, the 'things' were endless and limitless, and through technology we can tell every single story we have. We just have to start.

2) Tools In Your Tool Belt

Are you part of a staff of hundreds whose sole purpose is to build content? Didn't think so! It's probably just you, am I right? Okay, maybe you and some others all chipping in to build up your social channels with relevant material. Marketing Mangers and Digital Marketers (like that's two different things now-a-days, right?) joining forces with Social Media Managers and Community Managers all for the greater good. Now, who does what? Core strengths I look for - beyond a person being awesome - are:

• Social Channel Know How: I know that could mean many different things, but some brand experience is always best for me. Just because you have have a personal FB account does not qualify for anything. Well you may be qualified to be someones' friend, but that's about it. Add Me. lol.).
• Skill in video creation, editing video, and Photoshop.  
• The actual equipment to do each of the points in (b)
• Ability to hold a conversation. I'm not joking.
• Live the mantra that 'Everything Is Content' and have no fear to capture that content. 

3) Document What Your Competition Doesn't (Or just do it better)

Here's an experiment  Go to your competition's YouTube channel. Probably some cool stuff there. Most companies (if they even have a YouTube channel) put what they would consider the 'gold' up. Most stuff is highly produced, maybe even 'production house' produced. Don't be afraid of stripping it down. (Note: I am not saying you should strip) Customers, fans, clients, employees can live with a shaky video if the content is great. Show your stuff. Show what goes on in your world.  I always like to think of video as a show. Like TV shows, even if it's 30 seconds long. YouTube is just one place. There are many places where you content can live. Is your business in these places? What type of content are you putting there? What type of content is your competition putting there? Something you see everywhere now is "Behind The Scenes" content. Is yours better than theirs?

4) Swing Away!

Hit Homeruns! and Triples, and Doubles, and Singles, and Bunts, and Fouls, and just about everything else. Let's be real... If you try and hit a homerun every single time, you may strike out more than often. But that is totally okay. Not every piece of content is going to get those shares or likes or comments that you're hoping for.  Just be consistent and pay attention to what is getting traction, where it's getting traction, and when it's getting traction. Your content plan should be super easy to build next year. if you pay attention this year.

5) What's Your Plan?

I've always thought that "Awesome Stuff Gets Shared", but that just doesn't cut it in a boardroom. A plan is needed. A long term strategic plan with a tactical and itemized slant is my choice. Did that sound too corporate? Whatevs. But here's the good news: Building a plan should be super simple. Ideas are the easy part; proper execution of ideas is the hard part. Also the beauty of a Content Plan in this day and age is that it can change tomorrow. Technology changes and evolves everyday, so should you and your plan.

Hope that makes sense. As always, any thoughts or opinions on the post are greatly appreciated. I'm JonSinden on Twitter and I always enjoy feedback.

::js

7 Thoughts on Facebook Timeline for Brands:

Hello Friends, So all brand pages on Facebook must get converted to the new 'Timeline' look by March 30. Here are some notes (7 thoughts) I made after reading all about it.

1) First Look:

The ‘Cover Photo’ look on the new pages is just like the personal timeline cover photo, so people will probably get used to it quickly. Cover photos cannot have any call to action. Most pages would have a ‘Welcome’ tab that traditionally have a little "Like Us" with an arrow pointing to where the "like" button is. You can no longer have this. The Welcome tab is no more! Back to the Cover Photo: The size is (851 x 315 pixels). It can change as often as you like. Here are the rules on Cover Photos that I cut ‘n’ pasted from the FB Product Guide. You cannot have:  

• A. Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”.
• B. Contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page’s “About” section.
• C. References to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features.
• D. Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”.

 ….so… put your marketing & graphic design people to work and come up with some clever ideas for Cover Photos!

  

2) Pin The Gold: 

No, not a roll-out of Pinterest on Facebook. The term Pin Post means you can put what you feel is the most important story/post to the top of your page. This is cool for timely, relevant stuff. This is awesome. In the past, some posts you’d make would get lost in a sea of audience posts. This way, you can ensure your ‘top call out’ stuff gets the placement you feel it deserves.

3) There’s An App For That: 

Apps will be featured more prominently right under the cover image, instead of along left hand rail (which was hard to find) Which, in all honestly, we know didn’t work. A static tab with no outside push,  in comparison to a tab with some marketing was not even close. If you or your team are actively selling partners into programs/contests/sweepstakes on your page, then I think these changes are amazing. Apps will be much easier to find for audience and should result in more activity. You can also mess around with the app image, so it should look really great. Also of note: the “Photo” tab cannot move. It is native and you cannot get rid of it.

4) To Screen or Not To Screen: 

In the back-end there will be a new way to 'screen or modify' posts from fans/audience. This means you can put posts in a 'queue' until an admin says it's okay. Please give this some thought as to what your brand should do. Turn this on or off? My thinking turning this feature on is NOT A GOOD IDEA. Let your audience speak their mind! But totally up to you adn what fits with your brand. 

5) Keeping It Private: 

New pages have offer the ability to Private Message the brand. Hmmm…  Could be quite messy depending on the page you admin. This could result in an overwhelming amount of messages that need to be dealt with. --- OR ---- Could be the ultimate customer service tool. A real back-and-forth based on real issues. I think Community Managers or Social Media people will like the fact that you can see an issue on the wall and offer to take it privately. Of note: Brands can’t send PM’s. They can only receive them. Also of note: People do not need to like your page in order to be able to Private Message you.  May want to gather in the boardroom to discuss this with all parties involved.   

6) Page Timeline & Friend Activity: 

What I think is super cool is that audience can see how their friends are interacting with you page. I imagine that will spur on conversations, if you actually know the people behind some comments. It will be interesting to see what Milestones brands will try and use.

7) Admin Panel: 

Really neat that Admins will have super quick and easy access to see insightful data. We can know keep a watchful eye on monitoring page performance along with every single interaction on your page.  Here’s a screen shot of the new Admin Panel: 

Hope you enjoyed my little summary. I know there are plenty of other features I didn't touch on, but these are my first thoughts on the upcoming changes. All in all, I feel the Timeline look is very positive for both brands & audience.  

I’d like to hear what you think! I’m @JonSinden on Twitter, or comment below. Thanks for reading.

Any feedback is most welcome. 

js  

5 Tips for Aspiring Social Media / Community Managers.

Image courtesy of madeinecommerce.com
I worked in the radio business for over a decade. It was a blast. Now that I work in this "new" industry. This Social Media industry, many have commented to me, "It must be such a dramatic change"... "How is it that you went from a Marketing Director position to a Social Media Manager position?" ... "From radio to sports" and so on.  My answer is simple... nothing has changed. I pretty much have done the same thing my entire career. All I do is try and connect with people. The tools have changed over the years but the emotional connection that one has with music, sports, friends, will never change.

Enter the Social Media person.  

Sure, I'm not a huge fan of the term 'Social Media', but it looks like it's sticking around.

Here's are 5 tips for aspiring Social Media Managers / Community Managers:

1) Your job will be 24/7: No joke. Let's say (in the future) you manage a company Twitter account and a customer asks you a question; they deserve an answer right away, right? It will be up to you and the people you collaborate with to decide what is an acceptable timeline is to reply back. You'll decide this through brainstorming and penning your Social Media or Engagement Strategy. I might suggest that if you wait more than a day, then you missed an opportunity to connect. Customers, clients, fans, friends will expect a quick turnaround and that's just the world we live in. (I'll write a full post on this topic in the future) Just know that representing a company or brand is not really 9 to 5, Monday to Friday.  If you are looking for 9 to 5 with weekends off, then maybe this is not for you.

2) Your Background & Experience: I've noticed that 'experts' come from all sorts of backgrounds: PR, Communications, Marketing, Agency, etc. That's the good news. You can come from any stream of schooling and probably do very well. Take time to learn the craft. Learn from others. Find mentors and mentor others. This new Social Media Industry does not have any standards in place for self promoting (nor does any industry, i guess) So go ahead and call yourself an expert, but be warned; a phony will be sniffed out over time.

3) Network: They are events pretty much every night. This is not an open invitation to go drinking every night. Go with a plan. Look ahead to the guest list. Pick out some people you want to meet and go and meet them. Sure some events turn into a fun game of guess the avatar, but just don't be shy! Go to enough events and soon you will be the person people are trying to meet and network with. Networking events are great relationship starters, but remember; it's just the start. After the event, it's up to you to keep that relationship going.

4) Your job (to find a job) is 24/7. Looks just like point 1, right? Think about everything you do and say. That blurry line between life/work balance is, well, blurry. Think about the successful career ahead of you and put together your plan. Your plan to grow, learn and be the best at what you do. Does this plan include ripping a major retailer online? What if they are hiring a Social Media Manger a month later? Would you apply? Yikes. Your words and actions are being documented (by you) and may live forever online. It's a scary thought, but learn to embrace it and you will have no trouble at all. Like the guy (who shall remain nameless) who rips the Toronto Maple Leafs and Leafs TV every single chance he gets. I mean, totally rips them - swear words all all. Imagine my surprise when he asks me to follow him one day so he can send me a DM. That DM was asking for a job helping me in the Social realm for the Leafs. It was a real challenge to take that seriously.

5) Be Yourself. I don't think I can elaborate on this.

Hope you enjoyed this post. I would like to know what you think either by leaving comments or connecting with me elsewhere. Like one of those networking events where I'll be drinking my face off wearing a tie around my head.

Thanks for reading.
js
 Publish Post

Social Media is.... not Twitter.

Twitter is just one spoke in the wheel. Social Media is about people. People sharing, learning, laughing... you know... being people. Social Media is starting and developing relationships. Social Media lives online, but also in person. Social Media is pretty much part of everything, and it's everywhere.

Saying a Social Media person's job is sending Tweets, is kinda like saying a Marketing Director's Job is buying billboards. Seems kinda small in scope, non?

If you work or play in this world, please let's all make an effort to educate. But not in a preachy know-it-all kind of way... just in how-friends-talk-to-friends kind of way.

What are your thoughts? Am I way off? Do you agree?

Nazem Kadri talks Facebook and Twitter!

This is my most watched video on the SindenJonathan Youtube channel.
What do you think?

Story in BlogTO.

Check out the story in BlogTO.

The article is a nice piece on what we are doing as an organization to engage fans. A step in the right direction, but we have a long way to go. That's one thing I love about Social Media. It's constantly evolving. It's never perfect. With every interaction, we can learn. We learn from each other and our communities. Toronto Maple Leafs fans are amazing. I learn from listening to them. I also learn from Raptors fans and TFC fans. These communities has allowed me to be a part of them... and I thank them for that.

Some exciting stuff in the future with these brands.
I'll do my best to keep you posted.
until next time...
js

How this tree is like Social Media.

Writing a note. Remember that? The original Social Media. The picture to the side is a tree in my local dog park. You see, each year (around Xmas) people post notes and decorations on the tree. It's like a community tree for dog owners, hikers, and people just out for a stroll. It usually fills up pretty quickly with random stuff. I see it almost every day. Then something happened... someone hung a notebook - a blank notebook and a pen - allowing for comments. This was amazing. It allowed anyone walking by with a thought or opinion, the chance to be a part of it. I love it! It's kinda like social media. Someone somewhere starts something and then people keep adding to it. It's how communities get built. This is how it works. Sure there are many tree analogies I oould make, but I just love the simplicity. One person hung something and then it snowballed. (first time I have ever used snowballed in a sentence) It probably started with a decoration and evolved to the notebook (which is full of comments, btw)

So I went past the tree today (Jan 10/10) to see what was left from the holidays and some pretty windy weather. Some stuff still hangs and some has long blown away. I did notice a hand made ornament saying 'Can't we all just share the park?" It was signed "The Coyotes"

later,
js

Big Thinker Gets Some Press!

Twitter can be a powerful tool for a brand.
We just partnered with Pizza Nova and had some great success.
Story is below.
js

http://www.mediaincanada.com/articles/mic/20090617/pizzanova.html

5 reasons Twitter is awesome... or Twaesome!

I love Twitter. I spend all day on it. It's a huge part of my business. Twitter is the perfect social media forum... Here's why:

1)Short attention spans unite! Keeping things under 140 characters allows just enough text to get your message out there, post a link, and/or show some creativity. At the same time 140 characters is not enough space to ramble.

2)It's not exclusive. I don't need permission to be a part of a world. If I choose to follow, then I follow. If someone chooses to follow me, then they can. Be my guest.

3) Less me, More us. I will do you a favour and not show you the 72 pictures from my weekend at the cottage and you will do me a favour and not ask me to join many groups or play many games like f'n Knighthood.

4) Instant info. If you see something in the Trending Topics, then it's news happening right now. You do not need to sign up to someones breaking news alerts, to receive breaking news. It's always breaking on Twitter.

5) Experimental. You can say whatever you want. Tweet & ReTweet away! (Just remember that whatever you say is forever and your name usually appears right next to your tweet)

@BigThinkerJon

js