Marketing Roadmaps

Susan Getgood

File it under crazy S*&^: Fan Pages for PR Firms! Mom Blogs’ PR Boycott?

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Should public relations firms have Facebook Fan Pages? What’s the point really?  Do PR firms really have fans, and if they do, should they? Isn’t PR about promoting the client’s interests?

That’s the gist of a conversation thread on Twitter over the past few days. Good friend Geoff Livingston (@GeoffLiving) thinks it is silly for PR firms to have Facebook Fan Pages, in part I imagine (and I don’t want to put words in his mouth, this is my impression of his comments) because it smacks too much of “personal branding,” a concept we both loathe.

I agree, and yet I don’t. Or more accurately, I don’t mind that PR firms are setting up Facebook Fan Pages, as long as they don’t go overboard and start spamming my Facebook Wall with self-serving promotional bullshit.

Facebook Fan Pages are becoming a useful element for a company’s marketing plan, and agencies/consultants need to gain experience with the form. Even if they have clients with Pages, they still need a place to experiment. Client sites are generally not good places for messing around with beta stuff.

So, I’m okay with PR agency fan pages. Happy to “fan” you if asked. As long as you don’t take yourself too seriously and think I want your autograph or something. Because, seriously, I don’t even ask real famous people for autographs.

Fame. Fans. One more brief point about the term fan before I move on to the ridiculous idea of mom blogs “boycotting PR.”

I like the term Fan Page. Not simply because the number of fans shows how popular a brand or company is. I like it because it highlights how the brand should be thinking of its customers. Not simply as consumers. Fans are engaged consumers. They don’t just buy a product, they love the product.

And the brand should love them back. Not take them for granted. Add value beyond the simple transaction. That’s what a Fan Page should be about.

Most are not, or at least I hope, not yet.

Facebook has more than 200 million users.

The brands that get it? That understand that the Fan Page isn’t just a billboard for product announcements? That truly make the effort to engage with the customers?

They are going to have lots and lots of fans.

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“But he hasn’t got anything on,” a little child said.

– Hans Christian Andersen, The Emperor’s New Clothes

Today, mom blog site Mom Dot proposed that mom blogs should boycott PR and marketing offers for a week in August. The rationale has something to do with marketing firms taking advantage of mom bloggers by sending them free products. I think. Or maybe it was that mom bloggers are burnt out from the burden of doing product reviews. Something like that. I think.

Seriously, I am not trying to be mean. I really cannot figure out the reason for the boycott.  If product reviews are too much work, don’t do them. Or do fewer. If you aren’t getting joy from something, stop. If the value isn’t there, don’t do it.

But a PR boycott? As CNET pointed out, this misses the point by more than a country mile.

The FTC is reviewing its guidelines on endorsements and testimonials. Without a doubt, blogs (and other new media) will be included.

This has caused a great deal of buzz around the issue of free products and other blogger compensation, particularly in the parent blogosphere. Latest media outlets, and by no means the last, to cover the story: ABC and the New York Times.

The issue isn’t the reviews. Or the free products. The issue is disclosure.

It’s about ethics. And integrity.

If you are a blogger, it’s about disclosing your relationships with companies that have provided you with free products or compensation so your readers can properly evaluate your recommendations.

If you are a company representative, it’s about reaching out to bloggers with respect. If you are hiring someone to write a document for you, you can read it before publication. Sending a product for review? Absolutely not. Don’t even ask. If you do, you are either scum or a nØØb.

So, I have another suggestion. Instead of polarizing boycotts, teeth gnashing and wailing, let’s all pledge to Blog with Integrity.

All this really requires is that you publish a clear review and ethics policy on your blog. It doesn’t matter what the policy is — your readers will decide that issue. What matters is that you clearly disclose.

This will help you, marketers who want to reach out appropriately and your readers. And, I’m guessing, the FTC will like it too.

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In other news, Michael Jackson is still dead.

Thumbs up, Facebook

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I’m really liking Facebook these days. It’s far from the be all and end all of social media strategy, and the company often makes stupid policy decisions, like banning breast feeding photos while allowing hate speech, but it has made some very smart moves of late that truly make it a necessary part of your social media strategy.

Let’s start with Facebook Connect. If a company has developed or is planning to develop a rich media site with authentication, it should definitely consider using Facebook Connect. This eliminates the need to develop your own authentication and makes it far easier to tap into the 200-million-plus Facebook user base. Once logged in, your site users can then easily share the content on your site with their friends on Facebook.

Next, there’s the latest addition to the tool set, the Facebook Fan Box.

The Fan Box makes is easy to add Facebook Fan Page content to your existing website. This will be very valuable to transactional websites — those that don’t have many interactive or relationship oriented features on the site —  but who have made a commitment to developing a strong Facebook Fan Page.

The key to making the Fan Box a successful addition to your site, of course, is to actively engage your customers on Facebook. That means more than company announcements and the occasional poll.

That’s where Insights, the analytics provided by Facebook about your page, will be so useful, especially when combined with your web analytics. This data tells you what works, and what doesn’t, on your Fan Page. Combine it with your web analytics, user data and if you have a blog, blog analytics,  and you can get a good picture of your customer’s engagement with your brand.

Additional Resources

– My recent posts about Facebook and community:

– An excellent guide to creating Facebook Fan Pages from The Advance Guard

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The Society for New Communications Research announces call for entries for annual awards.

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood: Some thoughts about community.

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What makes a community?

The most important element of community is conversation. You don’t need to log-in to a website to have a conversation online with friends,  colleagues and peers. Software, authentication, “enabling technology,” a fan page or a URL all play a part in how we use or access our communities online, but they don’t make the community.

Communities form around shared interests and common problems. That doesn’t preclude products, but most product-based communities are transactional rather than social. We drop in with a question or to see if there’s someone we can help, but we generally don’t “hang out” to talk about products. For example, computer and consumer electronics manufacturers Dell, Sony and HP all have community sites. While a few expert volunteers will literally set up shop within forums like these because they like to help and they like the recognition they get from both the companies and fellow consumers, most users will flow in and out depending on information/support needs and purchase plans.

Successful company-sponsored social communities establish around shared interests, not the product per se. An example is National Geographic’s WildCam community, originally hosted on the site but now using a Facebook fan page. The conversation in the community is about the animals, not National Geographic, but the brand is reinforced continually and subtly.

What do online communities look like?

Let’s take the common picture of online community and break it down a bit.

The simplest online communities form around blogs of like subject matter,  with the conversation happening on blog comments, in blog posts and across the public networks like Twitter and Facebook.

When we think about online community, though, our minds usually turn to more formal social networks. With a username and password and features such as forums, discussion boards, in-system mail, blogs and friend lists. But these communities are not a homogeneous lot by any stretch of the imagination.

You’ll find enthusiast or advocate sites.  Some are barebones, others are more sophisticated, and while they may monetize with advertising or grow into businesses, they generally start because somebody cared and so did her friends. They had passion about something.

Businesses of all sizes are adding community features to their websites. Some by simply adding a discussion board or customer content area, others by building full-fledged community sites.

The tool set is just as varied, ranging from simple tools like open-source forum/discussion board software and content management systems  to free community platforms like Ning to comprehensive solutions  from companies like Powered.

Layered over the private networks are the big public social networks, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. Of these big three, Facebook has the most traction as a consumer social network and multiple options for companies to use it as part of their social media strategy: advertising, fan (company) pages and Facebook Connect. LinkedIn seems better suited for business-to-business strategies, particularly referrals and networking and I’d put MySpace at the opposite end of the spectrum from LinkedIn — strong in entertainment, particularly music, and definitely consumer, skewing younger than both Facebook and LinkedIn.

If a company wants to actively embrace or create a community, what should it do?

The very first question you need to ask — even before where are my customers and what tools should I use — is: Are we willing to make the long-term commitment to the community? Do we have a plan for sustaining the engagement? It’s one thing to start a conversation with the customer. It’s another to keep it going.

If you aren’t certain you will be able to sustain the engagement, you are much better off doing a short-term campaign with a defined beginning and end. This sets the right expectation for the customer while giving you some experience with the community. Blogger outreach is a good starting point. Read my blogger relations category for strategy and tactics.

Let’s say, though, that everyone has deeply drunk the kool-aid and wants to charge ahead and build a social media base site beyond the company website. It’s time for questions two, three and four:

  • Where are your customers? Facebook? Twitter? Some other social network? Waiting for someone (like you) to build a space that’s “just right.”  Or has someone already built a social network or online space that meets the same need, attracts the same consumer? If so, you may be better off exploring a relationship with that site.
  • How active are your customers likely to be? Active creators or passive consumers? You’ll want to tailor the content of a community site to the needs of your customer. You don’t want to create a slick (and expensive) site with video mashups and interactive games if your consumers don’t like to do that sort of thing. It’ll look like you threw a party and nobody came. Starting point: check out the Pew and Forrester demographic models.
  • Do you have, or can you create, regular content for a site? Blog content. Video. Podcasts. Case studies. FAQs. Educational content. Content about interests you share with your customers. Things they will want to use and share with others. This is very important when considering the scope of your online site. The more of this “stuff” you have, the more you can do with and on a community site. If the pickings are slimmer, you need to narrow your scope to something you can execute flawlessly and with flair. In doubt? It is always better to start small and expand the scope as you experience success.

The answers to these questions will form the base of your strategy. Some general thoughts:

  1. Odds are pretty good that many of your customers will be on Facebook, so it should form part of your strategy.
  2. If you have the content to populate a rich community site, you might benefit from incorporating Facebook Connect to allow your users to easily share content with their friends on Facebook. Other benefits of Facebook Connect: simple authentication using Facebook credentials and increased potential to recruit new members at a lower acquisition cost. BUT: there has to be stuff to share. Worth sharing. Product Spec Sheets do NOT count.
  3. If your content is a little slimmer, you should start simply. Perhaps add a single forum or discussion board to your company website or build a Facebook Fan Page. Use it to test the waters, including the capacity of your firm to generate robust, share-worthy content and the level of potential participation of your market.

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I was briefed recently by the folks at Powered about their Facebook Connect functionality. For large companies with the budget (typically $250K and up), a social networking company can cut the learning curve and lighten the management burden of a big community site. As the saying goes, they can do it all for you. Smaller to mid-sized companies that don’t have that much available budget? You can still learn a lot from what the big boys and girls are doing. Check it out and adapt what works for you. Need some help? Call me. 🙂

The post about the business. Or the one in which my brain explodes.

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Colorful Fireworks over Lake

Folks that follow me on Twitter know that this year has been a particularly difficult one for my business. Projects are smaller in scope, delayed, canceled due to lack of funds or not closing at all. Lots of requests for advice and proposals. Not nearly as many closed deals. This is not unusual — everyone is feeling the pinch of the economy — but it is much harder to tough it out when you are an independent strategic consultant who primarily works on a project basis, rather than long term retainers.

To the point that I am re-evaluating my business model, selectively applying for marketing and social media positions, and hoping my brain doesn’t explode.

So here’s where I turn the tables, and ask you, my readers, for some advice. What should I do?

Issue 1: Have I been too generous with my advice? I give away a lot on this blog and have been stung by my one-hour free offer a few times this year. People taking advantage of the free advice with absolutely no intention  of exploring a longer-term business relationship. Should I retract the offer?

Issue 2: It’s hard for an independent consultant to compete with agencies for social media projects. The agency has depth on the bench, can go to the well of existing clients and has a cushion, even if small these days, for business development. But, is this really true, or am I giving a few defeats too much weight? There has to be a creative way to break through so I can pitch my ideas to the larger companies who do have budget right now.

I just have to find the formula, because, goodness knows, I have no shortage of ideas on how companies can integrate social media into their marketing plans to achieve tangible, measurable results.  And not just by throwing a party or giving away free stuff.

I’ve been noodling on an idea that would be just perfect for Interval International, the timeshare exchange company, and last night when the rain was drumming on the roof, I came up with:

  • a program for a travel catalog like Travelsmith or Magellan’s;
  • a possible approach for a manufacturer of reusable water bottles, for example CamelBak or SIGG;
  • a few ideas for big box retailer like Best Buy. As everyone in the social media twitterverse probably knows, Best Buy is hiring a social media marketing manager;
  • some thoughts for a book chain that has bricks & mortar stores — think Borders or Barnes & Noble.

The issues are:  how do I get the opportunity to pitch the idea, and then how do I protect myself from the firm just doing it themselves? Because that has happened more than a few times with larger companies in the five years I’ve been consulting. There are no hard and fast answers, but I cannot afford to develop a great proposal for a firm, only to see them execute it on their own six months later. Not anymore.

Issue 3: Small business. Is there an opportunity to help smaller local businesses get started with social media? Typically, they cannot afford to retain a consultant to develop a program or even a blog for them but most  could benefit from setting up a Facebook page.

So, I’ve developed a Social Media Start-up Session for small firms.  I can price it aggressively because the business owner is doing the work; I’m just helping her think through the issues and pointing her in the right direction.

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I’m doing some hard thinking this weekend. If you have any thoughts, please drop me a note at sgetgood@getgood.com. I would really appreciate your opinion and advice.

More on FTC guidelines and impact on bloggers

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Recently Word of Mouth on NH public radio interviewed Rich Cleland, Assistant Director of the FTC’s Advertising Practices bureau about the revised guidelines on endorsements and testimonials that are expected to be approved this summer. Liz Gumbinner from Cool Mom Picks and Mom-101 provided the blogger’s perspective.

There really wasn’t anything new or unexpected. I’ve written about this topic as has Liz. What was nice was to actually hear it directly from the FTC rather than filtered through another source like AP or BusinessWeek.

Here’s my takeway from the interview:

  • The key issues are disclosure of relationships and truthful opinion. FTC believes truth in advertising/transparency should apply regardless of the media.
  • FTC isn’t regulating whether bloggers take compensation or not. The occasional review or free product is not the issue. FTC is concerned about blog networks, bloggers that consistently receive products/compensation, and disclosure of relationships.
  • FTC believes compliance will be high.
  • Enforcement will be subject to the same criteria as it is now — the extent of the injury will determine whether it justifies the expense of enforcement. I have long believed this would be the case. Nice to hear it from the source.
  • While bloggers would like the FTC to distinguish between free product and cash compensation, it does not seem inclined to do so. However, as noted above, the occasional free product or review isn’t the issue. The FTC is interested in consistent patterns of behavior, and in blog networks, not in whether an individual blogger got a free mascara or a bag of chips.

What they did NOT discuss on Word of Mouth was affiliate marketing, which the AP story said would be included:

“… the guidelines also would cover the broader and common practice of affiliate marketing, in which bloggers and other sites get a commission when someone clicks on a link that leads to a purchase at a retailer. In such cases, merchants also would be responsible for actions by their sales agents – including a network of bloggers.”

I’ve read the initial draft of the changes to the guidelines, and it does not include an example specific to online affiliate marketing such as Amazon. While I expect changes to draft in the final guidelines, I never made the connection between endorsements & testimonials, and affiliate ads like Amazon. Blog networks that offer free products or compensation to bloggers, absolutely. Campaigns that offer compensation to users for reviews on Amazon or iTunes. Again, clearly subject to the guidelines.

But simple affiliate marketing programs?

After much thought and conversation, I don’t think affiliate marketing should be lumped together with the guidelines on endorsements and testimonials. If the FTC wants to review online affiliate marketing practice, it should do so in a separate effort and allow sufficient time for public comment.

Affiliate marketing is a different type of advertising

A review of a product that is compensated in advance by either cash or free product should be considered a form of advertising. The FTC guidelines should apply.

The affiliate marketing relationship is different.

The blogger reviews or mentions a product on her blog and provides a link to a store that carries the item. For example, Amazon. It’s a referral. The blogger is only compensated if the buyer purchases the product from that link.

The explicit endorsement is of the product, although no one would deny that there is also an implicit endorsement of the store, especially if the blog also shows a search widget for the store in its sidebar.

However, once the buyer is at the store, the influence of the initial mention or review is diluted — by the advertising material on the store, by reviews from other consumers, by alternate product suggestions from the store. The blogger’s original opinion becomes one of many sources of information. If the buyer goes ahead and purchases something from the visit created by the affiliate link, the compensation is really nothing more than a “thank you for telling your friends about us.”

Now,  if the blogger received the product for free,  it should be disclosed under the guidelines. But it should be the free product that trips the endorsement guidelines, not the affiliate referral.

Affiliate marketing is understood by Internet users

Whether you see an ad like this:



or embedded links within a post like these Sleep Is for the Weak, The White Trash Mom Handbook, most Internet users  understand these to be affiliate marketing/advertising  links, with a compensation component. Many are probably Amazon affiliates themselves.

In the very long FTC guidelines document, a key condition of the additional disclosure requirement is if the consumer would not otherwise understand that an endorsement was compensated or that the speaker had a material interest. If the consumer would understand that the speech or action was compensated, the public interest does not require additional disclosure.

Examples — An athlete wearing name brand sports apparel is assumed to have a contract with the manufacturer. A celebrity on the red carpet is assumed to have borrowed her gown from a designer. A public figure endorsing a product in a TV commercial didn’t do it for free.

Affiliate advertising on blogs is similar. We don’t need additional information to know there’s compensation. It looks far too much like straightforward online advertising for there to be any real confusion.

What should bloggers do if they have affiliate marketing relationships?

The new FTC  guidelines are due later this summer. We’ll see then how affiliate marketing is covered (or not) in the document. It wasn’t in the initial draft, so we don’t have an example yet.

In the meantime, if you have affiliate marketing relationships, I suggest disclosing them clearly in your blog policy.

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The Amazon affiliate links used above for illustrative purposes are for books written by friends and use the Amazon affiliate account from my personal blog Snapshot Chronicles. So yes, if you buy a book, a friend gets a sale and I get a teeny weeny commission.