The marketing and business landscape is changing, are you? Social Media Revolution

If you attended today’s Entrepreneur’s Edge, NAWBO’s premier educational symposium for Business Owners and potential Business Owners, I hope you enjoyed my presentation on social media.

My breakout session topic was:

* Social Media 101: What is it and What Does it Mean to My Business

-presented by Debi Hammond, Founder/CEO, Merlot Marketing, Inc.

As promised, here is a link to Merlot Marketing’s Delicious page which includes informative articles on social media that will help you gain a better understanding of the tools available, the power of those tools, and the strategic approach you should take in engaging in this medium. There are 32 bookmarks with the NAWBO tag.

Additionally, there is a great series of videos that put social media in Plain English. The videos are incredibly informative and quite entertaining to watch. Click here or visit YouTube and search using the following search term to pull up information on everything social media…  Search Term: common craft

I hope you find this information helpful and I certainly enjoyed the opportunity to present to you!

Seth Godin recently wrote about Scott McCloud’s book on comics as it relates to marketing. As a huge fan of comics i just couldn’t let the opportunity pass without adding my two cents.

Read the rest of this entry »

Get the Entrepreneur’s Edge at NAWBO’s premier educational symposium for Business Owners and potential Business Owners scheduled for Wednesday, February 10, 2010 from 3 – 7:30 pm at IKEA in West Sacramento. Afternoon includes hors d’oeuvres, beverages, and networking (3 pm), two sets of break-out sessions, and interview panel during dinner buffet with wine 6 – 7:30 pm.

Scheduled Breakout Sessions

* Social Media 101: What is it and What Does it Mean to My Business

-presentation by Debi Hammond, Founder/CEO, Merlot Marketing, Inc.

* Social Media 201 Learn how to Use LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter effectively for Business

* Redesign Your Life to Step into Balance, Power, and Success

* Online Security Savvy — Protecting Your Business Assets

* Preparing and Interpreting your Financial Reports from a Banker’s Perspective

* Texting to Twitter — Understanding and Effectively Relating to Generation X and Y

* Channeling: Establish Your Business Future Through Pre-Sold Referrals

Plus “Women Who Built Their Business from the Ground Up”

Introducing NAWBO’s Expert Speakers

Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Time: 3:00-7:30 pm

Place: IKEA West Sacramento, 700 IKEA Court (I-80 & Reed Ave)

Price: $39/member, $49/non-members by February 6, 2010; $10 more at the door.

For more info, click here

I am almost finished with “Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust,” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith and although it does get a bit, well, deep into the techie scene and their inner circle of social media gurus, it’s a great book on how to approach social media successfully.  In a nut shell, when it comes to social media, keep it helpful and keep it real. 

As marketers (and clients as salespeople), we tend to get aggressive with our messages - wanting responses and ROI immediately, but the fact of the matter is, that’s just not how social media works.  Personal relationships and connections take time and some giving of yourself.  So before you expect to get, start to give first.  Want to build influence and earn trust? I’d recommend picking up a copy of this book: Trust Agents.

Friday, December 04, 2009

Strategy often overlooked in social media

Set your goals from the start to avoid having to clean up a mess

Sacramento Business Journal – by Debi Hammond, Contributing writer, Marketing

Social media, the marketing buzz phrase of 2009, finally is being embraced by small and large companies alike. But for some companies, their late entry into the social media space has left them trying to clean up messes created by their “wait and see” mentality.

What they didn’t realize is that while they were “waiting to see” what this social media “thing” was all about, their brands were being altered, and in some cases, stolen, online.

We have spent the past few months flying all across the country taking clients through an in-depth social media training that is focused, not on the tools, but rather on the strategy behind the utilization of those tools. The difference between strategy and usage is extremely important.

Companies spend a fortune in both time and money hiring advertising and public relations professionals to manage their brands, yet when it comes to social media, they tend to pass those responsibilities on to the first intern or GenY employee who has a MySpace or Facebook account — thinking that the ability to use social media tools is the same as the ability to use them strategically.

Stay in control

So, what can really go wrong in the social media space by having just anyone manage it for you? A lot. Here are just two examples.

First, and probably most important, someone else will own your profile names. This means, for example, that your official business name on Face­book or Twitter could be tied to an intern’s e-mail address and when that intern is gone, so is your ability to manage (or own) that account, or the name on it. A huge loss for your business and your brand.

Second, you can lose control of your brand message. Every tweet, post and comment counts when it comes to your brand. What is really being said about, and by, your brand online? Something as important as your brand should be managed by those who truly understand it.

How can you avoid having to clean up a social media mess? Review these guidelines before ever starting a social media campaign.

Create a strategic plan

When you launch a new advertising campaign, you have a well thought-out strategic plan. When you launch a PR program, you develop a strategic plan. Yet, somehow, when companies launch a social media program, they do it without a plan. You know the old saying: “Fail to plan and you plan to fail.”

Develop guidelines

A lot of large companies are grappling with the fact that their own employees are talking about, representing and in some cases “owning” the company’s brand online. They’ve created fan pages and blogs dedicated to the company. They tweet on behalf of themselves and the company, using logos, branding elements and messaging that is often out of context and off message.

It’s not that they are doing anything wrong intentionally. In fact, if anything, you want to encourage their enthusiasm.

So how is it that the company can lose control online, even to its best brand fanatics? It’s because the company did not provide the guidelines needed to harness the enthusiasm from the beginning.

A simple set of social media guidelines can go a long way in unifying your brand online and/or saving you the time and heartache of trying to reel in and rebrand what 10 or 10,000 employees already have created online.

Hire or assign a strategist

Once again, almost anyone can use social media tools or teach you how to create a Twitter account. However, what’s important is that they understand how to use a Twitter account (or any other social media tool) strategically for the benefit of your brand and business. It’s imperative that the person who manages your social media program understands the traditional principles of marketing while fully embracing the untraditional principles of the Web.

Hire a social media strategist and watch your brand grow online.

Provide human capital, resources

Most people think social media is free, when, in fact, it’s quite expensive when done right. Yes, the tools are free, but what you need to implement a successful social media campaign is a team with time, resources and a strategic approach. It takes time, dedication and resources to create rich content, engage in meaningful conversation and monitor your brand online.

Without a social media team, you’re without the resources necessary to do it right.

Put social media in its place

Many elements fall under the marketing umbrella including advertising, public relations and creative development. Yet, somehow, social media is often considered an add-on — a free marketing element that doesn’t deserve the same time, planning and strategy as the other disciplines. Well, social media is an integrated discipline and needs to be elevated and positioned equally to all other disciplines under the marketing umbrella in order to use it successfully.

So, whether you’ve already implemented a social media program or plan to in the near future, be sure to follow the guidelines outlined above so that the buzz you create online supports your brand and your business.

Debi Hammond is president and chief executive officer of Sacramento-based Merlot Marketing Inc. Reach her at debi@merlotmarketing.com . Click here for original article.

All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

July 1st marked the beginning of Levis new campaign “Go Forth” which places a huge emphasis on American Exceptionalism, our fight for independence and manifest destiny. They have invited us to take part in the campaign, the illusion they have created (and make no mistake it is an illusion). They have declared us “generation denim”…

Read the rest of this entry »

Names are a tricky business.  Marketing agencies and law firms tend to take the less creative and egotistical route and call themselves by name, for example: Hanson Bridgett. Law firm or ad agency? Not too easy to tell. 

Other companies take a more obscure approach, which can be quite successful with the right marketing, i.e. Apple, Google, Starbucks. 

And then there is the more descriptive genre: Direct TV, UPS (United Parcel Service), Beds, Baths & Beyond. 

And then there are these:

• Every Dog has its Daycare, Inc.
• The Best Little Hairhouse in Town
• Salt and Battery Fish & Chips

And my personal favorite: http://www.bigassfans.com/

It’s descriptive, funny, memorable and there is no mistaking what they do.  So, what does your name say about your business? 

Don’t miss the National Latina Business Women’s Association’s 4th Annual Helping Build the Latina Woman Business Conference today at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel.  The conference starts at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m.  The afternoon session (starting at 2:00 p.m.) includes a panel of three marketing professionals who will share insight and information on “How to get Explosive Results from the Use of Social Media.” The panel includes:

Lindsay Myers, Senior SEO Consultant/METRO SEO
Tammy Burleson, President & CEO/Why Not Web
Debi Hammond, President & CEO/Merlot Marketing

Want more information or interested in attending?

Click on Agenda or Registration for more information.

You can’t say ‘restaurant’ in Sacramento without saying Paragary’s. The two have gone hand in hand for longer than I have been alive, and Paragary’s Restaurant Group (PRG) latest foray into the restaurant business is simply swinging!

Read the rest of this entry »