Better Content Marketing for Improved Social Engagement: Michael Stelzner
Posted on 14. Feb, 2012 by Ashley Zeckman in Blog, content marketing, marketing message, Michael Stelzner, OMS, Online Marketing Summit, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Examiner
Does your business need better content marketing like this Social Media Examiner contest participant?
In 2009 Michael Stelzner (@mike_stelzner) decided to run an experiment. He wanted to see if he could repeat his previous success in a new industry. That experiment led to the launch of Social Media Examiner in October of that same year. Michael had been well known in the whitepaper industry and joked “I went from the king of whitepapers to the joker of social media.”
I really appreciated Michael’s insight into today’s customers and the need for change in an industry that is constantly evolving. Below I’ve provided some highlights from what I learned from Michael Stelzner at the 2012 Online Marketing Summit.
In the World of Marketing Change is Essential
As industries advance, ideas begin to expand, products morph, and customers move on. With this change comes a series of questions:
- Will my business survive?
- Have I set the right trajectory?
- What is coming?
- Am I ready?
In the rapidly evolving Social Media Marketing industry there is one thing that is constant that business often overlook. People are the constant; at their core people don’t change. They will always be looking for great insight, access to great people, and recognition. If you can keep focused on people and their desires then half of your mission, as a content marketer is complete.
What is Wrong with Marketing Today?
One of the analogies that Stelzner shared is that we often treat our customers like fish. In order to better target these customers we must create better offerings and promotions than our competitors in order to get our customers to bite. Marketers should also keep the following tips in mind when creating a content strategy:
- Don’t focus strictly on yourself, products and services
- Instead shine the spotlight on others such as outside experts or successful peers
- When you lift others up, they’ll return the favor
Channel Overload Syndrome
As customers receive marketing messages from multiple sources on a daily basis they begin to tune out and seek a sense of refuge from the marketing bombardment. If you are able to create a sense of trust between your company and your customers it is one of the biggest assets that you have working for you.
Customers as a rule will typically distrust companies. If you can manage to solve your customers initial problems at no cost you open up the possibility that they will look to you to solve their larger issues which could lead to increased revenue for your organization.
What is the Formula for Growth?
According to Stelzner the formula for a great and engaging marketing plan is:
Great Content + People – Marketing Messages = Growth
- Great content is that stuff that everyone wants.
- Other people, means it’s designed not for your purposes but for others.
- When you throw your marketing messages out the window completely in relation to content marketing you can grow quickly.
Creating Great Content
Instead of investing your marketing dollars in ad space consider investing in the creation of quality content. That content will include personal experience and gathering information about topics customers care about, and identifying where they are spending time looking for answers. Stelzner also identified two types of content that marketers should be creating which includes:
Primary Content: The type of content that people consume on a daily basis that brings them back for more on a regular basis.
Nuclear Content: This type of content is harder to produce and includes things like industry reports and contests. Nuclear content can have a larger impact and draws people to your organization and can get you noticed as an industry leader.
What Have We Learned?
There are many elements to creating a great content marketing plan. First and foremost we must always remember who this content is for, what their preferences are, and what problems we are trying to help our audience solve. I also really enjoyed hearing Stelzner’s take on different types of content, when to create them, and the anticipated results when executed properly. What are your thoughts on adding “primary” and “nuclear” content to your online marketing strategy?
Be sure to tune in this afternoon to Social Media Examiner’s Small Business Summit with Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner, Joe Pulizzi from Junta42, Brian Clark from Copyblogger Media and TopRank CEO Lee Odden as they discuss blogging and small business success.
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Better Content Marketing for Improved Social Engagement: Michael Stelzner | http://www.toprankblog.com
Guy Kawasaki, Cristal, and 19 Facebook Webinars
Posted on 24. Jul, 2011 by Jay Baer in Blog, facebook, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Examiner, social media training, social networks
Facebook best practices change about as often as Sean Combs/Puffy/Puff Daddy/P Diddy/Diddy/Diddy Dirty Money monikers, and keeping up on Facebook for business can be a significant time investment. Lots of newsletters, blog posts, and case studies to consume.
But now you can get the straight scoop on what’s happening on Facebook for your business, and you don’t even have to leave your office. Put on a little Beyonce in the background, grab some Cristal and join me at Facebook Success Summit (http://bit.ly/learnFacebook)
Produced by Social Media Examiner, this is the biggest and best Facebook education event ever. 19 Facebook pros (including yours truly) will help business owners and marketers improve in the wild and wooly world of Facebook. This Summit’s focus is to empower you to implement successful Facebook marketing tactics, track and measure your Facebook ROI, and see how successful Facebook campaigns were executed.
Check out this line-up:
Guy Kawasaki (author, Enchantment), Mari Smith (co-author,Facebook Marketing), Dave Kerpen (author, Likeable Social Media), Paul Dunay (co-author, Facebook Marketing for Dummies), Jesse Stay (author, Facebook Application Development for Dummies), Robert Scoble (co-author, Naked Conversations), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner), and experts from Intuit, PETCO, Applebees and Intel.
Plus Chris Treadaway (co-author,Facebook Marketing), Amy Porterfield (co-author, Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies), and Andrea Vahl (co-author, Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies).
I’m doing a session on the many ways Facebook and email marketing are similar, and how to tie the two together strategically and operationally in your organization.
Who Should Attend?
Attendees at the previous Summit came from companies like General Mills, American Express, Intel, San Francisco Giants, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Intuit, Harvard Business School, 3M, Kellogg, Staples, General Electric, MetLife, HP, Fox TV, LexisNexis, and the U.S. Army.
But you don’t need to be a big business. All companies will benefit from Facebook Success Summit.
Massively Convenient for You
This is a 100% virtual event, so you can pick and choose what you want to attend. All sessions are also recorded, so you have up to ONE YEAR to watch the presentations at a time that’s convenient to you(which is where the Cristal comes in)
Session start October 5, and the 19 presentations are spread over four weeks. But again, you can watch them down the road if you miss any.
Save 50% for a Limited Time
If you sign up soon, you’ll save 50% on the registration fee, giving you a per-Webinar price of something like $16. Sixteen bucks for a Guy Kawasaki presentation? Umm, yeah! For Mari Smith? Definitely. Robert Scoble? Certainly. Heck, 16 bucks for a presentation from me is a pretty darn good deal. And this will sell out. The last Summit we did had nearly 3,000 sign ups, and 98% of attendees said they’d sign up again.
And if you sign up soon, I make a few dollars too. I appreciate your support. Tell your friends and colleagues about Facebook Success Summit and this URL: http://bit.ly/learnFacebook
If you’re like me, sometimes you hate Facebook with the intensity of a burning sun. And then you start to love it again. I guarantee you’ll take away several ideas and tips from this Summit that will help you and your company boost success on FB.
I’ll see you there. If you have any questions about Facebook Success Summit 2011, shoot me an email or ask me on the new Facebook fan page for Convince & Convert (launching this week).
Also: As a way of saying “thanks” for signing up soon, there’s a gift just for marketers called “Facebook News Feed Optimization: How to Dramatically Increase Your Visibility and Engagement” by Mari Smith (valued at $59) waiting for you. It’s great content. Go get it here>
Content Without Advocacy is Just Words and Google Bait
Posted on 21. Jul, 2011 by Jay Baer in Blog, content marketing, interview, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Book, Social Media Examiner, Social Media Success Summit, Video Blogs
Mike Stelzner knows a little something about building a successful company from thin air. He’s the founder of Social Media Examiner, currently ranked the #8 marketing blog in the world on the AdAge Power 150 (we’re lagging at #19 here at Convince & Convert). In just one year – from a standing start – SME became a multi-million dollar business. In addition to the blog itself, Mike and the SME crew produce the excellent Social Media Success Summits and Facebook Success Summits (disclosure: I’ve been a part of nearly all of them as a paid presenter).
Every time I think I’m doing a good job building a community and a company at Convince & Convert, I look at what Mike has cooking and realize he’s doing it bigger, faster, and better than me. Bastard.
The good news is that Mike doesn’t believe in secrets, and his excellent new book Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition (affiliate) shows you exactly how he’s built SME and his other businesses, and how other companies like Hubspot have used the same playbook.
Mike and I discuss the book and its teachings at length in the video above, and I really do hope you’ll take a few minutes to check it out. Lots of very interesting ideas from Mike that run counter to the accepted wisdom about how you build businesses.
For example, the core premise of Launch is the Elevation Principle, which dictates that you can build the best business by fulfilling people’s needs at NO COST. This is in stark contrast to the conversion and immediate ROI focus that most companies have adopted, even within the social media world.
Planting Customer Crops
Mike really believes in farming. Planting content seeds that produce customer crops down the road. Not today, but eventually. He also talks a lot in the video and in the book about giving gifts. The notion of quid pro quo and reciprocity are ruining business, in his estimation. Giving gifts (material gifts, content gifts, attention gifts) without expecting a return will produce – somewhat ironically – a far greater return.
It’s a weird paradox. Mike’s entire philosophy is about delaying business gratification, and about doing right by your prospective customers today so more of them will become actual customers tomorrow. Yet by following that advice, he’s actually building companies FASTER than if you did it the old school way with a bunch of sales reps and high-pressure Webinars.
I know it works, because I’ve seen him do it, and I’ve used some of the same techniques for my own businesses, and for my clients. But the reality is that most companies – especially large ones – don’t have the guts to give away all of their content without so much as even an email collection gate. If nothing else, Launch will inspire you to give it a try.
Content Without People Is Just Words
But the wisest part of Mike’s book isn’t about content or gift-giving, it’s about people. His formula is content PLUS people equals success. And when the storm clouds of budget and tactics roll in, the people part is usually what gets left out in the rain.
The book talks about “fire starters” – people in your industry that can drive awareness and social proof and attention and advocacy. It’s similar to Gladwell’s “Mavens” segment from The Tipping Point, but in today’s hyper-shareable world of micro-content and invitation avalanches, these people aren’t just nice to have, they’re critical.
And that’s the problem. I don’t care who you are, what company you work for, or how good your content is, that content isn’t good enough to truly succeed without key people making it work. You have to find a small group of netizens who believe in you enough to put some of their own skin in the game and support your content efforts. Are those employees? Maybe. Are they customers? Perhaps. Business partners? Sure. But all of those audiences are biased. What you really want are customers or third parties who don’t have anything to personally gain via your success. Those are the fire-starters that make your content more than just words and Google Bait. They are what make your content into a movement.
Don’t fall for the trap of just making content and posting it in a vacuum. As you’ll learn in Launch, the same amount of effort you put into your content creation should also be put into relationship cultivation.
That’s the secret. And I’m glad Mike is willing to share it for the price of a book. Pick up Launch. It’s a quick, interesting read that will have you dog-earing a ton of pages.
Content Without Advocacy is Just Words and Google Bait
Posted on 21. Jul, 2011 by Jay Baer in Blog, content marketing, interview, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Book, Social Media Examiner, Social Media Success Summit, Video Blogs
Mike Stelzner knows a little something about building a successful company from thin air. He’s the founder of Social Media Examiner, currently ranked the #8 marketing blog in the world on the AdAge Power 150 (we’re lagging at #19 here at Convince & Convert). In just one year – from a standing start – SME became a multi-million dollar business. In addition to the blog itself, Mike and the SME crew produce the excellent Social Media Success Summits and Facebook Success Summits (disclosure: I’ve been a part of nearly all of them as a paid presenter).
Every time I think I’m doing a good job building a community and a company at Convince & Convert, I look at what Mike has cooking and realize he’s doing it bigger, faster, and better than me. Bastard.
The good news is that Mike doesn’t believe in secrets, and his excellent new book Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition (affiliate) shows you exactly how he’s built SME and his other businesses, and how other companies like Hubspot have used the same playbook.
Mike and I discuss the book and its teachings at length in the video above, and I really do hope you’ll take a few minutes to check it out. Lots of very interesting ideas from Mike that run counter to the accepted wisdom about how you build businesses.
For example, the core premise of Launch is the Elevation Principle, which dictates that you can build the best business by fulfilling people’s needs at NO COST. This is in stark contrast to the conversion and immediate ROI focus that most companies have adopted, even within the social media world.
Planting Customer Crops
Mike really believes in farming. Planting content seeds that produce customer crops down the road. Not today, but eventually. He also talks a lot in the video and in the book about giving gifts. The notion of quid pro quo and reciprocity are ruining business, in his estimation. Giving gifts (material gifts, content gifts, attention gifts) without expecting a return will produce – somewhat ironically – a far greater return.
It’s a weird paradox. Mike’s entire philosophy is about delaying business gratification, and about doing right by your prospective customers today so more of them will become actual customers tomorrow. Yet by following that advice, he’s actually building companies FASTER than if you did it the old school way with a bunch of sales reps and high-pressure Webinars.
I know it works, because I’ve seen him do it, and I’ve used some of the same techniques for my own businesses, and for my clients. But the reality is that most companies – especially large ones – don’t have the guts to give away all of their content without so much as even an email collection gate. If nothing else, Launch will inspire you to give it a try.
Content Without People Is Just Words
But the wisest part of Mike’s book isn’t about content or gift-giving, it’s about people. His formula is content PLUS people equals success. And when the storm clouds of budget and tactics roll in, the people part is usually what gets left out in the rain.
The book talks about “fire starters” – people in your industry that can drive awareness and social proof and attention and advocacy. It’s similar to Gladwell’s “Mavens” segment from The Tipping Point, but in today’s hyper-shareable world of micro-content and invitation avalanches, these people aren’t just nice to have, they’re critical.
And that’s the problem. I don’t care who you are, what company you work for, or how good your content is, that content isn’t good enough to truly succeed without key people making it work. You have to find a small group of netizens who believe in you enough to put some of their own skin in the game and support your content efforts. Are those employees? Maybe. Are they customers? Perhaps. Business partners? Sure. But all of those audiences are biased. What you really want are customers or third parties who don’t have anything to personally gain via your success. Those are the fire-starters that make your content more than just words and Google Bait. They are what make your content into a movement.
Don’t fall for the trap of just making content and posting it in a vacuum. As you’ll learn in Launch, the same amount of effort you put into your content creation should also be put into relationship cultivation.
That’s the secret. And I’m glad Mike is willing to share it for the price of a book. Pick up Launch. It’s a quick, interesting read that will have you dog-earing a ton of pages.
(video production from my friends at Real Simple Video. If you need someone to take your raw footage and tidy it up, add titles, etc. they are the guys. Fast and reasonably priced. Check them out at http://realsimplevideo.com/jaybaer).
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