There’s Not Just One Type of Superfan

One of the great things about superfans is that they can really be any of your costumers; it doesn’t have to be a Tweeter with hundreds or thousands of followers. A good Superfan is a customer that truly values your brand and has a genuine desire to be a brand ambassador simply because they like your product – and they do it for free. Baochi explained that as about 36% of social networkers post about brands, this is an amazing opportunity to get in touch with these social users that can provide candid recommendations and honest feedback.  After all, these are the types of recommendations that people trust most. 92% of consumers worldwide trust recommendations from their family and friends.

Although hard to believe, it is also important to embrace negative comments. This can be a great resource for product improvement and also a chance to engage.  Superfans can come from positive and negative comments; if they have a complaint about your product, take this as a chance to learn more and potentially change their minds. Baochi backed this up with the fact that 40% of 1,000 RingCentral superfans were obtained from a negative comment.

Baochi pointed out 5 main ways of how superfans contribute:

• Engagement: Superfans who respond regularly
• Feedback: Superfans who often give suggestions for improvement
• Kudos: Superfans who post positive experiences with your brand
• Promotion: Superfans who give your product/brand recommendations
• Support: Superfans who stand by you in tough times

So you have all these different types of brand ambassadors advocating your brand – for free! How do you keep them around?

 Engage with your Superfans!

There are lots of ways to get to know your superfans better and keep them involved. Baochi gave lots of really useful examples, such as reading their blogs and leaving comments, conversing on relevant topics, but also getting to know them outside of your brand: what else are they interested in? Most importantly, you always need to thank them.  Nothing feels better than being acknowledged by the brand that they spend time promoting and recommending to others and also feeling that what they are talking about matters.

Ways to thank your fans include shout-outs, e-cards, sharing their posts, featuring superfans on social channels and events, asking them for input on fun stuff such as contests and providing exclusive content for them. Depending on your brand, one or more of these different tactics may work better for you.

 Superfan Don’ts

Although of course you want to keep your superfans engaged and interested, you don’t want to go overboard. Some important things to keep in mind when working with your superfans:

• Don’t choose superfans based on numbers. Just because they have thousands of followers doesn’t mean they’re going to be better than the others. Anyone can be a good superfan!
• Don’t be inauthentic.
• Don’t make superfans feel obligated.  They are doing this because they want to, not because they have to. Make it fun!
• Don’t engage too frequently. Baochi likens this to a new best friend – you’re excited about it but you wouldn’t be calling them and texting them all day every day, would you?

 Superfan Do’s

• Loop in your legal department. It’s always good to keep them involved, and it’s always best to let your team and the rest of your customers know that superfans represent themselves, and their opinions don’t reflect those of the company.
• Maintain a no-strings attached approach. Superfans shouldn’t feel required to do anything for your brand.
• Welcome customers who ask to join the superfan program. Never turn down potential engagement and an opportunity to build a new relationship.
• For a more advanced superfan program, connect superfans with each other!

What other tips do you think are important to consider when cultivating a superfan community? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Thousands of attendees have turned to the Social Media Strategies Summit for the latest technologies and insights into consumer behavior and the successful building blocks of a social media strategy. With other 75% of the Fortune 500 companies represented, the Social Media Strategies Summit promises to continue strong into 2013 and beyond.

The Social Media Strategies Summit provides two and three day events where attendees have the opportunity to learn how to utilize and integrate the myriad of social media platforms to engage customers directly at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing. SMSS, with its primary focus on education and learning, provides hands-on workshops, presentations, case studies where top-notch presenters will provide attendees with the skills needed to attract and engage quality customers.

Attendees of SMSS have the opportunity to:

• Optimize their organization’s social platform presence
• Utilize Twitter and Facebook to communicate with present and future customers
• Increase search engine optimization
• Use social media promotions to engage consumers
• Leverage word of mouth marketing
• Engage brand loyalists and dissatisfied customers
• Take advantage of the many social media platforms

Speakers at SMSS represent brands and organizations such as: Cisco Systems, Intel, McDonalds, Warner Brothers, Wildfire, H&R Block, IBM, NCAA, ESPN, Dunkin’ Donuts, USA Swimming, Wells Fargo, and 3M, and Dominoes Pizza among many others.

Interested in attending an upcoming Social Media Strategies Summit? Check out the website here for more details or contact Michael Roche at michael.roche@gsmiweb.com for questions.

Check out some of the key takeaways from Glenn’s session:

1 – Twitterize Your Headline

There’s extreme potential in pulling in the power of Twitter. Using keywords and hashtags in your title not only ensures that the opening message is succinct, but these are more likely to show up on Twitter through hashtag searches.  This way you can additionally harness search instead of only hoping your fans happen to be checking their newsfeed when you tweet our your press release.

2 – Videos and Pictures

Glenn points out that press releases should essentially be an online media kit. You should include as much interactive information as possible, and not leave readers venturing else where for more information. Additionally, adding videos and photos makes a press release much more visually appealing!

3 – Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks not only provide extra information, but it adds more weight to your press release. This also relates to making your press release as interactive as possible. As mentioned before, build your press release in the mindset that this is the news source, your readers’ “destination center”, not just a mechanism to reach the bigger news sources.

4 – Testimonials

Testimonials are not only a great way to build credibility, but it’s an important step to take if you want your press release to seem more like a news article rather than just a marketing pitch. This is highly relevant to both B2C and B2C brands.

5 – SEO, SEO, and More SEO

Glenn explains organizations do not utilize SEO nearly as much as they can or should be. If you provide the necessary keywords that can be maximized in search, Google will reward you.  Similarly, posting press releases regularly and providing great content will help with SEO as well. Companies around the word are marketing just like you, and it’s important to make sure that you utilize all the tools possible to help your brand stand out among the crowd.

Thank you Glenn for a great, interactive session!

Make sure to check out the rest of GSMI’s Social Media Strategies Summit 2012 events! Follow GSMI on Twitter and Facebook for new event updates and specials.

1) Personalize Your Page

Take advantage of all of the opportunities Twitter provides to really personalize your page and have it stand as a representation of who you are, what you’re interested in, what you do, or what you’re looking for. The left side of your Twitter page (250×700 pixels) should be your primary focus, creating the rest of the page to complement this section. Photos, logos, and/or contact information are good, basic ideas to start with. Validating your account is also a good idea (especially for bigger brands and public figures), as well putting together a to-the-point and effective bio. When followers can quickly get a sense of who you are and what you’re about (without doing too much research), they’re more likely to follow you.

2) Ask Interesting Questions and Ask for Help

Delve into conversation. Your Twitter followers are a great resource for feedback as well as help. If you are a brand, questions don’t necessarily have to be about your product – asking someone’s opinion and making it clear that it’s appreciated goes a long way. Make it fun!

3) Re-tweet and Reply (in Moderation)

Re-tweeting (RT) and replying to tweets is an effective way of acknowledging your followers and letting them know you find their tweets valuable and informative, and most importantly that you appreciate their following.

However, make sure to keep your re-tweets, original posts, and replies balanced. Conversation is important on Twitter, but keep in mind that you don’t want your Twitter feed to turn into a long list of “@reply” posts.  Followers will not only find this uninteresting, but they won’t have the patience to look through the conversation to find what it’s all about. From personal experience, this type of Twitter feed is the last kind that I want to follow!

4) Post Relevant Updates

I love using Twitter to follow my favorite news sources for the latest updates and brands for the latest deals.  By posting relevant and informative info and links, followers can come to consider you a good source of information and will find it worthwhile to engage with you.

5) Go Back to the Basics with Follow Friday (#FF)

Putting some time and thought into a #FF post is worthwhile and a great form of engagement.  It’s an easy way to give a shout-out to your favorite Tweeters and let them know you acknowledge and like their Tweets. It’s also a quick and effective way to make a recommendation to the rest of your followers.  It’s a win for everyone!

What are some other tips you have in mind for great engagement on Twitter? Share with me in the comments section!

Want to learn more about Social Media? Check out our Social Media Strategies Summit – 6 different summits around the US and in the UK! Contact Michael Roche for details: michael.roche@gsmiweb.com or 888.409.4418 ex. 704.

Is your team going mobile? Check out our Mobile Marketing Strategies Summit coming to Boston, Sept 19-20. Contact Jessica drew for details: jessica.drew@gsmiweb.com or 888.409.4418 ex. 708.

1) Make Your Cover Photo Stand Out

Cover photos are definitely a plus for business pages – it is the first thing a visitor sees when they visit your page, and there are great ways to take advantage of this; Number 1 being the opportunity to show visitors exactly what you do and make them want to learn more. Although Facebook doesn’t allow you to post any sort of website, promotion update, or call-to-action (i.e. Telling fans to like your page), businesses can get creative with their cover photo. You can use this space for your logo, brand colors, company description, photos representing what you do, etc. Get creative and use this opportunity to re-define how you want customers to view and think about your organization. Make it a visual, fun experience!

At GSMI, we chose to do a collage of pictures that represents what our conferences are all about – great speakers, networking, learning and interaction.

2) Creative Custom Tabs

Unfortunately, with the new Timeline layout, Facebook has scrapped default landing pages. However, the plus side is now Facebook allows you to create custom tabs. This is the place to put promotions and calls-to-action. Another piece of good news is that you can have these tabs link to a website outside of Facebook, giving companies quite a bit of freedom. Make sure these icons grab a visitor’s attention and makes them want to click on it to find out more.

Coca-Cola’s tabs are a great example:

3) Succinct “About Me” Section

As the “About Me” section is right below the cover photo and profile picture, this is also probably one of the first things viewers see. If you didn’t include a company description in your cover photo, use this space to succinctly describe what you’re about.  This can be a bit challenging, as you only have about a sentence (and a short one at that), before the rest of your “About Me” gets cut off. However, short and to-the-point is something viewers definitely appreciate.

GSMI’s “About Me” is the following:

4) Highlight Content

Facebook Timeline allows you to choose which pieces of content you want to appear on your Timeline, and which posts you want to appear at the top.  Simply hover over any post and “highlight” it. You can also add important milestones to your timeline – such as a product release, a new event, etc. On the right side of your Facebook page, visitors can then visit specific past months and years of your Timeline, where these milestones and other various past posts will appear. The best part is, you choose the content they see! You can hide or delete anything from your Timeline that you choose.

5) Keep Engaging Fans

The most important part, of course, is to keep posting content and giving your fans the opportunity to participate.  You want your fans to feel like your page is a community where their contributed content is important and valued. Facebook is a good place to market promotions and products, but it is also a great place to post pictures, encourage comments and discussion, and ask questions!

What other tips and tricks should businesses consider when creating their Facebook Timeline? Comment below.

Want to learn more about Social Media? Check out our Social Media Strategies Summit – 6 different summits around the US and in the UK! Contact Michael Roche for details: michael.roche@gsmiweb.com or 888.409.4418 ex. 704.

Is your team going mobile? Check out our Mobile Marketing Strategies Summit coming to Boston, Sept 19-20. Contact Jessica drew for details: jessica.drew@gsmiweb.com or 888.409.4418 ex. 708.

For more updates, remember to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

1) The Evolution of the Mobile Phone

It’s always interesting to take a minute and see how far the mobile phone has come, especially within the past couple of years (created by PDT).

2) A Day in The Internet

In case you missed this recent post on Business Insider, mbaonline has provided an exceptional and mind-blowing infographic on what happens on the internet every day.

3) The United States of Text Message Spam

Every wonder about who else gets all that annoying text message spam? Tatango conveniently breaks it down for you by age and gender, and also fills us in on some of the priciest text message spam lawsuits.

4) Mobile Advertising and the Rise of Coupons

Although this infographic, courtesy of Promotional Codes, is a bit “dated” (from 2010), it still makes some interesting predictions about mobile coupons through the next couple of years. It’s also always interesting to see how mobile coupons are valued globally. Click here for a larger view.

5) Mobile Marketing in 2011

Microsoft Tag released this infographic, compiling a lot of great mobile marketing statistics from 2011.

Interested in learning more about Mobile Marketing?  Secure your seat for our Mobile Marketing Strategies Summit, May 15 – 17 in San Francisco.  Register before April 6th and save $200! Download the brochure here or contact Michael Roche at michael.roche@gsmiweb.com

Also make sure to keep your eye out for our Mobile+Web DevCon, July 17 – 19, in San Francisco! Website coming soon. Contact Jessica drew for more information at jessica.drew@gsmiweb.com.

For more updates, follow GSMI on Twitter and Facebook.

Check out these 5 important factors you should consider before releasing and marketing a QR code.

1) Location

Several articles have been released about some creative and effective QR codes (For example this article about Beautiful and Creative ones on Mashable), and other articles on not-so-successful QR code campaigns are also plentiful (10 Funniest QR Code Fails on Mashable for example, or WTF QR Codes, a blog dedicated to posting daily not-so-genius examples – a personal favorite.) One of the top reasons QR codes fail is where they are — on the bumpers of cars, out of reach on billboards or high windows, on the opposite side of the subway tracks are classic examples of QR codes that just do not work.  When deciding where you want to place your QR code, place yourself in the shoes of your consumer.  Is it in a place that’s easily accessible or does the consumer have to work to get to it?  If your answer is the latter, your QR code is most likely going to be a no-go.

Subway QR Code fail.

2) Service

In relation to the example I gave above – QR codes in subway tunnels – it’s important to consider where consumers will be able to get service with their phone.  No service means no scanned QR codes. Customers are unlikely to have much patience for this. In addition to location and reception, things like good lighting and motion should also be considered.

3) Content

Once consumers scan your QR code, where does it take them? Determining the most relevant information for your consumer base is essential for the success of your QR code marketing campaign.  According to a study conducted by MGH, personal preferences for QR code content is across the board (with discounts and coupons taking the lead):

With this in mind, understanding the needs of your consumer base is what will peak their interest and encourage engagement with your brand. Give them meaningful content (not just directing them to your desktop website), and you will be rewarded accordingly.

4) Design

Appearance and design can also largely determine whether consumers are willing to interact with your QR code.  Note-worthy design and usability will not only give your brand more credibility, but going for a unique design rather than the regular black-and-white checkerboard QR code can also help to assure your customers that your QR code is secure. A good example is HBO’s QR code for their True Blood series:

5) Measurement

As is necessary with all mobile marketing campaigns, make sure to keep track of how consumers are interacting with your QR code once your marketing campaign has taken off.  This isn’t merely tracking how many people are scanning your QR code, but rather seeing these QR code scans’ impact on consumers’ engagement with your brand.  What are they doing once they scan your QR code?  Are they revisiting the content? How often? These types of measurements can help you gauge your QR code’s effectiveness and value.

Interested in learning more about Mobile Marketing?  Check out our Mobile Marketing Strategies Summit, coming up May 15-17 in San Francisco.  Download our brochure here, and secure your seat by contacting Michael Roche at michael.roche@gsmiweb.com.  Register by April 6th and save $200!

For other updates, follow GSMI on Twitter and Facebook.

We are very excited to announce that Brandon Berger, Chief Digital Officer, Worldwide of Ogilvy & Mather, will be presenting on our Business-to-Business track. In this Ogilvy & Mather case study titled “Making the B2B Mobile Marketing Connection”, Brandon will give attendees an extensive peek into Ogilvy & Mather’s transformation of the B2B mobile marketing space through providing richer and real-time mobile experiences for business executives.  Brandon will also reveal some of the mobile insights that Ogilvy discovered and what was behind their program’s success.

Brandon is the Chief Digital Officer for Ogilvy & Mather, where he is responsible for leading the global digital resources across the network. Brandon joined Ogilvy after working for three years at holding company MDC Partners where he was Vice President of Digital Innovation. At MDC, he was responsible for digital investments, acquisitions and partnerships for the network. He also provided strategic leadership for digital strategy for MDC’s agencies including Crispin Porter + Bogusky and others.

In addition to his most recent position with MDC Partners, Brandon has worked at such well-known agencies as McCann- Erickson/MRM, Leagas Delaney, McCann-Erickson/Anderson & Lambke, as well as Ogilvy where he worked from 2004-2007. In 2000, he founded his own company, WideRay Corp./Qwikker, a leader in location-based content distribution for mobile devices.

In his role at Ogilvy, Brandon teams with the leaders of Ogilvy’s global digital practices, which span all the company’s operating companies. He is responsible both for offer development and for bringing the offer to clients.

Outside of Ogilvy, Brandon serves as an advisor and board member to multiple venture funds, digital media and technology companies. He is also one of the founders of Boulder Digital Works.

Secure your seat today for the Mobile Marketing Strategies Summit — Register by April 6th and save $200! Contact Michael Roche at michael.roche@gsmiweb.com. Download our updated brochure here, just released this week.

For other updates, follow GSMI on Twitter and Facebook.

According to an Avanade-sponsored study, 88% of business executives are using their own cell phones for business — using the mobile web but also engaging in mobile apps. B2B businesses and other high level executives are recognizing the power of mobile websites and mobile apps within the business space.  Not only do they provide to enhance productivity within all departments of your business, allow business executives to work remotely or while traveling, but they also enhance communication and collaboration between employees.

What that in mind… check out these 5 tips for developing a mobile app for the enterprise.

1) Decide which OS and devices you want to work with

Deciding on which OS and devices you’d like to work with depends on who you’re primarily looking to engage — if you’re main audience is your workforce, iOS and iPad is probably going to be your top priority.  However if you’re also looking to engage customers and vendors, investing in other platforms such as Android or Windows Phone might be another important option to consider (Extension Engine).

2) Create an App That’s Task-Specific

Task specific apps are one of the best ways to increase productivity. In Linda Musthaler’s blog, she mentions Taptera, a company that develops Mobile Enterprise Apps — and are a perfect example of task-specific applications.  Some of their products include: Rooms, which allows you locate available conference rooms; Colleagues, a mobile corporate directory; and Events, which allows event organizers to add speakers, sponsors and other event information to the app seamlessly.

3) Create With User Experience as a Priority

With thousands of applications streaming through the App Store, expectations are high for user experience, and patience for slow or aesthetically unappealing apps is low.  Although functionality for a mobile enterprise app is clearly a priority, user experience and design should not have to suffer.

4) 1, 2, 3, Testing…

Regardless of how large your user base will be, testing is essential, and lots of it.  This especially becomes important if you’ll be designing across multiple platforms.  Testing doesn’t necessarily become irrelevant once the app is launched — frequent maintenance and “upkeep” is also key for success.

5) Deployment & Support

As related to the previous point, stay in sync with your users and be there to address any issues and get them resolved as soon as possible.  In addition, OSs like Android and iOS have updates frequently, typically every few months — which also need to be thoroughly tested.

For more interesting statistics on the mobile web and mobile app downloads, check out this very revealing infographic by Zendesk:

Want to learn more about mobile marketing?  Make sure to secure your seat at our upcoming Mobile Marketing Strategies Summit, May 15-17, San Francisco.  Register befor April 6 and save $200! Contact Michael Roche at michael.roche@gsmiweb.com.

Also keep an eye out for our Mobile + Web Developer conference, July 17-19, San Francisco. Website coming soon! For registration information contact Jessica Drew at jessica.drew@gsmiweb.com.

For other updates, remember to follow GSMI on Twitter and Facebook.

GSMI is very excited to announce that Tim Ware, Director Mobile Sales from The Wall Street Journal is going to be presenting a case study on the Business-to-Consumer track: “How The Wall Street Journal is Harnessing Mobile Media”, giving attendees the inside scoop on how WSJ’s mobile efforts are changing their reader demographic.

Check out some session details below:

Consumer goods advertisers should consider The Wall Street Journal’s mobile products deliver a younger, more engaged audience, who have substantial purchasing power and higher consumption habits by virtue of how and where they are experience their news and information.

WSJ’s Mobile products significantly enhance consumption of its world class content driving deeper and more frequent engagement of its content due to innovative and aggressive publishing pursuits across Smartphone and Tablet platforms.  WSJ has maintained and increased the availability of its content through its mobile products as consumption continues to migrate through mobile devices.  Preliminary information suggests that WSJ’s mobile content attracts a wealthier and younger segment of its traditional readership and is poised to grow its audience base as younger demographic segments are introduced to its vast mobile content offerings and circulation efforts can be more effectively tailored to meet growing demand for The Wall Street Journal’s through mobile products.

This mobile strategy is preserving and transforming readership of this 122 year old publication into an even stronger and more relevant global news publication as it embarks on its 3rd century of existence, attracting younger, wealthier and more powerful professionals who will continue to shift their media consumption towards mobile devices.

Tim has worked in digital sales capacities for 15 years and the electronic media business for 20. Tim is the first dedicated mobile sales executive employed by Dow Jones tasked with driving mobile ad revenue across the The Wall Street Journal Digital Network’s suite of mobile products. Those responsibilities are inclusive of Tablet and Smartphone apps and mobile web audiences across the Dow Jones franchise of publications and spectrum of devices. Tim additionally leads the ad sales efforts for WSJ Live, The Wall Street Journal’s cutting edge video application which showcases live and on-demand news clips geared toward audiences that are consuming greater amount of video inventory through tablets and smart devices.

Previous to joining The Wall Street Journal, Tim worked for top sports and entertainment brands such as ESPN, NFL, NHL and WWE as well as internet start-ups, InterZine Productions and Yardbarker. At Starwave / ESPN he was intimately involved in developing its digital advertising business within the organizations array of multimedia offerings having served multiple roles within the organizations evolving advertising business. At WWE, he was able to secure first beer partnership in WWE’s 40-year old existence, which utilized social media and custom video integration across client’s brand assets; including television integrations and licensing of intellectual property. Throughout his career he has worked across a diverse degree of digital display advertising arenas including: Mobile, Social Media and Video. Prior to jumping into the digital media space, Tim worked at Media buying shops; McCann-Erickson and Saatchi & Saatchi where he purchased sports sponsorships, broadcast and local television advertising.

Our next early bird is coming up – Register by April 6th to save $200! To secure your seat contact Michael Roche at michael.roche@gsmiweb.com.