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I Have a Video! Now What?
Posted Jun 27th, 2011 By Mirna Bard in Video Marketing, Viral Marketing With | No Comments

If you’ve taken the big leap and joined the ranks of the online video marketers, congratulations! The first video is always the most difficult.

But now that you’ve produced your first video, what’s next? How do you not only maximize the marketing from that video, but also create new video marketing opportunities? Unless you want to succumb to the dreaded “one and done” syndrome, you’ll want to create a strategic marketing plan for using video regularly in your business.

As with any plan, you must begin with the end in mind. What are your business objectives for video? Is it to grow your list? Build your brand? Drive more web traffic? Enhance your credibility? Your goals will determine your direction.

If you said “all of the above” to the video goals we just listed, here are some ideas for maintaining your video momentum…

1. Create an “expert tips” series to share your expertise. Short, 1 – 2 minute “how to” videos are a great way to increase your credibility and expand your influence.

2. If you’ve got a blog, add a videoblog post every couple of weeks. The search engines love video, and your readers will be treated to a dynamic change of pace from your traditional blog posts. Extra bonus: Video is much more personal and compelling than print alone!

3. Get some face time. Use a personal video message or video email to go “face to face” with your clients or prospects. Sending a video greeting, birthday wishes or a thank you video have much more impact than yet another regular email. If you want to stand out and be memorable, use video! (more…)
20 of the Most Favored Social Media Blog Posts of 2010
Posted Dec 20th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Blogging, Business, Social Media With | 1 Comment
Here are 20 most read and widely-shared social media blog posts of 2010 on MirnaBard.com. It’s a good time to revisit many of these posts, as they are great reminders when planning for 2011. Please let me know what your favorite one was in the comments below.

Thank you for all my supportive readers. I appreciate you more than you know!
Which one of the 20 was your favorite of 2010?
Brand-What the Heck is That?
Posted Jul 12th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Branding, Business With | 3 Comments

Many people use the word brand quite loosely. So let’s define what a brand is? For many people, a brand is just a logo with a unique identity and nothing else.

So let’s define what exactly a brand is and how we can use it to position ourselves in this crowded marketplace.

I was once talking to a brand expert and she said “Several decades ago, perhaps even centuries ago, if people wanted to buy flowers, they would just buy it from a vendor on the street. People were mostly commodity shoppers.”

Today, the market place is so crowded that almost everybody sells a similar commodity. How do you differentiate one from the other? It could be the exact same product but they could differ in quality and performance. So, now enter brands.

A brand to me is a reputation and also a personality. People buy based on reputation. If two people went to raise capital in the market one was Warren Buffet and the other was XYZ, most people would invest in Warren Buffet because Warren has built a reputation of being a wise businessman with a great track record in building multi-billion dollar companies. And, nobody has any idea who XYZ is. (more…)
4 Steps to Strengthen Your Brand with Social Media
Posted Jul 9th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Business, Social Media With | 1 Comment

Social media is a very powerful tool for allowing businesses to efficiently and economically develop a strong brand presence in the marketplace. This is true not just when it applies to brand outreach, but also brand development at it’s core.

At Flying Pig Communications, we work with a lot of start-ups and small businesses that are at the forefront of establishing who they are, in the mind of their consumer. These businesses have found amazing success in developing that core brand foundation by relying on social media as their platform.

Unfortunately social media is so new and omnipresent, it can seem overwhelming. This prevents many business owners from taking advantage of the opportunities it presents them. Never fear…you started a business, you can’t be a coward…here is an easy four step protocol to help any business owner develop a successful social media branding program:

1) Know Who You Are

Before embarking on any marketing campaign, but especially a social media one, which operates on such a personal, conversational level, a business must establish a clear vision of the following cornerstones of brand development:

-What is the goal of your business/service/product? This should have nothing to do with sales or your personal profit/success. This should have everything to do with how your business can make your customer’s life better. Why in the world, with all the many products and services out there, would your customer benefit by choosing you?

-What makes you unique? Why would your customer choose you over the 15 zillion other ‘you’s’ on the market?

-What personality do you want to convey? Make your business human. People like working with other people, not other things…and social media gives you the power to develop a voice, literally! Develop a personality for your business and keep it consistent in everything you do. It could be your personality, it could be one you make up….have fun and always consider what will best appeal/resonate with your target audience.

Just like life, you need to know who you are before you can attract others. Building a brand is more about a snappy logo or catchy slogan. Building a brand is about telling your customer a story about who you are, what you believe in and why they should trust you.

2) Develop Your Strategy

Once you feel firm in your answers above, moving on to the actual social media program is easy. Only two questions remain;

-What social media channels will best help you express who you are.

-How will you keep it consistent.

Don’t try to tackle the whole social media sphere in one swoop, more isn’t better, better is better! Choose your poison (but make it strong).

Choose the social media mediums that will best let you both target your ideal customer and express your brand. Know your limits, a good marketing campaign is the one that is properly executed, not the one that sounds good on paper.

3) Prepare for the consequences

Be aware of the power of social media, both for good and evil. It can be a double edged sword, and once you commit to a plan you need to make sure you maintain consistent and communicative with your audience.

4) Enjoy it

Most of all, have fun! Imagine social media as a web 2.0 way of shaking hands and kissing babies. Talk to your customer, enjoy them…serving their needs is the reason you went into business in the first place!

Guest Author: Laura Petrolino is Founder and CEO of Flying Pig Communications. A full service Marketing, Communications and Business Consultancy Firm that specializes in working with start -ups, small businesses and non-profits.
Social Influence Marketing: A More Powerful Way to Talk to Customers
Posted Aug 20th, 2009 By Mirna Bard in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter With | 4 Comments

Razorfish recently came out with a report on social influence marketing, an interesting concept for companies and businesses that are looking to reach customers in a new and better way. There are many interesting points in the 58 page report, but it essentially boils down to communicating with your clients. Rather than pushing a brand at them, you are interacting with them and influencing them . . . something that most companies have not yet adopted.

Going Where Your Clients Are

These days, the vast majority of people use social media and that means if you want to influence them, you need to be where they are. Gone are the days of pushing products from afar, now you need to get up close and personal with clients. Top down branding is no longer the way to go, as customers aren’t getting their information from customers anymore.

An increasing number of people go through the internet to find out whether or not they should buy something. They listen to their online peers and this is where the social influencing comes in. Telling someone they should buy your product isn’t going to work. Showing people how your product can help them will provide results, however, because they are going to tell others and the news will spread rapidly about a great product. Many consumers are not even aware of the role they play in influencing the purchases of others, simply by commenting on products or services that they have used.

The report shows that despite the fact 62% of social media users say they don’t look for product recommendations on social media sites, there are still plenty of people offering their reviews. 42% say they share or recommend a product every few months, while a full 8% recommend products every few days.

What does this mean for businesses? Essentially, you need to be talking to your clients and making your brand more approachable. It’s a two way street now, with interaction on both sides making for the best relationships.

Finding the Influencers

With so much networking going on, just where are people gleaning their recommendations from most? While social media does play a part in customer decision making, more people claim that they listen to bloggers, particularly those who are established in the field. Knowing who is influencing your customers is important since you can then establish relationships with these people, mainly bloggers (key influencers) and friends on social media sites (social media influencers). To a lesser extent, friends and family (peer influencers) also help people make decisions.

Certain brand types are easier to use on social media. For example, a music label will find it far easier than a bank to discuss business with potential clients on Twitter. Surprisingly, two thirds of people surveyed for the Razorfish report had no opinion on brands in social media, meaning there is no widespread fear of companies entering the world of social networking.

Interestingly enough, more people trust television ads over social network product recommendations. This may be due to the fact that affiliate links are rampant and people feel that others are merely trying to earn a quick buck. Of course, friends and family come in as the most trustworthy when it comes to product recommendations.

Measuring Your Social Influence

Like anything in business, it’s important to track the effectiveness of your social marketing, but just how do you go about this? For most, this requires defining what you want to track, as well as what your success metrics are, more sales, more influential people talking about your business, etc. There are a number of ways to check how many people are discussing your services or product online, via Google Alerts, or several analytics programs.

The Future of Social Influence Marketing

We aren’t at the end of the possibilities that social media has for business. In fact, it’s just getting started. Interactive ads, for example, fit right into the idea of social media and relevancy is key. While traditional ads might not work within the social media structure, you can adapt and create a more powerful influence by providing relevant ads that integrate right into the networks that your future clients are currently using.

According to Razorfish, another development that we can expect to see, which is actually already in progress, is charging for social media advertising. This can be seen on YouTube these days, as the site adds pop up ads and links to the end of videos, all of which cost the advertiser.

That being said, social influencing is still very effective and far cheaper in most cases than offline marketing, so it is well worth moving into this arena. Anywhere you can interact with consumers and build trust, you will be able to create a loyal following. And these days, a loyal following can mean viral publicity, with everyone interconnected online.

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