JitterJam® Social CRM

“Savvy shoppers are using their cellphones to rack up savings thanks to a local company that is paving the way in social mobile marketing. By “helping people save money and helping businesses make money,” Jittergram has been named the New Hampshire Business Resource Center’s “Innovation Rocks!” award winner for the month of January.”

“In just two short years, Jittergram has revolutionized the way that social mobile commerce is conducted,” said New Hampshire Division of Economic Development Interim Director Roy Duddy. “Consumers can sign up to receive offers from only the businesses that they select and businesses can utilize a non-traditional marketing approach that is both creative and measurable. This is an extremely convenient and time saving way to do business.” Read more on the NHEconomy Blog

“Each year SwANH recognizes leaders in New Hampshire’s software and information technology industries. These awards celebrate companies new to the industry and companies that have shown leadership in the industry with unique and cutting edge technologies. The Rookie of the Year Award recognizes a new company that has the potential for making a significant impact on the software industry.” Read more on the SwANH website

Video is perhaps the most powerful tool available in our multimedia toolbox. And, if you’re not already putting video up on your Website, blog, or Facebook Fan Page, here are a few ideas on what you might do with the medium.

Product Demos

This is a pretty obvious one, and lots of companies are doing this, but what about pushing yourself go in a different direction here? Back in the summer of 2008, Squarespace garnered a fair bit of attention for a series of time-lapsed product demos that showed how they were able to replicate well-known blogs with their platform in twenty minutes or less. There were no voiceovers, only an instrumental soundtrack powering along beneath the frantic on-screen action. And these things worked. Internet television network Revision 3 soon picked up Squarespace as a sponsor, and they are now sponsoring several of the Web’s most influential tech podcasts.

Personality Pieces

It doesn’t always have to be about the company or the product either. Sometimes it’s quite alright to put together a video that’s all about the personalities behind your business. Last month, EllisLab CEO Rick Ellis posted a video of himself playing “All Along the Watchtower” in what he described as his “most ridiculous hat.” This was filmed for “Do Something Silly Tuesday” on Twitter and highlighted his guitar playing chops, an aspect of the executive’s personality that isn’t particularly well known. Fan site EE Insider then picked it up and ran with it.

A Little of Both

Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV excels at using video to market his brand, and he manages to make his videos do a little of both of the things I’ve already mentioned. An episode of Wine Library TV is always chock-full of personality, but every episode is also a product demo. Gary’s store may not sell every wine he tastes, but his knowledge and expertise in his subject area are a strong selling point for the store in general.

Got any tips on how to best use video online? Leave a comment below! And make sure to get out and so some fun stuff on this Fun Stuff Friday.

Every company engaged in social media should have a list of high-risk words they’re monitoring. And whenever your company or brand is mentioned in conjunction with one of the words on your list, you should be alerted. Responses to high-risk comments and conversations should be swift, but well reasoned. They should be consistent with company policy and tone, but should never be cold or emotionless. And your responses to high-risk conversations should always make it plain that you’ve been listening to the customer—your messages should never sound like canned or automated apologies.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind:

Bad isn’t always bad. Be aware of your audience and of how they speak and write. In certain situations, something that’s “bad” is actually good. And it’s always possible that the word in question is being used in a comparative way, casting a competitor in a negative light while promoting you (“Brand Y is a total fail! Brand X FTW!”).

Customers can forget you’re out there. In the heat of a rant about a bad cable installation experience or a failed DVR, it’s easy enough for consumers to forget that Comcast is out there. Remind them! Remind them that you are there to listen and help, even though they may have been unsuccessful in getting through to a sympathetic human being via your other customer service channels. And, if you can—and if it makes sense—do this publicly. That way you remind all of your other customers (or potential customers), as well.

Some things just can’t be fixed. Southwest Airlines found themselves in a no-win situation recently, after film director Kevin Smith was removed from one of their flights for being “too fat to fly” (Smith’s words, not SWA’s). Smith was so embarrassed and so upset that it was essentially impossible for Southwest to fix the situation. The director was all over Twitter within minutes of his ejection, recorded two podcasts on the debacle within the week, and publicly picked apart every blog post and tweet that SWA offered in response to his complaint. Could Southwest have handled things more honestly, more intelligently, and with more transparency? Certainly. But, even if they had, there are certain situations where things are so out of a company’s control that to try and control them might do more harm than good. Attempts should be made to fix any situation, but every company needs to establish parameters for when they absolutely must stop trying to fix the unfixable.

How do you monitor and react to high-risk conversations? If you have tips, please share them in the comments below.

Measurement is an important part of any marketing campaign, but it’s especially important with social media campaigns. You should be measuring three things, in particular: the buzz building around your company and industry; the ROI on the special promotions you’re running; and trends in the development of your contact list.

Let’s talk today about trends in the development of your contact list, and what to do about them. Here are three areas to pay particular attention to:

Contact Growth. Obviously, the picture we want to see painted in any graph of contact growth is a steady incline. Spikes, sharp declines, and stagnancy are things to watch out for. When it comes to spikes and sharp declines, determine if these increases and decreases in numbers correlate with your actions. If not, figure out why you are seeing these dramatic changes, and what you can do to correct the trend (or further it, in the case of an upswing). Conduct searches of the social networks and the blogosphere on a regular basis to see what customers, competitors, and industry commentators are saying about you. Find an answer!

When it comes to stagnancy, the key question is whether maintaining the list’s size is part of your plan or whether efforts to increase your list are proving ineffective. If your efforts are proving ineffective, are there competitors whose social media efforts you can look to gauge what’s working and not working? Are there other places to look?

Reciprocity. Reciprocity is a crucial unit of measurement on Twitter. Are you being followed back by the users you’re following? If not, why not? And, if they aren’t following you right away but are eventually following you, why are they reciprocating when they do? Look at the campaigns you were running during any spikes in reciprocation and ask yourself what you might have been doing then that you aren’t doing on a regular basis. Use the information you uncover to refocus your day-to-day efforts until following you back is a no-brainer for customers and prospects.

Number of Contact Points. How many different places can you contact a customer? It’s an important question to ask. After all, what happens if the contact quits Twitter or Facebook? And what happens when they change email addresses without telling you? You should constantly be measuring the number of contact points you have for your customers, and you should always be looking for new ways to capture secondary and tertiary contact information.

Those are just a couple of the strategies that come immediately to mind when thinking about trend management. Have anything to add? Drop a note in the comments below.

Of all the various bits of multimedia we can add to our blogs and Facebook Fan Pages, it seems to me that audio is the least used. We could debate endlessly about why that is, but I don’t think we’d come to any consensus. The one thing I don’t think we can say anymore, however, is that there aren’t any options out there for hosted audio.

AudioBoo, a service that’s been used in the past by actor and comedian Stephen Fry and by tech podcaster Leo Laporte, provides an easy option for recording audio directly from an iPhone or from the Web. Just like YouTube, it provides an easy cut-and-paste block of code to help you embed an episode into your Website. And, just like nearly every social site in existence, it provides an opportunity to network with other audio bloggers and podcasters.

Cinch is an up and coming rival to AudioBoo that’s currently hyping contributors such as Bill Cosby and technology writer Robert Scoble. It allows users to record via an iPhone app or a computer, just like AudioBoo, but it also offers a dial-in option that can be accessed from any phone.

Utterli, though once a reliable option, is currently quite buggy. I can’t recommend it as a service right now, but I would keep an eye on it, in the event that they sort out their issues. It also offers a dial-in option.

So, now that you have some choices, the big question is: Why audio? Well, here are three reasons:

1. Audio requires less prep. Yes, a good microphone (if you’re recording at your computer) is important. But, you don’t need to look your best if you’re recording audio only. And you don’t have to worry about lighting either.
2. Audio can be consumed easier on the go. Audio is a perfect way to target customers and prospects when they’re running or driving. It’s also easier to consume in the background, while other work is getting done.
3. Audio can be recorded just as easily as video. With the rise of the apps mentioned above, it’s now just as easy to record an audio program as it has been to whip out a Flip Cam and capture a clip for YouTube.

So, what do you think? Are you going to give audio a try on this Fun Stuff Friday?

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about the advantages and disadvantages of Facebook and Twitter. Today, I’d like to wrap up my argument in favor of different content for different channels with some thoughts on email and mobile marketing.

Email: If Twitter is an enormous open-invite party, email is the one-on-one pitch you get to give someone in a quiet room next door. So, while there are no technical limits on how long your message can be, it’s important to keep in mind that you are interrupting your contact every time you send them an email. Your email messages should be relevant (and/or entertaining), should include at least one actionable item, and should allow the reader to get back to the party (or the office) in short order.

Also, keep in mind that, while email can be a useful tool for hammering home a point you’ve made elsewhere, email shouldn’t be a simple exercise in repetition. If all the customer hears are the same bullet points they’ve heard elsewhere, it doesn’t take much effort for them to unsubscribe from your mailing list. Make it worthwhile for them. They’ve taken time out of their day to give you their attention: give them something substantial and new in return.

Key Takeaways: Email can and should be used as part of a fully integrated multi-channel marketing effort, but it shouldn’t simply be a compilation of your best content from other sources. You need to include fresh, valuable material with every message, or else the effort is wasted, and the customer might just be lost.

Mobile: Text messaging has become one of the most active conversation streams in the digital age. Like email, it’s a one-to-one pitch. But it’s a one-to-one pitch that happens just as the elevator is reaching your customer’s floor: you’ve got thirty seconds, and then they’re gone.

When you market by text message, your call to action has to be relevant and timely. Text messaging is all about immediacy. Our phones buzz and blurt out alert sounds, and we pick up right away, because we never know if an emergency meeting has been called, or if the kids have locked themselves out of the house. So, your message better be worth that kind of instantaneous attention.

Key Takeaways: Marketing via text message must be relevant, brief, and actionable. Mobile marketing is more disruptive than marketing through any other channel, and must be handled with extreme care. It’s not about conversations—at least not for marketers—it’s about alerts.  Craft your content accordingly.

Do you differentiate your content across channels? Or, do you see benefits in keeping the message the same across all platforms? Let us know.

With services like Ping.fm, it’s easy enough to blast all of your digital marketing channels with the same message. But is that the best idea? Each channel has its own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to the dissemination of content. So, why not tailor your messages accordingly?

Facebook: Facebook has a lot in common with the dry erase boards my classmates hung on their dorm room doors back in college. As long as you had access to the walled community of our campus—and as long as the dry-erase marker hadn’t run out of ink—you could write on the wall of anyone you chose. Conversations were focused and easy to follow. And because these things were so ubiquitous, you could communicate with almost anyone in the community.

If you extend that metaphor to include the notice boards that dotted campus hallways, it was also theoretically possible to communicate with organizations you were a part of (groups) or a fan of (fan pages).

Facebook, like those dorm room doors of old and their bulletin board counterparts, also has the advantage of being able to hold additional content alongside text. So, in addition to near ubiquity, the service offers the opportunity to communicate through a variety of media. The same can’t be said for Twitter and mobile marketing, and can barely be said for email.

The service’s major disadvantage is the wall that surrounds it. On Facebook, you have to be invited to join a conversation, or you have to start one yourself (and recruit others to join in). This may change in the future, but, for now, it’s much harder to serendipitously stumble across a relevant discussion than it is on Twitter.

Key Takeaways: Posting your Twitter feed to your Facebook Fan Page and doing nothing more with it is not taking advantage of all that the platform can do. Try including photos, audio, and video. And take advantage of Facebook’s ability to handle multiple links if it makes sense. Also, remember that your audience is limited to those who have already signed up to receive your updates. So, target accordingly.

Twitter: Twitter is like an enormous open-invite party where you can join a conversation about just about any topic, so long as you listen carefully enough to find it.  And, because conversations on Twitter can be shared and discovered much easier than they can be on Facebook, there is a potential for wide, fast dissemination of content.  Quantity of followers on Twitter counts for far less than quality. A select group of influencers can help spread your message much further than you could by yourself within the walled garden of your Facebook Fan Page or group.

Of course, the upside of Twitter is also its downside. Because everyone in the room is talking, all at once, it’s much harder for one voice to be heard. Your efforts on Twitter need to begin with a small conversation over in the most relevant and receptive corner of that overcrowded party hall. You should never begin by pulling out your megaphone and trying to get everyone’s attention all at once. On Twitter, anyone can turn your personal volume knob down to zero. And once one person’s done it, it’s likely that more will follow. Remember that.

Key Takeaways: Content posted to Twitter should be short, relevant (and/or entertaining), and easy to pass on. Yes, you technically have 140 characters to play with. But, if you use all 140 characters, you’re making it that much harder for your followers to pass your message on via retweet. And the viral nature of Twitter is one of its key strengths.

And, while you should certainly take advantage of Twitter’s ability to include links, you should make sure those links aren’t always sales pitches. Don’t be that guy (or gal). Be helpful, be educational, and, most of all, be cordial—eventually, someone will ask you what you do, and then you’ll have your chance to pounce.

In 140 characters or less, of course.

Tomorrow: Part 2: Email and Mobile

If you’ve just signed up for a Twitter account for yourself or for your business, figuring out who to follow can seem daunting. Aside from friends or customers who are already on the service and businesses you patronize or partner with, it’s not immediately obvious who’s worth adding to your Twitter stream. So, here are four tips to get you started:

Create Social Searches
First and foremost, run social searches on the subjects surrounding your brand or product, your market, and the communities you serve. This is an ideal place to find individuals and organizations to follow. And, while you’re at it, be sure to try following “conversation trails” (see our previous post on finding relevant social conversations). If one person or company tweets about something of interest, search for anyone who retweets that message. And if a link to a blog post arrives in your stream, check the comments section and see if there are any people leaving comments who seem worth following up with.

Find Recommendations
If you have contacts who are well established on Twitter, visit their profile pages and check out any Twitter lists they’ve created. This is especially useful for those individuals or companies who are following a lot of people and who aren’t likely to remember every name worth mentioning when you’re asking them for suggestions over a drink or a cup of coffee.

If there are just too many lists to plow through, consider checking out the Mr. Tweet service. It suggests users for you to follow, based on the people and companies you’re already following.

Follow Local Users
Services like Twellow, Localtweeps, and Twitter Local can help you uncover Twitter users in your area who you are not already connected to. When I began to consciously expand my network in the spring of 2008, Twitter Local was one of the places I spent a lot of time, and here’s why: I was much more likely to bump into a local user in the real world, and real world interactions were a primary goal for me as an author and self-publisher/distributor. As I’ve written before, I believe translating online relationships into real world transactions should be a primary goal of any social media marketing campaign. So, get local!

Manage Your List
Services like Manage Twitter and Friend or Follow are springing up to help those of us whose Twitter streams have grown out of control. Both services allow you to easily see which of the folks you’re following aren’t following you, which followers of yours you aren’t following, and more.

But, while a service like Manage Twitter can be useful, it doesn’t offer the kind of rich contact information that an integrated marketing platform can. Maybe there’s a reason you aren’t following @So-and-So anymore. Manage Twitter can’t tell you why, but a system tied to an intelligent contact database (like JitterJam) might shed a bit more light on the subject.

Got any tips on who to follow on Twitter? Please leave a comment below and let us know.