Tim Bursch

I set out with big goals in 2010 to post daily. With life and work changes, that didn’t pan out, but you showed up and paid attention to thoughts and ideas that I care about.

This year, I’m not going to make a public promise. I will tell you where I’m hoping to take this blog.

So, what’s next? What can you expect here in 2011?

I’m going to keep writing about things that I care about. Watch for:

• Community- part of my work is focused on community development and management. I’ll share what I’m learning and what I think is working
• Ideas- I’m going to keep giving away my knowledge and network
• Social- marketing, media, business - it’s all about connections

Bonus-  I’m going to launch some extra content in the next months sharing some of the best stuff I’m finding and my analysis. Stay tuned.

Photo by: eioua

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Happy New Year!

I’m taking a small time out here. Not to create another resolution or list, but to refine and simplify.

Last year, I said I would blog more. And I did.

I said I would do crazy things like beta testing. Yeah, not happening yet.

I’ve got ideas for 2011. But they might be about less.

I really appreciate your attention and hope you will stop back soon!

Photo credit: stevendepolo

Tags: goals.

I’m a Beta junkie. I see a new Noun and jump in for the beta. I think I’ve got over 5 new browser add-ons. Thing is, I’ve never really tried these 5, because I’m too busy using the great tools I have.

It’s really easy to chase the new shiny object, be an early adopter (EA), but get no value out of these tools.

So, here’s my plan to become a better EA and hopefully pass along some value to you:

• Try only 2 products/tools/services at a time.
• Test for shorter period of time.
• Report here on what works, what’s helpful, recommendations, and what to avoid.
• Ask for your help. I will share here what I’m testing. Are you trying to the same new noun? Share your thoughts with the community.

Are you a Beta-tester? Share what works for you.

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I love Apple. I know they are not perfect, but they are pretty darn close. A week ago my iPhone was heating up for no apparent reason.

My son and I went to the store, got in the queue for help and loitered. We only had about a 15 minute wait for the Genius bar. Plenty of time to browse.

Here’s the deal, no one bugged us. There were no wolves surrounding us for the attack but we weren’t ignored either. It was busy, friendly, and fun.

Of course they helped and of course they went the extra mile.

Are you letting customers browse? Offline or online. Do they get pushed into a sales pitch or pop-up box? Or can they just look around at the cool stuff.

Apple creates a good balance of help and freedom. They are confident that you will be back.

Here are some possible ways to make it easy for people to loiter online:

• Simple clear design
• Easy to find case studies or testimonials
• Images, video, examples
• Obvious contact form or place to ask for help

How about your storefront? Do you let people linger?

Images by: exquisitur and goodrob13

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I’m taking a break today from marketing and social media goodness and attempting to shine some light on the issue of homelessness.

My friend Kevin D. Hendricks just published a new book that tells the inside story about homelessness. In other words, it’s about real people, real challenges, and real solutions. From my brief look at the book, I’m a little “wrecked,” as Mark Horvath likes to say.

So, take a look at this book and then take a look around you. See the homeless person.

All profits from this book are invested in Invisiblepeople.tv.

Go get a copy today!

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Remember the fast food burger wars? Each chain tried to differentiate. Burger King took the position that you could order a burger your way. It was a break from the pack with a personalized burger.
Today we pretty much expect that we can order food the way we want.

What about marketing content? Are you delivering it the way your customers want? With more and more of us opening email and checking our social networks on mobile phones, are your customers getting the best form of content?

This doesn’t mean you have to design all marketing for mobile only. It does mean you have to consider how the customer wants it served.

Desktop: Think about the cluttered inbox, busy Facebook newsfeed, and the river of Tweets. Will your message stand out?

Smartphone: Can I see a quick call to action? Will I read your content regularly on my bus ride or will it make me just want to delete?

If you make the content good enough and allow your customers to "have it their way," they will keep coming back.

How are you giving your customers choices in content?

Photo by: jeffreyw

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I keep hearing this term Transmedia thrown around in marketing, advertising, and social media today. What is it? Does it matter to me?

Well, here’s what I’ve found:

• The term was developed by Marsha Kinder and later expanded by Henry Jenkins.
• Essentially Transmedia is immersive and participatory storytelling across multiple forms of media.

In English? It’s a story that draws people in using multiple forms of media with many story entryways.

How is this used in marketing? Have you heard of Lost? A TV show that has spun off web sites, products, and a cult following.

How about the Halo game? Games, products, events, books, and more around a story. I think what Chipotle is doing with Jamie Oliver could fit into Transmedia Storytelling (TV, web, social media, print, in store, fan activation).

So, why should you care? Stories are compelling and therefore they sell. Stories are part of our DNA. We connect, fight, and come together over stories. They touch us at a deeper level and I think as consumers we want to make meaningful choices. Would you rather just buy a pair of shoes or buy a pair and give a pair?

I’m not saying there won’t be a place for commodity-type products and services. I am saying that more and more customers are buying the whole story, not just the widget.

Read more from the standard wikipedia entry, Mitch Joel’s blog, Big Spaceship, and Henry Jenkins’ site.

How is your company thinking about Transmedia? Does your story draw people in? What if it did?

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More and more brands are setting up outposts in Facebook. There is obviously some value in connecting with customers there.

When a brand posts something and gets a crazy amount of comments, what is the value? Is a comment equal to an ad impression?

My guess is someone is out there figuring out the dollar value of comments, retweets, and likes. They matter. But how do they compare with a display ad? Or billboard?

Let’s take a look at it this way- Passive and Active Marketing

Passive – ads, billboards, print, TV

• normal media
• top down influence
• impressions
• somewhat measurable

Active- social media, interactive sites, apps

• participatory networks
• sharing and word of mouth and peer influenced
• interactions
• almost all measurable

Both have a place in the marketing mix. But remember to pay attention when a customer or prospect takes time to make a comment because they are certainly paying attention to you.

How would you value a comment?

Photo credit: borman818

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Do you have multiple locations for your business? Or maybe your customers are global. Let’s say you are connecting and marketing to customers on Facebook.

Some businesses have one global page and serve up unique content using a custom tab.

Other companies have decided to create a page for each market.

What is a better strategy? It depends on content and resources.

[Let's just assume a multiple location/market business]

Content

In order to execute well in social channels you need to have compelling content. Content will drive engagement, which will drive action. So, think about where content will come from and ask yourself these questions:

• How is your business structured? Central and uniform or local control.
• Will you need to communicate unique messages to each market? Or will you have one main message that applies to all locations?
• Who are your audiences? Think through each one. If this involves multiple countries consider the language and moderation.

Answer these questions to develop your outpost strategy. Centralized or distributed.

Resources

Do you have one central team managing social marketing? Or is each market responsible? The big challenge is time and organization.

Many pages will require more content and more resources. Do you have a team that can monitor, manage, and engage for every location?

This issue will affect large and small businesses. If your audience is on Facebook, take some time to plan this out and be realistic about the resources you will need.

Know what is in front of you and know the possibilities.

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I’ve signed up for too many email lists should probably take time to unsubscribe. Sometimes I get lazy though and just open and delete.

I wonder though, from a marketers perspective who is being lazy? Me, the irrelevant-target. Or the list owner that is not scrubbing their data.

If I had a list (depending on the size) and had some time and money, I’d at least do the following:

• Look up each prospect in Linkedin. Are they still in your target audience?
• Google the subscribers. Again, target audience?
• Look at a tool like Rapportive or Flowtown. Are they influencers? How are they connected?
• Ask. Seems too simple, but ask if the content is relevant and valuable. And then make it really easy to unsubscribe. Clean up your list.

Bonus: while you are at it, check on the resonance of your list and give people the option to share too. If they are sharing, you are relevant and you get word of mouth.

Image credit: Darwin Bell

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