Open up your mind and say, ahh...

The term has been around since 1988, but it’s not truly understood by many.

You can’t buy earned media.

It doesn’t arrive on schedule.

Earned media isn’t free media, because the amount of time and energy and risk you have to expend to get it is hardly free.

It’s like all the other things we earn. It is worth more precisely because you cannot simply command it to comply.

An aside: throughout the history of advertising, ad agencies have rarely, if ever, bought ads for themselves. Worth noting that firms that would seek to help you generate earned media are much better at taking their own advice.

I’m currently reading and taking notes from Tell to Win (amazon affiliate link), by Peter Guber. The big premise of the book is that if you learn how to tell a better story, a compelling story, then it will get you much further than numbers alone, or the straightforward facts. As I’ve been revising how I do my professional speaking, this kind of work has been on my mind.

But it applies to you. Most companies, if they tell the story of their business, tell only the “origin” story. “Grandma had a great idea for a cookie back in 1929, and from there, we’ve built the business into a global company dedicated to bringing the best cookies ever.” Well great. Except that’s a fairly brief synopsis, and it doesn’t tell the story of now very well. So, what would it mean to tell your story?

What Story Do People Want?

Even when you’re telling the story of you, people want to see themselves in that story. When I talk about my struggles on the way to building my business, people pay attention to the parts where they can draw comfort from the fact that I wasn’t always successful. They react when I talk about how I couldn’t even pay the bills some months. They see themselves in those moments, and they see bits of hope because maybe that’s where they are in their telling of their own story: at the hard parts.

Above all, I believe people want the story that helps them relate to you and your business.

What else do they want? They want the story of how your products and services will make them the hero. When I see a car commercial and it tells me about fuel efficiency or 0% APR financing, I think of it as such a waste. I know that we want these things from the practical side, but that’s not what sells us on a car, is it? When you see the Mini Cooper, you might think, “Boop boop. I’m a kind of hip person and this is a kind of hip car.” When you see the Ford F250, you think, “I do tough work and I need a tough truck.” Whatever the story, you want to identify with that vehicle as it applies to your own story.

Other Stories to Tell

People love the “how things are made” stories. In Tallahassee, I learned about BevShots from Lester Hutt. He sells beautiful images of the crystals left by different alcoholic spirits. You’ve got to see them to get what I’m talking about. But when you hear about it, you can’t help but appreciate how cool the idea is, and learning how they came about makes it more interesting to want to own them.

People love the “rags to riches” story, especially if the “riches” part is tempered by showing off what a “regular guy” you still are. People also love the “rags to riches to charitable works” story, where you show off just how you’re giving back to the world around you, now that you’ve made it.

And there are many other stories that are useful to those who want to do business with you.

Stories Are A Learning Opportunity

Quite often, we learn through hearing a story. You can hear someone say “don’t text and drive,” but when you hear the story of a promising 17-year-old football hopeful who looked down to see who texted, only to fly off the road, hit a tree, and vanish from this earth, it changes how you consider the information. Stories can give us an emotional connection to data. Stories can compel us to reinforce our opinion, or to shift our perspective. And from that, we can then be further educated.

So, with that in mind, what stories have you told or can you tell about your business? What story would help people better understand you? What story from a movie or a book resonates strongly with what you believe in for yourself? And how will that help you?

One great value of Google+ is that it makes a great platform for cultivating visibility. If your organization is hoping to “save a seat at the table” in between sales calls, one way to do this is to create compelling content that nurtures your business relationships by educating your community and by making them the hero in their own story. Said differently: If you want to nurture leads while they’re still at the wide end of the sales funnel, using Google+ is an effective addition to your content marketing strategies.

Using Google+ for Content Marketing

First, realize that Google+ indexes any post you submit to the “Public” sharing option, meaning that the information in such a post is searchable in Google (the search engine, not the social network) within a few hours. This means that if you wanted to write about being the “best restaurant for kids in Milwaukee,” as part of your post, it would become searchable content. So, let’s extend that.

It’s not enough to write a post that just says “AJ Bombers is the best restaurant for kids in Milwaukee.” I mean, you can say that, but it won’t be that interesting for people coming along to read it. Instead, you might consider writing a post about “7 Reasons AJ Bombers is the Best Restaurant for Kids in Milwaukee,” wherein which you talk about the features of the restaurant such that a parent would be able to recognize the value for themselves. Because you can include videos, I would do so. For instance, I’d show off the “P-Nut Delivery System”:

If you can’t see the video click here.

Why? Because any kid seeing that thing will immediately start pestering their parents that they MUST go to a place that delivers peanuts via a steel BOMB flying overhead and smashing into a target.

Mix It Up A Bit

You can post text, video, photos, links, and place information on Google+. Using a combination of those post types is probably the best way to get the most attention. For instance, in my tests, if I post only text, I get one level of response. If I add a photo to the post, I get almost 50% more engagement, every time.

You can’t post video and a photo, for instance, but if you post video, I’d include a few sentences about what the video is about, and/or maybe some useful search text. I’d also include a link to whatever might be pertinent, as well. If you do place data, be sure to include a photo, maybe something candid. This helps people engage a bit further, as well.

Build an Editorial Calendar

If you want to incorporate Google+ into your content marketing strategy, I’d consider building an editorial calendar, even if you use it just lightly. For instance, if you post something like the post above, that comes off as a bit heavy-handed in the self-promotion department, I might do an interview with a restaurant guest as my next post, or maybe something off-topic, or maybe a non-work-related video interview with a server or a chef. I don’t know about you, but wouldn’t it be a bit more interesting to know that the person who made your burger is also a competitive street luge racer?

You can build an editorial calendar in a spreadsheet, or on a Google calendar, or wherever. The point is, when you lay out the month in some kind of visual format, you’re less likely to overwhelm your audience with a specific kind of post. Would it be helpful to see a sample? Here’s something super simple:

Editorial Calendar – Sample

Monday 1: Post photo from weekend showing leaves changing.
Monday 2: Video clip from ESPN College Game Day coverage.
Monday 3: Article link to post about grass fed beef findings.
Monday 4: Re-share a community member’s post (pass it forward).
Tuesday 1: Write up new menu changes (w/photo of new fries).
Tuesday 2: Congratulate Tim on winning local “Best Of” award with link.
Tuesday 3: Video post about watching baseball at our bar.
Tuesday 4: Off-topic. Anything.

Break That Down

You’ll see that, in this example, I recommend 4 posts a day. That’s to cover a 24-hour community. Also, posts on a service like Google+ flow through the stream pretty quickly. It’s probably not overwhelming to your readers to see 4 posts from you a day, and judging by the content I mentioned above, it wouldn’t be that hard to get those kinds of posts up.

So, in my example, I’d map out at least a week worth of content, and maybe use that as a way to look at how this ties to the rest of my marketing efforts, too. For instance, if I’m trying to get more people onto my email newsletter, maybe I’d make that the “call to action” on one or two of the posts, and see if I could get more takers from my Google+ community. Also, if you’re having a seasonal event, you can spread content about that event between your email newsletter, your blog, and also your Google+.

Feel like too much? It might be, to start. But it depends on what you’re doing, your goals, and what you’re hoping to accomplish with Google+.

Does This Work for Your Industry?

Technically, yes. You can post content of whatever kind to whatever industry. If you’re selling storage to big tech companies, this works. If you’re selling legal advice, this works. If you’re selling education to students, this works.

But How Does This Get Me New Prospects?

However, what this doesn’t accomplish is that it doesn’t rustle up all kinds of new customers. This isn’t lead generation work at this point. This is community nurturing work. This is helping to cultivate visibility. However, when you have prospects, and when you have people looking around to better understand you, and wondering if they should do business with you, can you see how the above content might help the process?

Save Your Seat at the Table

In between sales activity, we have to have something to talk about. Sometimes, we use that time to seek referrals. Other times, we use that time to nurture our existing customers. Some times, we use it to help guide our prospects closer to a sale. It’s up to you what you want to do with it. But this is one way of building up that content.

Are you on Google+ yet? If not, it’s free. Swing by Google+ and claim your account.

And if you want to connect with me, you can find me here, or just follow me via this Widget:

• Tweet

• October 26, 2011
• View Comments

Part 8 in a series introducing my new book, The End of Business as Usual…this is not content from the book, but instead, this series serves as its prequel.

Social media says so much and so very little at the same time. First, social media implies that media is just that, social. But when you study many of the best practices or test the advice dispensed through popular “top 10″ posts, you find that at the heart of notable social media successes is simply brilliant creativity and desirable incentives, not necessary authentic or genuine value or engagement.  With every Tweet or Like to win campaign, hilarious viral video, and user-generated promotional series, businesses make social media more of an oxymoron than a movement to transform two-way conversations into improved customer relationships.

According to an annual IBM study, getting closer to customers is the overwhelming top priority for CEOs. And, social media is lauded as the great facilitator for engagement and renewed business relevance. What we tend to forget however, is that social networks are merely platforms for people to connect with friends, family and peers. Businesses are not the primary beneficiary of connections, but they can certainly benefit once they realize that a Like or follow does not equate to an opt-in for marketing communiqué.

If CEOs are placing increasing importance on customer relationships, why is it that we are less aligned with the “R” in social CRM and closer in alignment to the “M,” where M stands for marketing and not management. That’s because of where social media lives within the organization today.

In IBM’s recent “From Social Media to Social CRM” report, it was revealed that social media is already siloed within marketing, marketing communication, or public relations, accounting for 52%, 45%, and 42% ownership respectively. When we think about the primary function of each of those functions, it’s clear to see why the premise of many of today’s top social media best practices are marketing driven rather than market driven.

The difference between a social brand and a social business is internal connectedness, preparedness, and collaborative approach to customer and employee engagement.

A Social Media and Social CRM Strategy are Different

As good friend Paul Greenberg noted in his book CRM at the Speed of Light, “The underlying principle for Social CRM’s success is very different from its predecessor….traditional CRM is based on an internal operational approach to manage customer relationships effectively. But Social CRM is based on the ability of a company to meet the personal agendas of its customers while, at the same time, meeting the objectives of its own business plan. It is aimed at customer engagement rather than customer management.”

At stake here is relevance among the growing base of a more connected consumer landscape. Engaging consumers from a marketing-driven approach may work for the short term, but engagement requires a holistic approach. Consumers see one brand, one company, one experience and not a series of disconnected silos experimenting in social media without a common vision, mission, or process. While businesses are building an infrastructure to support social media, governance, policies, and strategies are only as strong as the experiences they’re designed to create, the problems they’re intended to solve, and the ability to adapt to and lead consumer experiences because you can see what others don’t.

IBM studied how businesses view their foundation for social media and found that many times, the prevailing corporate culture impeded innovation and collaboration, not just with consumers, but also within. And for any change agent, that will come as no surprise. Whether they know it or not, change agents are becoming hybrid cultural anthropologists and politicians learning how to adapt the culture while rallying internal champions to bring about real change.

Here you can see the number of businesses that have defined KPIs, flexible business models, established policies, adaptive approaches to incorporating social media into business strategies, and defined governance. The blue shades on the left equates to those that strongly agree while toward the right, companies start to show that they’re not where they would like to be. According to the IBM report, only 38% are confident in the support of their company in innovation and creativity. Just 30% can comfortably say that they have strong executive sponsorship for social media. And, a measly 27% say they share insights across functions.

Once you see these numbers, it’s clear that businesses are on the right path, but we’re really just at the beginning. More importantly, one could argue that the direction of the path is questionable. Even though the businesses on the far left are established and confident, they might be operating without a holistic strategy that spans across lines of business, products, functions or across the globe.

And what of a centralized or holistic approach, defined by a common goal and reinforced through not only governance, but compliance?The effects of connected consumerism require nothing less than internal transformation and in many ways, a new outlook.

The challenges that businesses face are still relatively immature as IBM discovered. ROI, employee use of social media, and negative brand exposure lead the top three challenges companies face today. In the number four and seven spots however, we see the true threat to progress, lack of strategy and lack of support. We can not march into new territory without a unified vision. We can not lead consumer experiences if those experiences are either undefined or unsupported by the leadership organization we’re to stand behind.

When’s the last time you looked at your mission and vision statement? Can you Tweet it? Does it speak to you? The truth is that in addition to processes, businesses must rethink who or what it is to a different breed of consumer. This consumer is not just social, they’re connected across networks, devices, and they influence and are influenced differently than traditional consumers.

Mo Data, Mo Problems

What we need to do, where we need to be, how, why and to what extent is available to us today. We won’t discover these answers in the form of brand or competitive monitoring using social tools. We must capture data, interpret it, and also act upon it, now and over time, to learn and pursue relevance without forgetting our core markets and competencies.

Companies are clearly capturing data as IBM found. But as you can see, how data is analyzed, interpreted, and in turn shared across the organization is scattered. And, what happens to information (or insights) once its distributed is unclear in this study, but we can assume that it isn’t embraced and acted upon across the board.

Businesses are experimenting. Businesses are learning and adapting. But this can’t just be about social media. This must be about using disruptive technology to improve customer experiences and relationships. We can’t find comfort until we’re clearly operating outside of our comfort zones. And even then, we can’t rest until we are meeting the needs of connected consumers, where they are, how they connect, and reinforce the values, products, and services that are important to them.

Times are a changing and as a result, the foundation of business must also change. It’s a new era of business and consumerism and you play a role in defining it.

Order The End of Business as Usual today…

Part 1 – Digital Darwinism, Who’s Next
Part 2 – Social Media’s Impending Flood of Customer Unlikes and Unfollows
Part 3 – Social Media Customer Service is a Failure!
Part 4 – I think we need some time apart, it’s not me, it’s you
Part 5 – We are the 5th P: People
Part 6 – The State of Social Media 2011: Social is the new normal
Part 7 – I like you, but not in that way

Image Source: Shutterstock