Social Media Podcast No.61 - Influence Marketing

Social Media Podcast No.61 is a slightly different format from our usual podcast but we think it's something you'll find interesting and useful for your social media marketing.

Regular listeners will know that fatBuzz conduct a monthly New Media Breakfast in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland.  Each month we have around 120 people attending the breakfasts on various topics to do with new media and the most recent of these was about Influence Marketing.

We thought this was such an important topic that we would share the presentation as a podcast with the Social Media Podcast listeners, we hope you enjoy it.

THE TOPIC
As the volume of content increases on social media channels, the ability to reach your target audience will become increasingly difficult.  One way to address this challenge is to implement an influence marketing strategy whereby you utilise key people of influence in and around your business.

The podcast explores a range of ways that you may go about attracting key influencers, and even how you can make yourself a key person of influence.  Here are some of the things discussed by Gordon White and Derek Howie during the podcast:

• Who are potential key people of influence?
• How do you attract influencers?
• Should you pay influencers?
• Knowing what will influence your customers
• How do you measure a person's online influence?
• How do you become a key influencer?

We don't intend to do this for all of the breakfast presentations but we will do it periodically when we think the topic and the presentation suits a podcast format.  Please take a minute to let us know if you like it.

Play the podcast here:

Subscribe/Download Social Media Podcast on iTunes

Would you like a presentation on social media and customer service?
We're offering a range of bespoke or generic presentations on the topic of social media and customer service, if you would like to find out more please go to the following link: Are you prepared to lose control?

Have you listened to the digital copyright podcast?

We continue to see people using images, video content and other files taken from the internet without consideration to potential copyright issues. We would encourage all of our listeners to download Social Media Podcast 50 which clearly outlines what you should and shouldn't do with images sourced online. Find it on iTunes now.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE US TO TALK ABOUT?
If there is a specific topic you would like us to cover in a future podcast please let us know. You can email gordon@fatbuzz.com or send us a message on Twitter @MediaPodcast or, you can post it as a comment on the Social Media Podcast Facebook page.

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February New Media Breakfast - What are you talking about?

    

  

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

DATE: 28th February 2014
VENUE: 29 Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow

One of the biggest challenges we come across when talking to organisations about social media is Content - what will we talk about?

Most companies start out really well with some great ideas to get their story out there but they very quickly run out of steam. We see it every week.

Many of the businesses we talk to think they are boring and don’t have anything to say but we haven’t spoken to any who don’t actually have a library of useful Content, they just don’t know they have it and they don’t realise it is valuable if presented in the proper manner at the proper time.

For the February New Media Breakfast we thought it would be useful to explore Content and provide some ideas about what to talk about. We will also demonstrate how to create and maintain a content plan which will enable you to manage your content and make sure it is being shared with your community at the optimum time.

To do this we are using two case studies; the first is a 5th Generation retail business, the other a new start manufacturing/retail business.  They are two very different businesses but we hope to demonstrate just how to go about creating a content plan regardless of the business history, size and reputation.

We will also provide some examples of other Content plans along with some Content ideas and examples of good Content by other organisations.

THE SPEAKER
The February breakfast will be presented by Gordon White and perhaps other members of the fatBuzz team and the case study organisations.

HOW TO BOOK
Venue: 29 Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow
Date: Friday 28th February 2014
Time: 7.30am for 8am
Cost: £10+VAT

BOOK FOR NEW MEDIA BREAKFAST GLASGOW HERE:

No.29 MEMBERS GO FREE 

If you are a 29 Member you can attend the breakfast free of charge. Please email fiona@fatbuzz.com with you membership number and she will add you to the attendance list.

We hope you can make it along to this event. If so, I look forward to seeing you on the day.

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FREE Consultancy and Content Plan

    

  

FREE CONSULTANCY AND CONTENT PLAN
We are delighted with the fantastic response we got for the Influence Marketing presentation in Edinburgh last week and we're looking forward to presenting it at the Glasgow breakfast on the 31st January in Glasgow.

At the Edinburgh presentation we announced details of the February breakfast entitled "What are you talking about", when we will explore content creation.  

To do this, we intend to use two live case studies using a business in the East and a business in West.  We invited attendees at the Edinburgh breakfast to put themselves forward to be considered as the case study business where we will work with them over the next month to develop a FREE CONTENT PLAN.

If you would like to be considered for the West of Scotland case study please make sure you're at the "Influence Marketing" January breakfast on the 3st January when we will be taking details from businesses that want to be considered for the free consultancy.

INFLUENCE MARKETING
How to identify and use key influencers to market your business

DATE: Friday 31st January 2014
VENUE: 29, 29 Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow

Using people to influence buying decisions is not a new marketing tactic; celebrity sponsorship and celebrity endorsements have been a central part of marketing for some of the biggest brands in the world for many years. It’s not only been a tactic for the big brands, you may have used customer testimonials in the past and that is a form of Influence Marketing.

There is little doubt that it works and people are swayed by what people who influence them say about a product or service. But, it’s not just celebrities who influence us, people within our own communities and everyday lives have as much, if not more, clout when it comes to even the smallest decisions.

The emergence of social media has put Influence Marketing within the grasp of even the smallest business; it is possible for every company to harness the power of word of mouth in new and extremely effective ways.

It’s not just about turning happy customers into ambassadors, although that can be an important element; it’s about identifying who can influence a buying decision and that may not always be people you deal with directly.

Like all marketing, it is important to identify the aims and objectives. There are many ways to use Influence Marketing; it needn’t just be about influencing a buying decision. It could be to raise awareness, change a perception, or to encourage you to support a cause, there are many ways to use it effectively.

At the January New Media Breakfasts, we will be exploring how the Internet, and in particular social media, is making Influence Marketing an important part of the marketing mix. We will explore the following:

• How Influence Marketing works
• Identifying your objectives
• How to identify your key influencers
• Methods of utilising influencers
• Incentivising influencers – or not?

We will also offer some examples of how businesses, large and small, are successfully adopting Influence Marketing tactics via social media to find new customers and extend their reach.

SPEAKERS
The January New Media Breakfast will be presented by Gordon White, Managing Director, fatBuzz Ltd and Derek Howie, Social Media Manager, fatBuzz Ltd

HOW TO BOOK
Venue: 29, Royal Exchages Square, Glasgow
Date: Friday 31st January 2014
Time: 7.30am for 8am
Cost: £10 +VAT

BOOK FOR NEW MEDIA BREAKFAST GLASGOW HERE:

No.29 MEMBERS GO FREE 

If you are a 29 Member you can attend the breakfast free of charge. Please email fiona@fatbuzz.com with you membership number and she will add you to the attendance list.

We hope you can make it along to this event. If so, I look forward to seeing you on the day.

If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank You.

    

  

Podcasting isn't dead, it was just waiting for technology to catch up!

    

  

Finding an audience is not easy and as the volume of content increases it will get more difficult.  Facebook is a good example of the diminishing reach you can achieve even to the people who have liked your page; some reports estimate it as low as 2% of your community will see what you post on your Facebook page.  Facebook want you to pay to boost your posts, an inevitable outcome after they acquired demanding shareholders!

The increasing variety of niche content is also making it more difficult to find new blog readers; consumers are blessed with enormous choice, however finding the time to consume content seems to be increasingly more difficult.  

So, perhaps it's not surprising that podcast consumption is on the increase but it's not particularly due to the problems encountered on other platforms, there are very good reasons why this technology is enjoying a healthy growth.

An Edison Research report towards the end of 2012 revealed some interesting facts, here are some of the main findings:

• The percentage of Americans who have ever listened to an audio podcast is 29%
• Similarly, 26% of Americans 12+ have ever viewed a video podcast
• One in four podcast consumers plug their MP3 players or smart phones into their car audio system “nearly every day”

More recently, Libsyn reported the number of podcast downloads form their platform during the 1st quarter of 2013 exceeded 28 million, an increase from 20 million for the same period in 2012.  And, in July 2013 iTunes announced their store had exceeded one billion podcast subscriptions.

We are delighted to report a similar growth pattern with our own Social Media Podcast.  In fact, the number of podcast downloads for each episode significantly exceeds the number of page views on any blog post; and it comfortably exceeds the reach of any Facebook post we publish.

This is significant because these are very much opted-in subscribers; they have chosen to subscribe to the podcast or to download a particular episode, therefore we are talking directly to someone who has chosen to listen to what we have to say.  

Of course, podcasts can be in a variety of formats, the Social Media Podcast is a discussion format however clients are experiencing significant success by using podcasts to demonstrate their expertise in their particular topic - something the medium is ideally suited to.  On many occasions we find people can express their expertise and passion orally much better than they can in the written word.

Why are podcasters enjoying this success?

Back in 2006 when fatBuzz started producing podcasts it was a multi-step process to actually consume podcast content.  You had to download the podcast episodes to a media player on your computer, plug your mp3 player into the computer and download the latest episodes then you could listen to them, normally through ear buds or headphones.

Now, you can subscribe, download and consume the latest episodes of a podcast directly to your smart phone.

Moreover, it is much easier to consume podcasts and listen to them when you have the time to do so - while you're driving.  More and more new cars have Bluetooth connectivity and a recent report by Strategy Analytics suggest that over 90% of all new cars will have Bluetooth technology by 2016.  This means you no longer have to suffer irritating ear buds, you can easily listen to your chosen content through your car's sound system.

I'm pleasantly surprised by the number of people who tell me they listen to podcast content in their cars; many of them, like me, prefer to use commuting time productively rather than listen to some overly lively radio presenter playing telephone pranks!

If, like many organisations, you're finding it increasingly difficult to extend the reach of your content you should take a closer look at podcasting; it's certainly not dead, it was just waiting for technology to catch up!

You can listen to the latest episode of the Social Media podcast here, it may give you some ideas about what you can say to an opted-in audience.

Play the latest Social Media Podcast here:

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Will you learn anything from your New Year resolutions?

    

  

December is usually a time for reflection and January is normally the time for planning and looking to the future, I suppose that's where New Year's resolutions come from. Personally, I don't usually bother with them because I have normally forgotten all about them by the 2nd January.

Life quickly takes over and were back in the swing of work, deadlines, budgets, schedules etc and all the well meaning plans go somewhat adrift.  There is a tendency to carry on a little longer when it comes to dieting to correct over-indulgence during the festive season, I've even heard a few friends say they are abstaining from alcohol for the month of January - I could probably do with paying heed to both of these disciplines, but I probably wont!

I was in a discussion today about ongoing personal development and the need for everyone to continually learn and develop.  Widening your knowledge base and expending your areas of expertise is critical for survival in today's fast changing world and I'm a great supporter of the concept of life long learning. 

It occurred to me during my conversation that an excellent New Year resolution would be to commit to attending the New Media Breakfast each month during 2014.  Yes, it probably seems like a shameless pitch for our monthly event but it's not intended to be.  Personally, I get lots from the preparation of these events as do my team, and I learn a great deal about what really matters to people during the Q&A sessions.

It doesn't need to be the New Media Breakfast but you should consider regularly attending something that will stimulate the mind, provoke some thought and increase your knowledge.

I know many of the attendees from previous breakfasts have enjoyed excellent networking and been able to make new and valuable connections in the process.  So, whilst your New Year resolution may be to starve the body and get back to full fitness, it's worth considering feeding the brain and meeting some like-minded people in the process.

Our January breakfasts are in Edinburgh on the 16th January and in Glasgow on the 31st January, you can get full details here. 

I would love to see you at either event and at future breakfasts during 2014.

See details for the Edinburgh Breakfast

See details for the Glasgow Breakfast

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