Contents in Detail

Foreword by Shel Israel ...... xvii

Acknowledgments ...... xix

Introduction: A Window into the World of Social Media Marketing ...... xxiii How to Learn the Lingo ...... xxiv Who Is This Book For? ...... xxv This Book Isn’t for You If...... xxv Getting Around: What You’ll Learn...... xxvi

Chapter 1: What Is Social Media? ...... 1 The Rise of the Social Network ...... 3 Five Fundamentals of Social Media ...... 4 It’s About Democracy: A Communication Revolution .....4 It’s About Community: We Are Family ...... 7

Friends with Benefits (C) 2009 by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo It’s About Collaboration: Two Heads (or Millions) Really Are Better Than One...... 7 It’s About Scope: The Infinite Internet ...... 10 It’s About Authenticity: A Cult of Honesty ...... 10 Social Media Channels: What Are They and How Can You Use Them? ...... 11 What Is Social Media Marketing? ...... 13 Why Should You Embrace Social Media Marketing? .....14 How Does Social Media Fit with Your Marketing Goals? . .15 Now for Some Sober Second Thoughts ...... 16 Hitting the Trail: What You’ll Need to Get Started ...... 18 Time, Time, and More Time ...... 18 Boss Buy-In ...... 18 The Buddy System ...... 19 The Best Books and Blogs ...... 19 Surfing the Wave of Change ...... 19

Chapter 2: Get Social Media Ready ...... 21 RSS 101 ...... 22 RSS Feeds and Readers ...... 24 Mainlining Data ...... 26 Entering the Blogosphere: The Basics of Launching a Corporate Blog ...... 28 How Do You Start? ...... 29 Should You Build Your Own Blogging Software? ...... 30 Who Should Blog? ...... 30 Why Should You Write a Blog? ...... 31 What Should You Write About? ...... 33 How Often Should You Blog? ...... 33 How Will You Manage All the Feedback? ...... 34 Where Should the Blog Live? ...... 34 A Few Blogging Don’ts ...... 35 Prepping Your Website for Social Media Outreach ...... 37 Link Me Up ...... 38 The Social Media Resource Page...... 39 The Social Media News Release ...... 43

x Contents in Detail Friends with Benefits (C) 2009 by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo Chapter 3: Flagging a Ride: Finding the Right Bloggers and Communities ...... 47 Three Buckets of Blogs ...... 48 Size Matters, and Yes, It Is a Popularity Contest ...... 49 Learn to Read the Road Signs ...... 50 Finding Blogs with Google ...... 51 Metrics: Making a List, Checking It Twice ...... 52 Google PageRank and Trends ...... 53 Technorati, BlogPulse, IceRocket . . . the List Goes On . . .55 Alexa, Compete, and Quantcast ...... 56 Count RSS Subscribers ...... 57 Be a Bit Skeptical ...... 58 Don’t Overlook Anecdotal Evidence ...... 58 Blogrolls: Who Is Your BFF? ...... 58 A Little Help from Your Friends ...... 59 Trust Your Instincts ...... 60

Chapter 4: Netiquette: Miss Manners for the Web ...... 63 Lesson #1: Listen First...... 64 Lesson #2: Take Baby Steps ...... 65 Lesson #3: Make Friends...... 67 Lesson #4: Lay Your Cards on the Table ...... 67 Lesson #5: Bloggers Aren’t Journalists ...... 69 Lesson #6: Your Reputation Precedes You ...... 70 Lesson #7: Don’t Be a Social Media Spammer ...... 71 Lesson #8: Don’t Fib ...... 72 Who Are These New Influencers, Anyway? ...... 74 Margaret Mason, Shopping Diva at Mighty Goods ...... 74 Muhammad Saleem on Getting Dugg ...... 75 For Marshall Kirkpatrick, It’s Just the Facts, Ma’am ...... 76 Etiquette Cheat Sheet ...... 77

Chapter 5: Stick Out Your Thumb: Devising Your Pitch .....79 Drums or Smoke Signals: Which Channel to Choose? ...... 82 Pitch Tactics We’ve Tried ...... 85 An “Illuminating” Email Pitch ...... 85 Other Ways to Woo ...... 86

Friends with Benefits Contents in Detail xi (C) 2009 by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo Other Blogger Outreach Campaigns We Like ...... 91 It’s Not Always About the Pitch: Finding Other Creative Ways to Get Noticed ...... 93 What Not to Do ...... 94 Don’t Bribe the Border Guard ...... 96 Rules for Following Up ...... 97

Chapter 6: Measuring Success: How to Monitor the Web ....99 What Does Success Look Like? ...... 100 Be Realistic. Be Humble...... 105 Tricks of the Trade: Tools for Measuring Success ...... 105 Web Analytics: Your Foreign Language Phrase Book . . . .105 Google Alerts: An Oldie but a Goodie ...... 106 Web Monitoring 2.0 ...... 106 The One-Stop Web Monitoring Shop ...... 109 Talking Back: How to Respond to Posts ...... 111 If You Don’t Measure, You Can’t Manage ...... 113

Chapter 7: Is Social Media Marketing Risky Business? .....115 Risk #1: Your Campaign Doesn’t Get off the Ground ...... 116 Secrets to Building Long-Term Relationships ...... 117 You’re Just an Average Joe ...... 118 Risk #2: Blogger Backlash ...... 118 Risk #3: The Crowd Talks Back...... 120 Risk #4: You Get Rejected...... 121 Risk #5: Your Initiative Dies on the Vine ...... 122 Risk #6: Ignoring Other Marketing Channels ...... 124 Risk #7: Too Much Success, Too Soon...... 125 Risk #8: Not Being Proactive...... 126 Risk #9: You Will Be Measured ...... 128 Risk #10: Someone Gets Cold Feet ...... 128 Proceed with Caution, Not Cowardice ...... 129

Chapter 8: Damage Control in the Digital Age ...... 131 A Crisis Management Primer ...... 132 Can Social Media Make Your Crisis Worse?...... 133 The Internet Insta-Crisis...... 133 xii Contents in Detail Friends with Benefits (C) 2009 by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo The Predictable Pile-On...... 134 The Internet Never Forgets, Remember?...... 135 Do You Really Have a Crisis on Your Hands? ...... 136 What Is Social Media’s Role in Crisis Communications? ....139 Rules for Making Social Media Work for You in a Crisis ....140 Rule #1: Don’t Hide ...... 140 Rule #2: Use Your Blog as a Crisis Management Tool . . . .142 Rule #3: Monitor the Web Closely ...... 142 Rule #4: Clean Up Your Mess with the Right Channels . .144 Rule #5: Consider “Search” in Your Crisis Strategy ...... 145 Rule #6: Outfit Your Website for a Crisis...... 146 Social Media Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them...... 148 Get Yourself a Lightweight Blogging Policy ...... 148 What Does a Blogging Policy Look Like? ...... 149 Test-Run Your Campaign ...... 151 Own Your Social Media Campaign Assets ...... 152

Chapter 9: Does MySpace Still Matter? ...... 155 MySpace 101...... 156 Demographics: Who Goes There? ...... 158 How Does MySpace Work? ...... 159 From Social Platform to Social Phenomenon ...... 160 Marketing with MySpace ...... 161 MySpace Marketing Success Stories...... 162 Roller Warehouse ...... 162 Weird Al Yankovic: “White and Nerdy” on MySpace . . . .164 Obama Takes the White House with the Help of Social Networks ...... 164 Catering to the MySpace Crowd ...... 165 Banging the Drums with MySpace ...... 166 Tatango and MySpace’s Network Effect ...... 168 Tips and Tricks for MySpace Marketers...... 169 What’s Next for MySpace?...... 170

Chapter 10: Understanding Facebook ...... 171 Profiles and the Network Effect...... 173 Anatomy of a Facebook Profile ...... 174

Friends with Benefits Contents in Detail xiii (C) 2009 by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo The Basics ...... 177 Events ...... 178 Groups and Pages: Which to Use? ...... 178 Market Passively ...... 182 Case Study: Chicken, Biscuits, and Facebook ...... 182 An Appetite for Fun ...... 183 Don’t Be Apprehensive ...... 184 Working with Facebook App Developers ...... 186 Advertising on Facebook ...... 187 Case Study: Sharpening Perception with Mystery and Social Networks ...... 188 Case Study: Self-Propelled Video on Facebook ...... 191 The Future of Facebook and the Facebook of the Future ....193

Chapter 11: Video Marketing with YouTube and Other Video Sharing Sites ...... 195 Why Make YouTube a Marketing Channel? ...... 197 Setting Your Expectations and Measuring Results ...... 198 What Makes a Popular YouTube Video? ...... 200 Funny Beats Pretty ...... 205 The Wisdom of Stealth Videos ...... 206 Your Latest Picture ...... 208 Marketing with YouTube Videos ...... 209 Set the Stage ...... 210 Pick the Right Title ...... 211 Describe and Lead with a Link ...... 211 Categorize and Tag Responsibly ...... 212 Play Nice with Others ...... 212 Join Groups ...... 212 Curate with Playlists ...... 213 Include Videos in Pitches ...... 214 Feature Videos in Other Communication Channels .....214 Annotate Your Videos ...... 214 Case Study: Elastic Path Makes E-commerce Platforms Fun—No, Really...... 215 YouTube Killed the Video Star ...... 217

xiv Contents in Detail Friends with Benefits (C) 2009 by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo Chapter 12: The Twitter Revolution ...... 219 From Broadcast to Conversation ...... 220 Getting Started with Twitter ...... 222 Know Your DMs from Your Hash Tags ...... 224 Tweeting Beyond the Browser ...... 226 Tweeting for Fun and Profit ...... 227 Case Study: Insta-Fundraising with Twitter ...... 231 Ten Ways to Be a Jerk on Twitter ...... 233 Beyond the Twitterdome ...... 237

Chapter 13: The Power of Crowds: Understanding and Participating in Online Communities ...... 239 Social News and the Wisdom of Crowds ...... 240 Why Marketers Should Care About Social News ...... 241 Using Social News to Build Buzz ...... 242 Social Bookmarking and Crowdsourced Curation ...... 245 A Social Bookmarking Primer ...... 245 How Marketers Can Benefit from Social Bookmarking . .249 Should You Build Your Own Social Network? ...... 251 What About Wikipedia? ...... 254 Photo Sharing with Flickr ...... 257 Stand Out in Your Crowd ...... 259

Afterword ...... 261

Recommended Reading ...... 263 Books ...... 263 Blogs and Websites ...... 264

Index ...... 265

Friends with Benefits Contents in Detail xv (C) 2009 by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo