by Todd Hyten

Making your customer the star: Using interviews for content marketing Part 1

Photo Credit: Jonathan Kos-Read via Compfight cc

What would you say if you were at a party and the host informed everyone that the main topic of discussion and banter should be … how wonderful the host is. What a bang-up job she’s doing. How great she is over all, especially compared to others.

Kind of stifling, kind of a buzz kill, right?

Asking customers for “testimonials” and “recommendations” is kind of like being that kind of party host. To be sure, of course, the host is just going to love it (who doesn’t like to hear positive, glowing feedback about themselves?). However, it’s a one-way street, no matter how useful.

Instead, consider customer interviews or profiles rather than (or in addition to) recommendations and testimonials. A short, punchy Q-n-A with a key customer can be compelling reading, and it serves many strategic purposes for your business – if it’s done right.

Why do a customer profile article or interview? Here are the main reasons:

Your company is forging a better relationship with a customer by doing this. Trust me, this is never a bad thing.
Shining the spotlight on customers sends a signal that your company is brave: it’s not afraid to get up close and personal with the end user.
“Show some love!” This is a quick way to add some color and humanity to marketing efforts. It also is very flattering to the customer.
You’ll learn some new things about your product and how it’s perceived. If you dig a little deeper into why a client likes your product, you’re bound to gain new insights.
You can use the interview in many ways for your marketing efforts.
It’s not as hard as you think!

In the next blog, I’ll show you exactly how easy it is to do a customer interview or profile by following a few key how-to rules (tomorrow’s post). Then I’ll show you how to use customer profiles or interviews to maximum effectiveness as marketing content.

07.05.13

by Todd Hyten

Five reasons I’m a Feedly fan now

Photo Credit: marfis75 via Compfight cc

I help companies and individuals figure out what content makes sense for them, and how it can fit into their marketing strategy. For clients who want to produce their own content, it helps for them to see and read what their community of clients, competitors and others are “talking about” in their market.

The problem is, for the uninitiated, submerging into the boiling content mix is a daunting task. Let’s face it, no matter what tools you use, it’s still a hassle tracking and monitoring LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, company home pages, press releases, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, email newsletter subscriptions, RSS feeds … and more. And yes, I know about Hootsuite. Even that can be daunting to new users.

So here’s what I discovered recently.

I’m using Feedly now as my blog and content aggregator and hands-down, I love it. It provides a visual yet minimalist view of many blogs and content, and you can customize content by category. The visual element I particularly appreciate. When I’m hardcore researching, yeah, I don’t need pictures. But when I’m just perusing or reviewing quickly, I appreciate seeing images associated with blogs — it helps with recall. See, it looks like this (with my settings)

From now on, I’m just saying “use Feedly.” Simple, easy, no muss, no fuss. And a curious thing is happening the more I use Feedly … I’m on my Hootsuite account less — and finding it less compelling. Maybe it’s because of what I now call the blog corollary of content marketing: If you’ve got something really important to say, put it in a blog.

So here’s the five top reasons why I’m all in:

1. I never used my RSS feed as much as I should have — because it was visually boring and not very customizable. Yeah, I used Google Reader mostly — but I hadn’t used it in a very long time. Only when I heard of its demise and saw article on new alternatives did I think “Oh yeah – Google Reader, I remember that.”

2. I’m not that interested in everyone’s Tweets — sorry. Actually, I’m not that sorry. I’m using my social media for what I call “meta purposes,” that is, to stay on top of marketing trends. Everyone selling me something every other minute is no longer very interesting to me. I’m busy doing things like helping clients (as are 98% of the people who read those tweets). If you’ve got something important to say, you’ll put it in a blog (and you know I’m right).

3. Feedly’s design is simple and intuitive (mostly). I didn’t have to figure anything out. I made categories and lists easily and started using it without thinking about it. This is the way all software tools need to work — and I’m not apologizing for saying that.

4. I can choose from various formats how I want to read all the blogs I’m following in Feedly — as an RSS-like list, as a more-visual index with summaries, or as a list of full articles. This comes in handy when I want to review a lot of posts at the same time (as RSS-like list), or just peruse the day’s posts quickly (index with pics), or dig deeper into a single blog’s posts (full article format).

5. Some people have complained about a feature of Feedly — if you “read” an item (expand it or link to it), it “disappears” from the timeline in the center well. But it doesn’t disappear really — it gets moved to “Recently Read” … My “Recently Read” list is really where the meat is if I want to go back and look up stuff.

So, yeah, this isn’t the ultimate list. And Feedly is by no means perfect. I just think it’s a great tool for aggregating and reading content.

04.05.13

by Todd Hyten

Is the “land rush” phase of social media ending?

You can’t really get away from it these days. The constant proliferation of social media tools and techniques keeps chugging along.

I thought two years ago that the world of social media was still in its infancy and needed to grow and catch up with usability. I think this phase is nearing its peak. What I mean is that using social media tools and platforms has become easier (though I still have many gripes about Facebook metrics), and that ease-of-use will accelerate.

But look on the web at any producer of content and what do you see? What do you see at the top of this post? A number of different ways to promote, like, share, etc.

I can’t help but feel that all these silo-ed social media platforms are inherently … messy. And while they all contribute to “social validation” (good content gets lots of activity across many tools), does it really make an impact — to the non-marketer/end-user/reader/client?

I was talking with an old friend last night over a beer or two at The Publick House in Brookline. We kept circling back to a main point: Social media effectiveness is inherently opaque to the recipient/reader. That can’t last forever.

The proliferation of tools and platforms feels like the “land rush” phase of any technology: many businesses and solutions crowding in to every available space. At first it was first-come, first-serve. Then the market space quickly became crowded and winners emerged.

But it still feels “early phase” to me — like the beginning of the car industry. Did you know in 1920 there were more than 40 car companies — selling many different models? That did not last much beyond a decade — and we know how fast the digital world works.

As a marketer, I don’t mind this phase, and the adoption of content marketing continues to rise. But proving the effectiveness is a constant battle. I know companies such as HubSpot are addressing this (and companies like AgoraPulse specialize in Facebook metrics).

But what I’m sensing is that social media has to get beyond this silo-ed, fractured set of tools in some way. Either a clear walk-away winner emerges (not likely), or there is something on the horizon which makes all of this look … quaint. And old fashioned. Maybe it’s a pipe dream, but I sense it’s coming.