Social Media Rules

   In high school, I really wanted to be cool. I swerved from Hawaiian shirts with Jams, ala Fast Times at Ridgemont High, to preppy with boat shoes, argyle sweaters and feathered hair. Swerving from trend-to-trend in an effort to be “cool” didn’t work for me in high school (ask just about anybody in the Shawnee Heights class of ’85!), and it doesn’t work any better for many companies trying desperately to build a cool and culturally relevant brand via social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

   Don’t get me wrong – having a Facebook “Page” can be a very effective communication tool if a substantial number of your customers spend time there. Probably for most mobile app developers, a huge chunk of your customers are on those sites every day. Even more importantly, though, is that you’re willing to put the time, creativity and energy into feeding your Page with enough useful information that will cause customers to make use of it and, better, to share it with their friends.

   But, even if they do, will your Facebook Page inspire your customers to click on your links and download your apps? Will the friends they shared your Page with become avid customers of yours? Only if sprinkled liberally with pixy dust!

   Most people hear “social media” and think they must do it because it’s the “cool thing to do.” If you think creating a Facebook Page or Twitter account and blasting out ditties about the latest specials you are offering on your apps is going to bring you fame and fortune and earn you a Featured spot in the iTunes App Store, you’re missing the point.

   The key word in “social media” is “social!” Your Facebook page is an extension of your relationship you have with John and Jane Q. Customer. It provides you a chance to listen as well as talk back.

   One of my clients is the brains behind GoodReader, the phenomenal document viewer for iPhones and iPads. I help them manage their Facebook page by keeping the app’s fans abreast of new features coming out and responding to their “wish lists” of new features that they post to our Wall. It’s amazing how many times we see posts that begin, “GoodReader is amazing! If only it…” and what follows “it” is always something different.

   GoodReader’s Facebook page gives us the opportunity to fine-tune our brand message, adapt the app based on feedback from its biggest fans, and sometimes tell them why certain wishes can’t and won’t come true (like why there will likely never be a GoodReader for Android).

   Getting to know your customer and responding to them is an essential aspect of your social media strategy. My friend and web marketing consultant, Mark Murnahan (check out his blog at www.awebguy.com), says that “customer modeling” is invaluable to being successful with a social media strategy.

   “Customer modeling involves creativity, analytic thinking, and data,” Mark says. “If you do not have the data to tell you who, what, where, when, how, and why people will respond to your marketing, you need to create it. Without knowing how to reach the right people with the right information, you may as well skip all the rest, because your time and money will largely be wasted. Worse yet, it can damage your brand value.”

   Take the time to find out who among your customers are on social media, what they would want from you, and how they would respond to it. Then, and only then, are you ready to put on your pink IZOD, flip up your collar, don your Ray-Ban shades, and be the cool kid with a Facebook page.

How to Pitch via Twitter

I've been at this PR pitching business for 12 years now and I'm still working on getting my pitch down as tiny as possible. The best pitch is one that captures their imagination in as few words as possible.

If you want to pitch to someone via Twitter, you don't have much choice! You only get 140 characters to make your best impression. I've been told by some that you shouldn't pitch via Twitter and that most journalists don't like it. I think for those that don't use Twitter a lot, that's probably true -- but some are die-hard Twitter users and I think most of them are open to being pitched via Twitter. In fact, they're probably quite comfortable with it by now.

To tweet or not to tweet, that is the question! But if you do "Twitpitch," here are some general guidelines:

1. Be sure yourTwitter profile is complete. If they get pitched by you, they'll likely want to know more about you before they give your pitch any credence. Also, be sure to include your URL in your profile.
2. Speaking of which, include a URL in your tweet. You'll want to be sure to use your pitch to drive traffic to a web site or blog post that provides much greater detail on your company, product or story idea than you could include in your 140 character Twitpitch. You'll also want your URL to take up as few characters as possible, so be sure to run it through a shortener like http://bit.ly.
3. Just like with email pitching, don't be an annoying spammer. Don't pitch the same ideas or stories multiple times, and don't send pitches about irrelevant topics to what the writer/blogger normally covers.
4. Engage in conversation. Twitter provides a great way to dialogue with someone -- but don't make it a one-way conversation. Don't use Twitter to simply broadcast your messages, but look for ways to engage those who follow you on Twitter as well.

Making Money with Mobile Apps

Computerworld has a good article on the challenges and how-tos of making money with mobile apps. Since so much of my business is helping mobile app developers make money of them (by getting as much publicity as possible for their apps), I thought I would share this great article on my blog.

It is useful in that it discusses the three models of making money (monetizing) mobile apps: freemium (giving away a less functional version to entice people to pony up for a more feature-rich version); service-and-subscription model (providing a reader for instance, then selling the content on a montly basis); ad-funded model (free version with ads, or pay for a version that is ad-free); pay-for-product (sold!).

The article mainly lacks in how you actually make your app stand out in such a crowded marketplace. What advertising to use, what forms of social media, how to maximize PR (news and reviews), etc.

From the PR perspective, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to cut through the clutter of others asking writers to do the same thing I'm asking them to do -- namely, write about my clients' apps. So I'm getting as much as I can and then helping companies to distinguish themselves in the app store with keywords, well-written copy, and managing social media.

Finding the Right Blog

In my PR biz of publicizing mobile software developers, I discovered early on the high value of finding and developing relationships with bloggers who have a high-level interest in mobile tech. They're not journalists in the traditional sense, but the good ones have a niche following of people who would be a good audience for my clients.

Sometimes, the most popular blogs are really difficult to crack. They hear from PR people all the time -- and what makes me different than all those others? I need to do more than keep sending product news to them. I have to be a resource for them. I need to follow what they're interested in writing about, and engage them in dialogue about it even if it has absolutely nothing to do with any of my clients. If they response and find me a "wise ol' owl" who is fun and useful to talk to, I may have made a new friend in the blogger business and can become a trusted source.

How do you find good blogs? Start by searching your topic keyword(s) at Google Blog Search and Technorati. You may also want to add BlogPulse to that list for fun. Build a list of blogs, then look at each one to see if they have their own favorite blogs listed out for you!

Microblogs, such as Twitter, can be researched at TweetScan and Topsy. BlackBerry users can have Twitter hits on their keywords sent to their mobiles using an app called Twitterlerts.

If you want to follow what's being said about your company or brand in the social media sphere, try searching at SocialMention which will also pick up news from Twitter and blogs.

A Touch of Luck?

I was on the treadmill this morning and looked up to the TV screen on the wall of the gym in time to see an ESPN replay of a PGA golfer chipping out of a sand trap. The ball delicately dropped a few feet short of the hole and rolled forward until -- PLUNK -- a miracle shot worthy of an ESPN highlight.

I don't know who the golfer was, but he's obviously talented enough to use his sand wedge to make such a great shot -- but not talented enough to avoid the bunker in the first place. His shot was both skill and luck. Sometimes it takes a good mix of both to be successful. If it was pure skill, pro golfers would never be in the bunker, and every tough shot would end up in the hole. Skill gets them close, but luck takes them the rest of the way.

When I'm launching a new app for, say, the iPad, the techniques may be similar as I'm reaching out to many of the same writers. Some of these campaigns are crazy successful (check out GoodReader -- STILL the #2 best-selling iPad app in the iTunes App Store after several weeks) while other campaigns are successful but maybe not what I'd hoped (boffo!). The difference may be timing, message, or the product itself, but some of it is just the level of luck -- hitting the right shot with the wind just-so and a squirrel that brushes the ball with his fluffy tail to cause the ball to drop in the hole.

We can't count on luck, so we must learn and practice the best techniques to get us as close to the cup as we can get (and perhaps a dash of luck will give us a highlight of our own).