Balcom Agency

There has been a lot of talk about the Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien battle, so I thought I'd throw my digital marketing gloves into the ring. For the record, I'm Team Conan.

Conan's target is younger males (probably around 18 - 35). Most young males don't watch NBC or care about Jay Leno. I'd jump ship to a network willing to take a chance. The FOX crowd (with the likes of The Simpsons, Family Guy) would be a perfect fit. FOX would be happy to give him the 10:35 spot. However, I wouldn't depend on TV to build his personal brand. Instead, I'd recommend Conan investigate these opportunities:

• Offer his show on iTunes - both as a full show and bite-size pieces. Do it for free. Get some big-name sponsors to do funny product placement bits (à la Stephen Colbert).
• Conan has always been more interactive with his fans. Imagine the best-executed Facebook page, where fans could submit jokes, videos, comments and ideas. 
• Conan is great off-the-cuff. He would be great personality for live Q&As with his fans.
• Jimmy Fallon has 2.4 million followers on Twitter. Imagine insight into Conan's life on Twitter. It could be incredibly funny.
• Equip him with a phone to broadcast live video. Similar what we did to Justin Bent Rail, his never-before-seen moments could be more popular than the (sometimes) well-rehearsed show.
• Give each of his popular characters a chance to have their own presence. Fake twitter accounts have attracted millions of followers, I'm sure some of his characters could do the same.
• If Apple's much-rumored tablet comes out to fruition, knock down Apple's door to be one of the founding content providers.
• Create a robust, mobile-friendly site with video formatted to work on many devices (Blackberry, Windows, Android, etc.). Encourage visitors to get text-message updates when new videos are posted.
• Offer free stand-up shows to those following Conan on social media or text-message.

As you've probably heard, Domino's recently re-invented their pizza. While a lot of branding pundits criticized Domino's for tarnishing their image, I think they did it right. Here's why:

• In the new world of social media that bleeds transparency - they lived it. They were 100% transparent about what people were saying about their pizza (plus the world already knew the pizza wasn't great).
• In saying how bad their pizza was, it gave them a chance to explain why that hurt them, how passionate they are and how they were going to change.
• They started the whole campaign online. Online/social media people are habitual early adopters. They want to tell others about their experience.
• They encourage the videos to be shared/tweeted/etc. to build excitement about the new pizza.
• They even encouraged Steven Colbert to poke fun of the new pizza. That hit one of Domino's target audiences on the head.

It's been an especially crazy couple of weeks at the Balcom Agency. And that's a good thing. We've completed a bunch of new projects, been pitching a lot of new business and, of course, keeping our current clients happy. Being crazy busy is a recipe for (at least for me) to neglect something very important - working out. The more I thought about it, I realized social media is a lot like a workout. It's fun when you have the time, but for the stay fit, you need to keep at it.

Start

Every good workout program (and social media initiative) begins with good intentions. Just as you look in the mirror and see something that needs to change, you may need to hold your company up to a mirror and see where they need to change. After that realization is there, you have to start. Like any beginner in a yoga class, you'll have a large learning curve in social media. It also help to have a plan with goals and objectives. Just like you wouldn't attempt to attack every weight room in the gym, you need to focus on things that will give you the biggest result. 

Commit

You never go to one or two workout classes and expect big results. You shouldn't expect the same from social media. No pain, no gain. 40% of Twitter users have not tweeted since their first day on Twitter (source). Sounds a lot like a new years resolution.

Enjoy the results

If you've been working out for several months, you'll notice a lot of little changes - your pants fit better, people look at you differently, you don't have to huff and puff your way up the stairs. The same will be true in social media - your communication arsenal will fit you better, people will look at your company or organization differently and you'll be fit enough to beat your competition to the top.

As people, companies and brands dive into social media, one thing becomes increasingly clear: social media will force you to answer the tough questions.

• Does your product have a defect? Social media will making clear.
• Afraid of an employee tweeting, even personally? Maybe you should examine their employment.
• Don’t trust your employees to use social media responsibly? Examine the freedom you give your employees.
• Is your product too expensive? People will tell you.
• Is your product the wrong color? You’ll know.
• Are paid surveys giving you different results than a service like Yelp? Go with the social media review - it will usually be the most accurate.
• Is your competitor dominating the social media marketplace? Time to step it up.
• As we’ve worked with clients, all of these questions have come up. They aren’t easy, but they are critical to address.

 Ultimately, social media will create a better experience for everyone - employees, employers, producers and consumers - it just might be a bumpy ride.

I'm about two months into P90X, a comprehensive workout program. After reading some blogs, I discovered that I could substitute a supplement for the very expensive name-brand. So, I did. After I ran out, I headed over to GNC in Fort Worth to refill.

A very nice, very big guy was there to help. I asked him a couple of questions about the supplement. He was very nice and asked me, "Why do you think you need this supplement?"

I replied, "I feel really dehydrated after working out."

He said, "Well, you don't need to spend $30 on this. Go walk across the street to Target and get some SmartWater. It has electrolytes that will hydrate you."

I was shocked. This guy had the opportunity to sell me something I didn't need. He did the right thing and gave me the best solution to my problem.

It made me think. How many times do we use social media and don't give people the best answer? There might not be 10,000 people on Twitter that care enough to follow your brand. But you should be there where you are the right answer. 

Don't be afraid if your product or service is not the best fit. If you give the right answer, people (like me) will remember that and turn to you next time they need help.

I walked out of GNC empty handed, but I left a bigger fan. Next time I need (or think I need) a supplement, GNC will be my first stop.

There has been a lot of talk about the future of online. I believe it will come down to one word: social.

Take a moment to read the first page of Wired's "Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network's Plan to Dominate the Internet — and Keep Google Out." I'll wait.

Nice to have you back.

If this report is true, which I believe it is, we are all participating in the future of the web. The future of the web will be driven by people, our experiences, locations, reviews and content. I explained this concept to some co-workers in a very practical sense:

1. Let's say you wanted to find the best air Conditioner repair company.
2. Currently, you'd go to Google, type in "air conditioning repair." You'll find a lot of paid search, some local results and some high-ranking websites. Great. But that doesn't explain the reputation or quality of the companies.
3. You call, maybe have a bad experience and are stuck with a high bill or A/C that doesn't get fixed.

Let's take a look at what happens if Facebook's dream comes true:

1. Instead of going to Google, you'll go to Facebook's search.
2. You'll type in "air conditioning repair."
3. Instead of search results, you'll get recent friends that have called air conditioning companies.
4. Facebook will know that your friends called these companies because Facebook will continue to develop their iPhone and mobile applications. Facebook's current mobile apps already allow you to call a friend. They'll now track who you and your friends call.
5. After the call, your friend may choose to rate the experience and if they used the air conditioning repair service.
6. If the air conditioning company was smart, they would have an automatic response after the service was complete. It would ask your friend to rate the service, value and quality of the repair. The rating would then show up in your friend's profile when friends search for air conditioning repair.
7. You could then look at all of your friends' experiences, and find the best company to call.

Why is this so revolutionary? Because it's the first time search will put the power in the people's hands. It will allow people like you and me to get instant reviews from friends (and strangers) without making multiple calls. It will also force companies to be more transparent and provide better products and services. Sounds like a win-win, doesn't it?

Not exactly. It's going to be tough for the "we've always done it this way" corporations to realize the power of this social medium. I'm afraid many will realize after it's too late. Facebook already has over 250 million active members (over half the population of the US) and continues to grow at an exponential rate.

If you're in marketing, what should you do? Learn, research and experiment.

The Balcom Agency will be unveiling some innovative offerings next week to companies looking to start or improve their social web presence. Be on the lookout. If you're impatient, like me, feel free to shoot me an email.

A lot of clients/friends/coworkers come to me and ask, "I already have (insert social network here), why should I be on Twitter, too?"

Great question.

I'll tackle other social networks later, but here's why I use Twitter over Facebook:

• Twitter is simple. I have friends' tweets, mentions of me, and direct messages. That's it. No zombie attacks, no family tree, no "What Jonas Brother are you?!?" quizzes.
• My Facebook status is updated via Twitter. People that care about what I'm doing, but aren't on Twitter, are kept up-to-date. To add your tweets to Facebook, check out the Twitter application.
• More like-minded people are on Twitter. The active group of Twitter users are an odd mix of web start-up nerds, designers and thoughtful business people. My Facebook account looks more like my high school yearbook, which is great - but I don't want to hear from them every day.
• Twitter has great iPhone and Mac apps. I love using Tweetie on my iPhone and Mac. I rarely use the web interface, because the third-party apps can do things much better than the website.
• Real-time search. Real-time search on a grand scale is very powerful. I was able to spot the trend of Michael Jackson passing away before CNN announced it. If you are ever bored, go to Twitter Search and type in your company name, or a competitor.
• Is Twitter for everyone? Nope. I'll be the first to admit - it took me a bit to understand the full potential. We've found new biz, found a new employee and connected with people we would never have the chance to meet in person.

Twitter has some major hurdles to get over. Most importantly, in my opinion, are the number of spammer and "junk marketers" that are ubiquitous on Twitter. Not to mention, Twitter still doesn't make much money. They'll need money to stick around.

Come find me on Twitter, I'm @chiphanna. Let me know if you’re using Facebook or Twitter more. Just don’t tell me you’re still on MySpace.

My job is one part nerd, one part suit, two parts entrepreneur and all parts flexible. I never know what a day will throw at me and I need a lot of tools to get me through every day. I thought I'd take a moment how to share how I bring some order to this crazy business. Here are my must-have, everyday tools:

1. Gmail: Every email (both business and personal) runs through Google's email service. While most people get frustrated at their first attempt at the system, once you get the hang of it, you will never go back. Gmail uses “labels” and Outlook uses “folders” is the biggest difference, but it’s also Gmail’s biggest strength. More about that next.
2. The GTDInbox: GTD = Getting things done. I use this religiously in my inbox. After all, most email messages are poorly designed tasks - so I treat them as such. At any given time, my inbox is usually empty, all of my emails that need response get put into an appropriate “action” folder. If I can respond in less than two minutes, I’ll do it right away.
3. iPhone: No surprise here, but the iPhone is my smartphone of choice. Do some phones do email a little better? Sure. But no where else do you have over 50,000 applications to grow on an already powerful phone. The apps are what make the iPhone the winner in this game. I sync my iPhone email with Gmail to make sure I’m never out of touch.
4. Breakfast Burritos: Enough said.
5. GoogleSync: This fairly new service syncs all of my iPhone calendars and contacts with my Google ones. Awesome.
6. Basecamp: This project management software runs our agency. We affectionately call ours the B-Hive (you can name the site). All of our deadlines, project overviews, addendums, etc. are stored on this site.
7. Evernote: This a new addition to my arsenal. Evernote is a killer note-taking application. It is available on many different platforms: Web, Mac, PC, iPhone and Blackberry. This allows me to always have my notes available, wherever I am. I can search, sort and tag them - even upload photos with written text, and Evernote will transcribe it.
8. P90X: My current workout routine, it keeps my head level on crazy days. Not for the faint of heart!
9. iWork: This is Apple’s answer to Office. It is a much easier to use, and it’s a lot sexier. I use this to write proposals, manage and edit Excel documents, and create presentations.
10. Google Docs: We use Google Docs as more of a Wiki than anything else. When we need to collaborate on some verbiage, edit an Excel file, or just keep an up-to-the-second stump sheet, Google Docs is our place to go.
11. Tweetie: I use Tweetie to keep my personal Twitter running. It’s simple and recommended for most personal uses.
12. Caffeine: Yes, please.
13. TweetDeck: We manage Twitter accounts for several clients, and we use TweetDeck to follow their accounts.
14. Radian6: For online reputation management and social monitoring clients, we use Radian6 to manage the flow of information.
15. Time Machine: A MUST have for every Mac user. Everyone at the agency has a external hard drive to keep all files backed-up.
16. iMapWeather.com: With the crazy storms that pass through DFW, this helpful tool alerts me of bad weather, and I can follow the storm in realtime. I also get a morning forecast to my inbox.
17. Adium: This free chat software keeps all of the agency in step, and allows me to shoot little messages to my wife.

What do you use?

It’s all interactive.

No, I don’t say that just because I’m the “Interactive Account Director” (if I must have an official title). But really, it's all interactive.

Let me explain. Everything an interactive/advertising/public relations agency does should be interactive - if not, why are they doing it? Is it supposed to be non-interactive? Is the viewer/audience/person supposed to do nothing? Of course not - that’s why I’m proud to say everything we do at Balcom is interactive.

Take, for example, our Gold Addy Winner “Oh My! Pink Eye!” for Alcon. It’s a game where children can play and parents can learn. It’s not an iPhone or computer screen, but it sure is interactive.

Or, if you’re thinking “that’s too easy,” look at our public relations department. We recently handled all of the PR for the dedication of the Fort Worth Police & Firefighters Memorial in Fort Worth, Texas. We didn’t just tell people about it, we encouraged them to go. In fact, we had around 1,000 go to the event and major TV stations and Newspapers covering the story. On top of that, the PR team worked with our interactive team to create a website where visitors could honor the fallen heroes by leaving a tribute.

I’m proud to say that everything is interactive. It’s not a buzzword we latched on to - it’s the way we work.