Episode 41 - Who is writing your social media playbook?

I've been sharing an analogy with some friends comparing social media to football. You really could compare business or marketing in general to football, but you can just think about that however you want. Anyway, check out this week's post and let me know your thoughts. Is anyone writing your playbook, or are you just going out for a pass?

Who to Follow - Duncan Alney

I can's say enough about this guy. The video really says it all and here's where you can follow "The Chief" online.

www.firebellymarketing.com
www.twitter.com/firebelly
www.passionati.com

Who to Follow - Chris Brogan

Honestly, Chris is just a real person online. He has one of the most popular blogs for online marketing, social media, etc. If you reach out to him he'll give you his thoughts. He writes and a great blog, and does some video too. If you are entering the social media space/game Chris is definitely one to follow. Check out his book Trust Agents as well. It will open your eyes.

Episode 35 - Managing your social media expectations

First off I would like to give a hat tip to Brent Williams, the chief at MultifamilyInsiders.com, for spurring this conversation and inspiring this post. We had an interesting conversation going on from one of my previous posts, and it came around to "managing one's expectations with social media." I've said all along that social media is a part to building your online brand. With building any brand we all know it takes time, and building an online brand can seem like you're doing it all over again. The good news is that if you already have a brand then it's not a complete rebuild, but it's taking a different view point for how your brand is going to present itself online. This doesn't happen overnight, and the "build it and they will come" concept just doesn't work. No longer can you just build a website and hope people find you. You need to continually build your presence online, you need a strategy, and you needed to start yesterday. For those of you that have started, GREAT! For those of you thinking about starting, it's time to get a move on.

In my comments to Brent from that post I shared what I've helped J.C. Hart do over the last 2 years to build a better online brand. That's right 2 years. Here's what I shared:

This is a challenge and a hurdle so many struggle with. The main issue really isn't where the resources are coming from, but how people are stuck in their thinking and perspective. It's scary to take risk and it's scary to change. I just don't think that is an excuse. So here's what I've done in the last 2 years, and how it's been a wash when it comes to dollars invested.

1. I just went for it and dropped the print guides. Yep, we did it.
2. Pooled together the new found saving for our Indianapolis Area Apartments and created a kick ass marketing fund for the city/market.
3. Hired an online media agency to help me with our online brand and online assets.
3. Allocated some of the $ saved to completely redesigning, optimizing, and overhauling our website(s).
4. Allocated some of the $ to adding additional ILS listings.
5. Dove in head first to personally understand as many social media channels as I could. I mainly did this on my own time.
6. Along with online media agency helped build online social assets like blogs, facebook pages, a YouTube channel, and Twitter account.
7. Organized a strategy for on site teams to blog.
8. Watch physical traffic from year to year (in a down market year) go up. Watch website traffic from year to year increase 50%.
9. Always believe there is a better way to do things. Innovate, innovate, innovate.
10. Rule #76: No excuses. Play like a champion.

So that's it in a nutshell for me and J.C. Hart, and we're still rolling with some killer new projects for 2010. As I continue to say, there is no cookie cutter approach. What works for me won't work for everyone, and social media in general isn't for everyone. That said, I do truly believe that anyone can at least do something to build a better online brand. It may not be with Twitter or Facebook, but more time dedicated to your online assets shouldn't be a decision that is limited by economics.

If you'd like to read all the comments and watch the original post you can visit it here.

All this said, I've got quite the video for you today. Six minutes of fun for why social media needs to be a part of your online brand and how success won't happen overnight. It's a long term strategy. Thanks for stopping by.

Episode 33 - Are you cleaning out the clutter on Facebook?

I think this can apply to any social network, but I'll start with Facebook. The question is whether it's time to clean out the clutter on Facebook, and what to do when your "fans" start cleaning out their clutter. What's your plan/strategy?

Who to Follow - Scott Monty

I'd like to kick off a new series. By the end of the year you should have 52 key people to follow (if I can keep up with this). I'll highlight something the individual has shared online and tell you why they are someone to follow. If you have any recommendations I'll keep a list going and maybe that person will be our weekly highlight.

OK, so for my first "Who to Follow" post I'm choosing Scott Monty. Check out his social media predictions for 2010 blog post here and watch my video for some general comments about Scott, the head of social media for Ford Motor Company.

Tidbits from The Shock Jock

Here's where I'm going with all this. Thanks Allison for the inspiration.

Building Your Online Corporate Mullet

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Realpage was very gracious to invite us to speak at their 2009 user conference, and we ended up having standing room only for our presentation. Very humbled for the excellent turnout and kudos to Kate Good and Lisa Trosien for recommending our session during their presentations.

When thinking of what to speak about I somehow immediately thought of this concept my good friend Duncan Alney, with Firebelly Marketing, had been brainstorming about, The Corporate Mullet. It's a metaphor for your business and how wearing some business up front and a party in the back is a great way to build a brand and relationships offline and online. We focused on building the corporate mullet online specifically for the apartment industry, and used case studies from Urbane Apartments, J.C. Hart Company, and some non-apartment industry companies. Below is our slide show sharing some of our data. If you have any questions about our presentation please feel free to write a comment or email me directly at mark@theapartmentnerd.com. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day.

Building Your Online Corporate Mullet

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