Evo Terra, director of media strategies for Sitewire.com

Here are the 10 no-nos:
1. Don’t #hashtag everything in your Twitter tweets.
It’s obnoxious. Use only one, sometimes two, in a tweet.
2. Don’t use any auto-DM program to reply to anyone who chooses to follow you on Twitter. It’s annoying and hurts your reputation.
3. Don’t be the Twitterer who shares only links. If anyone cares, he would just follow the person you’re linking to.
“Twitter is about showing your personality,” Terra said. “I don’t get that through a link.”
4. Don’t be the idiot who uses @(name) at start of a tweet. That’s a direct reference to the person but comes off like a shout.
If the mention is sincere, you will have a better chance of connecting with the person, he said.
5. On Facebook, do not create a Fan page for yourself and then invite all of your friends to become fans.
“It’s like being in a band and wearing a T-shirt with your band’s name on stage,” he said. “Uh, no.”
6. The biggest mistake on Facebook is the assumption of privacy.
Rules change, settings change — so expect that your posts are in the public eye, he said.
If you need more evidence as a reminder, go to Lamebook.com.
7. Committing one or all of these errors:
* frequent unimportant posts
* polarizing posts
* inappropriate posts (language or content)
* “everyday life” posts like where you’re eating lunch.
“A grad student did a study and these were the reasons why someone ‘unfriended’ someone else,” he said. “Everyone’s pipeline is getting busier and busier. Don’t add to it.”
8. One-way communication.
“It’s not a broadcast medium,” Terra said. “It’s a social medium.”
9. Confusing acquaintanceship with friendship.
If you’re a “friend” on Facebook, don’t expect the other person to carry your torch, he said.
10. Getting phished.
Don’t share your user names and passwords with other sites. These sites can then take over your profile and do all sorts of nefarious things under your name.
“You’ll be enticed by a worm in the water,” he said. “Don’t bite.”

Krause, vice president of marketing and communications for the Lisle, Il-based enterprise, discussed the change that has occurred since April 2009 at the Sept. 23 Arizona Marketing Technology Summit in Phoenix.

Molex is a global supplier of interconnect products. Its engineers design and develop electronic, electrical and fiber optic interconnects to switches and applications.

One could say it followed the “social media playbook”: introducing The Connector blog, an informal conversation separate from the Molex website; a YouTube channel; a Facebook page; and a Twitter account. It created a company profile on LinkedIn.

Here’s how he describes the approach:

Molex works with its partners and distributors to “broadcast” each other’s messages. They connect, re-Tweet and refer each other’s customers to the information.

“Together we are taking our messages out to the marketplace,” Krause said.

It’s working, he said. With all of the external links and some SEO, Molex has climbed up the search rankings from fourth or fifth to first or second, he said.

Krause emphasizes that doing business today is different than how he use to interact with customers.

The lesson? Identify ways to add value to your relationships with customers.

In fact, the exhibition hall at the Phoenix Convention Center cleared out at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 23 as Jamie Walker, general manager of the U.S. Enterprise Marketing Sector at Microsoft, took to the stage for the morning keynote of the Arizona Marketing Technology Summit. They weren’t disappointed.

Walker acknowledged that customers and Microsoft followers usually want to know two things: what is Microsoft doing in social media and what is the company’s road map for the future?

Walker noted that his marketing world has been turned upside down in the last four years. In 2006 digital spending accounting for 5 percent of his budget.

Today that figure is 60 percent – and the actual budget has been cut in half.

The expense for use of banner ads on websites has been shifted to SEO tactics. The company is using a tracking system to better serve individual customers.

Events are still the primary vehicle for Microsoft to reach customers but social/digital media is a way to nurture relationships, Walker said.

Businesses can’t ignore this.

Media and technology have turned monologues into dialogues and individuals have gone from always offline to always online (through computers and cell phones).

Thus, businesses need to use a structured framework to determine what they want to do in social media, how to engage customers and how to assess if the strategy is working.

Microsoft’s “Solution” involves understanding audiences, experiences and intelligence on their activities.

“Are you reaching the right people at the right time with the right message?” Walker said. Does the message keep their attention?

For the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft dived into marketing aggressively with the social-media-friendly tagline “Windows 7 was my idea.”

On a broader marketing front, Microsoft sought to engage consumers beyond the traditional media with the Bing search engine. One avenue was to incorporate information in video games.

Microsoft tested its marketing and found that through TV ads the company could reach 13 percent of consumers.

When they moved beyond one “screen” to mobile units and the Internet with ads, the reach exploded to 53 percent, Walker said.

One audience Microsoft has targeted for engagement is CIOs. The company created “thought leadership” episodes on its website – and visitors have ended up spending on average 8.5 minutes, which is “eternity” on the Web, Walker said.

“If you have valuable content, people will engage,” he said. And they, in turn, become your brand advocates.

The experts emphasized that social media is a community, not a place for wanton selling. Simply blabbing about yourself or your business ignores the real power of the medium – connecting with others who can educate, enlighten and enrich lives.

“Social media isn’t about you,” Corak said. “It’s about the community in which you participate, so engage!”

The panel agreed that blogs are a great way to build rapport with customers. O’Brien cautioned, however, that blogs shouldn’t be a monologue.

“Blogs can be a spot where you share the best of the best,” with contributions and links showcasing what leaders in your industry are saying, he said.

Kim noted that hits to a company website increase dramatically when the company starts a blog.

“Websites are often static while blogs are dynamic and can be updated quickly with breaking news,” she said.

Slim said it is important to listen to what is being said about you on the Internet but companies need to use discretion in who it responds to and how it responds.

“You needn’t engage every critic. You have a choice in who you let into your world,” she said. “Leave the troll under the bridge!”

Finally, Corak warned of the perils of not joining the social media wave.

“Social is the new telephone,” he said. “What would happen to your business if you just turned off your phone?”

Corak and O’Brien on how to assess an investment in social media:

Slim and Kim on how to interact with customers when a crisis hits or negative comments are expressed:

On Twitter: @Blogster @MikeCorak @CindyKimPR and @pamslim

Data Doctors founder Ken Colburn gave 200 small-businesspeople a lesson in Social Media 101 in an Aug. 28 talk for Greater Phoenix SCORE.

The key takeaways from Ken Colburn’s recent talk on social media: “Use Facebook” and “Social media is free.”

“Facebook is now the third largest country in the world, behind China and India,” he said. “It has more than 500 million people using it.”

If one considers that the average user has 131 “friends,” that’s a lot of people you can reach via word-of-mouth, he said.

Using “word of mouse” is also a great form of marketing because it’s free.

“Using social media costs time, not money,” Colburn said.

The founder of Data Doctors, a computer-repair and data-recovery firm with stores in 11 states, spoke to 200 small-businesspeople Aug. 28 for Greater Phoenix SCORE.

The topic was Social Media 101, an introduction and how-to on engaging customers.

Colburn advocates a Facebook-centric approach.

“Facebook is great for customer feedback,” he said. “Let’s face it, it’s probably more conducive to engaging your customer than your website is.”

In fact, instead of directing customers to its website, Data Doctors funnels them to its Facebook page.

“Promote your Facebook page on everything,” he said. “Tell folks to ask questions on Facebook. That’s where connection occurs.”

Technology allows businesses to use a “like” button to connect customers to Facebook. These are your “brand apostles,” he said.

The key is to “engage.”

“This is not a marketing exercise to promote yourself,” he said. “It’s a place for conversations and relationships.”

Colburn said it’s the same as your approach at a networking event.

“You don’t go up to people and start talking about yourself,” he said. “It’s meeting people and engaging in conversations of mutual interests.”

If you’re not going to listen to your customers, don’t use social media.

If Facebook is where to engage your customers, Twitter is where to reach future customers, Colburn said.

“Twitter is the place to get information and make new connections,” he said.

There is a world of Tweeters to search, follow and interact with. Ask questions. If your subject is dry, make it fun. But if you want to be an authority figure, don’t be goofy.

His company monitors use of the phrase “data recovery” on Twitter. Someone then answers the comment with a Direct Message with an offer to help.

“It costs time, but not money,” Colburn said.

Similarly, Linkedin is a spot for employee recruitment. It is also a wellspring of subject authorities.

“Linkedin skews older,” Colburn said. “It has a neat section with what customers are asking.”

If you have answers, your visibility rises, he said. People are asking for your help each day

And it’s fast. Colburn posted a question on insurance for his business twice on Linkedin. Within two days he had 40 responses.

“What required months of research before was cut to a fraction of that time,” he said.

Designate a 15-minute segment each day as Linkedin time, he suggested.

Businesses can also take advantage of “free” marketing through Foursquare.

The location-based social media invites its 3 million users to “check in” at establishments for badges or points. Businesses can market to these potentially loyal customers by offering specials.

Adjacent businesses can also get involved, as coupons show up for the stop’s neighbors.

“If you eat at Panda Express in Mesa, it shows a special on computer services at our nearby Data Doctors location,” he said.

Colburn said Foursquare was useful during a recent trip to Washington, D.C. He was looking for a place to eat. If you Google “D.C. restaurants,” the list is unwieldy.

So he clicked on Foursquare and looked at “tips” posted by users for the adjacent area. One for a nearby bistro read that the mac and cheese was the bomb.

“I went there and had the mac and cheese and it was the bomb,” he said. “And I don’t even like mac and cheese!”

If you are unsure of which social medium to use, take a look at Ping.fm.

In addition to engagement, small businesses need to have a plan to listen and measure.

Tools like Addictomatic, SocialMention, Google Alerts (for the entire Web), Google Realtime (for social), and Monitter allow companies to find mentions of the firm and industries.

“Monitter also allows you to get customers within a 50-mile radius,” he said.

In addition, he suggests looking at MuckRack, a site that follows what journalists are working on (“Listen to them and then offer help on stories they’re doing), and Listorious, which lists experts in specific fields.

“Check on your own company and your competitors,” he said.

For measuring, investigate Bit.ly (which shortens URLs in tweets for free but also shows how many people clicked on your link and from where); Facebook Insights (shows breakdown of fan base by gender and age); Google Analytics (to track visits to your website); HowSociable (a brand’s social report card).

Notably absent from Colburn’s talk – which one questioner noted – was discussion of YouTube.com.

He said he considers it “not entry level” for small businesses.

But he does encourage its use.

“Start generating video content,” he said. “Maybe you’ll be like the ‘United Breaks Guitar’ guy, whose video now has 9 million hits and he’s got a record contract.”

]]> http://www.johnswolfe.com/socialmedia/facebook-centric-strategy-for-small-businesses//feed 0 http://www.johnswolfe.com/socialmedia/using-social-media-to-recruit-hire/ http://www.johnswolfe.com/socialmedia/using-social-media-to-recruit-hire/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:02:22 +0000 admin http://www.johnswolfe.com/uncategorized/using-social-media-to-recruit-hire/

The Arizona Technology Council held a panel discussion titled “Recruiting and Branding with Social Media” on Aug. 25 at the Jobing.com office on North 22^nd Street. Participants were, from left, Claudia Reilly of Avnet, Andrew Vess of Cox Communications, and DeAnne Russell of St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Why pay to advertise – or pay too much – when social media and technology allow for easy interaction with customers and potential employees?

That question hit every business during the economic downturn; hiring was limited but every company needed to “stay in the game” despite slashed budgets.

This issue was at the center of the “Recruiting and Branding with Social Media” panel discussion on Aug. 25 at Jobing.com, organized by the Arizona Technology Council.

DeAnne Russell, senior recruiter for St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, said one organization with a magazine sought to charge $500 for a print ad and $75 for a Tweet to solicit for a medical position.

With no funds available, Russell admitted she went to the Twitter account, wrote down its followers, and engaged them directly. For free. And it worked.

Companies have also found employees by connecting with influential contacts – through LinkedIn, Twitter or blogs – and shared a need for a specific individual for an open position. Not only do they get results, the turnaround time can be as little as 24 hours.

This explains why the Arizona Republic careers section on Sunday is now only a few pages.

Claudia Reilly, recruiting manager for Avnet, said she turns to LinkedIn to identify candidates at the professional level.

“You can easily find people in your industry and the caliber of candidates is pretty good,” she said.

Both Russell (@StJosephsJobs) and Reilly use company Twitter accounts to announce openings.

Andrew Vess, talent acquisition manager for Cox Communications, said the company was admittedly slow to engaging in social media but says it plans to do more in 2011. He doesn’t Tweet.

“LinkedIn has been most successful for us,” he said. “Our approach is to show what we do and what it’s like to work here.”

Cox also shifted some of its advertising dollars from traditional media to Google and Facebook ads. He said the ads were effective and a fraction of the cost.

“The old way was ‘post and pray,’” he said. “Now, with cost per click, you only pay for what you use.”

He added that another option is to join LinkedIn groups to find candidates or connect with educators at university pages to help identify skilled individuals.

Russell also uses Twitter to promote the brand. Using TweetLater at SocialOomph, she can take a few hours at the end of the month and schedule all of her Tweets for the next month.

Then, if something newsworthy occurs, she can create a Tweet and send it out. This avoids the chore of setting aside time each day to participate in social media.

Reilly told the 20 business people in the audience to only engage in social media if you are ready to interact.

“In social media, they expect to have conversations,” she said.

Russell, because of the “push” nature of her job Tweets, said she doesn’t have many Twitter conversations.

Another advantage to social media is that information is shared instantaneously, Vess said. Company websites rarely change.

Vess added that it’s important to monitor what your competition is doing.

“If they’re there and you’re not, that’s a red flag,” he said.

Interestingly, Reilly noted that using paid-ad sites like Monster or Jobing.com can include costs that many companies would like to avoid. Russell admitted she likes @TweetMyJobs

Greta Suda, Jobing’s assistant general manager in Phoenix, said the company is aware of the environment and is also looking to innovate.

“We’re evolving, too,” she said. “Now we have a tech service team that can create the apps that companies and organizations can use for their own microsites or Facebook pages.

“We’re not just a job portal anymore,” she said.

This image of a “virtual” Times Square reinforces the idea that businesses today need to operate in the “real” world and the “cyber” world.

When I talk with clients about the importance of an online strategy, I still see some reluctance. It’s time-consuming, there’s a cost involved, it’s unclear if it’s effective, and our customers really aren’t online are some of the refrains.

But those opinions ignore reality; there is a cyber world out there and, like it or not, your business is in it already.

Consider it “space”: people are in there sharing information and recommendations, on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, blogs, consumer forums, and user-review websites. Don’t you think you should be there?

Companies large and small need to have a strategy for competing in the virtual world, just as they have a strategy for the real world. If they devote attention to how employees answer the phone, where to distribute ads or flyers, and what the office or storefront looks like, they also need to do that online.

There are four key online segments for any business. Some may be more important to you than others, but each is significant.

1. Listening: It is very easy for individuals to express opinions today and publish them for wider distribution than just the table at the coffee shop. To protect your brand, you need to know what’s being said, who is saying it and what traction it may be gaining. This can be done by an employee using search or, for larger firms, a provider like Radian6 or Synthesio. While critical comments can be demoralizing, they create an opportunity to win back fans by solving problems. Interacting with them is more beneficial than ignoring them.
2. SEO: Ted Turner once explained his secret to success this way – “Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise.” In 2010, advertising can be often be equated to how your business shows up in user searches. If you Google your brand and you’re not on the first page, you need an optimization effort. This involves website design, titles, keywords and a host of other factors. Don’t overlook this fundamental necessity: You probably rely on Google or Yahoo or Bing; so do your customers.
3. Engagement: There has been some discussion that corporations today don’t even own their brand. Customers do, and they can make it or break it through their comments. Imagine if your company could harness the allegiance, emotions, suggestions and megaphones of your customers. Would that make a difference in a positive way? The virtual world affords easier ways to get immediate feedback, identify and hone new products or services, and build brand loyalty. Rather than expect individuals to visit your website, companies need to go where they are – like Facebook or Youtube – and interact with them. And use tools like email and Twitter to solicit feedback and – most importantly – engage customers in a positive way.
4. Thought Leadership: In a world drowning in information, people thirst for knowledge. Every company – from the cell-phone provider to the extermination service – has the opportunity to educate customers on trends, innovations, regulations and challenges. Done in a timely and succinct manner, a company can extend its brand, become a trusted resource – and increase sales. If you’re not doing it, someone else is.

Of course, one size does not fit all. Most companies may find only a few of these “channels” to use, based on their market, their product or service and their capabilities.

Before your company jumps in, it’s vital to identify your objective, know your target audience and its preferences, and select the “tools” (social media, email, SEO etc.) that will be most impactful.

To sum up: Don’t forget about the “real” world. Just don’t ignore the “cyber” one.

But that doesn’t mean they should ignore the Web altogether.

The July 13 meeting of AZIMA – the Arizona Interactive Marketing Association – featured a second panel of Internet marketing consultants, who looked at the site of a Phoenix-based non-profit group. WingstoFly.info promotes building self-esteem in young women ages 12 to 17, primarily through one-week educational camp in the summer.

The panel analyzed the site based on usability, search engine optimization and social media links.

Panel 2: From left, David Wallace of SearchRank, Ward Andrews of Drawbackwards and design.org, and Matt O’Brien of Mint Social

Usability, by Ward Andrews of Drawbackwards and founder of design.org:

•           To dream, inspire and empower are all good parts of the story. Take that image area and also have a call to action there, to tell the story and also have the visitor take action toward a goal.

•           “Hover over” navigation no longer works. This has more importance as users adopt devices like touch interfaces like on the iPad.

•           Instead of photos of the girls at the camp, show a video of them having fun camp. Embed the video from your YouTube channel. This builds a social outpost off-site and upgrades the quality of storytelling on-site.

•           On the home page, instead of describing “quick links,” describe what the list is about. If the list is about sponsors and donors, who you are recruiting as well as highlighting, list them with their logos. “It’s a sales tool,” he said.

•           One of the site sections is for after-school programs, there is nothing listed. I recommend you not include links until the content is there, he said.

SEO, by David Wallace of SearchRank:

• Many non-profits haven’t done much with search engine optimization but it’s crucial, he said.
• First, use a keyword search to determine the words and phrases people are using when doing a search.
• Next, employ keyword mapping to assign specific words to specific pages, the ones best suited to match searches.
• Each page should have unique title tags, with keywords and the brand name.
• Don’t forget a meta tag, the description of the organization and its mission, with keywords, for the website.
• You need to use header tags, and footer tags.
• If you use cascading style sheets for design, you made need to adjust them to include keywords.
• Use of p tags will make pages load faster.
• Include a link in images in order to show up on Google’s Image search.
• The site has nice incoming links from KNIX and KNXV-Channel 15. The group may want to pursue more of these, as part of a strategy to build the site as an authority in this domain.
• .info is a bit out of the mainstream. “It would be great if you could get the .com or .org domain,” he said.

Social media, by Matt O’Brien of Mint Social:

• WingstoFly does have a Twitter account but it doesn’t seem to be your audience. You have the girls attending the camp and the parents who would like to send their daughters to camp.
• The group does have an interesting Facebook page. But there isn’t a prominent tie-in to the page from the website.
• What are your content strategies? If the girls are “cold turkey” on gadgets during the camp, could volunteers capture the cool things going on?
• The Wing Story is buried on the home page and difficult to find. This is your biggest asset, so find a way to tell it on video or using Flickr. “Your audience is out on social networks,” O’Brien said. “You need to go there to engage them.”
• The group’s blog is also hard to find. This needs to be a part of the website, with a domain of www.wingstofly.info/blog.
• Pare down the site to tell WingstoFly’s story. Celebrate your big fund-raisers and donors.
• Is there a contest that you can introduce, perhaps for scholarships?
• In the off-season, can the girls participate by talking about their experiences at camp?
• The kids will be viral so you need to make the parents aware of the camp.
• You may also want a listening strategy. Perhaps there are parents looking for answers to some problems with their daughters. If you find forums or follow tweets where these discussions are taking place, you can participate and bring up WingstoFly, the website and the camp.

The July 13 meeting of AZIMA – the Arizona Interactive Marketing Association – featured two panels of Internet marketing consultants offering their suggestions for a commercial site and a non-profit site.

Each panel featured three individuals, who looked at site usability, search-engine fundamentals and links to social media marketing.

Panel 1: From left, Jack Smith of Social Latte, Sheila Kloefkorn of KEO Marketing, and Chris Sietsema of Teach to Fish Digital

The first site was www.giftideas.com. The first panel actually looked at a prototype for the company’s next website.

Usability, by Chris Sietsema of Teach to Fish Digital:

• First, you need to ask what the site visitor is asking: What is this site about? What can I do here? How is this different from other sites? What does the website want me to do?
• With such a broad scope of “gift ideas,” it might easier to select a niche to emphasize.
• The site’s graphic only reaches halfway across the page; it looks broken so extend it across the entire header.
• Visitors take in information in different ways, so mix words with images.
• Test vertical and horizontal layouts to gauge effectiveness.
• Employ software that shows links under the cursor as the user “hovers” over it, so as to not require a click.
• Consider creating recommendations for users. “I searched garden hoses and there were no products,” he said. “That could be a spot for recommendations.”
• Use breadcrumb navigation to give users a way to keep track of the pages they visit.

Search engine optimization, by Sheila Kloefkorn, president of KEOMarketing.com:

• How do search engines see your site? she asked.
• Keywords are crucial. Instead of simply “gift ideas,” it’s important to “tag” each page – for example, women’s products or men’s products – so that there is unique content on each page. “Use file names to identify the best gift ideas in search,” she said. “Optimize ‘gift ideas’ – for women, for girls, for boys, etc.”
• When constructing the site, be sure to use complete terms for links. For example, for gift ideas, don’t just use a link for “men’s.” “Men’s gift ideas” will allow the page to come up in searches. (Such tag lines are used effectively by Red Envelope, another gift site. Gifts.com pitches its gifts selected by “experts.”)
• Meta descriptions need to be optimized. This involves a 150-word description for the site that includes a call to action.
• Meta descriptions need to be repeated on every page. “70 to 80 percent of your traffic will come in on an inside page, not the home page,” she said.
• Visit Google’s AdWords and use the Keyword tool to determine what words users are using in searches, then incorporate those words on your website. For example, searchers may use “gifts for men” most frequently.
• Your search results will improve if you can increase the number of incoming links to your site. “That’s 70 percent of the battle,” Kloefkorn said.
• Use analytics to determine what people want, based on what they click.
• WordPress sites are a challenge for e-commerce enterprises.
• Consider adding a blog, as that will get Google’s attention.
• Get in the Google Directory.
• Use press releases and announcements to get the site to show up in Google News searches.

Social media links, by Jack Smith, online marketing barista for The Social Latte:

• Identify what social media tools to use to market the business and put the logo links “above the fold” on the front page.
• Consider enhancing the look of the link with a bit of flair – a ribbon around the Facebook “F,” for example – to be unique.
• If you want people to “like” you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter, you need to give them a reason to.
• Create a blog to have conversations with customers.
• What makes you unique? For a gift site, look at ways to help or entertain customers. Offer unique wrapping ideas or creative ways to give gifts. Alert users to gift ideas, for holidays and bizarre events like “Blueberry Month.”
• Get users to share their stories, which will provide additional content to your site.
• Create customized landing pages on Facebook (not just the “wall”) for specific events or times of year.
• Introduce a newsletter.
• Consider including a Twitter feed on the site that follows specific hashtags, like #flowers.
• Can you hold contests, like stories behind gift-giving or video reactions to gifts?
• Have a “listening” strategy; engage people, hear what they are saying in social media about gifts, and what they are looking for.

AZIMA has a new meeting place: the Scottsdale Hilton. The group’s next events will be Aug. 10, Sept. 14 and Oct. 12.

NEXT: The second AZIMA panel assesses the effectiveness of a non-profit site.

Henry Cowling knows how to get a laugh.

The creative director of The Viral Factory led off his talk at the June 17 Social Media Marketing conference in London with this video of an old woman kicking a baby and then some funny photos.

He was demonstrating the first of four principles of creating viral content: Be relevant to your audience.

To this group of social media enthusiasts, the use of the video was appropriate and it demonstrated Cowling’s offbeat approach, his “badge of personality.”

“It’s very tribal,” he said. “You need to speak to a specific group.”

He mentioned that some tech enthusiasts produce and share “unboxing” videos. This one from March on the unboxing of a new iPad has had more than 700,000 viewers on YouTube.

(The Viral Factory had a little fun by producing this video on unboxing a Samsung Omnia phone – marching band included.)

“Going viral” usually begins with bloggers of that tribe and, if memorable, the sharing of it leads to mainstream coverage.

Henry Cowling describes the dos and don’ts of viral marketing at the June 17 London conference.

Cowling’s second principle to the marketers was the reminder that you are working in editorial space, not advertising. This isn’t purchased marketing.

“You need to entertain first,” Cowling said. “Absorb the culture of the audience you’re trying to reach.”

Companies need to act as brands in editorial space, and should invest in better production values.

“Your competition is Lady Gaga and World Cup goals, not competing brands,” he said.

And, like it or not, edgy material gets eyeballs, he said. Diesel, the fashion company, speaks to its particular audience with this potentially offensive – but funny, to some – party video. It has 13 million views.

Third, there is a difference between receivable vs. sendable, Cowling said.

Viral has its own rules and it’s hard to write the funniest content, he said.

“You need to appeal to specific communities,” he said. “It’s getting people to hit ‘send.’”

Would you send this video of Scary Maze reaction? It’s been seen almost 19 million times, so you can assume it’s being passed along.

Or this one about walking on water, or “Liquid Mountaineering“? Five million views.

Last, marketers need to stay “on message,” he said.

Brands can exist and thrive in the social environment.

“People don’t object to advertising,” Cowling said. “Viral is not about ‘unbranded’ content.”

Skype has a video called “Laughing Chain.” It has 6 million views on YouTube. (Check out the “gnaw” guy’s laugh midway through!)

Finally, Cowling said photos and interactive games can go viral but videos are typically best.

“The barrier to entry is low,” he said.