But painful, it was. The processes of identifying, documenting and melding the assortment of styles, philosophies and techniques was a massive undertaking. There are a thousand steps that occur from the first steps of scoping out a project to the last QA/QC steps before a site launches, ad goes out or social campaign gets going. Striking the balance between strategist’s approach and the technician’s mentality was perhaps the most crucial part of this. Too much of a focus on the elements that the strategist considers critical (high-level concepts) and not enough of the technician’s traits (the devil’s in the details) or visa versa would leave the work incomplete.

That’s why we defined everything. Not only to provide a smoother workflow, but to formalize the new ideas that allow us to fully flesh out our clients’ messages and key differentiators. The newly redefined discovery process arms us up front with the elements that used to be on our “if we’d only known this when we started” wish list. The restructured development process means we truly understand the end user and can build everything (aesthetic, functionality, messaging, interaction) with those personas always in focus.

As it we entered 2011, it was a year of process. Now well into 2012, we are clearly embarking on a year of progress. The growing pains of 2011 were necessary to build the foundation. Now it’s time to start building.

Co-Written by J.Camp and C.Brown

We gathered. We shared knowledge. All in all, the Industry Collective was strong at Murmuration 2012, and we couldn’t have done it without all of the participation from our panelists and the Nashville community. The event generated more measurable Social Media buzz than any marketing event in our history, and was wildly successful in leading to cash donations to the NTC Scholarship Fund and to Nashville’s chapter of the Intern’l Social Media Club.

We brought together the top leaders of the social media and technology world to speak at the historic Franklin Theatre. Attendees flocked to hear panelists Jeff Cohen (Radian6, @jeffreylcohen), Dawn Devirgilio (ExactTarget, @dawndevirgilio), Patrick Salyer (Gigya, @patricksalyer), Marcus Whitney (Moontoast, @marcuswhitney), special unannounced speaker Robert Brown (Nissan, @jrobertb),and James Soto (ISM, @jamessotoism) share insights, technologies, and strategies on the rapidly developing landscape in social marketing.

The panels covered a wide spectrum of hot topics – from the challenges and risks that today’s business leaders face to the opportunities as social media becomes integral to campaign and relationship-based marketing.

Now, it’s time to dig a bit deeper and recap … i.e. the “Murmuration Effect”, and how we went about accomplishing our goals.

Our Goals for Murmuration 2012

Murmuration was geared toward supporting enterprise teams and marketing executives who wanted to explore the most effective, creative and advanced ways that social media could make a measurable difference for their business, their clients, or their employers.

When we set out, it was our goal to reach the following members of the community at large. This was accomplished by creating a “map” of everywhere on and offline that these targets spend time. A few of the groups include:

Speakers we pursued: Gigya, MoonToast, ExactTarget, Facebook, Linkedin

Result: Received immediate confirmation from Gigya, ExactTarget, and MoonToast. Facebook made a soft commitment (now we see that the IPO announcement was keeping them a bit busy). Linkedin expressed interest too close to the date of the event to participate. 

Marketing Associations and Groups: PRSA, NAMA, IABC, Nashville Technology Council, The 615, SMC Nashville, AAF

Result: Every association on-board as advocates or sponsors, and all were in attendance

Local Corporations: Sony Music, Universal Music Group, Catepillar, Genesco, Griffin, Eventful, Magazines.com, Emma Email Marketing, Raven Tools, Gaylord, Vanderbilt, Nissan Americas, Infiniti, Kirklands, SESAC, Xerox, CMT and approx. 100 other local companies

Result: 100% Awareness, 80% of the targeted companies were in attendance (100% of those listed above), 2 became sponsors, and Nissan joined us on stage.

Local Marketing and PR firms: As Industry Collective is all about the community, we also sought attendance from local PR and Marketing agencies as we have long felt they are groups that stand to gain the most from a solid enterprise social media education.

Result: Estimated 100% Awareness, 73% of the targeted companies were in attendance. The companies included Gamma Blast, [meta]marketer, Birdsong Creative, Powell Creative, Sheridan PR, Fletcher Rowley, Journal Communications, Deane Smith & Partners, Caddis, LexisNexis, Red Pepper, Athens-South, ACS, iostudio, Marshall and Bruce, Phase 3, Nashville Business Journal, DVL, Meredith Group, and dozens more. 

A quick profile of Murmuration attendees:

Overwhelmingly, our main advocates on Twitter were the drivers of over 84% of all online communications.  90% were between the ages of 25-44 (equally split between 25-34 and 35-44) and 62% of those that mentioned us online were women.

How we marketed the event without “breaking the bank”:

Like all good things, we started with a plan. A brief “Playbook” was written and distributed to speakers, sponsors, and association partners and we simply encouraged their participation. This was made manageable  as we provided everything from a well-written editorial calendar, to pre-crafted press releases and emails for easy distribution. Even the emails were created from the start with branding for those that were to distribute.

We based our communications strategy on key milestones that were mapped out in the Marketstrong platform, and triggered social updates and reminders to everyone ahead of each communication milestone. In order to track the event, we included the hashtag #murmuration in all communications. (For better tracking we tagged “negative keywords” like “starlings” and “birds+flock” – the hashtag previously had 1 to 2 daily mentions)

The Influencer Formula

Throughout this campaign, we also tagged influencers online and tracked their activity. This activity tracked in the context of a campaign allows us to identify influencers in a much different way than a site like Klout. Rather than simply looking at a general class of retweets and reach, it allows us to measure entity relationships and as people engage with our campaigns, allows us to track activity across the web as it relates to future campaigns – thus allowing intelligent identification of new potential advocates. Using this methodology, we were able to minimize our efforts and still see great success.

Results – By the Numbers

Note: Our tracking was meant to cover a range of items, including speakers, companies, associations, and sponsors. In an effort to truly track the effect of the event on our partners, we included generic keywords as well as company and speaker twitter handles.

Key Stats (click on images to enlarge):

• Keynote Tickets Sold: 247/240
• Birdbath Tickets Sold: 122/120
• Industry Collective (#murmuration) had a total of 2826 (32.4%) mentions between Jan 1st and Feb 10th.
• Radian6 recorded 250  mentions alone with the #radian6 hashtag on the day of the event.
• #Murmuration was the most popular keyword used from the start of the year
• The event was mentioned over 1200 times on the day of the event alone
• Out of the 2826 posts that were recorded, 84.6% came from Twitter.

If you attended Murmuration, thank you for your  enthusiastic participation & we look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Do you currently employ content writers, copywriters or a content team? If not, who manages and develops content for marketing efforts? Internal communications?

The term “content strategy” elicits a rather wide range of responses, both from the technician/creative side as well as marketing.

Sure, it’s a term of endearment these days, often more hype than substance. But brought into the fold early in the process – and given the opportunity to add actual value – it can be pure magic.

Plan for content strategy – Now, not later

Too often, content is the very last item on the priority list, a “to be checked off” instead of the key cog in the marketing process it should be. ”Early” is where project stakes are at their highest, and where most people stumble.

So I’ve included a few necessary steps (from my experience) to plan for content, to ensure that the “how” and “when” you communicate with customers is aligned with the message, before the foundation is set and the marketing is turned to 11.

But first – why?

Before we dive into the what and how, it’s important to understand why content strategy should be introduced early in the process.

So why early?

Because everything along the marketing spectrum will depend on a solid plan for writing and delivering relevant communication. Your sales staff will need it in the field. Your marketing campaigns will need it. Your customers will definitely need it.

The nuts and bolts of content strategy

I’d need a few books (and then some) to really dig down deep into the methodology for planning and executing effective content strategy.  Even armed with an empty canvas, much of the specific tactical recommendations largely depend on a wide variety of factors (industry, resources, in-house expertise, conversions, etc.), so I’m focusing on a few foundational elements that you can attack right away.

Audit what you have

You have more than a few ways to approach a content audit, but since you’re actively building a business case for later recommendations, don’t get hung out to dry without at least cursory audit of what you have to work with.

Note - It absolutely should be a precursor to a more in-depth audit before content requirements are delivered, but it doesn’t have to go that deep just yet. This is about getting a feel for the quality and relevancy of your content so that you understand the playing field.

Open a text doc and scan your website, page by page, recording general observations on the messaging – is it useful, outdated, extraneous, lacking a clear call to action, match current business objectives?

This will serve as starting point A for a more in-depth audit by your newly appointed content strategist (yes, you should have one of those).

Identify roles and responsibilities

I ask the same two questions on every project. Though not an exact phrasing, the questions generally look like:

Do you currently employ content writers, copywriters or a content team? If not, who manages and develops content for marketing efforts? Internal communications?

Identifying roles and responsibilites is an absolute. It’s ownership and accountability for the crucial steps in content development. It’s putting the ducks in a row, keeping them in row and ensuring the row evolves with your business.

Without clearly defined roles in content, you get a lot of balls dropped and inconsistencies in communication strategy.

Ask LOTS of questions

Curiousity never killed anything (well, except for that proverbial cat), so use this process as fuel for your discovery process. You should gain just enough knowledge from key departments to build an initial business case.

A few examples of the right customer-facing questions that a) doesn’t invite a bloated pre-sales process because of content and b)  limiting yes and no answers:

1. Do we have printed sales tools available for our sales reps? What about interactive tools for the field? Who creates/manages the content that goes into these tools?
2. Do we have documented, standard verbiage — whether on external printed materials or internal documents — that employees are expected to adhere to?
3. Who will serve as primary approver for all communication – offline and online?

Sell the foundation

Before campaigns are conquered, get the messaging foundation down. Do everything above and then some. I don’t mean this metaphorically either. Do the leg work, then write it down and share with everyone in the company. Get alignment!

Literally, the process might look something like:

1. Get all departments involved, early
2. Audit
3. Customer/competitive research and analysis
4. Present findings/give recommendations
5. Map key messaging priorities to appropriate products and services
6. Write value props, features, calls to action for product/service category
7. Repeat above for each product service, value adds, company processes, etc.
8. Write company elevator pitch – lose the bland, please
9. Consider these first steps in setting communication standards
10. Set a meeting to review with all departments, designate leads to ensure these standards are met.

Building the foundation for effective communication starts today, not tomorrow. I’m well aware that this is only the beginning, a surface scratch on what is a massive universe of methodologies, processes, philosophies, etc.

So, how do you envision content strategy should be leveraged, and what is your ideal scenario for incorporating content into your existing processes?

Try SlidePanel (opens in new window)

To get started follow the instructions below:

Download the plugin

Github: https://github.com/egdelwonk/SlidePanel/
Project Homepage: http://codebomber.com/jquery/slidepanel/

Include required files

<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery.codebomber.panel.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/jquery.codebomber.panel.css">

Add a panel element to your html

<div id="panel" class="cb_slide_panel">
<div class="wrapper">
<a class="close" href="#">Close</a>
<div class="inner">
<div class="wrapper"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

Load the plugin on your element

<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(
function(){
$('#panel').codebomber_Panel();
}
);
</script>

Add a panel trigger

The href attribute is used to load external HTML content into your panel

<a href="external.php" rel="panel">Show Panel</a>

Misc

If you pass an element to the plugin that does not currently exist in the dom, the plugin will create a default element with the above format.

Add Joshua on G+

Optimizing your G+ profile is quite possibly the best use of your time on social networks at the moment. Here is the ‘how and why’ of what we recommend you do to take advantage of things.

Why it’s important

Your G+ profile is displayed when one of a few things happens. The most common being that someone searches for something in Google and results are returned from their G+ network (in the way of profiles or shared content), when you as an author have a ‘rich snippet’ tied to an article you wrote, or when someone simply searches for your name. With this latest change, all of these things are increasingly important to your SEO efforts. Remember, with G+, you really do have to treat yourself as a brand.

G+ Profile in Search Results

Metadata still counts

Google+ uses the following formula to generate the meta name=”description” tag:

Your Name + Headline + Position + Company + Current City + Introduction

Here are the steps you should take in order to make the most of G+:

1. Decide where (and what) you’d like to rank for
1. Do you do most of your business in your hometown, or the large city where your office is? This makes a difference when you add a current location.
2. Are you looking for freelance work, a job, or aiming to promote your company page? Keep this in mind when looking for keywords and job titles to use in your profile
2. Do a little research
1. Just like traditional keyword research, look for higher volume, lower competition words and phrases
2. Pay attention to one variable – the fact that people are probably more likely to click through personal profiles when seeking to expand their network (that means city searches, and occupational searches may be much more valuable than generic phrases), and business pages are more likely to be clicked on when someone is looking for a service.
3. Complete your Profile
1. It may sound ridiculous, but when we say “complete”, we mean it. G+ uses bits and pieces of your entire profile to determine the best way to display you and your content in search results.
2. Pay attention to your length of text – especially in your headline, as it appears that hidden information isn’t so relevant when searching inside of G+, although it’s all used in the meta tag for public searches
3. Make sure to add the proper URLs to your profile. There are (2) types of links that affect search results for someone in your network:
1. The ‘Other profiles’ will give Google a clue as to where your Twitter account and Facebook profile or pages live, and will affect subsequent search results
2. The ‘Contributor to’ field will let Google know where you publish content.

NOTE: Make sure you link to an actual author profile page, and not just the blog or publication page. This along with some optimization and rel=”me” and rel=”author” tagging on that linked profile page is required for Google to display rich snippets

Rich Snippets in Google Search

Other Important Steps

1. Optimize outside of G+
1. Connect your other profiles to your G+ profile by adding links where possible
2. Although Google may or may not take it into account for individuals, make sure to be consistent – there is no sense in telling Facebook you live in Monaco and G+ that you live in Arkansas and in the case of a business profile this is likely to have a negative effect
2. Engage, engage, engage
1. Lastly, there is no point to any of this if you don’t build your personal network on G+, so start building circles and contributing to conversations.
2. Try building location or interest specific circles so you can build influence in your own area or the area you do most of your business. For example, for a freelance PHP developer doing mostly local work you might start engaging with people you know are closely related to small business associations in the area and adding their members to your own segmented circles. As more and more business people in the area add you to a circle, you are more likely to be returned as a search result that magic day when they go to Google and type in “freelance PHP developers”.

Other involved parties are rumored to include the associations NAMA, PRSA, NTC, Chamber of Commerce, IABC, AAF, and a few others.

For more information, keep tabs and pre-register at the Industry Collective Website