Social Media Insights

Bathroom Blogfest 2012. BTW, What’s a Blogfest?

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Nora DePalma

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More to the point, what’s a blogfest?

Even more to the point: why should you care?

A blogfest, also known as a blogoff or bloghop, is a social marketing technique that builds valuable inbound links among bloggers, builds community and comments, generates targeted impressions, and increases organic search visibility.

Bathroom Blogfest 2012, with its theme “Still Climbing Out” is dedicated to the topic of the “customer experience in the bathroom.” Every contributor is challenged to make the content compelling. Last year, the O’Reilly-DePalma contribution to the theme Climbing Out was about the challenges of my aging parents in a typical home bathroom

In 2010, the Mad-Men inspired 60s-theme gave us the chance to engage our American Standard client’s Professor Toilet blog in some retro advertising fun:

Now in its seventh year, Bathroom Blogfest participants include interior designers, health and wellness experts, marketing, public relations and customer service professionals, retailers and bathroom products manufacturers.

“The purpose of Bathroom Blogfest is to build online relationships and conversations about an intensely compelling topic,” says Christine B. Whittemore, chief simplifier, Simple Marketing Now, who organizes the yearly Bathroom Blogfest.

Bonus Impressions and Links from #kbtribechat on Twitter

As with last year’s Bathroom Blogfest, this year’s content receives increased visibility via the weekly #kbtribechat on Twitter. Christine and I are hosting “Still Climbing Out: Bathroom Design After Cancer,” inspired by breast cancer awareness month and a question posted online by design blogger Lisa M. Smith (Decor Girl) seeking special shower design ideas for a friend with advanced cancer. Join us TODAY for #kbtribechat at 2 pm ET.

Watch how it all comes together this week, reading the bloggers listed below, following along on Twitter with the hastag #BathroomEXP or liking Bathroom Blogfest on Facebook.

With the entire building industry—not just bathrooms—in the process of climbing out after some slow years, the power of top-notch content and smart social marketing to attract sales prospects is a vastly underestimated power in the hands of marketers. Make it part of your 2013 plans.

Name	Twitter Username	Blog Name	Blog URL
Susan Abbott	susanabbott	theIdeaStudio	www.theideastudio.ca
Laurence Borel	blogtillyoudrop	blog till you drop	www.laurenceborel.com
Bill Buyok	AventeTile	Avente Tile Talk	http://www.aventetiletalk.com/
Jeanne Byington	jmbyington	The Importance of Earnest Service	blog.jmbyington.com
Nora DePalma	steamtherapy	The Mr. Steam SteamTherapy Blog	http://blog.mrsteam.com/
Mr. Steam	noradepalma	OR-DP POV	www.oreilly-depalma.com/blog
Stacy Garcia	kbtribechat	kbtribe	http://kbtribe.wordpress.com
Diane Kazan	dkazan	Public Bathroom Blog	http://thekazan.blogspot.com
Arpi Nalbandian	Arpi_Nalb	Avente Tile Talk	http://www.aventetiletalk.com/
Victoria & Shelley Redshaw & Pond	scarletopus	Scarlet Opus Trends Blog	www.scarletopus.com
Sandy Renshaw	sandyrenshaw	Purple Wren	purplewren.com
Bruce D. Sanders	rimtailing	RIMtailing	http://rimtailing.blogspot.com/
Paige Smith	none	Tile tips from installation professionals	http://neusetile.wordpress.com/
Todd Vendituoli	TALV58	Thebuildingblox	http://www.thebuildingblox.com/
Shannon Vogel	cyswebsites	From the Floors Up	http://fromthefloorsup.com
CB Whittemore	cbwhittemore	Content Talks Business Blog	http://simplemarketingnow.com/content-talks-business-blog/
Irene Williams	crossvilleinc	Elevate Your Space	http://elevateyourspace.wordpress.com/
Linda Wright	skiptotheloo	Skip to the Loo!	http://lindaloo.com/

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What Brands Can Learn From the BlogHer 2012 Expo

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Nora DePalma

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2 comments

New York, NY — Last week, I provided a preview of BlogHer 2012. Now comes the report on the creative brand engagement strategies I saw at this conference and expo that attracted more than 5,000 blogging women:

Pfizer arranged for a select group of BlogHer 2012 attendees to take a dance class with the famed Rockette’s at Radio City Music Hall.

Most creative booth execution: the launch of Lysol Power & Free. They had two comedians, including one with a guitar who made up funny songs on the spot about all the bloggers, all ending with the same bouncy chorus repeating the product name over and over. Lysol was among several exhibitors who had places for bloggers to sit and recharge devices drained by all the tweets, Instagrams, and Facebook posts going on. There was a full bottle of Power & Free in every one of the 5,000 attendee bags.

Best all around: Pfizer. They had the largest expo floor footprint, but not all in one spot. They engaged with us in different ways—including my personal highlight—a dance lesson with the Rockettes in the rehearsal studios backstage at Radio City Music Hall. The experiences were different, but all were focused on a consistent message about wellness and aging. We were encouraged to visit their new website, GetOld.com.

See more in the slideshow. In the meantime, here are five tips that building products brands can learn from the powerhouse marketers at BlogHer:

1. The vibe is very much “girls weekend away,” so the more fun, the better. Informational booths had the slowest traffic, while massages, manicures and fun places to take pictures had lines and crowds.

What do manicures have to do with computer accessories? Nothing. Manicures have to do with building relationships. Make people feel good!

2. Giveaways and contests were the second most-popular attraction, as were food samples.

3. Make it easy to share, provide images and video…and don’t forget your logo.

4. Flattering images will be shared. Does-this-make-me-look-fat pictures will not. Think about this when you ask bloggers to wear your t-shirts.

5. Start the dialogue and use it to create conversational content. (See the Pfizer Get Old wall in the slide show.)

The creativity behind the brands at BlogHer12? Nearly all the agencies on the scene were public relations agencies. Not ad agencies, not brand shops. PR people get this influence-building thing. When it comes to blogger relations, it’s advantage: public relations.

Update: Our report from BlogHer was also highlighted on the PR Weekly blog. Follow the link to view the post and access additional BlogHer coverage.

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Brand Engagement Lessons from BlogHer 2012

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Nora DePalma

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This week, I’m attending and speaking at the annual BlogHer conference in New York for the first time. What is BlogHer12? A gathering of 4,000 blogging women, each of whom has a circle of influence ranging from the hundreds to thousands to millions of friends, fans and followers. BlogHer women are considered to be so influential that Martha Stewart and Katie Couric are keynoters, and President Obama is beaming in by video to say hi to us.

BlogHer12 is the flagship event of the BlogHer publishing network, which has a monthly audience of 40 million. BlogHer content is very much like a classic women’s magazine (except for the food, fashion and beauty pictures—they are over on Pinterest). BlogHer brings these highly fragmented circles of influence together in an efficient way for brands to reach key influencers.

Unlike the Mad Men days of placing a clever ad in a woman’s magazine, brands at BlogHer12 are investing in an experience. Similar in many ways to a trade show, with conference sessions and an expo floor, the action at BlogHer—and many other blogger events—doesn’t stop at the edge of a 10 x 20 booth. Check out how some of the top brands are courting us:

Starbucks asked us to tweet our favorite beverage from their menu for a chance to be invited to their Starbucks Suite to preview their new Verismo® home coffeemaker. (I tweeted my fave grande nonfat caramel macchiato and scored an invite to their suite for a tasting Saturday morning.)

Pfizer has arranged a workout with the Rockettes. The Rockettes. At Radio City Music Hall. New York is my town. There’s no way I’m not doing this and sharing the heck out of my experience socially, giving Pfizer all kinds of impressions in my social network in exchange for making a childhood dream come awkwardly true. Then they booked me for a head and neck reflexology session and the chance for a one-on-one meeting with a dietician.

Carpet One Floor & Home is doing a Spill Bar. They are serving Spillatinis while demonstrating a stain-resistant carpet. We can also get pedicures while listening to the Accidental Housewife, Julie Edelman, on keeping your home “clean enough.” Then we can step into a special photo booth so we can share our experience on our social networks.

NGOs are there as well, seeking our advocacy. I had the opportunity (but not the fitness level!) to do a real Army boot camp. The Centers for Disease Control want to talk to us about reducing salt in our diets. See more brands here.

What does all this mean for your marketing planning? Abrams Research just reported in their 2012-2013 Luxury Guide that consumers who connect with a brand on social media spend 20% to 40% more money than those who don’t. It also states that young, affluent consumers care more about a brand’s narrative than its price tags.

How will it play out in real life? Stay tuned for my report and photos next week.

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Here’s my panel and my co-panelists!

10 things to Maximize your Social Media Expertise
Friday 1:15- 2:30pm
Stacie Tamaki moderates a conversation with Chris Lam and Nora DePalma about ten actionable, achievable things you can do right now to bolster your social media expertise and make yourself a more attractive candidate for any social media job, gig, or opportunity.

Stacie Tamaki, The Flirty Girl

: Chris Lam, What I Run Into

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Social Media for Brands and Builders Todd Vendituoli

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Nora DePalma

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Builder and blogger Todd Vendituoli notes that first dates can be hard. Especially between bloggers and brands.

The owner of both Todd Vendituoli Construction L.L.C. based out of West Burke, VT and KV Construction Company Ltd, based out of Eleuthera, Bahamas, has taken a deep dive into social media, blogging for his own company at The Building Blox, and helping builders learn social media through the new blog: SocialMedia4Builders.

“I’ve heard of some friction between brands and bloggers, and this really should not be the case,” Vendituoli told us. “The reason, it seems, is that some brands want to control the message put out by bloggers and this isn’t how social media works at its best.”

Vendituoli notes that a true return on relationships between brands and bloggers works much like any good dialogue. “The relationship should be a give and take,” he says, and one of mutual benefit. Before the “first date” between bloggers and brands, Vendituoli said brands need to plan for a mutually beneficial relationship. “Remember, if you have a great product or service, it will come out as such, but not by blasting it.”

The Mating Game Between Bloggers and Brands

How does that first date get started and progress beyond the awkward first hello so that everyone is still smiling? Vendituoli’s tips for brands:

1. Send out a promotional kit or letter showing what you have to offer. What are the benefits of your product or service?

2. Offer to send product samples that can be seen and touched, if that’s applicable.

3. Even better, arrange a factory tour.

4. Set up a meeting or call via Skype to discuss what you are hoping to accomplish.

5. Enable interviews with customers and employees that will offer another glimpse of how you operate towards others.

What criteria does Vendituoli use in deciding what brand information to report on his blogs and through his social network?

1. Is it going to be interesting to my readers? What does the brand offer? How does the brand treat its community and employees? What products/initiatives does the brand have in the pipeline?

2. Will it be informative?

3. Is there potential for a conversation to develop around the topic?

4. Would I want to read this topic?

“Readers want good, clean informative topics that aren’t biased,” Vendituoli says.

“Brands have unique products or services that could be highlighted by bloggers for their mutual benefit. Now I said could because if your brand is 100 percent what you say it is, it will be a wonderful relationship. However if it isn’t, there is a problem right off. I can’t and won’t tell people what I don’t honestly know and believe to be truthful about a brand, product or service. Just not happening, so don’t even ask. No spin.”

Is There a Cost?

At a minimum, brands need to invest time in building a relationship with Vendituoli. Blasting out useless news has been the bane of journalists since the craft of public relations has existed. Bloggers feel no differently. Get to know them. Read and subscribe to their blog, and react to their posts. Follow them on social media and have discussions. Focus more on what the blogger—or journalist wants—rather than on what you want in return (That’s relationships 101, right?).

There is a time investment on the blogger’s side to build their social community. Vendituoli is an active engager on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. “Bloggers’ spend a great amount of time developing content, connecting with contacts and resources, and promoting their work across the various social media platforms to make sure content is read,” Venditouli said. “That has a monetary value in my opinion.”

No publisher or producer would say otherwise. No brand could either, having financially supported content-based communities for years with a tactic called advertising. This is simply a new model of reaching an audience, but even better in some ways. Bloggers such as Venditouli are forming tight new communities where personal recommendations offer highly sought after credibility and endorsement.

Follow Venditouli on any of these platforms:

On Twitter @TALV58

On Facebook at Todd Vendituoli Construction L.L.C.

On Google+

On his blogs, The Building Blox and SocialMedia4Builders.

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A Klout Definition, As Best We Can

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Nora DePalma

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Klout scores are one of the best-known social media ranking tools. The definition of Klout gets a lot of scorn, because it is so obviously not an accurate indicator of influence (I hope):

So, no. Klout scores are just one measurement of how fluent a given individual is in communicating via social media about things that interest people who use social media. To date, it has been heavily dependent on Twitter fluency. One might expect that a medium of 140 characters where spelling and grammar are mercilessly shredded might produce the above result.

Low Klout scores do not automatically mean someone is not a good social media consultant for your brand. It most certainly does not mean that someone is a poor influencer within the building and design communities. Our industry is not huge in the overall scheme of social media, which is dominated by celebrities and entertainment-related chat.

One benefit of Klout is that it helps illustrate why a social media investment is only worth it if your plan includes engagement, not just gaining more followers and fans. Klout measures interaction, not just raw numbers. In that way, Klout, as well as Peer Index, EdgeRank Checker and similar reporting tools are valuable in educating senior management that social media is an investment in relationships, not an arms race for followers. In my experience, good Klout scores in the building and design industry is any score higher than 30.

How Do Klout Scores Work?

Like Google and other search engines, Klout is an ever-evolving, highly-secretive algorithm. Which is why we wrote the headline as we did.

Klout describes its 1-100 score as measuring “influence based on your ability to drive action.” Note that “action” is not defined as driving a sale or visiting a website. That’s not how relationships work, although it may lead to such action, just as you rely on friends and family recommendations for many purchases. There are three basic components to the Klout algorithm:

True Reach: Total followers impact this measure, but in the context of how many of your followers are really engaging with you over time, based on conversations and retweets. It’ s not just about total followers.

Amplification: This measure dives deeper into how often your content is shared or discussed and by whom.

Network: This measure looks at the influence of your followers, taking into account their own True Reach and Amplification. This is the measure that keeps a lid on scores within the building and design industry. Few of us are in daily conversations with Ashton Kutcher or Justin Bieber. Few of us want to be.

In response to a considerable outcry among users, Klout is also working to remove volatility in the score that has come from lower use during weekends and vacations, also known as a having a life. (Check out this great post from a BlogHer member, Dear @Klout, Here’s What I Was Doing This Weekend.)

In summary, Klout scores are a measure, but not the measure, of influence on social media. Using Klout scores by themselves, such as the brands and agencies profiled in last Friday’s New York Times Klout story, is basically lazy. It would be like using CPM as the only determination of your ad spend, vs. digging into the audience and understanding the influence of a given media outlet.

Because humans are involved, understanding true influence is not likely to ever be determined by an algorithm.

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Blogger Profile: Patty Woodland, Goat Publicist

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Nora DePalma

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Goat publicist Patty Woodland blogs at Broken Teepee and The Maaaaa of Pricilla.

When Jersey girl Patty Woodland left the hustle and bustle of city life and moved out to the open country of Montana, she never expected to become a farmer, much less a goat publicist. But the change of pace and scenery were both a welcome sight to Woodland and her husband after years of hard work building his law practice in NJ.

As a blogger, Woodland spends hours each day writing about farm life from her perspective on her Broken Teepee blog and from the perspective of her goat Pricilla on The Maaaaa of Pricilla. Yes, you read it correctly: a GOAT.

For this goat farmer, there’s no more honking cars, just the maaaaas of the goats she milks to make her Happy Goats Soap sold through Etsy. With the help of spokesgoat Pricilla’s witty blog, Woodland is able drive interest for her specialty craft product and, therefore, sales of the soap.

Pricilla the Goat on the farm in Maaaaa-ntana

Woodland, a.k.a. “the publicist” as Pricilla the goat calls her, finds one of the strongest traffic generators-and hence sales-is commenting on other blogs. She states that it’s a two-way road in the blogging world and bloggers must be active with their own blogs, as well as others. Helping the matter, her avatar is the face of one of her goats, which is sure to raise curious eyebrows as it stands next to human faces in comment sections.

The same approach is taken with Woodland’s personal blog, Broken Teepee, which is described as a collection of “product reviews, giveaways and life on the farm.” Through her interesting content and interaction on other blogs, Woodland’s Broken Teepee blog typically generates 9,000 page views per month from approximately 4,000 unique visitors.

How to Pitch Brands

Woodland frequently sends letters to brands, requesting to test new products that she needs for her home and farm. She promises to write honest reviews on everything from books to new toilets or faucets that she offers to install in her energy-efficient yurt. When applicable, she even goes the extra step and snaps pictures of the product in use, as she did in this review for our American Standard client.

In Woodland’s eyes, she is no expert of book or product reviews, however, her remote location means that the majority of her shopping is done online. Which combined with her influence among loyal readers, makes her fairly valuable to brands.

The days of living in the city are no longer a desire for Woodland. Green Acres is the place for her and the goats. And for brands who want to reach the best personal blogs.

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This Just In: Social Media for Natural Disaster News

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Nora DePalma

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***Help Irene victims in the Bahamas via Kitchen and Residential Design ***

Social media isn’t just all fun and branding anymore. Twice in seven days, I’ve seen it firsthand become the future of breaking news events: reporting faster and more detailed than CNN or The Weather Channel.

Social Media and the East Coast Earthquake

Our conference table and chairs started swaying side to side during a client meeting in Long Island City, NY. We all looked at each other and then looked around. Did a really BIG truck just go by? Did terrorists strike in Manhattan? That wasn’t just an earthquake in NY, was it?

“Check CNN’s site,” someone yelled, as we all lunged for our laptops and cell phones. “I should get a breaking news email in a minute,” someone else said.

I checked my Twitter stream on my smartphone. For the past two years, I’ve learned most breaking news on Twitter, so it didn’t even occur to me to turn on the TV or log on to CNN.

Sure enough, faster than you could say, “I don’t know why the darn Internet is being so slow,” there it was: reports of shaky ground from Virginia to Vermont. I was the first at the conference table to confirm it was an earthquake, and the first to report that the epicenter was in VA .

Social Media and Hurricane Irene

As all social media users know, the medium is not for monologues, it’s for dialogues: two-way communications. A savvy social-media civilian on the Jersey shore established Jersey Shore Hurricane News on Facebook late last week to facilitate real-time ground-truth reports of Hurricane Irene related news for New Jersey.

The group surged from about 1,000 members Friday night to more than 26,000 by Monday morning. Fans were seeking and sharing information on road closures and re-openings, as well as where to find gas stations that were still open and where to buy generators.

We got out of the NY/NJ area well in advance of Hurricane Irene, but I was agonizing over the news from my hometown of Long Beach Island, NJ.

In the Dark Ages—say, 1981 and earlier—we turned to our trusted network or local affiliate TV news anchor of choice when disaster struck. Count me now among the believers that any of us can be breaking news reporters as long as we can see and hear, and then access a publishing platform to report what we’ve seen and heard.

While repeatedly reminding fans “We are not professional forecasters; this is a service to keep you informed,” Jersey Shore Hurricane News delivered news on Facebook faster and more accurately than any other news source. The accuracy came from the participants, answering questions about rumors and sharing ground-truth observations.

No doubt this will be back for future disasters. And so will I.

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What I Learned as a Social Media Fake: Part 3

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Nora DePalma

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To thine own self be true is not only Shakespearean and Biblical wisdom, it is also true of social media.

It took just a few weeks as a social media fake to connect with the same social media universe as the real me. One of my “real” friends even added the fake me to her coveted Twitter list of bloggers and writers, right alongside folks I’ve known for years in the building products industry. I saw the real me being retweeted by friends of the fake me.

What I Learned as a Social Media Fake Part 1

What I Learned as a Social Media Fake Part 2

Why? Two reasons:

1. Outside of the tech and media industries—and celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Sarah Palin—the Twitter universe is pretty small.

2. But mostly: I’m still me. Still attracted to the same type of content, featuring information that is relevant to me and/or makes me laugh. And the same people who are attracted to my content are going to find it.

The experience also taught me that it’s OK to mix it up a little (see caveat below). Got into it on “Obamacare” with a blogger who was so much like me, I wanted to reach through the Internet and hug her sweet little misguided business-owner self. She was so determined to blame Obama for her increased health care costs, she absolutely could not even try to find middle ground. This went on for a good 48 hours. My Klout score soared. But my heart sank. Seems like life is too short to live that angry.

Note that mixing it up does NOT apply to brands and business that are targets of endless litigation. Even for us individuals, it makes sense to blog, walk, drive and breathe backed by a good umbrella personal liability policy. It’s how we roll in the US.

But be interesting. Even in today’s litigious culture, things like apologies and promises still work. Really.

Conclusion

My time as a social media fake began because I was concerned that my “personal brand” would suffer online if I showed too much personality.

Yet the “real me” managed a pretty high ratio of fans to detractors offline for more than a half century of life. It is the same personal brand that has helped O’Reilly/DePalma gain and retain clients who seek our expertise for marketing and public relations in the building and architectural industries.

Authentically.

Oh, and my stepson who had the bad accident? That’s all better, too. I’ll always be profoundly grateful to Twitter friends of the “real” me for all your support and care when I most needed it: @michaelanschel @jgandB, @hueberbreuer, @Paul_Anater, @susanserrackd, @damnedgoodesign @JTGoldberg @greenearthpr, @cbwhittemore , @catpoetry @alisonilg @brpgreenplumber @bethSEGreen @mododesigngroup @ktom17 @jmurphy42 @bobmader and LaurenHunter_HW.

And friends of the “fake me” now my REAL friends: @Alexandrafunfit @craftycmc @PsiChic.

My stepson and I, December 2010

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What I Learned as a Social Media Fake: Part 2

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Nora DePalma

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My life as a social media fake came crashing to an end when my stepson almost died in an accident riding home from work on October 21, 2010. I couldn’t handle it in my own head, let alone deal with two different personalities on social media. The “real” me didn’t know if it was a private matter or if I should “share it.” I wondered about the protocol of asking nearly 2,000 people I’d never met on Twitter to share in my pain. (Didn’t they have enough to do?)

Yet I needed to hear the wisdom and laughs from the many friends I’d met on Twitter and Facebook during those long eight days of uncertainty in the SICU. The help and support I received from my social media friends was beyond my wildest imaginings. At all hours, I was getting texts, Facebook posts, Tweets and emails from friends, clients, media contacts and many people I’d never even met in person. I could wake up at 2 in the morning on the couch in the hospital, turn on my Blackberry and get a message of hope. It was mind-blowing, sustaining.

Then there was my fake social media presence with real friends, as wonderful as my real social media presence. Yet crazy. They didn’t know who they were sustaining! One dear friend of the fake me wasn’t too far from the real me while I lived in that SICU. It would have been great to reach out for coffee—she would have made me laugh. But it was too much effort to explain how we knew each other.

I felt like a big-time fraud, and the person—not to mention personal brand-losing out was me. Luckily, social media has been built to gently point this out.

To create a fake persona for the fairly benevolent reason of compartmentalizing your life is not very easy on social media sites. Most social sites want a real email address and some want a real mobile phone number. It’s hard to build community as fake. I could set up fake Gmail and Yahoo accounts, but was limited when it came to gadgets and add-ons. Basically, in exchange for knowing your every move online and offline, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, et. al. make it free and easy to build a community by being authentic.

But not a fake.

Read What I Learned as a Social Media Fake: Part 1

Next week, the series concludes.

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