This week is “Internet Week NY.” Monday through thursday there was a daily schedule of interviews, panel discussions and keynote speakers. (There are other events currently through the weekend and then Monday is the Webby Awards.) In addition it was all available via LiveStream, or you could attend with passes at the main headquarters, 82 Mercer Street in NYC. I spent most of the day there on Tuesday and watched some fantastic presentations, such as an interview with David Karr, columnist for the New York Times. On the LiveStream I watched Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable and Shane Smith, founder and CEO of Vice. There are so many videos and interviews it’s going to keep me watching and learning for the next few weeks!
Internet Week NY - Mercer Street Flags 2012
I had entered the “Make The Stage” panel discussion competition and out of 244 entries, 7 were selected and one was my panel discussion idea, “Brand Recognition vs Killer Content.” The five of us took the stage at 4pm on Thursday, May 17. It was such a great experience and the audience was engaged with this team of experts, Miriam Cohen, Ted Rubin, Kathryn Rose and Bryn Johnson.
Some of my questions to the panel were:
When is brand recognition not enough?
Which should come first; building the brand recognition or focusing on the killer content for reputation?
Does the brand draw great writers and content, or does killer content make a brand great?
We also talked about this and how it pertains to social media:
In building a strong community social network, do people join because of the other members, or because of what it will do for them? Having someone with a strong following and brand following you and sharing your content and does joining give your brand instant clout?
Social media including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest have made our lives very visual. We respond to imagery and video more than written content in most cases. How important is branding on social media platforms?
And we also talked blogging:
Search engines give us the ability to find links to our queries. For bloggers, does your brand matter more, or is it that killer title and content going to make someone remember where they read the answer?
Internet Week NY Panel - Miriam Cohen, Ted Rubin, Kathryn Rose, Bryn Johnson and Susan Newman (Organizer and Moderator).
Here is the video from our panel discussion. (You can also watch the presentation “Brand Recognition vs Killer Content“) at Internet Week NY.) Enjoy and please post feedback, we’d love to hear your thoughts.
So what do you think?
Is brand recognition most important? or is Content King?
Brand Video Interview – Kathryn Rose, Social Buzz Club
I’m proud to feature this “Skype Video” Brand Interview.
How long has your company been in business? Please tell us a bit about your company, its mission, goals…
It started over year ago… we needed an outlet to get the word out easier, sharing one another’s content easier and we didn’t find what we wanted, so Laura Rubinstein and I created the “Social Buzz Club” last June. We now have 300+ members.
Our mission is to help people get the exposure for themselves or their clients, build more blog traffic, (some have reported a 62% increase)… to get the word out for each other, by each other.
We also created a learning center and every thursday we feature top experts, such as, Mari Smith, Denise Wakeman (the Blog Squad), Amy Portfield, and Lou Bortone. If you aren’t a member, on thursdays you can watch the Free webinar, but after the live event, the interview goes into the membership “learning center” section.
Do you donate to charities? Tell us about that also and why.
I donate “in-kind” of my time to many charities to help spread the word about their mission or special events. For the Social Buzz Club, a registered 5013C can submit information to us and we will load the “buzz” for free. It will be marked as a “2 point” share, so members who share the buzz gain double the points for charity buzz, whereas regular buzz from members is 1 point per share. When a member shares a post, because there are more than 300 members now, there is a chance of 3 million impressions.
How did you know what typeface (font) would be right for your company wordmark or logo?
I had worked with Erika Ruggiero in the past, so I engaged her. We knew we didn’t want a “bee!” We wanted the name to convey… an “electrified” feeling, so the parentheses around “buzz” was just right.
How did you decide on the right color palette to fit your company look and feel?
Many other companies go with blues, so we selected maroon and gold for excitement and buzz.
How did you decide which type of designer to work with, or did you design your own identity and web presence?
We just love WordPress, so Laura Rubinstein, my business partner did that part, but the actual full membership website was a custom build by a company out of Michigan, “itec.”
How long after the launch of your company did you start pitching in social media?
We haven’t yet done a full launch. We built the platform and then reached out to influencers for press and features. Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner did a feature on us, which helped grow the membership. A new version of the site, “2.0″ will be coming out soon and then we’ll launch the full blown campaign! The social media plan is a combination of press releases, influencers, getting interviews and word of mouth.
Can you tell us about your Google Analytic stats since the soft launch and the stats now?
I have a search engine optimization and Google analytics background, so I love to look at the numbers. Both the readership and email list are growing and our bounce rate is under 20%. Visitors stay on the site an average of 3 minutes, so we know they are reading. Through the back end of the site we also have stats I can monitor and can see that a lot of the opt-ins are for “10 Keys for Successful Collaborations.” They come, they stay and they want to read what’s on the site.
Did you do research or study any software, take webinars, teleclasses, before approaching any area of your marketing or web presence?
We investigated other sites such as Ming, iGroup and other out-of-the-box membership sites, but we didn’t want it to be a social network. We looked at other sites and the way their sharing functionality worked. The system we built “pings” the network to be sure it was shared. On other sites you can click to share, but it may or may not work. Our system is accurate.
I would recommend that anyone who wishes to build a site like ours, should hire a visibility, functionality, and technical expert. Ours was a learning experience, but because we knew what we wanted, it works very well.
Do you advertise locally in newspapers and/or nationally in magazines? Do you advertise online using Google, Facebook or on other company sites? Are they effective?
Local newspapers and national magazines wouldn’t work well because our target audience is bloggers and social media experts. Once we launch “Social Buzz Club 2.0″ Facebook and LinkedIn ads will be in the works.
When you printed your products, packaging, business cards and other print marketing did you choose an online printer or visit a local vendor?
We used a combo, my neighbor happens to be a printer, so we used them for our coupons, but the business cards were ordered online.
Have you ever used “green” technology in printing, using FSC certified papers or recycled paper and if not, how likely are you at trying this on a next project?
The coupons are printed on recycled paper, the business cards I’m not sure.
Is there anything you haven’t yet tackled, but will want to do soon?
I love to speak at events and recently opened for Rudy Giuliani at the Small Business Survival Summit in Baltimore. It was a fabulous experience. I will be speaking at Tori Johnson’s Spark & Hustle in December and also Lorman Education Services.
For the Social Buzz Club the plan is to continually improve the platform and grow the membership!
For more information about Kathryn Rose and Social Buzz Club, visit the links below:
Building up your Facebook fan pages and Twitter followers is a good thing, but building a tribe of brand advocates is the most powerful way to stand out on the social networking sites. People really do love to share quality, interesting, humorous, touching or valuable content with each other. What if you could count on a group of people consistently sharing your high quality content? That’s the foundation of the Social Buzz Club community.
Did you know there are 29.6 million small business owners, 69% of whom want help getting customers using the internet?
Most of them don’t understand internet marketing, they won’t take the time to study social media, and they don’t have a clue about search engine optimization (SEO).
Business owners today realize that online marketing is a problem they MUST face and capitalize on. They also understand that traditional marketing doesn’t work on its own. They need systems and tools, and social media professionals who know how to attract the eyes and ears of their marketplace.
Do you know how?
Many social media managers focus on building numbers of Facebook fans and Twitter followers only to be disappointed that no one is really paying attention. You must create a dialogue, not just randomly follow. These social media professionals are missing a key ingredient: Third party endorsement. Have you noticed that when someone else promotes your brand or links to a quality post on your blog, you get more traffic? Assuming that the social media and blog managers are adding interesting, engaging and quality information to their social media feeds, then brand advocates will be extremely helpful in getting results.
Social Buzz Club founders, Kathryn Rose and Laura Rubinstein, surveyed some of the internet’s most active social media pros and discovered that 90% of social media pros and business owners find that getting the word out about their brands effectively is the number one challenge when using social media sites.
Since it’s founded on the principle of reciprocity, the Social Buzz Club is set up to attract social media managers who participate weekly in sharing content and buzzing out other people’s content. It’s a brilliant way for any social media manager to get the word out about his/her companies because every member must share about others before sharing about their companies. The Social Buzz Club is a social marketing tool making social media managers more effective at doing their job. It turns social media managers into social media influencers.
The critical factor is that everyone in the tribe must have at least 1 year’s experience on the social networks and have an existing following (minimum of 1,000 twitter followers and 150 facebook friends and /or fans). Each of these proven social media users are established credible resources on the social networks and have value to offer to the members. Quality content from quality people who collaborate together to build a robust brand- boosting tribe.
If you’re a social media savvy professional who loves the idea of collaboration and qualifies for membership, then click here and give the Social Buzz Club a whirl for free.
I’m telling you right now… I couldn’t be more excited about next week! May 4 and 5, 2011 is my 2nd Savor the Success’s Women Entrepreneurs Rock the World.
Not only will I get to meet so many of the Savor The Success sisters across the USA and abroad that I’ve connected with and worked with, in person, but I am now one of 5 panelists for a discussion on “your social media blueprint”, lead by Kathryn Rose, Social Media Consultant and Author of the Newly Updated “The Parent’s Guide to Facebook.” I’ll be adding what I’ve learned over the years about LinkedIn, it’s search capabilities, the best ways to connect with colleagues and using groups the right way.
The 2-day conference is for women entrepreneurs and gathers guest speakers from a variety of industries and we have round table discussions, all to help us create or freshen our business blueprint in branding, marketing, social media and sales.
Last year, I went for 1 day, and it changed my whole business around. I learned so much about myself, my clients, and it helped me focus on the realities as well as the infinite possibilities. I know that what I learned and the changes I made helped me through the down economy of last year.
My business cards are ready. I’m so energized! Between networking and learning from these fabulous experts, not to mention the after parties, lunches and dinners, what could be more exciting and fun?
