Aaron Strout recently left Mzinga in an interesting way. He wrote this blog post that explained why he was leaving and reflected on his time with the company. It caught my attention, so I contacted Aaron to learn more about his background and business philosophy. The result was our robust conversation on social media marketing—how it works and why. Start by listening to minute 8:24 – 10 where Aaron discusses the criteria for social media marketing and suggests how to tie it into your business goals.

Social media creates both collaboration and exclusivity.

Collaboration with tools like tags, wikis, forums and comments.

And exclusivity with limited invites to new services and the attention we pay to those with great stats, and friends & followers.

Does collaboration and exclusivity apply differently to businesses online than to people?

I recently came across OGILVY’s profile on Twitter which prompted this question.

Ogilvy is one of the world’s most influential advertising and communication agencies, positioning themselves as 360 degree brand stewards.
I am surprised that more than 500 people follow them on Twitter, and they are following no one in return.

I am sure there are pros and cons to this.

On the pro side, they have a good amount of followers and the fact that they follow none of them may make them come across as exclusive (a core brand characteristic?).
They also don’t need to concern themselves with offending someone they don’t follow since they follow no one.

On the con side, their exclusive positioning may prevent them from meaningful collaborative opportunities—and may make people on Twitter perceive them negatively.

So, Ogilvy UK—what was your thought behind not following anyone?

I would ask you directly, but since you’re not following me, I can’t DM you.

If the subject of online exclusivity interests you, check out: A Small World &  RUE LA LA.

Should a brand build a single twitter account or ask each of its employees to build their own affiliated twitter accounts? It depends on the brand and why they are on twitter.

I will follow an employee’s affiliated twitter account if they have personality, or if they offer unique insight or access. Their actions do reflect on their company and impact my perceptions of it. In some situations, I have no interest in following an individual’s account. Take the online deal site Woot for example. I don’t care what their product manager had for lunch, I just want a good deal now.

I like Perkett PR’s approach to twitter. Their brand’s account features the picture of everyone who contributes to it. Each one also has individual accounts.

There are other more complicated considerations involved in creating employee-affiliated twitter accounts. Who owns the account? What happens to the goodwill and equity the employee created for your brand when she leaves the company?

In an ideal world, a brand would carefully select, train and celebrate its twitter brand evangelists. While their training would cover a code of conduct and key speaking points, it would also empower twitter brand evangelists to express their unique personality and willingness to help.

Until a brand can be sure that every person tweeting on its behalf exemplifies these qualities, I would stick with a single brand account.

I reviewed 10 brands using Twitter and found most of them are using the service to publish alerts and special deals. Occasionally, they will infuse their personality into their tweet stream but with much less frequency than imagined. I continue to read how brands and their agencies invest in influencer models to determine who is important. I think there is an even greater opportunity to focus on the content that these brands are sharing on Twitter. Now that a brand has a forum in which to talk, what will it say?

An influential blog post recently suggested that brands should skip blogging in order to microblog. I think that’s a bad suggestion for many reasons. Having a blog provides a brand with context inside of social media. Whereas a microblog provides the opportunity to share short thoughts, what happens if a potential customer is interested in exploring those ideas in more depth? Should they click on a corporate website? No. They should be able to visit the brand’s blog, a place where ideas are shared between brand and customer and the conversation that began on social media can continue.

I was surprised by the lack of brands whose Twitter bio linked to a blog or a personalized landing page. For the most part, the Twitter bios linked directly to the brand’s homepage such as with JetBlue. This is a huge, missed opportunity. At the very least, a brand can create a custom headline: “Welcome twitter friend,” as my friend Steve has done with his blog. In the best-case scenario, the brand can celebrate its Twitter fans on a custom-landing page, flex some blog bling, like its Twitter Grader rank report or a Tweet Cloud.

When a brand’s bio sends someone from a Twitter account to their homepage it’s the equivalent of having a quiet, personal conversation with someone at a restaurant and walking into their house to have them yell at you. Dear Brand, don’t yell at me.

Carolina Fowler contributed to this research.

If you would like to download the study, please click here.

A RSS reader is a sales person’s secret weapon. This blog post explains what an RSS reader is and how it will enhance your sales process. The RSS reader makes it easier to gain market and competitive insights and become a resource to your clients.

Step 1 – How RSS works.
This 3:44 minute video explains the basics.

Step 2 – Select your Reader.
I recommend Bloglines for salespeople. I created a “How to use Bloglines” guide here:

How to Use Bloglines

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: guide bloglines)

Step 3 – Get Great Content.
Visit Alltop to find niche blogs. Subscribe directly to newspapers and websites you frequently visit.

Step 4 – Customize your Content.
Go to Google News, enter a search term and click “Search News”. Use your reader to subscribe to that search term to receive constant updates sent directly to your reader.

Step 5 – Get Newsletters.
Bloglines will give you your own email address to use when signing up for newsletters. You can sign up for your competitors’ newsletters too.

Step 6 – Folder like a Pro.
Group your feeds together in folders named for how you will use the information. For example, call one folder, “Read to understand
my market,” and another folder, “Read to prepare for a sales meeting”.

Step 7 – Build a sales resource library.
Clip and save your articles to folders. Name each folder according to step 6. When you are preparing for a sales meeting, use your clippings to provide value to your clients.