Papa John's Meet Facebook

Facebook, the wildly popular social networking platform, was originally started exclusively for college students to stay in touch and network. Now everyone uses it, from average people like you and me, to politicians, celebrities and businesses. And we're not just talking small businesses, but large companies like Papa John's. Business First of Louisville has the story:

Papa John’s International Inc. has cooked up a new promotion to reach the tech savvy.

Beginning today, any Facebook user who becomes a “fan” of the official Papa John’s Facebook page will receive an online redemption code for a free medium pizza with any online pizza order.

Louisville-based Papa John’s (NASDAQ: PZZA) also will provide the deal to the more than 10,000 Facebook users who already have signed up as “fans” of the brand.

It’s the latest attempt by Papa John’s to reach computer users. Earlier this year, Papa John’s launched an online ordering widget and text-message ordering.

I know it probably seems funny that Papa John's is trying to reach computer users. When you or I think of computer users, especially those who use Facebook, we're probably thinking of a slightly younger generation. I know that when I was in college, I worked at a place in my dorm that sold Papa John's pizza. But I think that this shows us that we can never underestimate or assume who we can or cannot reach through the use of new media. By the way, I'm now waiting for my free offer code for becoming a fan of Papa John's on Facebook. They certainly got my attention.

Brevity is the Soul of Wit

My wife and co-blogger here at GTS Tool Box recently sent me a link to a post that claimed the average time a person spends on a blog is 96 seconds. For some businesses or campaigns, that's all they need to get their message out. For others, you better hope that what the reader scans is all the pertinent information they need to make an informed decision.

Interestingly, even though the average read time on a blog is 96 seconds…

* …that drops to 37 seconds for the largest internet blogs.

* …79% of readers scan pages rather than read them

* …16% read the whole page.

Now, if you've gotten this far and have read our previous posts, you'll may think that brevity is not one of our stronger suits. The thing is, if you were interested it what we previously wrote about, you probably read the whole thing. If not, you may have scanned them and left. But to maximize your readers time, keep things short. How do you do that?

1. Keep your topics simple - Even if it's a complicated topic remember this simple rule: "Keep it simple stupid." In today's day and age, attention spans are short. If you start complicating matters, your readers will tune out. According to the Informatics Review research tells us that to communicate effectively with a general audience in the U.S., we need to write at a 6th-8th grade reading level. Just be sure not to talk down to your readers.
   
2. Make your pitch in the first paragraph - Remember back in high school writing the purpose statement had to be in the first paragraph? Yeah, that rule still applies even in blogging.
   
3. Break up your posts - If you have a great topic on which to write, but could be lengthy, break if up into a series of posts. If your readers enjoy the topic, chances are they will come back to read "the rest of the story".

Remember, as Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, "brevity is the soul of wit."

Transforming the Art of Political Communication Part II

Earlier this week, I wrote about how Barack Obama has, through his most recent presidential campaign, transformed the art of political communication. Much like JFK in 1960, Obama was able to successfully use the internet via social networking and other means, to galvanize his core constituency to promote talking points, his views on issues and raise money. Now that he's president, he will be able to do this from the White House.

But what about Republicans? Or for that matter, what about third party options? Do they have a way to combat this? Can they level the playing field? When you're stacking yourself up against a email list of 10 million, it could appear daunting. The GOP has long relied on grassroots operations to raise money and to get out the vote (GOTV). They were hugely successful in accomplishing this in the late '90's and the early part of this century. But for the most part they did not make any gains or make any movement, really, on the internet.

Now it would seem the GOP is trying to make headway. Some individuals realized after election day (actually, they'd probably tell you they saw it way before then) that something had to be done. Republican bloggers and other online activists started a website called "Rebuild the Party" with it's number one priority, over the next four years, being the internet.

Winning the technology war with the Democrats must be the RNC's number one priority in the next four years.

What's Wrong -- And How to Fix It

* Recruit 5 million new Republican online activists. Even a compelling message won't go anywhere if we have no one to communicate it to. The next Chairman must undertake a crash program to grow the RNC's email file organically -- no spam and no "e-pending" from voter files. This will likely require a two-pronged strategy -- 1) engaging grassroots Republicans directly in the fight against the Obama agenda, with creative grassroots actions that make Republicans want to stand together with members of their party, and 2) integrating e-mail signups into everything we do at the grassroots level, ensuring that everyone who goes to an event and or is contacted by a volunteer is given the opportunity to join our network.

This goal seems daunting, but it forces us to think creatively about creating the sharpest, most compelling messages that will make people want to join us by the millions. If Newt Gingrich and T. Boone Pickens could each build an army of 1.4 million activists around energy, and Barack Obama could recruit 3 million to receive his VP selection by text message, then we know this is possible. If anything, given where the Internet will be in 2 or 4 years, we are low-balling the potential to create a new Republican online army.

* Hold campaigns and local parties accountable. As important as it is that we invest in new technology at the national level, we must remember that the RNC's primary objective is to win races state by state and district by district, not build up its own brand.

To pursue this essential mission, individual campaigns must be held accountable for the number of emails they collect and the money they raise online. As much high-level attention must be paid to candidates' online strategy as with the number of voter contacts made into a particular district or if the right media strategist is working the race. We must end a sense of dependence on the RNC at all levels -- in which the RNC simply turns over its lists -- and set goals that the campaigns must find creative and aggressive ways to meet:

In target 2010 Congressional races, we recommend setting a standard of at least 5,000 in-district online activists recruited, and a minimum of $100,000 raised online.

In target 2010 Senate races, we recommend a standard of 7,500 in-district online activists recruited and $150,000 raised online for each Congressional district.

* A more open technology ecosystem. As tempting as it is to believe that there is a silver bullet to solve all our technology problems, this is very rarely the case. The technology gap will not be solved by funding multimillion dollar white elephants, but by unleashing free market competition among trusted entrepreneurs and volunteers who want to help the party. The RNC should open its technology ecosystem so that trusted partners can develop on top of GOP.com and Voter Vault. We must build a corps of outside technology volunteers who compete to write applications that actually improve party operations -- and invest in the best ones. We must look beyond conventional political approaches to the Web, learning from technology hubs like Silicon Valley, and being unafraid to be the first in politics to adopt the changes in technology that are revolutionizing the consumer market.

It's an aggressive yet realistic plan to move the party forward using technology as the backbone. Not to be outdone, though, Barack Obama, this week, will begin making his weekly radio addresses also available via Youtube. Now I've got to ask you: when was the last time you listened to a weekly presidential address on the radio? I never have and I've been involved in politics and campaigns in some fashion since high school. Obama is revolutionary. He's truly making the White House his own, his administration distinct, and whether he turns out to be a good president or a bad one, history will show that he communicated like no other American president has before. Usually if you're a good communicator, history shows you in a good light. This is the struggle for the GOP to get over. Will they do it? They're getting off to a good start but they are two to four years behind the curve. Fortunately for them, with the internet it's easy to catch up. What's difficult is keeping up with the innovations.

Naked Conversations: A Blogging Book Review

In their 2006 book "Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk With Customers" authors Robert Scoble and Shel Israel explore how businesses from local mom and pop operations to international companies can use New Media such as blogging and podcasting to build trust, establish a brand, connect with customers, and manage crises.

As might be surmised from the title, the book focuses on blogging's unique conversational tone. The authors contend that businesses of the past built trust through building personal relationships with customers, a practice that is increasingly difficult today especially in larger companies. Blogging's converational nature, based on reader interaction in comments and linking, has a tendency to build trust quickly.

Excellent bloggers aren't necessarily using their blogs to sell something, but rather to establish their expertise, ignite interest, and constructively use feedback from their target customers. As other blogs link to interesting posts, the message has the potential to reach millions of readers quickly and cost effectively. This in turn can lead to dramatic increases in revenue as a wider pool of customers becomes familiar with and trusts your brand. Scoble and Israel note that "no form of viral marketing matches the speed and efficiency of a blog."

The authors discuss the important question of return on investment (ROI) in regards to blogging, and give several striking examples of how blogging can boost revenue, but they also frankly acknowledge that the biggest investment a successful blog requires is time. Blogging can save vast amounts of advertising money, and can reach more people who are weary of traditional marketing (and now have the technological tools to tune it out), but it costs time to do it right. Effective blogs require consistent, interesting, and well-written posts, lots of research, and willingness to respond thoughtfully to reader feedback through comments and follow-up posting.

Businesses that are willing to devote the time to blogging often find that customer feedback can help them improve a product, repair their image, or stay in front of customer needs and desires. Even negative comments give a company a chance to respond instantly, thoughtfully, and openly, which is an invaluable opportunity to project a positive and responsive image, further building trust with your customer base.

That same ability of instant response will serve your company well in the event of a crisis. Scoble and Israel discuss companies that sustained high losses and lost credibility due to product failures that they were unprepared to address in real time through the internet. If a problem arises in your product or business, having a pool of blog readers with whom you have already established trust gives you a platform to quickly and effectively reassure customers and keep them informed on how you're making the situation right. Even a small acknowledgement and reassurance may be enough to prevent a viral spread of negative information about your company.

Although books on New Media quickly become outdated, the core points in "Naked Conversations" are valuable and may provide an impetus to more companies to establish a New Media presence, or overcome management objections and resistance where New Media strategies are being considered.

As always, if New Media is something your company or organization would like to look into, we would be happy to help.

Transforming the Art of Political Communication

A while back, I wrote a post about Tech Campaigns and how those running for office are using social networking to their advantage. With the election now over and our nation reaching historic heights in electing Barack Obama president, we also saw what will be an ushering in of social networking into the White House. In my previous post, I mentioned how Obama's team wasn't just tech savvy, they were tech geniuses. And now that he's been elected president, we could see internet outreach also reach historic heights. The Washington Post writes:

Just as John F. Kennedy mastered television as a medium for taking his message to the public, Obama is poised to transform the art of political communication once again, said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist who first helped integrate the Internet into campaigning four years ago.

"He's going to be the first president to be connected in this way, directly, with millions of Americans," Trippi said.

The nucleus of that effort is an e-mail database of more than 10 million supporters. The list is considered so valuable that the Obama camp briefly offered it as collateral during a cash-flow crunch late in the campaign, though it wound up never needing the loan, senior aides said. At least 3.1 million people on the list donated money to Obama.

Millions more made up the volunteer corps that organized his enormous rallies, registered millions of voters and held countless gatherings to plug the senator to friends and neighbors. On Election Day, they served as the backbone of Obama's get-out-the-vote operation, reaching voters by phone and at the front door, serving coffee at polling stations and babysitting so parents could stand in line at voting precincts.

After Obama declared victory, his campaign sent a text message announcing that his supporters hadn't heard the last from the president-elect. Obama conveyed a similar message to his staff in a campaignwide conference call Wednesday, signaling that his election was the beginning, and not the culmination, of a political movement.

What's amazing is what he can do with that list now that he's in office.

The process is just beginning, and many questions remain unanswered. The simplest approach might be to convert the campaign organization into an incarnation aimed at 2012 and an anticipated run for reelection, but some inside the Obama team are concerned about appearing too overtly political. Another course could be to create a nonprofit organization. Obama officials said all options would be examined over the coming weeks.

Over the course of the campaign, Obama's e-mail list gathered not only names and contact information, but also details about issues important to those supporters.

In past years, such lists were considered useful tools for political campaigns but not particularly helpful for governing. But Peter Greenberger, manager of political advertising for Google, said such information could be a boon for Obama in building public support for policy proposals.

The White House could "geo-target" ads so they appear online in congressional districts where members remain undecided. Obama could use Internet ads to solicit signatures for petitions, or he could place display and video ads contextually -- so they would appear on the screen next to news coverage of his proposals.

"If there's an article in the New York Times or The Washington Post about health-care legislation," Greenberger said, "the administration or a pro-Obama advocacy organization could run an ad right alongside it."

It truly is amazing: we are in a new communication age and we have a President who is willing to master the technology. What that means is, he also has far more control at shaping his message and his agenda without filters than any other President or any other elected official before him. He has supporters who follow him by the legions on websites such as Facebook and MySpace. Will Obama ultimately be successful at controlling his message and his outreach? Time will tell, but if he does as well as he did during the campaign, there really is no telling how successful he could be as President.

Tomorrow: the GOP counter punch.

Your Business Needs a Blog

A recent Washington Post article on corporate blogging highlighted the increasing numbers of businesses of all sizes that are using weblogs to foster customer communication and confidence in their product or brand. The article references how blogs can help customers see your point of view, develop trust, and sell more products. As an example, the Post cites Marriott International CEO Bill Marriott's blog, noting, "Marriott has made more than $5 million in bookings from people who clicked through to the reservation page from Marriott's blog. "

Although large corporations benefit from the transparency a blog can lend to their company, smaller businesses also benefit because of the affordability of New Media strategies. A well-conceived and well-executed blog can provide far more value than traditional print, radio, or television advertising and is often a far better choice for a small to medium-sized business.

If you're interested in finding out more about how your business can benefit from blogging or other New Media platforms, contact us.

Social Networking for Business

As you can see, I use Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin on this site alone. I'm also using Digg and Stumbleupon for the client sites. What do you use?

Judicious use of social networking serves your business by getting your message out to greater varieties of people, multiplying the ways in which customers see your message, and allowing your core customers to spread news and information about your product or business to their families, friends, and associates, thus adding the value of their positive personal review to your established message.

Social networking is a time investment, and requires clear and focused goals to be effective. If you're not sure about your social networking position, would like to add social networking to your business, or have other questions, contact me.