What follows is a case study of sorts; a real “look-behind-the-scenes” at some of the web marketing strategy we employ here at Tell Ten Friends.

A few months back, I replied to a Craigslist posting indicating that the poster was looking for some help with SEO. I replied, as I often do to postings of this nature in Vancouver, and a few days later Eric Burke followed up with a phone call. Eric is a local artist and professional graphic designer, and has for the last three years been working on a collection of prints that feature cityscapes and landscapes of Vancouver. To launch his new online gallery, Eric wanted to get his page rank up fast.

I was excited right away, because here was a client who already understood the value of the web and social networking, and he was gracious enough to listen to my harebrained SEO tactics:

• We started the same way you always do with a good SEO strategy; by first doing some keyword research, and later writing a list of keywords to be used in the meta data of the site, and in the copywriting on the home page. (I luuuv the optional flash presentation with music in the banner, don’t you?)
• Eric already had a blog, so we built into his existing domain, added the RSS icon, and he’s been posting regularly about Vancouver, the city that serves as both the subject and the inspiration for his art. View his latest post here, where he discusses the process of creating one of his prints.
• To increase his online social network and generate a few more incoming links, Eric went about building several online profiles to promote his site and blog:
  
  eric burke | MYSPACE

  eric burke | LINKEDIN

  eric burke | PANARAMIO

  eric burke | SQUIDOO

• We also submitted Eric to a number of artist directories online (too many to list) to open more doors to his site, and of course to generate even more incoming links for the sake of SEO.
• Perhaps most importantly, all of his prints plus his “photo-journalistic” shots are available at his Flickr account for free, under a Creative Commons license that requires attribution to the artist.
• Lastly, we embarked on a PR campaign that was exactly the right scale for a release of this nature. I submitted it to a number of my local press contacts (only the most relevant ones, and the ones I know personally), and we also distributed it online, with free submission to PR Leap (very cool, very “2.0″ PR site) Fast Pitch, and the Grandaddy of them all, a paid submission to PRWeb.
• We’re tracking Eric’s incoming links and media “traction” with just two simple tools: Eric’s existing Technorati account, and Google News Alerts, which update me “as it happens” every time an item is published on the web with the search terms I’ve specified. (Eric’s name, plus “Vancouver” in this case)

Admittedly, we had it easy in this example; The client is a very accomplished graphic designer with access to a web developer, and luckily the marketer (third person here) was able to get his ideas across very easily to these two industry experts. That said, these ideas can work for anyone who shares a few very vital characteristics with the client in this example; Eric is web savvy, and understands the value of joining these communities, making himself accessible online, starting and engaging in conversations with his expanding network of online contacts.

I hope you’ve found this little case study helpful; both myself and Eric welcome your feedback and input, and I’m sure Eric would be especially pleased if you subscribe to his feed.

Be forewarned: My apologies for the number of times this item will appear in my feed over the next few weeks, more explanation below.

Update #1: In the spirit of full disclosure, I spent most of yesterday and today convincing myself that I didn’t have time to do any of this stuff, and then I realized how RIDICULOUS I sounded, and got down to it. This post is getting some traction, and I made a commitment. See new crossed-off items and notes below.

Update #2: After a busy week that included a PR campaign, I can cross off even more items. 

The Buzz Marketing Challenge

I’m incredibly late to the dance on this, but I couldn’t help but join in on the fun.

Ben Yoskovitz of the Instigator Blog is embarking on a buzz marketing project, pulled straight from the pages of Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing, by Ron McDaniel.

This concept is very much in line with what we do here at Tell Ten Friends, so not only did I think it would make a great blog post and experiment to share with readers, but it will also be good for business, and for generating buzz for our company.

The experiment itself consists of a checklist of ethical and effective activities to start a bit of buzz. No fanfare, no fluff, just good old fashioned conversation starting and web marketing; two of our favorite pastimes here are at TTF.

What follows is the list, with crosses through the activities I’ve been able to complete, and where applicable, a few short notes. In some cases, I have already done the activity several times over, (ie. Squidoo lens) but in the interest of the exercise, I’m making myself do them again.

I’ll update this several times over the next few weeks, hence the number of times it will be appearing in the feed.

Here’s the list of ways to generate buzz, copied directly from Ben:

1. Email an Old Friend or Acquaintance (It was great to catch up, Dan!)
2. Contact a Stale Connection
3. Email Extended Family (Annyong, Helen!)
4. Call Someone You Have Never Talked To
5. Congratulations Call or Note (haha, Rob)
6. Send a Surprise Letter
7. Any Day Card
8. Mail a News Clipping
9. Social Networking (got this one covered!)
10. Online Directory
11. Squidoo Expert Lens
12. Tag Your Website or Blog
13. Blog/Message Board Comment
14. Join/Participate in an Online Group
15. Talk to a New Person in Person
16. Contact a Reporter or Writer
17. Contact an Old Employer/Employee (Dom and Tony in one week!)
18. Customer Follow-up
19. Call/Email a Person You Respect
20. Mini Announcements
21. Digg Your Site
22. Flickr Fun
23. Personal Success Email List
24. Did You Know? - Trivia
25. Instant Messaging
26. Text Messaging
27. Email a Useful Link to Someone
28. Testimonials
29. Celebrate Success (Have a steak, has Howard says)
30. Write a Blog
31. Have a “Get To Know You” Meal
32. Host a Dinner Party
33. Arrange a Networking Lunch
34. Publish an Article
35. Meet More Neighbors
36. Send a Press Release
37. Give a Speech
38. Volunteer
39. Online Interview/Podcast (I swear, I’m getting to this!)
40. Conduct a Survey
41. Local Government Involvement
42. Open House
43. Interview a Leader
44. YouTube.com
45. Meet Business Neighbors
46. eNewsletter or Newsletter (I’m well over due here, too)
47. Produce an eBook (and here)
48. Nominate an Organization
49. Challenge a Coworker to a Buzz-Off (I challenge you all!)
50. Podcast Show
51. Host a Seminar or Training Session (more news on this one coming soon, right Jeremy?)
52. Unexpected Booth
53. Organize a Group
54. Become a Board Member
55. Conduct a Focus Group/Roundtable
56. Conduct a Customer Contest (I’ve got one of these in mind, too)
57. Organize a Charitable Event

I welcome any and all of you to join in with me, and share your experiences; either through comments, or as trackbacks from your own blogs. Some of this stuff isn’t easy, so don’t be surprised if months or even years later, the list still isn’t finished!

Any time something exciting happens as a result of one of the items on the list, I’ll publish it in a separate blog post.

We are growing in numbers. We are are extremely polite, almost to a fault. We say “eh” a lot, even if we try not to. We work in Marketing and Communications and we are…

Canada’s 1% Blogging Army.

We spread the word about new media marketing and PR tactics, and we evangelize the things we love. We get to know one another through generous linking to one another, and then of course, we say thank you. A lot.

Big thanks to Sean Moffitt for creating the list of 150 ‘MARCOM’ bloggers in Canada. It’s a great list, and one that I sure am proud to be part of. Click the image above the read the list over at Buzz Canuck.

You knew it was coming, and at last it’s finally here. How could I write a series about quality web content without mentioning the value and effectiveness of blogging?

(image courtesy of flickr user Trois Tetes.)

It’s no secret that I am one of the most outspoken evangelists for blogging, both as a hobby and as a business tool. But rather than have me blab on and on about what I think, I’ll defer to my fellow experts, and have them tell you why you should (or shouldn’t!) add a blog to your business’ marketing portfolio.

First up is “The Blog Squad,” two wise ladies who are huge proponents of blogging as a business tool, with a post entitled “Blogging’s Biggest Business Effect:”

It’s not more paid speeches, not the two book contracts, not more traffic, etc. - although those ARE effects I’ve seen.
It’s the the enormous increase in networking — and of course associated opportunities…Bloggers know a lot of people, and a lot of people know them. In business, that’s a BIG plus.

Well said. I think the reason is obvious, too. Bloggers make themselves more accessible and give value to their site visitors, and relationships develop very naturally as a result.

Next up is Mike Sansone, who’s whole blog “ConverStations” is dedicated to promoting the virtues of blogging for business. A few days back, Mike wrote a post called “Company Blog: Should You or Should You Not?” It includes several links to past posts he’s written on the subject, and to others’ opinions as well. Most notable are the last few sentences:

If a company wants to build valuable relationships, engage with their customers, extend their reach, become more findable and improve their bottom line in the process (and in this order) - they will probably find value in blogging.

Reverse the order above, and its probably best not to blog at this time.

Lastly, since now the fence-sitters are converts, I point to a post by Pronet Advertising that lists “My 50 Favourite Blogging Resources,” that should contain more than enough info to help you get started today.

Ever the Master of brevity in the blogosphere, Seth Godin points out a press release from CBS that highlights their enormous success on YouTube, including a quote from YouTube brass. And then he speaks volumes, by saying almost nothing at all:

“Think about that for a second.”

I applaud CBS for changing their stripes and trying a new way of distributing their content, and I’m especially proud that they are willing to publicize that such a huge audience prefers a different model from the one that has kept them safe and warm in their ivory towers for so long.

Score one for new media.

But perhaps the best news for CBS is the fact that viewership is up, according to their ratings. It proves what many of us have been saying all along; Giving a valuable chunk of information away will only help business, and not hurt it. It builds trust, and exposes your message to a larger potential audience. It puts collateral into the hands of your would-be evangelists.

Now it’s the music industry’s turn to learn this lesson, right Mack?

Update: An interesting discussion about Give Meaning has begun due to some recent articles in the Vancouver Sun. Check the comments on this posts to follow links to find out more.
—

The day before Halloween, I wrote a post about GiveMeaning, a Vancouver non-profit with some great ideas of taking the old Unicef coin-collecting boxes to the next level.

Last week I received a letter from GiveMeaning, containing two $5 “GiveMeaning Cards,”that I may use to make donations to the charity or cause of my choice. The letter, addressed to “Dear Blogger/Reporter” and signed by GiveMeaning’s CEO, explained that they intend to “empower the $5 donor,” and help people understand that even the smallest donations make a difference.

(Click to see the image full size on Flickr)

This morning, after a quick search for “children,” I used one of those cards to help build an HIV/AIDS center in Malawi, Africa and as the letter suggested, I’ll give the other as a gift (to my wife, in this case) for someone else to donate.

The site, at www.givemeaning.com, contains progress reports on projects, a tag cloud indicating the most popular causes, and a sign in area where donors can track their funds, and kids can track their fund raising with their own secure blogs. You may also purchase GiveMeaning Cards in several different amounts to be given as gifts.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the ideas and execution of this campaign, but I thought I’d give a quick of what I liked and what I thought could improve.

For starters, it’s clear that I loved the idea from the beginning. When I received the letter in the mail I was even more impressed. They had obviously done their homework and tracked the “word of mouse” they received online as well as in the traditional media. Not only that, but the $5 card gave me something else to talk about; and although it’s their money, it did make me feel good to do it. By donating, I have been given an account, and now I can easily login and make donations to other charities and watch their progress. Also, members can create new causes and monitor the funds raised online.

As far as where they could make improvements, here’s my two cents: They understand blogging, that’s clear. But as yet, no one from GiveMeaning has left a comment on my blog, or (that I know of yet) reciprocated with a link to me. They are obviously not obligated to do so, but that’s just good ‘blogger relations,’ and would inevitably cause more posts like this one (among other bloggers, I mean). Also, they took the time to research my name and company name for the sake of the envelope, but the letter itself was a little less personal. I know that addressing it to me specifically, with perhaps a word or two about my post would take more effort and therefore more cost, but it’s safe to say that it would also bear even better results. After all, the letter was dispatched only to those people who had already gave mention of the program; so we are already “fans.” An ounce more of the empowerment that they mentioned in the letter would go a long way, me thinks.

Overall, I think this a great program. A fine example of using social media for a great cause. If you are a representative of GiveMeaning or from the agency that created the program and you’re reading this, then kudos to you. Leave a message in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.

Update: Tom Williams, CEO of Give Meaning, has replied in the comments below, directly from Africa. Despite limited connectivity, he gives updates of his work (daily, it seems) on his blog.

Sorry for the lack of posting, but I’ve had rather bothersome connectivity issues in the past few days (seems like weeks now, in fact).  Let’s just say I’m not thrilled with my D-Link router, and leave it at that.

The news of the day is that I am presenting tonight at CaseCamp, a BarCamp-esque mini conference strictly for marketers.

I’m going to use the 30 Days With No Underwear site as an example of how blogs are better than press releases, and could ultimately deem the latter completely obsolete, in time.  I’m of the opinion that we still use press releases because we’re resistent to change, but I think that company blogging initiatives will replace the old methods eventually.

For now though, I still write press releases, too.  That’s what people expect, both clients and media. I could go on for days about why I think that should change, but I’ve got to build some slides for my presentation tonight, so I have to run.

If you have to read the Wikipedia entry for RSS to understand what it is, then this post could change your life. And I’m not joking.

Even RSS pros out there (especially Blackberry carrying types, like my wife) will appreciate the fancy new Web2.0 tool that I am about to introduce you to.

It’s called The Simply Headlines Experiment, and I found it via Steve Rubel.

Here’s the best way to describe it (in my words)…

It takes the latest entries from your chosen feeds, ie. http://feeds.feedburner.com/TellTenFriends (hint hint) and it turns them into news items in a cleverly designed newspaper format that you can receive in your email. You have the choice of text only, or html, as you see above. Also, it has a bunch of feeds already set up to choose from (CNN, Reuters, etc.).

So all you have to do is take the feed address from wherever you see this symbol: and paste it into the program. And voila! You’ll get your chosen items delivered daily in your email. Sound easy? Go here to sign up, and if you have any trouble, just ask me for help and I’d be happy to talk you through it. Before you know it, you’ll have a customized Google homepage riddled with dozens of feeds, or like me your Bloglines account will see action from upwards of 100 different sources (I know, I’m a bit of a junkie).

The time to make a significant jump in your understanding of technology is now. This tool has been created for you, to help you bridge the gap into one of the most exciting things to happen to media since the first television flickered to life. Perhaps that sounds a bit hyperbolic, but bear with me. The true extent of RSS’ influence on the way we receive news and connect with both each other and of course our customers won’t be seen for years to come. In time though, the bulk of internet users will get wise to the use of feeds, and they will be incredibly prevalent as part of our culture. What I mean by this is, not just my brother or my sister but indeed my Mother will, in her lifetime use RSS feeds as her main source of news. This may sound like a bold prediction, but you don’t know my Mom.

Cheers all, I hope you like it. And I said a few paragraphs ago, I’d be happy to help you get this set up, if you have troubles with it.

I found a great post today via Steve Rubel, at a site called Apples to Oranges.

It lays out all of the best tools for tracking your online buzz. I’ve been asked about this quite a bit, so it’s nice to see a definitive list of tools that can give you a barometer of what’s being said about you online.

It’s a good list, and I was especially excited to discover socialmeter.com. It gives you a total of your website address’ incoming links, and displays it as an overall score. The score for my site is a measly 75, all of the “points” coming from Google and Technorati.

Have a look at the list, and pick your favorite. One thing the post doesn’t mention that I’d like to add is using Google News Alerts to track the mentions of you or your company in the more “traditional” news sources and static sites.

Try them out, and have fun!

Update: Kris dropped by in the comments and proceeded to give me link envy. So in an attempt to save face, I went back and checked the socialmeter score for my old blog. It’s score of 124 means that when you add them both together, I’ve still got a hot cup of jack squat…
So let’s make it a game, commenters: What’s your socialmeter score?

At BarCamp this weekend, I sat in on a half-hour presentation on what the presenter, Jason Billingsley (can’t find his name on his site he dropped by to comment, below) called Seo and the Long Tail (with a nod to Chris Anderson).

His message was pretty simple: You have access to only a few meta-tags and description for SEO, so make them count for you. Then, fill in ALL of the gaps with content, by becoming an expert on the topics that are related to your business. And wherever possible, those that are unique to your business. An example he used was that a search time like “digital camcorder” would be impossible (and extremely expensive) to rank #1 on, but a “long tail” term like “the best digital camcorder for scuba diving” will not only be easier to own, but will convert better than the more broad terms.

Just to explain that really quickly, the concept is simple: If someone searches for “digital camcorders,” it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what they want, so there is a snowball’s chance in hell that the first site they look at will have what they’re looking for. Whereas a search term like “how do I get people to tell ten friends about my company” is several steps closer to being a perfect match for the searcher. (Heheh)

At the presentation, there was much discussion among the brains there about the science of SEO, but I think his point was to not lose sight of the “art” of search: use words, publish relevant content, and people will come.

A few examples:

My Alabama buddy Mack Collier is #1 for the search term “why companies should blog.” Lucky devil.

Here’s some terms people used to find me this week:

1. “breakfast social networking toronto” -Huh? Qu’est-ce que c’est?

2. “meet pr guys” -Okay, this one is cool, and proves my point some.

3. “need glasses myspace” -They were searching for a video, and found me. Who knew?

4 “tell friends about products through myspace” -Not a topic I’ve covered, but certainly words I’ve used.

5. “friends of katherine mcphee” -I can’t help but think this one has more to do with my friendship with JD than anything else, (I was a closet Soul Patrol member, after all) which reinforces the importance of links too.

Anyway, I think you begin to get the point. Speak, dear friends, and the world will listen. And I do mean the world. This week, my humble rag saw traffic from Meeandah, Rome, Istanbul, Contern, Theux, Wolfsheim, Alameda, Brittania and one of “the other” Surreys, just to name a few. And I’ve never heard of most of those places. If you’re reading and you hail from any of these wonderful locales (or something equally obscure to a West Coast Canadian), leave a comment and tell us more about your corner of the earth. We’d love to hear from you.

Update: Andre took better notes from Jason’s presentation than I did, and Jason has done a follow-up on his blog as well.