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Removing the Cat Turds from the Social Media Sandbox

April 2, 2009 by Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

Did you have a sandbox as a kid? I did and it was place where I could play and be as creative and constructive as my heart desired.

It was GREAT fun to play in my sandbox until the fateful day when I realized that my play area had become a port-a-pot for the neighborhood cats.

I remember trying to clean up my sandbox so I could enjoy it again, but once the neighborhood cats found my little patch of sand in the backyard

-there was no going back.

Years later, when I had children of my own, imagine my delight to discover that some other entrepreneurial soul had come up with a solution – a sandbox WITH A COVER! I bought the first one I saw for my kids.

The catch?

Once the kids were done playing, they had to put the cover back on the sandbox before they came inside. Being kids – my kids specifically – the practice of placing the cover over the top of the sandbox stopped after – oh, say the third day. It wasn’t long before I heard the wails as my children discovered – the hard way – the consequences of not covering their beloved sandbox.

The Social Media Sandbox

A blog is a tool in the social media sandbox… just like the pink pail in the image above. Fill the pail with dry sand and when you turn the bucket over – the sand will pour out into a shapeless pile.

There’s not much fun in that.

However, when you add a little H2O to the sand- suddenly the sand retains it shape! The addition of a little water creates a literally endless array of possibilities for creativity and construction!

When we first moved to Florida, I purchased an book on building sand sculptures. It was fascinating, but I realized that I really didn’t want to work that hard when I went to the beach. However, I learned that scooping wet sand into a bucket and overturning it isn’t the ONLY way to build a sand castle.

If you’ve wondered why your blog hasn’t been delivering the results you wanted to see from it – it’s because:

You haven’t been adding water to the sand.
You haven’t been adding the right amount of water to the sand.
You not using your bucket correctly.

If you’ve ever gone to the beach and begun an ambitious sand castle project, you’ll notice that the further along you get in the construction of your sand castle – the more “interest” you’ll get from passers by.

Sit on the beach and dump dry sand out of your bucket for hours on end, and all you’ll get is a few pitying glances.

On the other hand, when you begin an ambitious sand castle building project – well, at first you won’t get much attention either.

However, as you build it and it become apparent that you’re building something big – people will start to notice. People will start to gather – curious to watch the process. You may find you actually get volunteers who want to help become a part of what you’re building.

Social Media Marketing is just like Building Sandcastles

You have to start with the end in mind. If you don’t have a strategy in place when you begin using social media, you can’t expect social media to yield results.
At first, no one will notice – or care what you’re doing. Most people can’t “see” it with their mind before they see it with their eyes. It’s not until your sand castle starts to take shape that people begin to notice.
Even when there are lots of people on the beach – very few of them are building sand castles. Most people at the beach are lying in the sun. More people are reading books than building sand castles.

Sandcastles and sandboxes are a great analogy for social media.

If you don’t have the right “strategy” (knowing what to do – a.k.a. adding water and knowing the end result – a.k.a. “a plan”) you’ll just find yourself scooping sand and pouring dry sand. Playing like that in the sandbox loses its appeal quickly and when the cats arrive, well – it makes it easy to abandon the sandbox for good.

The key to creating a work of art sandcastle includes knowing WHAT you want to build. Once you know what you want to build, then the techniques for achieving the desired results are actually quite simple. The same it true for blogging – and every other tool in the social media marketing toolbox.

Social media can be a GREAT sandbox – one with unlimited opportunities for creativity and construction – the rub is you need to make certain you have a social media strategy in place so you can create beautiful sandcastles. Even if you’re miles away from the closest beach – you can still add water and have fun creating your own sandcastles in your backyard – even if you’re miles from the closest beach.

April Fool and Liar – Liar – Pants on Fire

April 1, 2009 by Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

social media transparency I have a confession – I’ve never gotten the appeal of “April Fool’s” jokes.

Prankster: “Ha! Ha! You believed me! I lied and you believed me. YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT!”

One upon whom the joke was perpetrated: “Yep! You got me. You’re right. I WAS an idiot to believe what you said. Fool me once – shame on you. Fool me twice – shame on me. Don’t worry – I won’t trust you again.”

While I don’t get the whole “I’ve lied to you. I’ve abused your trust- now laugh and forget about it,” behind the traditional April Fool’s pranks, I especially don’t get WHY anyone would try to pull an “April Fool’s” joke on their blog. If there’s one message everyone with a blog, Facebook or Twitter account needs to hear it’s this:

WHAT YOU WRITE ONLINE TODAY MAY LIVE ON THE INTERNET FOREVER!

In past generations, newspaper editors could “play” April Fool’s pranks because of the ephemeral nature of the media. However, the rules have changed since the days when the daily newspaper was the standard for mass communication – much to the chagrin of traditional media moguls.

The Internet has take Transparency from Transient to Permanent in less than a decade!

I understand why people are having trouble making the transition from a world where transparency was an option to be exercised into a world where transparency is no longer transitory and now permanent.

For thousands of years, mankind has sought to create an element of permanency in written communication. Instead of scrawling images in the dirt or sand, cave men put pictures on the walls of the cave because they lasted longer. Years later, men carved words in stone in order to preserve them for eternity. It was labor intensive – but when the message was important – it was worth the effort.

The point is – that in order to create a lasting message – one that could withstand the elements and the ravages of time, man had to take extra ordinary precautions to preserve early forms of communication.

The very nature of the Internet has removed the elements of “time, effort, care and caution” from the preservation of the electronic communications.

People are learning the lessons of the “new world” the HARD way every day. The tales are rampant of how Facebook can get you fired. Heck, there’s even a term for getting fired because of your blog – it’s called getting “Dooced.” Daniel Terdiman wisely asked himself the question, Is there such as thing as being fired for Twittering? He writes:

Well, today I was thinking about Twittering something and I began to wonder if maybe doing so might get me in trouble at work. And that got me to thinking about whether there’d been any cases yet of someone getting Dooced for Twittering. Call it being “Twooced.”

The answer of course is a resounding “Yes!” – Twitter can get you fired – as evidenced by the now infamous Cisco Fatty. What I find AMAZING is that Connor Riley is working on a masters degree in information technology yet she writes on her blog,

Unfortunately, a Cisco employee (actually, I’m not sure if he’s an employee or enthusiast or what) happened to be browsing public mentions of the company on Twitter and immediately called me out on what seemed like a hugely callous and rude thing to say

Um – sweetie – that was not an unfortunate oopsie – that is what is called REPUTATION MANAGEMENT! While Cisco may be cutting edge in employing this – it will soon become the NORM and not the EXCEPTION.

The reason reputation management is becoming big business is simple….

The Internet is NOT ephemeral. Your blog is NOT ephemeral. Even Twitter is not ephemeral.

Barbara Ling has left comments on this blog sharing her own “Golden Rule” of business communication:

“I live by the creed, my kids will find EVERYTHING I write online…”

Whether it’s your kids, your potential employer or your potential customers – communicating like everything you write online will live forever is an EXCELLENT mind set to adopt.

Which brings me back to my original bashing of April Fool’s posts on this day. What happens when your April Fool’s post enters the Web Archive? Will it be immediately evident that it is truly an April Fool’s prank post?

With that thought in mind, the biggest April Fools story is the Conflicker Internet Worm story . This “prank” is one I can actually endorse because in the end, it got the media talking about internet security. If those stories get people to install antivirus software and keep it updated – well, now THAT is a prank with the greater good in mind!

Please don’t make me explain this to you…

March 25, 2009 by Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

Despite the fact that I am definitely NOT your typical LOGO channel viewer, I recently discovered the reality television series RuPaul’s Drag Race. It’s Project Runway meets America’s Next Top Model except RuPaul is everything Tyra should EVER hope to aspire to be! (meow!)

I discovered the show at about the fourth episode and fortunately, LOGO is loving this show as much as I am, so the entire season has been replayed LIBERALLY and quickly filled up my DVR when I set it to “record all episodes at any time on this channel.”

In what may qualify as child abuse in the Midwest (but not in Florida where bestiality is still legal -as long as the animal in question doesn’t exhibit distress over the violation), I allowed my 14 year old son to watch the Drag on a Dime episode with me.

My two older children remember exactly where they were the first time they saw RuPaul in all her glory. Somehow, my youngest didn’t know who this 6’4″ supermodel of the world was until he joined me in watching the show.

Thus the title of this blog post… because my son had a REALLY hard time wrapping his brain around exactly WHAT RuPaul and the other lovely drag queens were all about.

One question was, “Do they wish they were born with women’s bodies?”

My answer, “No, sweetie. There is definitely the “change the make and model” option via surgery which is covered in GRAPHIC detail in an episode of South Park – but I’m pretty sure than none of these gentleman WANTS to be a woman all day, every day.”

This brings us to the branding/marketing portion of the program.

Branding Lessons from America’s Favorite Drag Queen

The RuPaul “brand” is a study in authenticity which is kind of ironic if you think about it. I mean, I’m touting a DRAG QUEEN as a study in authenticity – but RuPaul has never claimed to be what he appears to be on stage. He admits that he’s a master of illusion!

Because he is such a master of presentation (e.g. hair and makeup) and most importantly “illusion”, he became a spokesperson for MAC cosmetics in 1995. Who better to demonstrate the transformational powers of the right make up than a drag queen?

However, there are several essential branding lessons every business owner can learn from RuPaul – but I think the most important one is:

Be consistent in your presentation and representation of your brand.

RuPaul has NEVER denied being a man in a drag. Love it – hate it – he is what he is.

He’s a 6’4″ tall black drag queen sporting a platinum wig. Take one look at him and you won’t be surprised when he opens his mouth and out spills something outrageous! Mac cosmetics didn’t have to wonder if he would appeal to the middle aged housewife in the Midwest when they chose him as their spokeswoman – because that wasn’t the audience with whom he was supposed to connect! He was voted Queen of Manhattan in 1990. Mac wanted the ultimate urban socialite and they saw that in RuPaul.

As you peruse RuPaul’s site (click on the image above- it goes there) – you’ll notice that MOST of the time, RuPaul is in character and most of the time he’s in character, he’s sporting a platinum blond wig. He may be wearing some of the most AMAZING fashions – but his “look” never deviates.

Since the “real” RuPaul is bald, I don’t know his natural hair color but I’m pretty sure from his complexion that platinum blond is NOT what grows out of his head (or any other part) naturally. He has complete control over his hair color – yet he almost always chooses to portray his character with platinum blond hair.

RuPaul COULD choose to appear with a dazzling and ever changing array of hair colors -yet he chooses only one most of the time. RuPaul has found a look that “works” and he’s stuck with it.

By choosing a look and sticking with it, RuPaul doesn’t have to “explain” himself and his brand over and over!

A HUGE problem many business owners encounter when it comes to “branding” and “advertising” is that they often get tired of a campaign at precisely the moment when the brand or the campaign is starting to make an impact on their audience.

If RuPaul were following the path of America’s largest retailer – he would have traded in his blond wig (a.k.a. fired his ad agency) of 20 years and “revamped” his image. In my opinion, RuPaul trading in his platinum wig for a more sensible “brunette” is the moral equivalent of Walmart dumping the little smiley face guy.

RuPaul could choose a new hair color – WHY WOULD HE?

The blond wig WORKS so why change it?

The same question can be asked of companies large and small. Walmart isn’t the only huge company to suffer from this affliction. From “new Coke” to the “new US Army” – why oh why change something that is WORKING?

If you follow local advertising – you’ll see examples of local businesses who change their branding on an almost daily basis – to the point of not HAVING a single cohesive branding thread upon which to hang a marketing message.

In the end, RuPaul has been very deliberate and equally consistent in crafting and delivering his own unique “brand” of entertainment. The clothes change, but the character doesn’t.

If a drag queen who can change her hair color as quickly and easily as she changes her shoes can stick with a consistent hair color for more than 2 decades – why would your business want to change it’s branding essentials?

If your branding is broken – fix it! However, just because you “can” doesn’t mean you SHOULD. It could be that what’s broken is NOT the marketing – but something else.

Find out BEFORE you start fixing something that used to work!

An Open Letter to a Desperate Business : You’ve officially lost my trust and therefore my business!

March 19, 2009 by Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

Dear Desperate Business Owner or Marketing Manager:

I just got your last email and I’ve had enough. I know that when I shared my email address with you and confirmed it, I was “officially” giving you permission to market your services to me but enough is enough. I marked the last communication from your staff as spam so hopefully I won’t ever hear from you again.

It’s unfortunate that it’s had to come to this. When I signed up for your service, I had high hopes. You offered a free 30 day trial of your Web 2.0 application and it was presented in such an attractive manner that I couldn’t WAIT to try it.

As you’ve probably already guessed – there was a significant lack of trust on my part when I agreed to your free trial.

What you may not realize is only one of those questions was whether or not the product would perform as promised.

I had other concerns. Since this is a Web 2.0 application, this is not simply a product that I download and use. To use your wonderful application, I must subscribe to your service. That requires a higher level of trust. This is not a one time transaction – in purchasing your service, you are asking me to enter into a relationship with your company.

IT’S NOT A TRANSACTION, IT’S A RELATIONSHIP!!!

The trust element raised the bar significantly and changed the rules of the game. When this went from a one time sale to a long term relationship – this transaction went from being a Minor Sale to a Major Sale. (Pick up a copy of my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results for more on the differences in marketing the Major Sale vs the Minor Sale.)

Trust is a huge part of the Major Sale.

I understand that you probably weren’t aware of the differences between Minor Sales and Major Sales when you created the marketing for this service. Perhaps you thought marketing was simply a matter of B2B or B2C.

I forgive you for not buying and reading my book. That’s why I’m composing this open letter to you.

I trusted you enough to give you my real email address. Perhaps you don’t recognize the significance of that. Sharing my REAL email was in and of itself a huge trust step. I maintain a Hotmail email account when a company hasn’t even earned the right to an email account I access on a regular basis.

However, while I was willing to share my real email address, I didn’t trust you enough to share my real phone number when I signed up for your free trial – even though that was a “required” field on your form.

I hated lying to you, but as I’ve stated before- I didn’t know if I could trust you with that information. In order to explore whether or not I could trust you and enter into a business relationship with you, I was required to tell a white lie when I filled out that form.

As you’ve obviously discovered – that phone number I entered into the form is not mine. (I owe an OFFICIAL apology to whomever has been fielding the telemarketing calls from your firm. Sorry about that.)

See, I’m just like a lot of people who are using the internet. I’ve shared my contact information only to have it shared and sold repeatedly. That’s why I get so much SPAM on a daily basis!!! I have no idea whether or not I agreed to allow this or not because I rarely read those privacy policies. What I have learned over the years is not to TRUST anyone with sensitive information – especially someone I’ve only met on the internet.

From the tone of the emails you’ve been sending me this week, things are really desperate on your end. You’ve obviously been trying to contact me via phone – and discovered you can’t. So now you’re barraging me with emails as you desperately try to contact me.

Today I got the THIRD email in one week (yes, I had to provide you with a working email to download your free trial) with the title “Response Required”.

Response REQUIRED?

I’m REQUIRED to write a hefty check to pay my income taxes in a few weeks.

I’m REQUIRED to show up for jury duty when called.

I’m REQUIRED to tell the truth to the nice US Marshall when he asks me questions about the unusual activity going on across the street. (Hasn’t happened – yet!!)

I’m struggling now to think of things that I am REQUIRED to do. As I try to think of the things that I absolutely MUST do – most of the things that come to mind involve police officers, jail time and/or hefty fines.

Most of the things that I’m truly REQUIRED to do include dire consequences and quite honestly, I can’t think of a single downside to me NOT responding to your inquiries.

When I got the first email from you this week, I ignored it. I’m not ready to buy and I’m definitely not willing to try to justify my decision on the phone to a pushy sales rep. I didn’t mark this communication as spam because, at that moment in time, doing business with you was still a possibility. I’m still about 15-30 days away from making a serious purchasing decision about this service and at that point, you were still in the running.

When I got the 2nd email on the next day – I started to get irked. However, I get that sometimes spam filters keep legitimate emails from getting through so I didn’t hit the “mark as spam” button – YET!

When I got the THIRD message from yet another email account from your firm – well, that’s what prompted my actions AND this open letter.

The path to the sale – especially a Major Sale – can be a long and complex journey. Every step in the marketing process is another opportunity to earn another deposit into the trust account with this potential clients.

Trust is a tricky thing. It’s hard to gain and oh, so easy to lose. What’s worse is – as is illustrated by my experience with my pest control company – sometimes the actions of one member of an industry can destroy an individual’s trust with EVERY member of an industry. Even though you personally didn’t do ANYTHING to destroy a consumer’s trust – one of your competitors may have. When that happens, it makes your job of building trust with potential clients/customers/ patients that much more difficult.

On the bright side, once you’ve established a trusting relationship with these consumers – you’ll find they’re your most passionate brand advocates!

Social Media Transparency

March 10, 2009 by Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

I continue to be amazed at the level of transparency blogging provides. When a business owner decides to take blogging seriously, it provides a true window into the workings of his or her business.

Sometimes this is a good thing – and sometimes it means that your blog can be working hard at sending the wrong message about your business.

Cath Lawson writes in Dear Blogger – Are You Trying To Sell To The Faithless?

If you were depressed, you probably wouldn’t buy counseling services from someone who wrote constantly about their suicidal thoughts. You might be interested in reading what they had to say but you probably wouldn’t have a whole heap of faith in their ability to help you.

Trouble is, a lot of people do this. They’ll try to sell a product or service but almost every single word they write on their blog screams – “I TOTALLY SUCK AT WHAT I’M TRYING TO SELL”.

Cath is describing social media transparency in action.

Social media transparency in action

Today, as I perused my iGoogle page, I’m able to see the titles of the 3 most recent blog posts of about 50 different bloggers. I’m amazed at the level of transparency provided by the blog post titles alone.

One blogger has been posting about getting clients to pay their bills. It doesn’t take a psychic to see that this blogger is having problems with A/R (accounts receivable). You might think this is a “bad” thing to reveal to your audience but from where I sit, it actually helps to “authenticate” the fact that this blogger has a thriving business.

See, if you’ve got a “real” business then you’re going to deal with REAL business problems. When I see blog posts from a freelance service provider about collections – I see someone who is about to make a serious change the way he or she does business. (It doesn’t take too many times of getting “stiffed” as a freelancer before you get REAL comfortable establishing a deposit policy.)

Since I’ve “been there, done that and bought the T-shirt” when it comes to dealing with A/R problems, this level of transparency and authenticity HELPS to build my trust that this blogger’s business is “for real”.

Meanwhile, another blogger has announced that she’s taking a break from blogging to focus on building her business. This is not a surprise if you look at her last three blog post titles preceding this announcement. She’s been “hinting” that this for the last few posts. While her readers are disappointed, they aren’t suprised.

Yet another example of social media transparency in action.

When I start talking about authenticity and transparency, I can’t help but mention Tom Volkar. In his post Free Yourself Tom writes:

My coaching business has been booming. It’s become very clear, that I need to cut way back on some blogging and social media activities, in order to focus more on delivering break through results for an increasing number of clients.

You may think, “Of COURSE he’s claiming business is booming! What else would he be saying?” Well, what I’m saying is that even before Tom made this declaration on his blog, his recent blog posts have been “hinting” at this. Because of the previous body of work – a.k.a. previous blog posts – I BELIEVE it when Tom writes that his business is booming.

Transparency and authenticity are both available in abundance over at Tom’s blog – and as a result – business is booming.

Meanwhile, when another blogger is writing about how fabulously successful his business is and that he has successfully turned blogging into his own personal ATM machine. That particular blog post has a very hollow ring to it and makes me wonder if he’s one of the blogger’s Cath Lawson had in mind when she wrote her blog post.

You might think the most dangerous time to blog is when you run out of things to say but to that notion I say a hearty – “Oh Nay Nay!”

The most DANGEROUS time to blog is when something is happening in your business that you don’t to reveal.

I’ve recently been talking offline with and about the “uninitiated” who are afraid of what social media and blogging will have to say about their business. You can watch that train of thought emerge in posts such as “When someone steals your branding” and “The shit fight is beginning – should you join in?”

Again, another example of social media transparency in action.

Make no mistake, social media is a powerful force. The words you blog today will be part of “internet history” for years to come. However, it’s not just the words YOU blog which will become recorded history. The words other use in their blogs will also become part of that history.

Just remember, if you choose not to participate in the conversation going on in social media, then the cynical and sardonic will be more than happy to define your reputation online for you and social media is providing a plethora of tools which they can use to do just that.