Author: Margot Horgan

#CMWorld: Part II

Margot HorganBlog, Raleigh PR Agency, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , , , , , , ,

As promised, here are some more insights and one-liners from my recent Content Marketing World (CMW) conference!

The movie Finding Nemo decimated the global clownfish population.

Formally known as “The Nemo Effect” (no, I’m not joking), studies have found evidence that the hit movie caused such a demand for clownfish, the wild population drastically reduced and even reached extinction in some areas. On the flipside, along with the demand for every child to have his or her own “Nemo,” came the demand for everything Nemo needs to survive (tanks, food, rocks, more fish, etc.). What’s the point? According to conference speaker, Andrew Davis, valuable content increases demand for the products and services you sell. “The Nemo Effect” – that’s the power of valuable content. To succeed, create valuable content to create needs for your business.

Content is fire. Social media is gasoline. Use your social to promote your content first and your company second.

‘Nuff said. Conference speaker, Jay Baer, says it all.

Never exit the metrics train at the consumption depot.                 

Here’s another one-liner from Jay Baer (can you tell his session was a lot of fun to attend?). Knowing the amount of people who have read your content is great, but don’t stop there when you’re riding the research train! Knowing a piece of content generated 3,000 page views should prompt even more questions (not stop you dead on your tracks): Do people consuming that content engage in other, more desirable behavior on the site? Do they do so at a ratio different from site visitors overall? Do people consuming that content return to the site?

If your mom won’t share your content, it’s not good enough!

Some more practical, blunt wisdom from Jay Baer (last one, I promise!). If you’re not creating content that’s worthwhile to someone who has to love you no matter what, it’s time to create better content. We can’t complain about content that our consumers don’t find valuable if we don’t give it any value!

Hard work and enthusiasm. Work hard and love what you do.

Jack Hanna, Animal Planet TV personality and zookeeper, was the last keynote speaker at the conference, and made one of the biggest impacts on me. I have never seen someone talk about his or her job with so much unbridled, genuine passion. Let’s all hope we can channel that same passion into our jobs and lives everyday!

Oh, PS, did I mention that I met Rick Springfield? Pretty cool!

Rick Springfield and me!
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#CMWorld: Part I

Margot HorganBlog, Marketing, Professional Development, Public Relations, Raleigh PR Agency, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , ,

Last month, I attended Content Marketing World (CMW), a three-day long conference in Columbus, Ohio, which focused on all of the ideas, hardships, tips, tricks and secret joys of content marketing. Presentations were given by industry leaders such as Sam Sebastian, director of local and B2B markets at Google; and Marcus Sheridan, blogging trailblazer and pool company owner.

Despite my urge to share every last word of knowledge that I gained on my trip, I’ll provide the abridged version. Here is my summary of one-liners of the most interesting parts of my conference:

They ask. You answer. (Golden Rule).

This first tidbit comes from Marcus Sheridan (the most energetic speaker that you will ever see in your life). If content creation is the biggest challenge you face for your blog, think again. Pull your staff together and say, “What are the questions you get asked every day about our work?” Then make a list and write an individual blog post answering every single one of those questions.

Don’t be a content hog, but a digital dandelion!

Words of wisdom from conference speaker, Jay Baer. Don’t just put content on your website, put it everywhere you can so as many people as possible can see it!

Seventy-three percent of all people who read B2B blogs are human. –Tim Washer, Cisco

This is a statistic that I was presented with during a session by Ann Handley titled, “Epic Content That’s True to Your Brand AND Drives Business.” And, yes my friends, it’s true – the majority of people that read blogs are human J So, what does that mean to us? We need to speak human when we write our blogs! Don’t get so caught up in the corporate side of the job, that you forget you are talking one human to another (or hopefully many!)

Mobile will only continue to grow in importance.

According to a presentation by Sam Sebastian, director of local and B2B markets at Google, mobile will continue to make a big impact on the way people shop, buy and consume. Sixty-one percent of all smart phone users call a business after searching it on the web, and 45 percent of all consumers use smart phones for in-store product research.

The whole myth of time doesn’t exist.

Marcus Sheridan tackles another blogging myth here. There is no such thing as, “I don’t have time to blog” because we always have enough time for pay roll. Until we accept blogging as a necessity (like payroll or breathing) we aren’t going anywhere!

Did any of these one-liners stick out to you? We would love to hear your thoughts! Stay tuned for part II of this blog coming soon!

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The Gift Economy

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Marketing, Public Relations, , , , , 1 Comment on The Gift Economy

If you remember, in the beginning of September, I went to the Content Marketing World (CMW) conference in Columbus, Ohio. CMW is the largest content marketing event in the world, and this year’s conference hosted sessions by more than 70 speakers. Our intern, Callie, watched the video recording of one of these sessions and shares her thoughts below on the talk, “The Gift Economy: Content as Social Currency” by Mark Boncheck.

Everyone uses the gift economy one way or another. During a lecture at Content Marketing World, Mark Bonchek of ORBIT+Co described the gift economy as something given without payment in return. He explained this through the example of paying friends with pizza and beer when they help you move to a new house. Obviously, you cannot pay a moving company with pizza and beer, thus creating a gift economy with social currencies. The social currency is when something is given or exchanged to establish or reinforce a relationship.

Bonchek furthered his point by explaining the differences between a market economy and a social currency. A market economy is all about the act of buying and selling, transactions, prices and supply and demand. In a market economy, the obligation is finished when there is a transaction. With social currency, the focus is on many to many and peer to peer. The social currency is all about enabling and empowering by connecting people together rather than persuading and promoting.

Finally, Bonchek tied it all together by combining the social currency concept with the idea of currency in traditions. By finding what already connects people, one can use that tradition in combination with technology to connect more people. Kraft did this with a sharing recipes online campaign, using the tradition of sharing recipes and cooking tips to connect its large fan base.

It’s such a simple concept, that it can be difficult to enact. But, if you can manage to think of that simple idea and break into a real, transcendental, traditional relationship (like paying friends with pizza and beer for helping you move; or exchanging recipes among friends and family), one can create a social currency for its brand.

Have you ever used the concept of social currency for a client or campaign? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

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CNN + Facebook Politics

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , ,

With campaign season gearing up, our intern Emily delved into how social media will change the presidential election — again (a la 2008). Enjoy!

In today’s age of ever-growing digital collaborations, CNN and Facebook are the newest digital duo. The pair has announced a new partnership including a Facebook app that focuses on users’ political stances during the 2012 election.

The partnership will have Facebook monitoring what people are saying about the election, in addition to a much anticipated “I’m voting” Facebook app. According to CNN and Facebook, the app will “enable people who use Facebook to commit to voting and endorse specific candidates and issues. Commitments to vote will be displayed on people’s Facebook timeline, news feed and real-time ticker.”

So what does this mean for the election, users, PR and advertising? For years, analysts have stressed the importance and necessity of young voters. Combing two of the biggest media brands, Facebook and CNN, has the potential to change the outcome of the election. Facebook’s overwhelming popularity with Millennials is astronomical, and research consistently shows that information uploaded to social media sites can influence people within each other’s networks and beyond.

With the possibility of millions of young adults using this app, users will be consequently displaying their voting preferences to a huge network of friends. Friends will now be able to see when and where each person is voting along with their political opinions. Even more so, this information will be compiled for larger surveys that will give the nation and candidates an idea of what constituents are thinking. Insights will provide candidates with crucial information surrounding what they should change about their campaigns. And, most importantly, the chance of a positive influence and calls-to-action for young adults to go vote is definitely a possible effect.

The partnership is also changing the landscape of campaign advertising. By default, a user will become even more of a grassroots advocate for candidates by sharing personal voting preferences with his networks. This unprecedented reach far exceeds the traditional scope of word-of-mouth when conveying political views. It even blows traditional social media reach out of the water. Using this app will let the entire nation know what the Facebook community thinks and changes the democratic system by bringing candidates and voters closer together.

Nonetheless, people have voiced concerns about the continued unpopularity of Facebook apps. However, this is an unprecedented app involving one of the most important elections in history. But, only in the next few months will we be able to see the true potential and popularity of this new campaign. Despite the concerns, there is no question that the partnership has a lot of potential and is leaving many voters eager to participate.

Here’s to hoping that the newest launch will finally have young voters “rocking the vote.”

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My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Days 1-30

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Raleigh PR Agency, , , ,

Thank you to everyone who read my recent blog series and offered advice and support as I navigated my way through my first month in an entry-level PR job. Since the blog entries are spread out over a period of time, I went ahead and made an archive of all the posts to make finding a specific post a little bit easier! Enjoy!

Days 1-2
Day 3
Day 4
Days 5-6
Day 7
Day 8
Days 9-10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Days 14-15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Day 19
Day 20
Day 21
Day 22
Days 23-24
Day 25
Day 26
Day 27
Day 28
Days 29-30

 

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