Category: Drew’s Articles

How OpenSky Could Revolutionize The Math of the Web

Posted on by Drew Neisser

A fundamental truth of the Web is that it is easy to publish but hard to monetize. Literally millions of publishers post content on a daily basis yet few reap enough cash to justify the investment in time and energy. Even highly popular bloggers with hundreds of thousands of loyal readers struggle to make the math work. Small manufacturers that set up their own online stores have little hope of drawing large enough audiences to make ends meet. And consumers for the most part struggle to know what to buy and from whom – especially when it comes to specialty goods.

OpenSkyEnter OpenSky, which bounded out of beta last week vowing to change all this. I was aware of OpenSky through evangelist Ted Rubin but didn’t really get the concept until I sat down with the principals and one of their early beta testers for a couple of hours at their opening soiree. I now get it. And while OpenSky benefits publishers, their readers, and small-scale manufacturers with a robust Web platform, I think the idea boils down to this: OpenSky is a scalable micro-commerce utility that enables publishers of all sizes to actually make money on the Web.

That said, the best way to understand OpenSky is to look at it from the perspective of each of the constituents; publishers, manufacturers, and consumers. In the process, you should come to understand why I think OpenSky is indeed a game changer, and will bring profits to publishers, markets to manufacturers and peace of mind to consumers faster than you can say, ka-ching.

Sharing, Not Schilling: The Bloggers Perspective

Marta Wohrle, a veteran of the publishing industry, started her blog, TruthInAging.com, in 2008. According the site, “Truth In Aging writes honest, thorough and, we hope, fun reviews of anti-aging cosmetic, makeup and hair products.” Reaching out to friends and family, Marta was able to build a nice following that doubled in 2010 thanks to a strong SEO program. But Marta still had a problem. She noted, “Even with Google AdSense delivering an average $7-8cpm and my Amazon affiliate program delivering 7% on referred sales, I wasn’t making enough to justify my time.”

With a sizable mailing list and over 45,000 visitors a month (according to Compete.com), Marta was an early beta tester of OpenSky, having already been searching for a way to increase her Web revenue. Noted Marta, “At first I was a little concerned that my readers might be offended if I started selling products I reviewed right from my site.” Creating a small group of “VIP customers” to test with, Marta found that only 2 out of 400 suggested she might be “going to far” while the others were overwhelmingly positive. Relieved, Marta pressed forward, excited at the prospects of gaining half the profit on each product sold, the other half going to OpenSky.

Marta explained that, “By selling the products I have been reviewing and recommending directly on my site, I make it easier for my readers to buy them and at least double my profit margin compared to Amazon in the process. My readers trust me and I don’t dare break that trust by recommending anything I don’t believe in,” she added, identifying one of the lynchpins of OpenSky’s value proposition. Successful publishers like Marta depend on building and maintaining trust with their readers–selling inferior products just to make a buck would jeopardize the whole enterprise.

Finding New Audiences: The Boutique Manufacturer

One of the products Marta recommends and sells on her blog is a $27 organic eye cream from a four-year-old husband/wife company called Nurture My Body. Traffic to NurtureMyBody.com according to Compete.com is well below 2,000 per month and more than twenty times less than Marta’s site. For Nurture My Body, any sales they get from Marta’s site is like manna from heaven. It cost them nothing to list their products on ShopOpenSky.com and Marta’s recommendation translates into high sales and low return rates.

Founder of OpenSky, John Caplan, explained that having a low return rate is another of the lynchpins to his company’s success. Noted Caplan, “During the beta, about 1% of products sold through OpenSky were returned which was phenomenal, especially when compared to 19% for Amazon and 40% for Zappos.” Caplan’s doesn’t necessarily expect their rates to stay that low with 6% returns built into the plan, but at that same time, he’s not surprised. Caplan observed, “Bloggers like Marta have built up extraordinary trust, so her recommendation simply carries the day.”

A Better Shopping Experience: The Consumer Wins Too

When one of Marta’s readers sees a product she wants, the buying process begins with a simple click on a link. This easy shopping experience is the third lynchpin for OpenSky according to co-founder Kevin Ambrosini, whose resume includes highly successful e-retailer, Gilt Groupe. Noted Ambrosini, “The shopping cart sits on the publisher’s site but we handle all the hard stuff like credit card verification and order processing.”

Well aware of the importance of a smooth buying experience, OpenSky also takes care of the customer service issues related to online ordering. Added Ambrosini, “If shipping takes too long or our 800# staff can’t resolve issues right away, the whole thing falls apart, so our goal is to provide the best customer service anywhere.”

One of the requirements for suppliers to put their goods on the OpenSky platform is that they can “drop ship” products anywhere in the U.S. Ultimately, OpenSky hopes to publish average shipping times so buyers know what to expect and sellers are incented to expedite their processes.

Win, Win, Win, or Too Good to Be True?

Entrepreneurs are inherently optimistic and the team at OpenSky is no different. Their energy and enthusiasm is infectious and clearly, I am now a believer. Time will tell if OpenSky indeed can change the math of Web publishing. One thing is for certain, unlike Facebook and Twitter, OpenSky knows from the start how its bread will be buttered, with publishers, manufacturers and consumers all winning. (This article first appeared on FastCompany.com)

Don’t Get Those Summertime Social Media Blues

Posted on by Drew Neisser

This article ran on MediaPost earlier this week: As we enter August and our shrinks go on vacation, it would be easy to go crazy over all the dour news related to social media. Fortress Facebook is showing cracks as 170,000 or so 26-34 year-olds defected from the network in June according to Inside Facebook. Fast-growing Foursquare, which reached its 100 millionth check-in milestone in July was doused by a Forrester study that recommended a “wait and see” approach. And 24 hours after the most beautifully orchestrated social media stunt since BK’s Whopper Sacrifice, several respectable publications were asking, “Yeah but did it sell bottles of Old Spice?”

Admittedly I do find the Facebook news a bit troubling because no one seems to know where these young folks are defecting to and if it was a temporary aberration or genuine trend. [Note: Facebook grew again in July.] As for the Forrester’s study that recommends a cautious approach to Foursquare, I’m delighted since this will leave it open for the innovators while the wait and see types sit by the sidelines and lose early adopter advantage. And just in time to restore order in the creative universe, Nielsen reported that Old Spice sales were indeed up 107% in the last month. All this said, I’d like to offer a little pep talk in what otherwise might be the dog days of social media.

Don’t Give Up on Facebook Just Yet

Considering the sheer massiveness of Facebook, it is quite likely your target is still actively engaged on the largest truly global social network. According to Comscore, in June 2010 over 130 million people within the US used Facebook. With that kind of reach, its easy to understand how some brands are using Facebook as their only website while others create ecommerce stores within the network. So the real challenge is figuring out the Facebook strategy that is right for your brand.

Venerable print pub National Geographic has attracted over 1.4 million fans on Facebook by providing a steady stream of interesting factoids. Offering his own pep talk at the Supergenius WOM conference in NYC last month, National Geo’s VP of Marketing Brendon Hart advising having a “fan first” approach specifically for Facebook. Hart advised testing a wide variety of content in order to zero in on what drives the most likes and comments. If this old brand can make hay on Facebook, certainly yours can too.

Innovative Brands Should Be Testing Location-Based Services

While the installed base of Foursquare users is admittedly small at about 2 million, now is the time for innovative brands especially those targeting millennials to be testing this and other location-based services like Gowalla, Loopt, and GetGlue. Not only will experimenting now give you a leg up on your competition when these services are more mainstream, you’ll earn special points with millennials who love the competitive nature of location-based social networking games.

Ramon DeLeon, the owner of six Domino’s Pizza restaurants in Chicago, is a legend in the social media world and an early adopter of Foursquare. Speaking at the Supergenius conference, DeLeon explained that he’s had fun experimenting with Foursquare and with letting his “mayors” take charge at his restaurants. Noted DeLeon, “I invite our mayors to do whatever they want, to make their own pizzas or eat for free.” Adding Foursquare to his already broad mix of social media including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and a blog was a “no brainer” as DeLeon wants to part of the conversation wherever his target is talking.

And Yes, This Social Media Stuff Can Drive Your Business

While the Old Spice guy making customized YouTube videos for a select group of his Twitter followers is a spectacularly innovative case, other brands are using social media to drive their businesses every day without as much fanfare. The challenge to figure out your overall goals for social media and then determine how to make the most of each of particular channel, especially the over-hyped and often misused Twitterverse.

Paull Young, Director of Digital for CharityWater.org, reported at the Supergenius conference that his organization has grown almost entirely through word-of-mouth, raising $20 million in 4 years. As the first charity with over one million followers on Twitter, CharityWater.org has inspired a “long tail” of givers, from well-known celebrities to precocious 8-year-olds, all attracted to the mission of providing clean water to the 1/6 of the world who doesn’t have it. Young noted that a Twestival to create clean water wells in Ethiopia raised $250,000 despite the fact that “[they] never ask for money directly.”

The bottom line: don’t let the summertime blues affect your vision, use this time to assess your strategy via a social media audit and get ready to break new ground this Fall.

CMO Insights: Why Timberland Planted 1 Million Trees in Inner Mongolia

Posted on by Drew Neisser

This is not a story about a bunch of granola-loving, tree-hugging, goody two-shoes. Timberland, the company, is in business to sell shoes and other outdoor apparel. As Chief Brand Officer Mike Harrison put it in my interview with him last week, “We’re not advocating for good causes just for the sake of it, there is an element of enlightened self-interest in this,” adding, “we’re an outdoors brand, if winter goes away its not a good thing for us financially either.”

That said, Timberland’s approach to corporate social responsibility could be a model for any likeminded company around the world. Timberland is considered one of the most socially responsible brands in the US and was recently recognized by Ceres-ACCA as having the best sustainability reports. Timberland’s commitment to fighting climate change permeates the global organization, from the CEO to the sales staff in Japan, and serves as the starting point for this 7-point guide on how to do well by doing good.

1. Create a Culture of Doers

Timberland has long believed in empowering its employees to give back. Harrison reported that, “back in the early 1990’s, we started giving employees paid time off to volunteer in the community.” So when a bunch of employees in Japan linked their concern about air quality with deforestation in Northeast China, the next thing you knew Timberland was planting trees in Inner Mongolia. Noted Harrison, “It started out as a pretty low-key community service project in 2000,” and culminated in April 2010 with the planting of the millionth tree!

2. Walk the Walk First Especially in China

One of the more remarkable aspects of Timberland’s tree planting program in China is that they didn’t even sell boots there until 2006 (6 years after the first tree was planted). According to Harrison, “We were planting trees but we hadn’t gotten around to figuring out how to do business there.” Not famous for welcoming foreign brands, Timberland benefited from six years of good will generation. Describing the launch in China, Harrison noted that, “we told them about the Timberland brand and what we stood for and why we’d been planting trees and that definitely got a lot of interest.” Four years later, China is one of Timberland’s fastest growing markets.

3. Make it Green But Don’t Lead with Green

In 2007, Timberland launched the Earthkeepers boot, which, Harrison noted, “was the greenest boot that we knew how to make.” Since that boot was well received, they turned Earthkeepers into a “collection of environmentally responsible footwear and apparel,” that has become Timberland’s fastest growing collection. But Harrison recognized that, “consumers are not going out shopping for brands in our space wondering about how they can save the planet, so you need to look at environmental values as the gift with purchase.” Harrison considers this one of the biggest lessons, noting that his consumer won’t buy it if it doesn’t look good and perform like its less green counterparts.

4. Don’t Underestimate Online Engagement Among the Green Inclined

No good marketing story would be complete without a few bumps in the road. Timberland’s bump came after launching a virtual tree planting application on Facebook in late 2008. “We had all these grandiose plans to engage consumers and create a movement online,” noted Harrison, whose group was taken by surprise when the demand for virtual tree planting exceeded the speed at which they could plant corresponding real trees. When Timberland then took down the application there was a huge backlash and Harrison discovered, “Just how engaged our consumers were.” How Timberland responded to this crisis is as instructive as the rest of their actions.

5. Fess Up To Your Mistakes

After the Facebook application was shut down, Timberland’s “engaged consumers” created online petitions to bring back the application and then started to question the veracity of Timberland’s tree planting programs. This was potential PR disaster requiring an immediate and honest response. Timberland CEO Jeff Swartz held a chat session with the petition’s organizers and posted the conversation for all to see. This approach helped to diffuse the protestors and offered Timberland a valuable dose of humility. Offered Harrison, “it’s much better to openly engage with critics, be transparent, be open about your failings—we never say we’re perfect and we never will be.”

6. Don’t Be Too Earnest

Understandably proud of their green track record, Harrison noted that one of the biggest marketing mistakes they’ve made is “to come across as preachy” when advertising their Earthkeepers products. “We’re trying to be more humorous in our ads now—it’s a serious issue but we shouldn’t claim we’re curing cancer—we’re just planting trees and doing the best we can.” “We seem to engage better if we’re reasonably light,” offered Harrison while lamenting consumer’s general disinterest in reading longer and more serious eco-stories. Advised Harrison, “pick your message, be positive, upbeat, reasonably light hearted about it and don’t come across as overly earnest.”

7. Think Global, Act Social

Offering a glimpse into their future marketing plans, Harrison noted that “half of our business and half our consumers are outside the US, so the next big step is moving to a more global Timberland.com and moving to a more global social networking strategy.” This coincides with new tree planting initiatives in Haiti and Nepal along with continuing efforts in China. In fact, CEO Jeff Swartz has set the audacious goal of planting 5 million trees in the next five years. Timberland is also updating its virtual tree planting initiative with the introduction of a new Facebook application, which will be integrated with its soon to be launched “Nature Needs Heroes” marketing campaign.

Final Note: In its Q1 2010 earnings report, Timberland’s revenue was up 7% overall and 17% in Asia. Seems like Timberland is doing pretty darn well by doing good.  (This article first appeared on FastCompany.com)

How the Shorty Awards Came Up Big

Posted on by Drew Neisser

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell posits that success is a much about good timing as it is hard work and raw talent.  Perhaps there is no greater evidence of this theory than the Shorty Awards, which launched in December 2008 just as “Twitter was on the cusp of getting really big,” noted co-founder Greg Galant. But to attribute the success of the Shorty Awards to timing alone would be shortsighted, missing one of the most instructive cases for entrepreneurs in the brave new world of Social Media 3.0.   Here are seven insights I gleaned from my interview with Galant:

1. Identify an Unmet Need

Back in late 2008, Greg Galant and his partner Lee Semel at Sawhorse Media, a small web dev shop, recognized both the potential of Twitter and an inherent shortcoming.  Noted Galant, “The thing which made it unique was that all the content was public and people were creating media but there was no easy way to figure out who’s doing good stuff on Twitter by topic.”  Added Galant, “So we had this wacky idea we would create the first ever directory of Twitter and what better way than to crowd source an awards program.”  Wacky or not, within 24 hours of its launch on December 10th, 2008, Shorty was one of the top trending terms on Twitter, a position it held for the next two months.  And as a result of the Shortys, all the Twitterverse had a real source for the best of the best.

2. Build it Fast AND Build it Smart

Often software entrepreneurs are faced with tradeoffs between speed to market and quality of performance.  Offered Galant, “We came up with the name Shorty Awards, registered the domain and built the whole system in two weekends.”  Despite the speed, it was brilliant in its use of the very medium it was acknowledging and according to Galant was “the first system ever to use public nominees.” The entry form was literally just a tweet like “I nominate @DrewNeisser for #Shorty for marketing brilliance…” and the Shorty site according to Galant, “Would just automatically suck that in, parse it, and figure out what the nomination is for, and then create a leader board out of all the nominees.” That would be like a movie actress nominating herself for an Oscar in the middle of the film!

3. Make it Competitive and Transparent

Awards by their very nature are competitive but part of the genius of the Shorty Awards is that nominees could see how they were doing in real time.  This level of transparency set the Shorty Awards apart from its advertising brethren.  Explained Galant, “there was tons of campaigning, people were tweeting to get people to vote for them, the leader boards were really a strong thing in that people want to be on a top ten list.”  The leader board also had the added value of giving people a reason to constantly come back to ShortyAwards.com.  In fact and most notably, traffic to the Shorty Awards.com website according to Compete.com (see chart) during its first two years was higher than the better known Effies, Clios and the even the coveted Cannes Lions.

4. Bake the Marketing Into the Product

One of the more remarkably aspects of the Shorty Awards case, is that the brand was built according to Galant with “zero marketing dollars.“  A true social media phenomenon, the Shorty Awards garnered 50,000 nominees year 1 and over 300,000 year 2 without spending a single dollar on advertising.   As Galant explained it, “We thought about marketing at the product design stage, focusing on every little angle, how it would market itself, what kind of viral actions will it create, what’s the viral loop, what about it’s really going to resonate with users—that matters far more than how hard you pitch it and everything like that.”  Entrepreneurs out there would be well advised to embrace Galant’s conjecture, “That much of marketing today is done before the launch, it’s in product design.

5. React to the Road not the Map

Every entrepreneur will tell of the importance of reacting to “the road not the map” when rolling out a new product or service.  But few in my experience were as good at observing the changes in the road and reacting accordingly as Galant and Semel.  First, there was the matter of the award ceremony.  Launched without a real business plan, Galant noted “ We hadn’t yet lined up any plans to actually have the ceremony, we didn’t have a sponsor, we didn’t have a venue, we didn’t have a host yet two months later, we pulled the whole thing off.”   Then there were the awards themselves.  Allowing people to make up any category they wanted, when seeing a particular user generated category achieve critical mass, they’d make it official.  Noted Galant, “It never occurred to us to have a video game category for example.”

6. Deliver Genuine Value Across the Board

Before the Shorty Awards became a real business, Galant and his partner had the simple goal of delivering value by “showing the who’s who of social media.”  Once it became clear that there were a lot of people who shared Galant’s desire to “know who’s actually good, who the stars are, who’s mastered the media,” then the challenge shifted to creating value for potential sponsors.  This value came in multiple ways depending on the sponsor.  During the nomination periods, traffic to the website and PR about the awards reached millions.  At the events, sponsors were able to mingle with top tweeters from around the world, the first of which was the largest gathering of its kind.  And because Galant had the foresight to video tape the event, live streams (+20k) and subsequent plays on YouTube (+100k) increased the value for sponsors even further.

7. Learn from Other’s Mistakes (not included in the FastCompany.com post that ran earlier this week)

They say that most entrepreneurs learn from their own mistakes but the great ones learn from the mistakes of others.  Such is the case with Galant and the Shorty Awards.  Noted Galant, “There was one attempt before us to do a Twitter awards thing, but we heard stories where they promised the winner 100 bucks but they couldn’t deliver on that—so we really wanted to do it right.”  So Galant found some sponsors to help cover the costs of the event and charged for attendance, thus ensuring sufficient funding to pull off a NYC-caliber program in their first year.  Year 2 they upped the ante, hosting the event in Manhattan instead of Brooklyn, allowing for greater attendance and more polished experience.

Final Note

The Shorty Awards were profitable in both its first two years, enough so that Galant is now talking to investors about expansion plans. Not bad for a couple of guys who just wanted to figure out who to follow on Twitter.

Charging up Small Biz on Social Media

Posted on by Drew Neisser

How American Express turned its OPEN Forum into the quintessential example of Marketing as Service

Lots of companies talk about being of service to their customers. Unfortunately, in most cases it is just talk.  American Express, on the other hand, has been walking the walk for many years, whether it’s providing access to exclusive tickets for special events or offering free radios at the US Open to listen while you watch.  These kinds of programs have helped AmEx maintain “cardmember” loyalty as well as attract new customers who want the same privileges.

The OPEN Forum, which originally launched in 2007, is AmEx’s latest and greatest example, a program designed to help small business owners grow their businesses by providing both insights and resources online. This is not a case of altruism but rather enlightened self-interest.  Noted Mary Ann Fitzmaurice Reilly, American Express OPEN, SVP of Partnerships & Business Development, “We already have a large part of the pie so our biggest opportunity is with small business growth—if they grow, we grow.”

This enlightened perspective has made OpenForum.com a runaway success.  According to Compete.com (see chart), monthly traffic has grown from a trickle 24 months ago to rivaling established small biz resources like FastCompany.com and Inc.com.  Over 11,000 small businesses have added their names to Connectodex, a combination social network and Rolodex for entrepreneurs that became part of the program in 2009.

The program has had the added benefit of pulling giant American Express into the forefront of social media marketing.  OPEN Forum was their first foray into Twitter and has nearly 10,000 followers.  It also provides some of the best social media marketing advice content available through its “partner” bloggers.  Recognizing that OPEN Forum is indeed the quintessential example of Marketing as Service, here are six key insights to charge up your brand’s social media marketing.

1. Research: Build off a Target Need

Given the expense of building a Marketing as Service program like the OPEN Forum, you best start with a solid foundation of research.  When explaining the origins of the OPEN Forum, Mary Ann revealed that, “Through our semi-annual Small Business Monitor survey, nearly 60% of customers told us that they found this new social media world really challenging.”  She added that, “Only 13% were tapping into social networking because they didn’t know how,” a need that the OPEN Forum has truly fulfilled.

2. Commit: Stay in it For the Long Haul

Embarking on a Marketing as Service program like this is not for those looking for an instant ROI.  “This is a commitment that we made and are going to continue to make,” noted Mary Ann, when I asked her about the program ROI.  “We didn’t go into this lightly and we didn’t go into this as a test,” she added, noting, “We leveraged insight and took a leap of faith.”  For other marketers considering such an approach, Mary Ann advised, “Don’t just dip your toe into the water, stick to your commitment.”

3. Partner: Don’t Try to Do it All Yourself

Now in its third year, the program “takes a small army, both internal and external,” offered Mary Ann, who mentioned a litany of external partners who help with site development, article content, online media and related live events. When discussing why AmEx sought outside help like Federated Media for bloggers, Mary Ann pointed out that, “You can’t do it alone, there are a lot of experts—leverage them to make the most robust solution you can.”

4. Evolve: Adapt with Changing Social Mores

Originally designed exclusively for cardmembers, in 2010 AmEx made the adventurous decision to open up the OPEN Forum to members of LinkedIn.  Noted Mary Ann, “when we saw that LinkedIn was opening up its platform, it made us think about the direction social media was going in.”  Walking the tightrope between exclusivity and social media’s openness, AmEx quickly discovered that “it allowed us to broaden the conversation beyond cardmembers which has really enriched the site for everyone.”

5. Extend: Social Means Face-to-Face Too

Once embarking on an ambitious online program like OPEN Forum, marketers sometimes forget about the importance of face-to-face interactions.  AmEx, on the other hand, has used the OPEN Forum to broaden its approach to trade shows, and according to Mary Ann they found, “A cross pollination of the physical and online social media worlds.” She added, “With bloggers at trade shows actually having live discussions that we film and put on OPEN Forum,” they were able to complete the marketing circle, working seamlessly between the offline and online channels.

6. Involve: Tap Into Your Community

One of the many positive by-products of building a community like OPEN Forum, is that you then have an opportunity for instant feedback including input on new products and services.  Noted Mary Ann, “When we launched AcceptPay (e-billing and payment acceptance), we put a video out there and got feedback that said, ‘great, we understand how it works, but what’s in it for me?’”  Responding with a new video that used a customer to explain how it works, Mary Ann acknowledged learning an important social media lesson, “It’s not about us telling you what you should do.”

Final Note:  While all of this may seem a bit altruistic, it is not in the least.  American Express is committed to being the brand of choice for small businesses, a business that is highly lucrative.  By helping small business owners grow their businesses with valuable content and networking opportunities, AmEx is essentially insuring its own future.

This article first appeared in edited form on FastCompany.com

Ben Franklin: Social Media Enthusiast?

Posted on by Drew Neisser

The great patriot and social media enthusiast Benjamin Franklin would surely enjoy the communications revolution that has swept our fair industry and would have plenty of good advice for modern day practitioners.  Advice well earned.  At 15, he adopted the pseudonym Mrs. Silence Dogood just to get his articles published in his brother’s newspaper.  This ruse pissed off his brother to no end and ultimately forced young Ben to flee to Philly where at the age of 21 he formed an early social network called Junto, a group of “like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community.”

Once in Philadelphia, Franklin quickly distinguished himself as an agent of change, a man Malcolm Gladwell might be forced to describe as connector, maven AND salesman. At 22, he established The Pennsylvania Gazette, essentially a printed blog of his essays and observations, a vehicle that earned him tremendous social currency.  Shortly thereafter, he set up the city’s first library, the Wikipedia of its day, complete with America’s first librarian.  A noted scientist, perhaps his least known invention is the concept of paying it forward, freely sharing his ideas, inventions and on occasion his cash all with the hope that “it may thus go thro’ many hands.”  Clearly, without Franklin there are no open source API’s on Facebook and certainly no #good tweets on Twitter.

Having established his bona fides as social media pioneer let me now call upon the ever-humble B. Franklin to offer us instruction on how modern day marketing patriots can declare their independence from social media silliness.  And while this piece is no Poor Richard’s Almanac, it will approach the topic at hand with a similar clarity of purpose and simplicity in language.  It will also do so knowing Franklin would have supported this author, “So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.”  Finally, it will encourage marketers to take AIM, a simply acronym that befits a Franklinian approach to social media.

1.  A is for Audit

All too often, marketers take the “Ready, Fire, Aim” approach to social media.  The numerous social media pundits who prescribe dabbling over diligence encourage this philosophy.  Back in 1748, Franklin would have warned you of the risks of this approach, noting, “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.”  Instead, Franklin would have encouraged a rigorous social media audit, offering, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

Hardly revolutionary, a social media audit lays the groundwork for a successful campaign, fulfilling Franklin’s prognostication that, “Diligence is the mother of good luck.”  These audits can be done in-house but as Franklin warned, “Those that won’t be counseled can’t be helped.”  Kinaxis, a supply chain management company, sought the help of Forrester before it went on to triple its leads and double its site traffic via a rigorously planned social media program (see detailed case history http://bit.ly/cNOgPz .)

2. I is for Implementation

A great communicator himself, Franklin would have been undaunted by all the new options, evaluating each carefully in order to “Never confuse motion with action.”   When it comes to content creation, Franklin’s remarkably timeless advice to, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing,” is as true for Twitter and YouTube in 2010 as it was for patriotic pamphlets back in 1775.  Anticipating the transparency that enlightened marketers now seek, his proverb “honesty is the best policy,” is truer today than ever before.

Franklin inherently understood social media implementation, and the critical roles of likability, entertainment and patience.  For brands that want to build fans on Facebook and the like, Franklin offered, “If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.” For brands afraid of having a little fun with their audience, Franklin encouraged, “Games lubricate the body and the mind.” And for brands in an unrealistic hurry to gain traction in social media, Franklin noted, “He that can have patience can have what he will.”

3. M is for Monitoring

As Postmaster General in 1768, Franklin monitored the routes of British mail ships to discover why it took them two weeks longer to reach US ports than private merchant ships.   Conducting his own focus groups with merchant captains and whalers, Franklin ultimately charted and named the Gulf Stream, which was acting like a firewall, slowing the movement of data from East to West across the Atlantic.  Not new to the idea of monitoring, Franklin approached even minute details with earnest, noting, “A small leak will sink a great ship.”

So too must social media marketers monitor their activities with rigor and respond accordingly.  While lots of free tools are available to monitor everything from conversations to web traffic, organic search performance to lead generation, Franklin reminded us that, “Lost time is never found again,” thus the anticipating the use of time-saving paid services like Radian6.  With such a disciplined approach to social media, marketers can, in Franklin’s words, “Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.”

Even 220 years after his death, Benjamin Franklin remains a beloved character bestowing a treasure trove of wisdom for good citizens and good brands.  In fact, among the 12 virtues that he drafted when only 20 years old, you will find the single best guidance for any brand I’ve ever read, “Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”  (This article originally appeared on MediaPost.com)