My name is Shelli Martineau. I’m a digital marketing manager, content strategist, and amateur photographer living in Seattle, WA. I believe I am a natural fit to help Thorn eliminate child abuse on the internet.
You can learn more about my experience here or email me. I’d love to learn more about the role and the folks at Thorn.
Carol Tice from Copyblogger wrote this great post 50 Can’t-Fail Techniques for Finding Great Blog Topics and in it she suggests taking the Headline Challenge, “Tell yourself you need to come up with 50 story ideas today, or else. Jot down anything and everything.”
I decided to accept Carol’s challenge. Here we go:
Do you know how to reach Influencers?
A one-to-one social media marketing campaign (sometimes called an influencer outreach campaign) enables brands to connect with influencers, promotes authentic conversations about a brand or product, and empowers influencers to use their social media standing to tell their audience about goods/services they love.
Influencer outreach campaigns can get people talking about your brand but require careful strategy to ensure you’re not spinning your wheels or wasting your time. Follow this roadmap to start your Influencer Outreach Campaign off right.
Influencer outreach campaigns harness the power of influencers and convert them into brand loyalists or evangelists. They can also convert casual fans into staunch supporters and increase “buzz” about a brand/product or service. When creating your influencer outreach campaign, determine what you hope to accomplish and what you can do realistically. Do you want to build your email list? Increase sales? Generate awareness? Create leads? If you’re not sure what you want or can feasibly do, start small. Remember, objectives should be….
Plus, you shouldn’t have too many! One or two is plenty. Here are a few examples of great objectives:
Attract millennial audiences to sign up for our 5k in Boston
Use what we learn to attract millennial audiences to sign up for our next 5k in Seattle.
If you’re unsure where to begin, start with basic demographic information from your Facebook and Twitter insights pages. Your social media channels are a wealth of information and will help you come up with your audience profile. List all relevant information including:
Once you have an initial point of reference you can start your research in earnest. MarketingLand has a great post on Audience Research. Also look into information from Nielson/Fortune, ExactTarget (great free blog posts with stats/info as well as paid tools), Bazaar Voice (whitepapers), Comscore (paid tools), and more.
It’s tempting to believe that celebrities are the best influencers to chase because they have lots of influence over their millions of fans. The problem is that they are often difficult to reach and persuade (even if you have an amazing product and superb connections). Plus, fans are getting wise and see many gifts and products on celebs pages for what they are (paid promotions) vs a genuine interest in a product or service.
Successful influencer campaigns target people who are not already bombarded with free gifts and perks. When narrowing your target list of influencers consider what your audience wants and pays attention to.
Also, before choosing an influencer based soley on their catchy/viral tweets, their crazy # of Instagram followers and/or their witty, popular blog, consider if they’d really like what you have to share.
Staying true to your brand’s established voice and the spirit of  your online community is key. Influencers will recognize if you are being fake or insincere which is why a code of ethics for your campaign is important.
Writing out your code of ethics and disclosure agreement makes your influencers aware of the policies and legalities behind your campaign. An excellent example of an Influencer Outreach Campaign’s code of ethics can be found on AngelSmith’s website.
Based on your strategy, come up with 2-3 concepts that will make your influencers EXCITED enough to engage and respond.  Encompass what you know about your audience and any obstacles you may face.
Example:  Millennials in Boston are drawn together by one simple theme: FEAR OF MISSING OUT.  Share a free entry ticket to our 5k and access to the VIP lounge with all our favorite Boston Influencers.Â
Measurement should always be based on your goals. After all, that which you focus on becomes what you’re good at.
Many view these four metrics as the baseline measure for any influencer outreach campaign:
The last step is putting all the pieces together. Give yourself ample time to execute and record each of the following steps:
Completely Unaware customers need content that informs and enlightens.
Is your customer Pain Aware?  Provide solutions to their pain, or even shine a light on the pain itself.
Problem Aware customers are seeing a solution.  Help them solve it with content that provides a solution.
Some have done their homework and have an answer in mind. Solution Aware folks are looking for a road map or the best way to implement a solution. They respond to high-level benefits.
Brand/Product Aware people want to know more about your product specifically. How is it different from other products? What is the biggest benefit to using your product? What can you offer? They love a good, “But wait, there’s more!”
(Hat Tip:Â Inbound.org & Joanna Weibe)
I read 22 books last year.
Well, my actual number is a little higher (there were some I didn’t record. I’m a meager self-quantifier), but my Goodreads list is pretty damn close. Apparently my “goal” for 2014 was 36 books (which I didn’t meet and only vaguely remember setting), and after a little sleuthing, I determined that I blew 2013 out of the water (9 books according to Goodreads).
So, all in all, 2014 was an excellent year for literature in my world.
All that said, I won’t be setting a specific number goal for 2015 (well….. I might… but…) for me, reading isn’t about the numbers. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a voracious reader and love to brag about what a smarty I am, but I tend to read slowly. I’m not looking to finish with the most books under my belt. I read to find inspiration, to draw insights, and to savor big ideas. Sometimes I even take notes. I try to read mindfully and that’s my real Goodreads goal for 2015.
So, in an attempt to be mindful about my 2015, I’ve been reading 2014 and 2015 book lists (yeah, reading about reading) and I’ve come up with a list of books that I think will make my 2015 inspirational, insightful, and pretty damn awesome. I’d feel a little remiss if I didn’t share the list with you guys, so here it is — enjoy!
I’m actually most excited to get started on some fun, inspiring, and insightful nonfiction. These are my 5 picks for 2015.
highly enjoyable interview with Todd Henry. His work helping creatives increase productivity and make their best work sounds inspired. I’m more than a little curious to see what this book has to offer.I turn to fiction when I’m having a bad day. There is nothing like hiding one’s nose in a novel to cure the blues. This time last year I was obsessed with The Hunger Games Trilogy (loved it!) this year I’m looking forward to reading these guys:
my all-time favorite writer, Tom Robbins, at Bumbershoot. Despite my work with celebrities, it was one of the few times I was rendered utterly, and truly, fan-girl-speechless.  As he signed my copy of Still Life, I think I managed to get out, “You’re my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE AUTHOR… I’ve been reading you since high school….” before I froze with my mouth open. He was super cool about it, though (would you expect anything less?). Anyway, for those unfamiliar with Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker is his most popular work, and it’s (surprisingly) one I haven’t read yet.At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old person shouting at the kids on her lawn and complaining about the long-gone good old days, one question has been at the back of my mind for a while now:
Are marketers ruining social media? 
When I first started working in social media 5 amazing years ago I was, admittedly, wildly optimistic. I loved my job because it was the chance to talk to people, to be creative, to listen, and to be a part of something different. Since then, I’ve held on to a few steadfast beliefs that have shaped my work over the years. They are (in part):
I’ve been fighting to hold on to these core values as social media has grown and evolved into something that people actively try to ween themselves off of.  Aside from a few radicals who are still holding out, social media is now something different:
Admittedly, I saw this coming. We all did, right?  Social media is a way to harness an increasingly valuable commodity: attention. That said, I still believe the best social media marketers are the ones who stick to the core tenets that our social business was built on. There are still some who still understand the traditional, self-serving ‘all push’ method of marketing is dead. They deeply care about the end-user and don’t see people as merely prospects.
So, I’d like to ask you….. no, beg you…. to remember the good old days of social before you hit ‘publish’ next time. If it helps, this is my litmus test for all posts, editorial calendars, and content plans I write:
I’m curious. Do you agree? Are marketers ruining social media?
Imagine the last party you went to. Think about who you were with, how you presented yourself, who you spoke with and what you talked about. Now imagine a complete stranger walking up to you, opening his coat, and shouting, “Hey! Wanna buy some of our COOL watches? They’re buy one get one free if you act NOW!”
How quickly would you run away from this strange person?
It may seem like an exaggeration, but I assure you, that’s how awkward a sales pitch can come across in social media. If you approach people like the weird, watch-selling-trenchcoat-guy no one will want to talk to you. Even worse, you could potentially alienate yourself from the very people you hope to interact with.
As with “real life” it’s best to enter a conversation after first listening. Listening tools can help you:
There are many Social Media listening tools at your disposal. Some of the best get quite expensive, but if you’re operating on a small budget, these 8 free tools can help you listen in on the conversation before and while you participate:
BONUS: Wondering what terms and keywords to help you listen? Adamn Holdenbache from Social Fresh has your answer.
Which tools do you use to listen in on social media conversations? Did I miss any good ones?
For many brands and businesses photo albums and photos on Facebook can get up to 180% more engagement and social networking sites like Tumblr and Pinterest drive incredible amounts of traffic back to blogs and websites via images. To put it bluntly, images are more important than ever when it comes to online marketing. Unfortunately, not everyone has the time (or skills) to regularly produce images. Luckily for them, however, there are some free and easy tools that help with image creation in a pinch. Here’s a list of a few of my favorites.
If you have time to take your own pictures (or already have a few you’d like to use) and you want to edit them quickly, use some of these tools:
No time to break out the camera? That’s fine too!
Which tools do you use to create images? Did I miss any good ones?
Hi! I'm Shelli... đź‘‹ 