Startup Blog

850%.  Really.  I didn't believe it either.  But I have talked to him and seen the numbers.

Chalk this one up as another example of a business that you would never think could blog or use social media... proving that it can work for almost any business.

If the video dioes not work for you, use this link.

My friend Todd Defren from Shift Communications is part of a project to help make links in a Twitter background clickable as announced on Mashable.  A worthy goal! 

[Correction: When first published this post said the pricing was $20/month.  I was wrong.  The cost is $20 for a "lifetime" at the time ClickableNow launched.  I still don't think this changes their business problem.]

ANOTHER UPDATE: Clickable now has made some changes and is now FREE!

I have not talked to Todd about this project.  But from my current understanding I think the business model is flawed.  If you pay $20 you can make the links clickable on your profile for anyone who has installed the Firefox addon from ClickableNow.  Here is the big problem.  The business model relies on a large number of users installing an add-on, and there is no incentive to install the add on.

Why would I pay $20 to reach a tiny number of people that have installed the add-on?  I won't.  I also won't install the add on to be able to click on the tiny number of users that have added the clickable links.  Chicken and the egg.

Here are some suggestions for ClickableNow to drive more adoption:

1. Partner with an existing Firefox add-on with a big user base and add the ClickableNow functionality to it to get an instant large base of users who can click on the links.
2. Price the monthly fee for adding the clickable links to your Twitter page based on the number of people that have installed the add on.  Today it would be $0.10 a month or something.  As more people install it, the price goes up for everyone to a max of $20.
3. Same as above, except let the early users lock in the low price.  The first 10,000 installers pay $1 a month.  Then $2 for the next 10,000, up to a max price of $20.
4. Price the links on a CPC (cost per click) basis, so as a marketer I only pay for the clicks I get, and this will scale with the number of users.
5. Give away a simple version of the clickable links for free (maybe one link with no tracking stats) and then charge for more advanced version (multiple links and/or tracking stats).

What other ideas do you have to make the ClickableNow business model work?

I've gotten a bunch of questions recently about etiquette on Twitter.  There really are no formal rules, because lots of people use Twitter differently.  I know lots of people who have rules that are different from me, and that is fine.  Their personal style may be different or maybe they use Twitter "better".  You can use twitter however you want (and don't let one of those "social media experts" tell you differently).

While I do not think there are any formally established etiquette for Twittter, I thought I would share how I use it.  Let everyone know in the comments if you agree, disagree or have other ideas for what twitter etiquette should be.

My etiquette for reading tweets - You cannot and should not read all tweets.  There is just too much volume on Twitter.  Twitter is not your email.  I snack on Twitter a couple times a day for 10-15 minutes at a time.  I read all of the @mvolpe messages and I try to read all my direct messages (DMs).  I do not have any messages or DMs sent as text messages because I don't like to let Twitter interrupt my day.

My etiquette for following other people - I follow people that say something interesting to me, seem to have a high value to tweet volume ratio, talk about me or my content or retweet me, or people I have met in person.  None of these rules are set in stone, but the more of these things that apply to you, the more likely it is that I will follow you.  If you feel like you are left out, just ask me by sending a message like "hey @mvolpe - I love your tweets!  Would you mind following me back?"

My etiquette for following people back - I do not automatically follow people back because the follow me.  I used to, and I found that I got even more DM spam than I do now, and a lot of the following was coming from robots, so I stopped.  I figure that if you followed me and I should follow you back, one of the conditions above will eventually apply to you and you'll get followed that way.

My etiquette for direct messages (DMs) - People who have a lot of followers and follow a lot of people (more than 2,000 of each) get a lot of direct message spam - do not assume they receive or read all of your DMs.  I can't and don't.  I do my best to read them all, but honestly many good messages get buried in there.  Sorry.

My etiquette for retweeting - If I know you well (in person or virtually) and you ask me to retweet something, if it is good I probably will do it.  If you say something remarkable, I might retweet it without you asking.

Download video for iPod and iPhone.

Here is a presentation about using Twitter for marketing and PR I did a while back.  You might also enjoy a whole collection of resources on Twitter for Marketing and PR we put together at HubSpot.

Let's say you are a B2B company that sells to marketers and small businesses and want to attract new prospects to your website, as well as spread your thought leadership message about inbound marketing.

What do you do?  Lots of things.  You blog, make videos, podcast, do webinars, write ebooks, be active in social media and just generally leverage inbound marketing.  As part of this, you can also try to create a viral video on YouTube.

Here is our latest attempt at making something remarkable and viral for YouTube.  And some thoughts of mine below about it.

1. A rap song is a good choice because the lyrics are usually easier to understand, so you can make your point more easily.  Rap songs are also easier to parody than normal songs, I think.
2. The song is popular, and old.  New songs might be a big hit, but the recall you get with an old song really works.  It also helps you get an older demographic (usually better for B2B), rather than just people in their early 20's.  This song was chosen after we realized it is now being played at weddings - meaning it is broadly popular.
3. Get a bit crazy.  The more uncomfortable you are during filming, the more likely it will be that your video is funny and remarkable and worth sharing.  Find the line, and then go over it.  I'm not sure we went far enough in this one.
4. Try a call to action.  You usually get very few click throughs from YouTube to your website.  You can drive more traffic by adding a call to action at the end of the video. But don't just put your logo or"visit my website".  Try somethign more subtle, we just encouraged people to Google "inbound marketing" (and we were darn sure we dominated the first page of results...)

Here are some ideas on how to cut down on all that budget you spend with outside agencies.  The video was clearly done by someone at an agency or supportive of agencies.  I can tell you have done nearly all of the things in this video to negotiate lower rates with agencies for various projects (and it often works).  I think that it is up to the agency to say "no" and hopefully (for them) their service is valuable and unique enough that you will still pay for it.

With all that said... the video is still funny and really well done and worth a gander.

One of the key things that investors typically look for in any investment is a low level of risk (given the predicted return).  A new study from the University of Iowa shows that firms that have a stronger brand (usually because of better marketing) have a lower risk, which is appealing to investors.

"Strong brands are associated with stronger cash flows that are more reliable and predictable in the future,"Rego said. "That means debt and equity holders have an easier time predicting the firm's future cash flows and that makes them less risky investments, increasing their long-term financial stability."

For an average company in their sample -- which had $10 billion in long-term debt with a BBB+ credit rating -- Billet said a two-category improvement would save the company almost $40 million in annual debt service alone. (quote from pres release)

This is an interesting finding that shows the value of maintaining a strong brand and the benefits a strong brand can bring to a large business.

"Most corporate executives see marketing as a cost center, not as an investment, but this study should remove all doubt that brands are assets and should be managed as such," Rego said. 

No argument here!

Want to see a study that focuses on marketing at small businesses?  Everything that I have seen at HubSpot from our 1,400 small businesses using our marketing software shows me that if a small business implements a well run inbound marketing program, they will get a huge marketing ROI (follow that link to see 2 of our studies).

Musician Dave Carrol flew through Chicago, saw the baggage handlers throwing his guitar and told some clearly uninterested United employees.  After he landed, he was unhappy with the result from United.

You used to just tell 5 friends when United pissed you off.  So far Dave has told 130,000 people via YouTube (and counting...).  Hey United.... was that worth a $3500 guitar?  Here's to telling a few more people.

Via brandflakesforbreakfast.com

One possible technique for online marketing is to take your articles and copy and paste them onto ezine websites around the web to get more links into your website.  Does the increased inbound links to your website balance out the negative effects of having duplicate content?

Probably not.  The links will not be that valuable because the search engines do not give a lot of authority to websites that consist of mostly duplicate content.

Download video for iPod or iPhone

This is a clever video that the creator sent to me.  I think it is a great summary of the concept of inbound marketing, specifically for the recruiting industry.

Let me know how we did on this one.

A new question: What are the marketing goals of blogging?  I think some of the goals for launching a blog are:

• Improve SEO performance - blog articles help with SEO a lot by increasing your presence on the web and attracting more links into your website
• Build thought leadership and bradn - if your blog has interesting content, it can build your brand as a thought leader in the market
• Increase social media performance - you are a lot more interesting in social media if you are writing and then promoting interesting blog articles (instead of telling people what you had for lunch)
• Get more leads and sales - by adding calls to action to your blog, you can get blog visitors to convert into leads and customers for your business

Download video for iPhone and iPod

When a free service stops working, what do you do?  What if you rely on it for personal or business purposes?  Who do you turn to for support on a free service?

Yesterday I have had real problems with a couple free services.  First, something is messed up between Blip.tv and Feedburner and iTunes for the www.HubSpot.tv podcast.  Somewhere along the way, the feed is broken, so iTunes does not have the most recent episodes.  Second, my Twitter account got "suspended" for some reason.  No more Twitter.  Goodbye 9,000+ friends and lots of conversations...  boo.  Lucky for me, it got mysteriously reinstated about an hour later.

The problem is not that things break.  That happens.  The problem is what do you do to fix it.  With all of them, you can submit a request and wait (Twitter can take up to 30 days!) or search for answers other people have posted in forums or on blogs.  but there is no way to solve your problem now with a back and forth with a live human.  You need to use email (slow) or find your own answer (hard).

All I want is an 800# where I can call and someone will fix my problem, live with me on the line.  I would even pay for it.  Maybe $25 or $50... just for this one problem.

What do you think?  Have you had challenges with free services?

Often people ask me which is more effective, Twitter or a blog.  As you can see in the video, a blog is much more effective because it has a lot of benefits over Twitter.

• Blog articles help you be more interesting on Twitter - it is hard to be interesting in 140 characters, it is much easier with a link to a blog article
• Blog articles perform well in SEO (search engine optimization)
• Everyone can read blogs, not many people use Twitter

Download video for iPod or iPhone

I'm participating in a new webinar series with Eloqua, OneSource and On24 targeted at marketing executives at medium and large sized companies that are trying to understand the new marketing landscape.  This is a different audience and topic from my usual webinars.  We expect a smaller audience, and the topics will be more "thought and theory" than "how to".

"Join marketing executives from HubSpot, Eloqua, OneSource and ON24 for one or more events in the "Insight2Action" webinar series. These focused 45 minute sessions will offer practical insights on gathering, analyzing and using marketing data to drive decisions about your marketing programs--optimizing ROI and lead generation. At the end of each session there will be a question & answer/discussion period where you can share thoughts with the panelists and your peers"

Register now --> 

A big topic on Twitter today related to the Iran Elections was the #NYTfail topic accusing the New York Times of subjecting Iranian demonstrators to potential danger by "exposing" the usernames of people on Twitter and tweeting from Iran.

For example, this tweet was really popular: "Please RT! NYT publishing sensitive names of Iranians on Twitter. Get them to stop! #NYTfail #iranelection"

Really?  Someone's Twitter username is a secure piece of data?  Isn't Twitter totally public and open? (Yes, it is!)  Your Twitter username is no less public than your website URL or LinkedIn profile.  Your tweets are broadcast around the world, indexed by Google, stored in lots of databases.  Your followers names are public and easily accessible, as are all of your tweets and the people you follow.  If you want to remain anonymous, you need to use an anonymous name and be careful not to mention anything personally identifiable.

So, as far as the #NYTfail #iranelection thing... get over it!  The New York Times did nothing wrong, and probably did a lot right by publishing the story and spreading more light on what is happening in Iran.

Twitter users need to use their brain.  Twitter is a fast moving and quite viral medium, which is good and bad.  News travels fast.  I have seen Amber Alerts spread fast on Twitter - a good thing.  But today the #NYTfail "news" that was completely false and misleading became a hot topic because of hysteria and a herd mentality.  Please... if you are on Twitter, use your brain before just blindly retweeting other messages.

Photo credit: michaelbrittain

If you have heard me speak before, you know I believe that content is an important part of inbound marketing.  Not the only part, but an essential part of it.  Here are a couple case study slides from a presentation I am doing this morning.

I am speaking today at the O'Reilly Twitter Bootcamp in New York City.  Here are my slides that talk about the ROI of Twitter.

Download in PowerPoint (PPT) format or click through the slides below.

And of course... follow me on Twitter.

An article on AZ Central (sent to me by Dan Tyre) talks about a man who sent status updates to Twitter and Facebook and believes those led to his home being robbed - because it was clear he was going to be away for some time.  Read the full article.

How to protect yourself from social media robbery:

1. Get a monitored alarm system so the police will get called if you have a break in.
2. Keep your home address as private as possible - don't publish it on any of your profiles.
3. Try to keep your travel plans mysterious so it is unclear when you will come home.  Maybe just post your photos after you have come home, not during the trip.

Other ideas?  What do you think?

I was asked to contribute to an article about authenticy vs. authority along with other marketing folks like Seth Godin, David Meerman Scott, Chris Brogan, and Brian Solis.

Part of my contribution is here:

"Marketers need to be authentic, but the primary focus for marketing should be on building authority. Authority is a marketing asset - you can use it to drive more people to your events, content, thought leadership, and products."

Read the whole article and see what others had to say at Mark Olson's article on Authenticity vs. Authority.

I've been doing a bunch of work this week to put onto (virtual) paper a lot of the best practices we use at HubSpot for using online video for marketing.

I wrote a blog article about SEO for YouTube, and today Karen Rubin and I are doing a webinar on How to Use Video for Online Marketing.  It will be interesting to see how a webinar format is different for us than www.HubSpot.tv

Here are the slides from our webinar - download PPT slides.  Enjoy!

HubSpot just released another "State of the Twittersphere" report with lots of new data about Twitter.

This graph shows the length of tweets - you can see a lot of people cram as much as possible into the 140 characters.

By the way, the optimal Tweet length is probably about 110 characters - that allows for better reteeeting of your tweets since you can add 1-2 usernames to that tweet and it will still be under 140 characters.

Update - the report has made the front page of TechMeme with GigaOm leading the charge with their coverage.

Here is my SEO presentation from the Inbound Marketing Summit in Dallas, including all the search engine optimization tips and tricks I covered, and information about how social media impacts search engine optimization.  There is still one more IMS in Boston - September 30 to October 1, 2009 - www.InboundMarketingSummit.com.

Download full PPT here or view the slideshow below.

But... How do I get started with Inbound Marketing?

In addition to my presentation, there were a lot of questions about "Where can I learn this stuff?  Where is the "101" content?"  Well, a big part of what we do for marketing at HubSpot is basic education on inbound marketing.  So here are links to some intro or 101 presentations on the basics:

• Twitter 101
• Facebook for Business 101
• Social Media 101 
• Blogging 101 
• SEO 101
• Inbound Marketing 101
• Website Redesign for Lead Generation

Finally, if you want to learn more, register for the Inbound Marketing University, a free series of online classes to train you on all the basics, there is even certification available (if you can pass the exam).

Full article here.

Today I am on a social media panel at the New England Small Business Xpo at 3pm EST in the Boston Convention Center.  I summarized a few of the expected questions and thought I would post my notes/answers here for anyone who was curious. If you attend the panel today, come by and say hello!

What the importance of content in social media?

SEO and content are critical to success in social media. All three work together. Content (typical blog articles, but can be photos, videos, etc.) is what makes you interesting in social media. Promoting this content in social media helps attract more people to it, which in turn makes it more likely you will get links. Links are what power SEO, so more links will attract more people to your content, which can contribute more followers and friends in social media. If you do not leverage content and search, you are drastically reducing the ROI of your social media time.

How is video important to online communications?

I think it is critical, because people like different types of media, live video can be used to stimulate a community (HubSpot TV as example, with guests like MC Hammer, Biz Stone, etc.)

What's the difference between advertising in social media and engagement in social media for brands?

There is a huge difference. You can do both, but the engagement if done properly is a better long term strategy with better ROI. We use all forms of social media in terms of engagement, but also advertise on Facebook (better ROI than Google AdWords), but the best ROI is through inbound marketing - publishing content, promotion, optimization and engagement.

If companies are becoming publishers, how should they manage their editorial production process?

We publish one of the top marketing blogs (it took 2 years to get there) and have a former NYTimes.com editor as our editor.  We review the stats for each blog post and optimize future content based on what we learn.  Also, more content is always better. We doubled our subscription and traffic growth rate when we went from publishing 3 times a week to 5 times a week.

Twitter appears to growing very rapidly, what's the future for Twitter? Is Twitter a serious competitor to Facebook? Google?

Twitter might have a better pulse on what is happening NOW than Google, which could be interesting.  Google might be called search for the "dead web" and Twitter (or Facebook) for the 'live web".  It will be a test for Google to see if they can incorporate the social graph and real time events into their results.