Marketing Japan: Mish Shedlock's Blog (a Great Place to Study Blogging!)

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

I've mentioned before that if you blog, you'll need to blog at least three times a week in order to get great results on a Google or Yahoo search... Now, with Google Caffeine, I think the game has changed and you'll need to blog, video blog, YouTube, U-Stream, Mixi, Pick, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin - whew! - any Social Media or SNS that you are doing at least 5 times a week (better to do 7 days a week) in order to get great results...

From Mike "Mish" Shedlock's Blog: Sunday Funnies

I suppose that this also means that you'll need to cut down doing so many different Social Media services and just concentrate on a few. Like David Meerman Scott says in his book The New Rules of Marketing and PR (I'm paraphrasing),

"Social media sites are like parties around town. It's impossible to go to every party; to go to every conversation. So just pick a few and have good conversations there." 

He's right.

I'm thinking that I am not going to join anymore Social Media sites anymore. I'm just sticking with Mixi, Facebook, Pick and Twitter. Throw in Youtube and U-Stream along with my regular writing on Lew Rockwell and the writing on this blog and I'ver got enough conversations going on... In fact, too many. Maybe I should cut down.

Hmmmm/

Anyhow, I'd like to point you to a guy who has a blog that I think is just great. His name is Mike Shedlock but he calls himself "Mish." This makes him have a unique name that I always want; Mish Shedlock. Secondly, he updates new material on his blog everyday. See his blog here.

How does he do it? Check it out! He writes his own material but he also copy and pastes material he finds and comments on it.

In this way, he can keep the Google search engine happy, get great results on Google search and Yahoo search and have a very popular blog. I suggest you check it out.

------


Keywords: Google, Yahoo, SNS, Yahoo search, David Meerman Scott, Youtube, Google caffeine, Mixi, Twitter, Linkedin, Lew Rockwell, Mish Shedlock, Mike Rogers, Mish, Social Media, U-Stream, Facebook, blog, video blog, Google search engine, great results on Google search, New Rules of Marketing and PR, 

Marketing Japan: Internet Promotions? Don't Make Long Sign-ups!...

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers


If you are running any sort of Internet service, business or promotion that requires people to sign up to join, then at least make the sign up as short and as simple as possible.


Survey results of over 10,000 Internet users (done by Nikkei Shimbun) show that if users must click a site or a banner link more than twice, they probably won't do it.

One of my good friend's tells me how he is working on a huge cross-platform Internet promotion that has all the great pieces to a fantastic Internet Social Media Marketing success… This promotion has everything built in! It has a dedicated website using WordPress; publicity integrating old media and print to draw new potential customers to their Internet sites (they definitely need the over-40 crowd in Japan as those are the people with all the money); A Pick and Twitter component and, of course, online video, blogs, blogging, vlogs, and keywords on Google Search and Yahoo! and much more involving a full spectrum of Social Media Marketing for Japan. This is a marketeers dream come true in the year 2010... Except for one tiny problem... My good friend laments that one of the partners is stuck in old fashioned promotional thinking that doesn't fit well a all with the Internet. 

My friend asked me if I could help provide some evidence that he could show to the partner as proof that the partner's ideas were out-dated and if I could help him to convince the partner to drop these ideas.

Well, I don't know if I can help him convince someone who is stuck in old-fashioned thinking, but I gave him some data and wished him well…

That's what gave me the idea for this blog today. If you come up against the same sort of obstacle, then I hope you can refer back to this particular blog for some ammo to help you fight back.

But first, let me give you some background and then tell you what the partner's idea was. 

The promotion was a tie up between three different companies. One company owns powerful old and new media; one company can give away free vacations; the the company can provide the transport to those vacations. All three companies have a need that overlaps and allows them to help each other out and not pay someone like Dentsu or Hakuhodo $180,000 for a promotion like this... If they cooperate, they can arrange a promotion like this through my friend's company for about $9,000!

The media provider can penetrate into millions of homes and is giving that piece of the puzzle up for free as barter (they want more people to use their media). The media partner also has a massive Internet mailing list and gets over 10 million unique users a month! The problem is, instead of just running a contest where all you need to do is sign up, one of the partner's (who needs all the free promotion they can get) wants to add a quiz to the contest that forces people who wish to enter to have to do some Internet searching and research and answer questions - along with filing in personal information on an Internet sign-up form… Not only will the users  have to click through to several pages, this idea takes them off the contest page… Which makes it a very bad idea.

My friend called me and wrote to me asking for advice. Here's what I wrote:

Dear Ken (not his real name),

This is a very bad idea. From past experience and from Internet research, I must strongly recommend against doing this sort of thing in your promotion. 

Let me explain why: 

This kind of promotional idea is very old fashioned (10 or 20 years old) and will result in a contest whereby less than a few dozen people sign up. As you, can suspect, we know this from experience from mass media promotions. 

It is well known that in Internet marketing that (with data research and user surveys of 10's of thousands of Internet users done by Nikkei Research) that people will not, on average, click on a site more than twice. This sort of idea presented by your partner will result in at least 4 clicks. This will cause a huge number of interested people to drop off immediately. 

If the contest is designed so that people sign up just their name and e-mail, you will get tens of thousands of entries and hundreds of people entering several times. Effective promotion is promotion that people think about often, and can enter often.

If people must go to another page and research information and then answer questions, you will get a few dozen entries. No exaggeration.

This idea is ancient; it is like some newspaper promotional ideas for the past. Also, remember that this is a partnership promotion with benefit to all, I can't imagine that the other two partners - especially the vital media partner - would agree to this. If this partner is paying for the promotion, then I doubt that anyone would complain… But this is a barter. This is a critical point.

Think about your own experience on the Internet in the past: When you had to sign up for something, if it was easy, you did it. If it asked too many questions or became troubles-some, you dropped it. I know I do.

This problem is also talked about on page 257 of "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" by Daivd Meerman Scott. It says, "Do not use a sign-up form that requires your prospects to enter lots of data - people will abandon the form." 

Most recently, when my company did a media promotion (on a TV station and radio station) for a week whereby people only had go to the Internet contest page and  enter their name and e-mail, we got over 9,000 entries. In another campaign, when we required them to go to another page and research a question (That campaign was for a world famous automotive parts company) and all people had to do was go to the auto parts maker's homepage and answer a question we got only 14! Fourteen!? Yes, 14. You read right.

Also, once again, I seriously doubt that your media partner, a company that is a trend leader in Internet marketing will agree to this sort of out of date promotion... After all, they are giving you access to millions of people at a barter. I don't think that you or your partner are in a position to demand this sort of thing from them.

Lastly, think of the damage to you client's name when people think, "Oh? I can win! How nice." Then they go to the contest page and see that they have to do a bunch of things to enter; answer questions, provide personal data, click a bunch of times  to enter in a contest where the chances of winning are about 1 in a million? No way.

The average person will think two things about you and your client. They will associate these two things:

1) You and your client's name

2) Troublesome

You can't have that. The Internet is quick… Buzz on the Internet is fast and it is not forgiving if that buzz is bad.

I strongly suggest that you either convince your client to change their mind, or, if they are insistent, find another partner. There isn't a company in the world who isn't interested in the new way of Marketing, marketing in Japan, and the new rules of PR.

Then I signed off.

I wonder if what I wrote and the data I sent will help at all...We'll see.  

But for you, my dear reader,  if you get anything out of this blog, then make it this: Have online contests as often as possible but do not require people to enter too much information. Ideally, just an e-mail address is best.

Notes: Here is an article about a newspaper in the UK who required an Internet sign-up - for contact that is free - and it seriously damaged their readership numbers. See here. http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2010/06/incipient-paywall-costing-newspaper-online-readers.ars

There's many companies out and about that are making these mistakes for you so you don't have to… Just pay attention and learn the lessons from them. Now that's intelligent marketing!


-------

Keywords: marketing, Pick, Yahoo! Internet, Google, business, intelligent marketing, newspaper, Nikkei Shimbun, marketing Japan, Hakuhodo, new media, service, Facebook, media, japan's, blog, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, vlog, Internet, Social Media Marketing, TV, David Meerman Scott, focused message, Dentsu, product, barter, UK, Social Media Marketing, New Rules of Marketing and PR, TV station, radio station, Twitter, Google Search, blogger, Keywords, advertising, e-mail address, Nikkei Research, Japan, buzz, click, clicks, old media, Internet users, PR, contests, sign-up, sign up, radio, Mixi, marketing Japan, video blog, content, blog, Social Media, Japan, marketing, article, media provider, smart marketing,  Japanese, intelligent

Get High Google Rankings: Blog and Write Everyday!...

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

It is my purpose to get my name and the name of my company and service out to the public in the most effective way possible; and the best way to do that is to use the Internet. The Internet is targeted marketing and media and it allows me to focus my message to the audience; and it does it for free. I cannot think of a cheaper price than free, can you? 

I go to the Internet to get great information with a focused message; and I get that information for free. I hope that this is the same reason some of you good folks come to see me everyday. I'm trying to give you all tips on how to empower yourselves and increase your business in Japan everyday. 


One reader asked me how it was possible that I was able to get my name at #1 on a Google search if someone merely searched "Mike" and "Tokyo" (remember that there are millions of foreigners in this country and there's been many many famous Mike7s to come here; think Mike Tyson in Tokyo, etc., etc.) Well, let me tell you that you can do the same thing too! You can get high rankings on a Google or Yahoo search in the most cost effective way possible. But, just starting a blog or a vlog and letting sit there isn't going to do it.


You can either buy search words like BP did for "Oil Spill" etc., or, if you are on a limited budget, then you can put in the effort. Elbow grease is the answer, my friends!  


I believe that the only way to get great Google or Yahoo search results is to keep hammering away at putting out a lot of good quality stuff on a consistent basis. You must keep at the blogging and writing and to continually put up good quality, useful stuff, for your readers. You need to put up new information at least 3 times a week and you need to keep the message focused.


But how to keep the message focused? That could be tough, especially if there are so many topics that interest you. Like me. I'm interested in many things Japan. So I write for three different places; my blog, my company blog, and on wwwlewrockwell.com 


This blog (my blog) is targeted to foreign businessmen wanting to sell their products and services in Japan to the Japanese... Only. (If that seems obvious or absurd, realize that there are many foreigners in Japan trying to sell their products and services to the other foreigners living here. I do not deal with those). That's why this blog is called, "Modern Marketing Japan." 


On my company blog, Universal-vision.jp, I mirror items on this blog, but I also place Japanese language news releases there too. Here's a recent example. The final place that I try to blog consistently is at Lew Rockwell. Lew Rockwell is the most read Libertarian site in the world and ranked by Alexa in the Top 15 of the most read sites in the entire world. 


Blogging, making YouTube videos, Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, Mixi and doing U-Stream are all important but remember that just setting up a blog or a YouTube channel and then putting up new information on it once a month or once every two months is just not going to get you the results you need. You need to put up new blogs, information or videos at least three times a week.


As David Meerman Scott wrote in the bible of new media marketing, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, when he quoted the president of The Concrete Network;


"You need to think about how a series of one hundred news releases over two years will benefit your business and then commit to it, understanding that nothing is an overnight thing." 

Of course, this is all a part of my ever continuing opinion that, if you want to succeed in Social Media, Marketing and the Internet, then you must continually produce content by writing and on your own blog and give it away for free. 


Write a lot but keep messages focused... By the way, I have another new article on Lew Rockwell about silly things in Japan here.


I hope you get a laugh.




------


Keywords: Alexa, New Rules of Marketing and PR, business, intelligent marketing, marketing Japan, service, Facebook, japan, japan's, blog, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, vlog, U-Stream, Internet, Social Media, blogger, TV, David Meerman Scott, focused message, product, radio, Mixi, marketing Japan, video blog, smart marketing, lew rockwell, Japanese, TV station, radio station, concrete network, Twitter, intelligent, Pick, blogger, advertising, vlogging, Japan, buzz, marketing, Internet, content, Lew Rockwell, blog, Social Media, Japan, marketing, article, Alexa, 

Social Media for Businesses - Create an Online Persona

Creating a useful and powerful way to utilize social media for businesses and corporations can be tricky. Social media is not conducive to "in-your-face" advertising. In fact, if a company is not careful using social media such as Twitter or Mixi to sell product, it can completely backfire and be a total turn-off. A good way to get many people to stop following your, say, Twitter account or blog is to consistently bombard them with information that says, "Buy Me!" or "Sale!" Not cool. Think about it... Would you look forward to, or like to read, blogs or tweets like that?

American icon Betty Crocker sold millions... 
She never existed except on boxes and TV

For your websites and social media to be effective, they need to give and not to take. The killer blog and/or Twitter will be giving away great content for free and doing it consistently. Then the receivers pass the information on for you.

Just as your website should not be a one-way sales brochure, so should your social media usage be geared towards giving away something for free to the receivers so that they actually look forward to your tweets and updates.

I am about to start helping some friends of mine with their online sales of adult beverages. Sure, they have a great line-up of the usual suspects; e-mail magazine, easy to look at web page, etc., but they need something different. They need that extra "Umph!" to push them over the edge. They need something that sets them apart from the competition. While all the other online beverage retail sites say basically the same thing, my friend's site needs to take it one level higher.

As Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap fame would say, "These go to eleven."

Yep. Go to eleven. With all the millions of sites on the Internet doing something near or similar to what you are doing, how do you go to eleven?

I'll tell you; give away great content.

Many companies start up their own business blogs or order their staff to write Twitter pushing company product. These never go well... For one, the people asked to do the blogging or the tweets are not the kind of people who should be, or are good at, blogging... Or they might even think, "This sucks. I hate doing this Twitter, but my boss makes me do it." Resentful staff do not make good bloggers...

Think about that for a minute. If the person that you've ordered to blog is not very motivated to do a good job, do you think they will be able to write great material? And everyone knows, in this day and age, if the material on the Internet is not great, then it doesn't cut it.

If the person writing the Twitter or blogs doesn't like it, then why in the world would the "outside" people want to read it? I don't think they would. In fact, if the blog or Twitter is poor, or is not gaining traction or popularity, I'd suggest stopping it until you do find a formula that "works."

Here's a tip: Instead of forcing one of your staff members to do the blogging or Twittering, why don't you have a brainstorming session at the office (maybe after work with a few drinks?) and come up with a virtual person? An online persona? How about a sort of "Internet Milli-Vanilli" to represent your company (for you younger people in the crowd who do not know who Milli Vanilli is, please ask your parents....) Make the character fun. This way, you create a fun atmosphere around this person and it also allows the online persona to have more personality and state more likes and dislikes online.

Make your own Colonel Sanders; or, even better, make your own Bart Simpson as your sales rep. Why not? Who wouldn't want Bart Simpson to be their sales rep? Sometimes he says it like it is. What great promotion!

Everyone loves a character who is sassy, talks back, has an opinion, and not kissing ass and telling us how wonderful the world is all the time.

Volkswagen did this and the results were fantastic. They created an online persona whose name was Helga. The staff of Volkswagen got together and created Helga. Who she is; how old she is; her hobbies; likes; dislikes, even where she was born. She was an immediate Internet hit... And she doesn't even really exist.

(1) Helga on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/misshelga

Her catch copy says, "Don't be sucking." 

 Hilarious! I love it! 

Now, don't think that this sort of thing is so easy to do. If you realize that a character like, say, Homer Simpson was a creation that has a consistent personality, then you'd realize that this same "creation of a persona" process took place in the birth of Homer. The staff of the Simpson's got together and worked on the characters for a long time before they came to fruition. Homer is funny because he is who he is...

This didn't happen on a whim. It was planned; the creators of Homer Simpson, or Helga, or even Betty Crocker got together and decided everything about this persona... Everything! Every conceivable detail about who they are and what they like...Probably even up to who their parents  were.

This sort of persona creation can be fun and it should allow your company employees to have fun with the tweets and blogs for the virtual character.  It also takes the extreme pressure off that one staff member (who could be slightly resentful) who is supposed to write the blogs and Twits.

You can ask the staff to blog or tweet when they have a good idea... (Like I said, if your staff hates blogging, then you have the wrong people doing it)... If your own staff just won't budge, then there are hundreds of thousands of good people all around who'd love the opportunity to work and write for you as "piece-work." Or, heck, like I said, if the character is fun, you might even find that you like doing the blogging. It's always fun to write behind a mask, if you are so inclined to writing.

Or why not even hold an online contest on your web page or forum whereby your e-mail magazine members (new and old) can join a contest where they can win some great prizes by either writing some great text for you or even creating your character? There are a million and one ways of doing this and the ceiling is your imagination.

So don't forget, the point of the Internet and the blogs and Twitter: Do Not Take! Do not do "in-your-face" sales! Give great content free and create a buzz...

When you create a buzz, they will come... Even if your buzz creator doesn't really exist.

(1) Helga from The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott.  Page 179


-------


Keywords: Helga, David Meerman Scott, New Rules of Marketing & PR, Twitter, Internet, blogs, free content, buzz, Internet Milli Vanilli, Mike Rogers, Marketing Japan, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, Betty Crocker