The Social Media Professor

Chapman Social Media Aid Spring 2021

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Niklas Myhr Chapman University Social Media Marketing Class

Thanks to record interest, this Call for Projects has now been closed for this semester as we have more opportunities than we need, thank you so much for your interest and impressive response, your willingness to offer my students a glimpse into your "real world" is much appreciated!
If a student team picks your business, you should hear from them shortly (this week) as I instruct them to confirm the arrangement with you and coordinate a first virtual meeting. Thank you again and stay connected! Niklas

Does your business need help either with social media and digital marketing? Right now my students in my Digital & Social Media Marketing classes are selecting businesses or organizations to help in terms of their online presence and some teams want me to help them find an interesting business to help. For priority consideration, please complete the brief survey (sorry, now closed!) below as soon as possible!

Your willingness to facilitate a student project is much appreciated and non-profit organizations are also encouraged to participate as we wish to reach out more to the broader community. While some students typically have ideas of what company they would like to work with, others would be very excited about the opportunity to work with real businesses or organizations that they otherwise would not have gotten in contact with such as the Swedish bicycle clothing brand Sigr in Umeå in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden that one team worked with in the past.

That is, your business can be located anywhere in the world as long as you can collaborate with my students online during mutually agreeable time slots. In fact, at Chapman University, we are ourselves beginning the semester remotely in these pandemic times and some of my students are not even in the US, let alone in California. Regardless, this project will provide the students with a valuable opportunity to learn what it takes to collaborate effectively with team members online and deliver results to an external stakeholder. Will that be you?

[Sorry, the survey is now closed, we have gotten more opportunities than we need this semester, you will hear from a student team this week if you got lucky with a match or I'll let you know if that didn't happen too to thank you for opening up the possibility!]

Performance Marketing and Google Tag Manager with Jon Rognerud

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Jon Rognerud, Chapman University, Niklas Myhr, Performance Marketing
With Jon Rognerud on the Attallah Piazza at Chapman University

Students in my Digital Marketing class got a great opportunity to learn about performance marketing with Google Tag Manager when Jon Rognerud, Founder and CEO of Chaosmap.com came to Chapman University for an engaging guest lecture.

Jon Rognerud, Chapman University, Niklas Myhr, Performance Marketing
Jon Rognerud at Chapman University on Performance Marketing

Jon is a fellow Scandinavian who left his homeland of Norway to make it in the US as a musician. While he still plays jazz, Jon Rognerud turned to technology to make a living. He got into software and web development at online giants such as Yahoo! and eventually branched out on his own entrepreneurial journey.

Work on Copywriting before setting up your Digital Marketing

Jon Rognerud founded Chaosmap.com when he discovered that many businesses don't have their digital backends set up appropriately. Worse, he often finds that businesses don't even know what message they have, what market they are serving, and what offer they are going to present. Absent clarity in these areas, no technology solution can save you.

Jon Rognerud, Chapman University, Niklas Myhr, Performance Marketing

To work on your messaging, Jon Rognerud told my students to go back and read the direct marketing classic Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz to learn some fundamentals of great copywriting.

While Breakthrough Advertising was published the same year as The Beatles came out with its Revolver album (1966), Jon argues that its principles are still highly relevant in today's digital era and can help you set up your online presence in a more effective manner.

Content Marketing to Build Audiences

The main problem Jon sees is that businesses prematurely rush to generate traffic to online sales pages when they instead could be directing traffic to valuable, educational resources to more patiently build trust and nurture their prospects.

ABA = Always Build Audiences!

– Jon Rognerud

In this regard, Jon Rognerud has also been inspired by thought leaders in content marketing and he referenced another former guest speaker in my class, Mr. Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Adviser of the Content Marketing Institute.

Jon Rognerud, Chapman University, Niklas Myhr, Performance Marketing

The key is to not hard sell to an unwilling audience but rather to provide a good customer experience by offering content people want when they want it in the format they want it.

Jon Rognerud shared some inspirational tips on how to consistently create content and before class, I set him up in a library study room so he could create his daily podcast episode that was simulcast live out on Facebook and YouTube. Subscribe to his podcast here or check out the YouTube version of his Chapman episode below:

Clear Your Digital Chaos with Google Tag Manager

When Jon Rognerud audits the backend of clients' websites, he often encounters a jumbled mess of different code snippets from a large number of applications analyzing various aspects of online performance. This can slow down your website due to the high number of different scripts that needs to run every time someone enters your website.

Each individual tool also offers only a very limited view of overall performance of your online presence. Furthermore, this type of setup is often cumbersome to maintain and risk having scripts that are losing connection when you update your website, etc.

Jon Rognerud, Chapman University, Niklas Myhr, Performance Marketing

In 2012, Google came out with a solution to this problem in the form of Google Tag Manager and Jon Rognerud finds it surprising that most businesses he encounters are not using it yet. To him, it is simply a no-brainer as Google Tag Manager provides a one-stop shopping solution for measuring and analyzing your digital marketing performance.

Simply put, you can input the identifiers and scripts from a number of different applications into Google Tag Manager and then keep them all up to date inside one interface. Examples of scripts that Jon highlighted that could be unified into Google Tag Manager include Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Google Analytics, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Email Marketing.

Jon Rognerud on his Chapman Experience

Before leaving the Chapman campus, I thanked Jon Rognerud and asked him to summarize what he had been sharing with my Digital Marketing students. Here is what he had to say:

Jon Rognerud on his Chapman University Experience

The Ultimate Guide to Social Media by Mitch Jackson, a book review

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Mitch Jackson, social media book, Chapman University, Niklas Myhr, The Social Media Professor

The brilliance of Mitch Jackson‘s approach to social media is that he somehow manages to be consistently omnipresent across a number of different channels and the fact that he is doing so while still preserving the human empathetic touch that characterizes his core value of simply being a good person. As he emphasized in a guest lecture in my Digital Marketing class at Chapman University:

You can get the chapter I contributed to the Ultimate Guide to Social Media for free at tsmp.me/chapter

Platforms come and go. Relationships can last a lifetime!

– Mitch Jackson

Mitch Jackson, guest speaker, Chapman University

By practicing what he preaches, Mitch has put into action what many of us others are merely reading, thinking or talking about. The result has been that Mitch Jackson over time has grown and nurtured an impressive network of thought leaders and industry executives. Evidence of this can be seen in the form of this book.

Imagine that Mitch has developed a close-enough relationship with 47 different people who all jumped at the opportunity to contribute to the collaborative process of writing this book (in full disclosure, I am honored to be one of them!). One notable thought leader, David Meerman Scott has been so enamored by Mitch Jackson so he not only wrote the foreword of this book, he also incorporates the example of Mitch Jackson as a “newsjacking master” such as at the big National Speakers Association Influence conference where I filmed this segment from David's keynote presentation.

After now having spent 24 hours with my fresh copy of the book, it is clear that Mitch has put a lot of thought into his role as a curator to recruit contributors with expertise in many different areas related to social media strategies and tactics. Mitch has also, it should be noted, himself penned a number of the chapters sharing from his own impressive experiences of what social media can do and how it gets done throughout the book.

All killer, no filler

Part 1: The Social Media Mindset

In the first part, Mitch Jackson, sets the stage for the book by dedicating it to the mindset required for social media success. Absent this right mindset, the technical and platform-specific advice and communications tips covered later in the book won't anyone much good.

Mitch Jackson Social Media Book Word Cloud

Bob Burg stresses how the “Go-Giver” approach of proactive generosity works supremely well also on social media, whereas Kim Garst is talking more specifically about how to become an influencer. In short, it takes authenticity, commitment and hard work in terms of being helpful and responsive for you to achieve the ultimate objective of building an audience that trusts you.

On the related theme of establishing relationships built upon respect and social engagement, Bryan Kramer points to the importance of showcasing your personality such as by writing like you are speaking. You have an opportunity to stand out not by being overly serious in business relationship but by simply being more human and Bryan is also the one who coined the phrase H2H or human-to-human.

Mitch Jackson, guest speaker, Niklas Myhr, Chapman University
Mitch Jackson after guest lecture at Chapman University

Shama Hyder goes into the important aspect of how to work with an agency if a business would go that route. It may be tempting for those not so familiar with social media communications to outsource it all to an external agency and get rid of the “problem.” Still, for such a relationship to be successful, it is critical that the agency in question truly knows the brand they represent in order for the agency to best serve their clients and Shama outlines issues that clarifies how this could be done.

You can get the chapter I contributed to the Ultimate Guide to Social Media for free at tsmp.me/chapter

In my own chapter in the mindset section, I focus on the global implications of social media, both in terms of its challenges but primarily how it can greatly expand your opportunities. For example, by developing a social media presence, in my case as The Social Media Professor, you also have to be ready for serendipitous opportunities from abroad that may present themselves at your virtual doorsteps when you least expect it such as when I recently had the great honor of receiving an invitation by HSH Prince Albert II to serve on the Monaco Digital Advisory Council!

Monaco Digital Advisory Council, Niklas Myhr, Prince Albert II
The Monaco Digital Advisory Council at the Hermitage Hotel, Monte Carlo

Part 2: How to Use the Social Media Platforms

In the next section, Mitch Jackson organizes a terrific set of chapters covering a number of different platforms that we now have at our disposal. Chris Brogan helps get you going with your blog, a medium that is not going away. However, the problem for most bloggers is that they run out of ideas on what to blog about. In this regard, Chris does a great job by sharing many simple techniques on how you can come up with fresh topic ideas that also would be valuable to your audience.

In spite of recent difficulties at Facebook, it is understandable that Mitch allocated more than one chapter to the platform given its still very dominant size and high share of the online advertising market. In separate chapters Stephanie Liu and Azriel Ratz both go into Facebook and Facebook advertising and gets you up to speed in terms of effective Facebook strategies such as the effective use of Facebook Live streaming or how you can cater to consumers' varying needs at different stages of their customer journey with a number of tips and tricks.

Mitch Jackson, social media book, Chapman University, Niklas Myhr
Click image to get this book already!

Sue B Zimmerman covers Instagram strategies that work including the more recent developments with stories and IGTV (or Instagram TV) so that you can actually be noticed in that increasingly crowded platform of Instagram. Roberto Blake tells his secrets that keeps up his incessant productivity on YouTube where he shares valuable content on a consistent basis across a number of topic categories.

Mitch Jackson, guest speaker, Niklas Myhr, Chapman University

Nicole Abboud lists what you need in order to get started with your podcast. The steps involved and the strategic decisions you need to make. She knows what she is talking about I can tell as she has been a guest speaker in my Chapman University class. Nancy Myrland caught the hot topic of voice marketing through smart speakers, etc, and she goes through how to set up your flash briefings on Amazon Echo and other tips. I may take her up on that! She also covers why voice marketing is becoming increasingly important for marketers to consider as as more and more conversations are moving in that direction.

Mike Allton, a brand ambassador for AgoraPulse, goes into not just that (terrific) tool, but also other resources that you can use to manage your social media presence and to analyze the outcomes of what you do. By using the right tools, you can have clearer view of what kinds of online activities are worthwhile for you.

Part 3: Social Media Communication and Success Tips

After having covered the mindset required and platform-specific discussions in the first two parts, the third and final part of Mitch Jackson's social media book goes into social media strategies, success tips, and tactics that apply across various platforms. Regardless of your choice of platform, at the end of the day, the influence you develop over time stems from the content that you create and share with the world. This is what Mark W. Schaefer talks about in his chapter and he teaches you how to create smart, original, and relevant content for your audience that makes you stand out vs. your competition. Mark also asks you to be patient and not expect overnight results but once you commit to a consistent presence online, the rewards can be plentiful as it would help you become known, the title of his book on building a platform of influence online.

Courtney Smith Kramer shares some intriguing perspectives on how you can become more creative in what you share on social media by likening the content creation process with sex. I will not give away too much other than saying that Courtney suggests that you should not think of content creation as a chore but rather than as something that you look forward to, ideally in the company of others, and hopefully, her ideas will help you get out of your content constipation mode.

Mitch Jackson, guest speaker, Chapman University

In another chapter, Jon Ferrara shares his views on how you can build a personal brand and further grow your professional network. He talks about the starting point of being helpful to others but also how you can foster more genuine relationships and leverage social media tools to listen and ultimately cultivate a community of people who are influential to their respective audiences.

Many people hold back on social media because they fear that people will complain about you. That could indeed happen but in comes Jay Baer to the rescue! Jay goes through how you can effectively manage complaints on social media all the way from how you can identify the issues, demonstrate empathy, and show up as being responsive without getting stuck in a rabbit hole.

Given that a consistent presence on social media calls for a never-ending need for fresh content, two chapters go into how you can create your content in collaboration with others. Nick Rishwain, JD opens your eyes into opportunities to co-create content with both customers and colleagues. Nick argues that the benefits go beyond simply saving time and resources to create the content in question as the collaborative efforts also are likely to strengthen the relationships and to inspire more engagement such as in the form of sharing of said content. This book is an example of this approach as Mitch by inviting me to contribute a chapter to this book also motivated me to write and share this very review that you are reading.

On the same theme of co-creation, Tyler Anderson covers the what, why, and how of user-generated content. Simply put, brands can go out and seek ways to encourage people to create content around your themes or you can monitor what people are posting and ask for permission to use it in your own marketing where you can let the user get the credit they deserve. One benefit of user-generated content is that it is trusted more by consumers by being produced by “regular” people as it comes across as more authentic as compared to communications by brands.

Swedish Smörgåsbord of Social Media Goodies

These were merely some of the many chapters included in The Ultimate Guide to Social Media. There were also a number of other authors who have contributed chapters that I haven't had time to look at yet. Thank you again, Mitch for the privilege of playing a role in this project and for assembling such a delicious Swedish smörgåsbord of social media goodies just in time for the holidays!

You can get the chapter I contributed to the Ultimate Guide to Social Media for free at tsmp.me/chapter

The Fire Funnel Process by John Lee Dumas at Youpreneur Summit

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Youpreneur summit, John Lee Dumas, EOFireThe opening keynote speaker at the inaugural Youpreneur Summit John Lee Dumas, founder of the popular Entrepreneur on Fire Podcast, shared his Fire Funnel process for digital entrepreneurs. John started out by suggesting that you start with a “Funnel Up Process” to understand who you are going to serve before you design your sales of your “Funnel Down Funnel”.

 

The Funnel Up process

  1. Youpreneur summit, John Lee Dumas, EOFireThe Idea. What is your big idea that you want to build upon.
  2. The Niche. Get that initial momentum is key, not easy, but once you get it, you can get things going. Then you can expand your scope. Rather than being Mr or Mrs Social Media of London, you'd be better off helping female dentists in Soho get one new client via Facebook Ads.
  3. The Avatar. Who is that perfect customer, the listener to your podcast, the reader of your blog. Get to know that person in and out and try to identify their struggles.
  4. The Medium of Choice. Blogging, podcasting, video, etc. Which one should you focus on?
  5. The Content Creation. You need a system to setup to make sure you have a process to create great content on a regular basis.
  6. The Repurpose. Once you have a good platform you can find content that can be used on other platforms as well. John uses Repurpose.io to get his podcast episodes elsewhere.
  7. The Growth. How can you help others discover you.
  8. The Audience Engagement. He gets millions of listens of his podcast each month which is absolutely absurd to him but he doesn't want to forget about doing things that don't scale. Don't be scared of having a one-on-one conversation. Yes, they can be time-consuming but that is where the gold is. You can learn about what works and doesn't and develop relationships.
  9. The Solution. How can you help solve their problem and serve them. If you keep this in mind from the start, you will focus on generating the right leads and nurture them from the start.

The Funnel Down Process

Youpreneur summit, John Lee Dumas, EOFireOnce you have gone through the Funnel Up process, you better know how you can help your audience and then you can design your Funnel Down Process to serve them.

  • Your lead generation. Now you know who to target.
  • Your Call to Action. Have a specific thing you want them to do.
  • Your Audience's Email Exchange.
  • Your Solution Delivery.
  • Your Audience Consumes.
  • Your Next CTA.
  • Live Training. Here John Lee Dumas emphasized the power of live webinars which is where he has made millions.
  • Live Q&A. Perhaps there is just one remaining obstacle remaining for someone to buy and if you make yourself available live, you can have it resolved right then and there.
  • Offer. Provide an offer that is supremely valuable for your audience.
  • Monetize.

The Fire Funnel by EO Fire

Youpreneur summit, John Lee Dumas, EOFireFinally, John Lee Dumas shared how he built an empire around daily podcasts with interviews of entrepreneurs. Check out Entrepreneurs on Fire or EO Fire and enjoy the show! John's final perspective he shared that sums up much of his perspective was a quote by Albert Einstein: “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.”

Youpreneur summit, John Lee Dumas, EOFire

Youpreneur summit, John Lee Dumas, EOFire

Keynote Speaker at Public Sector Digital Transformation Conference

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Anna Bellman Niklas Myhr
Stage Selfie with Anna Bellman, Master of Ceremony

Got the opportunity to serve as a keynote speaker in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 700 public sector executives at a major digital transformation conference (eFörvaltningsdagarna & Publikom) at Stockholm International Fairs (Stockholmsmässan) in Sweden. I shared my perspectives on digital transformation with a specific focus on social media and digital communication strategies.

Niklas Myhr, the social media professor, #efdagarna, #publikomWhile I respect that many public sector executives are unlikely to jump all over the latest social media platforms and tactics, I was impressed by the curiosity shown both during my talk and in many subsequent discussions with attendees. Many of them also agreed with me that many of the same principles that apply to businesses also are relevant in the public sector such as the value of being faster than ever before with your communications such as in the following situations.

Social Media for Crisis Management

Niklas Myhr, #EFDagarna, #Publikom, Keynote speaker, digital transformation
Photo by Rikard Hällberg, Företags TV

A few years back, I worked with Orange County Government and their social media activities. One thing I remember one of their executives mention is that they strived to build a following on social media so that they would have established alternative modes of communications with the public before the big earthquake hits. That is, if you wait until a crisis situation to occur before you engage on social media, you may not have anyone finding your messages.

I also showcased the impressive efforts by various fire departments and other first responders in Orange County during the Canyon Fire 2 brushfire. Anaheim Fire & Rescue, for example, demonstrated their ability to use Twitter for continuous sharing of real-time updates with the latest news on mandatory evacuations, emergency shelters, where to bring your horses and other animals, as well as the status of their efforts to contain the fire itself.

Newsjacking and Fake News

Niklas Myhr, #EFDagarna, #Publikom, Keynote speaker, digital transformation
Photo by Rikard Hällberg, Företags TV

Another reason why public sector executives may benefit from getting their updates out on various social networks in an expedient manner is that if they are not doing that, they will be more exposed to the threat by various fake news campaigns. For example, during the Las Vegas massacre, it didn't take long before fake news began appearing claiming that the event never actually occurred but was merely a conspiracy to force tougher laws on gun control. Therefore, it could be more important than before for public sector officials to get quickly get an official version of an emerging story out there to at least provide some counterbalance to various sources of fake news.

Focus on Customer Experience

Niklas Myhr, the social media professor, #efdagarna, #publikom
Photo by Patrik Koc Strömberg

Outside of crisis situations, more and more public sector executives are beginning to consider their citizenship as customers and are following the lead of the business world in trying to provide as much of a seamless customer experience as possible in dealing with various government institutions. I shared how I expect that my upcoming book The Social Customer Journey would be important in this regard. For example, the public sector would serve their citizens better by providing more options than before in terms of how you communicate with a government office. Also, that the institution is able to better serve what is needed, when it is needed, and not too much redundant information that isn't needed for the transaction in question.

Audience Interaction

One of the best parts of speaking at events is chatting with people afterwards to learn about their challenges and this conference was no exception. Se below for some people I met even including a nice testimonial by a happy attendee Lars-Erik Andersson, IT Director of Knivsta & Heby Municipalities:

Photo credits: Thanks for some of the pics by Patrik Koc Strömberg, Christina Nordström, and by Rikard Hällberg (Företags TV).

Isabella Ljungdahl och Niklas Myhr
With Isabella Ljungdahl of Hexanova Events

Niklas Myhr Helena Renström
Helena Renström from the City of Skellefteå

Met Janne Vikberg of Piteå

With Sune Lindström and Ola Lidström from City of Piteå

Niklas Myhr Anna Kelly Eva Sartorius
With Anna Kelly & Eva Sartorius

Pia Lidberg, winner of selfie light

 

Ok to edit twiets? Tweets I meant!

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Jack Dorsey Niklas Myhr TwitterSo, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is considering allowing for tweets to be edited. Not only does he state that this is the most requested feature from users of Twitter but he also admits that he himself has wished numerous times that there was an option for him to go in and edit a recent tweet with minor updates for typos, etc.
 

 
I can see why such a feature would be welcomed by many and it would also mimic the capabilities of other platforms such as Facebook and Instagram which allow for edits of postings to be made. However, such a change would not come without complications and apparently Twitter is actively considering how necessary accommodations could be made. For example, should there be a backlog of revisions made as tweets now are considered public record. News organizations and others should be able to refer back to the specific version of the tweet that they considered while reacting to it. Also, should edits be allowed only for a few minutes after a tweet has been posted and what happens if numerous people retweets or embeds a post that then later is significantly edited?

While I agree that Twitter needs to be concerned with the viewpoints of their loyal user base and that they need to innovate as they move forward to also attract new users, my take on this proposal is that it is a bad idea. I don’t think people on the street not yet on Twitter are staying out because they cannot edit tweets. Also, I find it hard to label the workaround as onerous. People realizing they have posted a Tweet they regret can simply delete the tweet and then repost it as they see fit.

I recognize, though, that sometimes a tweet involves more than simply typing 140 characters as a tweet also could include videos or pictures with tagged people, etc. Still, Twitter could allow for such tweets to be reposted in a simpler way than before by allowing old tweets to be repurposed as a draft of a new one. Currently, underneath the option “Delete Tweet,” they could add another option, “Delete Tweet but add content to Compose new Tweet” or possibly “Delete Tweet, add to Drafts.”

Regardless, kudos to Jack Dorsey for soliciting feedback on the platform and for demonstrating the power of conversations on Twitter with a truly responsive attitude in his very active presence on Twitter today so I have decided to remain on Twitter also in 2017, will I see you there?

The Unsexy Entrepreneur Bares it all

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Lauren Gaggioli guest in Niklas Myhr Chapman University class on social media“Lauren, why aren't you on Twitter? You are missing the boat, it's amazing!” That is the question my friend Mitch Jackson asked his daughter's in-home ACT & SAT tutor Lauren Gaggioli. Lauren took action, became obsessed with digital entrepreneurship after finding the podcasts of the likes of Pat Flynn talking about developing passive income and Michael Hyatt on how to build your online platform.

Lauren Gaggioli Chapman University Niklas Myhr Social Media ClassShe drove 7,000 miles a year and worked every day between 3 and 10 pm and never saw her husband. Even if she loved tutoring students and saw great results such as with Mitch's daughter A.J. she decided that this had to stop and she decided to move her business online. First, she developed a course teaching students how to prepare for the ACT & SAT tests. However, she had not primed the pump and found only crickets after launching her online course. If you build it, customers will not necessarily come was the hard lesson.

Then Lauren realized she had to build an audience and trust first and hence her first podcast, The College Admissions Checklist was born. This podcast served as a dual affinity builder by attracting both parents and college counsellors which helped her grow her clientele. Parents, usually moms, wanting to help their kids listened and wanted more of Lauren's help and then she could refer them to her online training. College counselors she developed relationships with by interviewing them on the podcast and in return they often refer business to Lauren as they learn that she knows her stuff.

She found it curious how the big companies in the test prep space had not gotten a handle on good content marketing to build trust and the podcasts they had tried, they had abandoned. This way, Lauren could fill a void in the marketplace and it was more important to get it going rather than making it perfect.

After podcasting for a while, she began networking more and more with other podcasters and famous Walt Disney World Radio show how Lou Mongello has become sort of a mentor for Lauren. Eventually, she was invited to the prestigious Social Media Marketing World to speak on a podcasting panel chaired by Lou Mongello and I personally had the pleasure of attending live when Lauren ruled the show flanked by Chris Ducker and Pat Flynn.

By moving her training to an online course, she freed up her brainspace to focus on digital entrepreneurship. Now she actually has found a new outlet for her thoughts in this arena as she has launched “The Unsexy Side Podcast” where she shares the behind the scenes perspectives of what entrepreneurial life is really like and it is not always a walk the park. This authenticity is key to the organic and successful growth of the brand of Lauren Gaggioli and I can now attest she is a great public speaker too as my social media marketing class at Chapman University stayed engaged for the full hour and were inspired by her genuine enthusiasm and I am too excited to stay connected and follow her next moves on and offline!

Lauren Gaggioli chapman university social media class by Niklas Myhr

Creative Digital Experiences from Cold, Curiosity and Courage

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Daniel Ilić, North Kingdom at Chapman University 1
Daniel Ilić, North Kingdom

Always happy to see examples of a symbiosis between my old world of Sweden and my new world of California. Such was the case when I had the honor of hosting a representative of the fascinating digital creative agency success factory North Kingdom in my Internet/Social Media Marketing class at Chapman University. During an enlightening presentation, Daniel Ilić, who heads up the US operation and serves as the Executive Creative Director and Partner of North Kingdom, shone a light on what makes up their culture and explained how it helps them produce world-class digital content and experiences for top brands such as Disney, Google, Beats by Dre, Netflix, Lucasfilm, UFC, Toyota, Volvo, LG Electronics, McDonald's, and Lego. During Daniel's presentation, some themes of the North Kingdom culture emerged and they were very consistent with the picture painted by Daniel's predecessor in the US, Mr. Jakob Nylund, who helped prepare our Business in Scandinavia MBA travel group what a Scandinavian business culture is all about a couple of years ago.

A Frozen Land Breeds Remarkable Creativity

North Kingdom was founded in the city of Skellefteå in Västerbotten County up in northern Sweden. During the long, cold, and dark winters, not everyone could play for Skellefteå AIK, the team that has completely dominated Swedish elite hockey over the last decade. Nor could everyone achieve international pop success like legendary Skellefteå bands The Wannadies, This Perfect Day, or The Drowners (all contemporaries by the way of my brother David Myhr‘s band The Merrymakers). Left over were some childhood friends who bonded in the Skellefteå AIK youth soccer team before forming North Kingdom where they eventually found an outlet for their own form of creativity in helping international brands create unique digital experiences.

Just like my own hometown of Piteå in Norrbotten County an hour north, Skellefteå is part of what is now marketed as Swedish Lapland as creative entrepreneurs have turned ice cold winters from a liability to a treasure. You can achieve global awareness and attract international visitors with the icy offerings such as the ICEHOTEL, northern lights, dogsledding, igloo weekends, or with Japanese-style “Yukigassen” snowball fights. Even Facebook found that frozen is golden as they established its first major data center up in the city of Luleå partially thanks to the fact that the cold climate reduces the costs of cooling the data server halls. Now other international brands such as BMW Group has also found its way to “The Node Pole” at the Fortlax Data Center in Piteå founded by my friend Anders Berglund.

A Nomad's perspectiveBy still having the bulk of their operations based up in Skellefteå, North Kingdom, mainly serving international clients, always comes in as an outsider and thereby is in a better position to see things differently than people inside a bubble would. “A nomad's perspective is always different” as Daniel expressed it.

Daniel Ilić also stressed that the winter darkness gives you creative opportunities simply because the mere thought that a small company up in arctic Sweden could compete and do business with global brands is so absurd that it spurs people up there in the cold darkness to come up with some really crazy ideas and to experiment with studid things that sometimes turn out to be quite remarkable. And that, remarkability, is exactly what is in short supply in an age when being different is a requirement to catch the attention of people in an ocean of sameness. “Safe is risky,” and bad or even bizarre ideas are what you need to get your ideas to spread as Seth Godin emphasized in a TED Talk.

Cultural Traits of Curiosity and Courage

North Kingdom Culture Curiosity Courage Nyfikenhet ModI specifically asked Daniel Ilić to share not only some digital communication insights and expertise but also to teach my students at least two words of Swedish. The two words he chose, “nyfikenhet” (curiosity) and “mod” (courage) turned out to perfectly capture the essence of the cultural traits that beyond the cold climate help explain why this small Swedish firm of North Kingdom has been able to acheive such astounding and award-winning success at the Cannes Lions Festival, etc.

Nobody gets hired by North Kingdom unless they can demonstrate an insatiable curiosity, i.e., they are motivated by their “nyfikenhet” constantly searching for new insights, inspiration, and knowledge and then people share what they have learned by teaching others. Teaching is highly valued and one of the founders, David Eriksson, is a former High School teacher.

Curiosity also helps North Kingdom learn from the customers with more intent by listening more carefully and trying to understand what their real issues are. Sometimes, this means speaking to the customers for hours on the phone mainly letting the client let off some steam about what is going on in their worlds.

Daniel Ilić, North Kingdom at Chapman University 3When it comes to courage or “mod,” Daniel means that staff get emboldened by an extremely supportive team spirit that characterizes North Kingdom. People feel that they can stretch the envelope with out-of-the-box ideas as discussed above as they work collaboratively in teams getting instant feedback and where they constantly spur each other on. Gone are the days when creative agency work was done in siloed departments of single-area specialists and North Kingdom seems to have found the formula for team-based success.

Scandinavian Hours and Vacation

Daniel Ilić, North Kingdom at Chapman University 2Finally, Daniel Ilić, explained how he worked hard to maintain a Swedish managerial style even as he heads up the US subsidiary. For example, if he finds someone working in the office at 6:30 pm, he kicks them out asking them what they are still doing there, that they should be going home and that he should join them on the way out! Similarly, the Swedish minimum vacations of five or six weeks are also “enforced” 🙂 In the end, healthy and happy employees are better and more creative employees. Which reminds me, I should go to bed now, so good night!

Social Content Marketing Talk and Master Class in Gothenburg

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Niklas Myhr, Social Content Marketing keynote, KNTNT
Niklas Myhr keynote on Social Content Marketing at KNTNT

Niklas Myhr, Social Content Marketing keynote, KNTNT
View from stage

Enjoyed quite the whirlwind day yesterday when I paid a visit to Gothenburg on Sweden’s “left coast” and had a busy program together with my good friends and hospitable local hosts Pia and Thomas of KNTNT. Under the heading Social Content Marketing, I spoke to a full house of 180 attendees for a breakfast talk and then taught a full-day Content Marketing Master Class to a high-caliber group of marketing communications managers, consultants, and executives.

Niklas Myhr and Frida Boisen at KNTNT
Niklas Myhr and Frida Boisen at KNTNT

Digital Success Principles with Frida Boisen

I was also very pleased that we were able to bring in two intriguing guest appearances. Leading Swedish social media expert Frida Boisen shared perspectives on how content can catch fire on social media and she particularly stressed the importance of bringing in the emotional element of communication for people to care. This and more can be found in her best-selling book Digital Succé, check it out 🙂

Content Marketing Success with Mark W Schaefer

Mark Schaefer, Content Marketing Master Class, KNTNT, Gothenburg, Niklas Myhr
Mark Schaefer guest in Content Marketing Master Class

In the afternoon Swedish time, international content marketing thought leader Mark W. Schaefer joined us for a virtual session from Knoxville, Tennessee, during which he shared the thesis he presents in his groundbreaking book The Content Code. He stressed the importance of nurturing your so-called Alpha Audience, the relatively few followers you have who are regularly sharing your content. In fact, Mark Schaefer suggests that may be doomed if you do not start worrying more about taking good care of these ambassadors as their trust and ambassadorship may be the most valuable asset you have as competition for attention will only get worse. He cited an estimate that by year 2020, the amount of content will go up another five times from today's already crowded web.

Social Media Marketing vs. Content Marketing

KNTNT Radio podcast, Thomas Barregren, Pia Tegborg, Niklas Myhr
KNTNT Radio podcast interview by Thomas Barregren and Pia Tegborg

It is not surprising that it is challenging to discuss the interrelationship between social media marketing and content marketing as both terms are relatively undefined and are also undergoing changes in terms of how they are understood over time. That being said, social media marketing encompasses communications across a wide variety of social networks and stresses the interactive nature of communications amongst a group of people whereas content marketing takes as its point of departure a piece of content that should fulfill a number of criteria such as adding value and driving profitable customer action, albeit indirectly. This is the definition of content marketing that I used in my presentation:

“Content marketing is the strategic marketing approach of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

– Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute

Content Marketers becoming Professors

One aspect of content marketing that many struggle with is the extent to which they can talk about their own products and solutions in their content. While I am not going so far as saying that you are not allowed to mention your own product in your content marketing, the most effective content marketers seem to stay away from it to the largest extent possible. As a marketing professor, I have noted how content marketers are communicating and behaving more and more as professors these days as they are adding value to prospective and existing customers by teaching them ways to solve their problems irrespective of specific product purchases. It is best illustrated by the quote by Jon Ferrara of Nimble when he said:

If you teach people to fish, they’ll figure out you sell fishing poles.

– Jon Ferrara

During the day, I covered four areas in which social media marketing and content marketing are interdependent and discussed how each can benefit from the other:

  1. Social Content Marketing, Niklas Myhr, The Social Media Professor
    Social Content Marketing

    Listening on Social Media for Content Marketing Ideas. What are the questions they ask on social media? On what platforms do they search for information? What are their frustrations?

  2. Connecting to an audience suitable to your business using relevant content. By offering content that is particularly valuable to your target market, you can both attract the right type of audience to connect with you and identify themselves such as giving you their email address at the same time as you may even repel the wrong type of audience that sees little interest in the content that you offer.

  3. Chapman University gradutate Filip Westlander, Josefine Berglund, Per Ericson
    With recent Chapman University grad Filip Westlander, his girlfriend Josefine Berglund, and my cousin Per Ericson

    Engaging. How can you get your followers to not only consume but also share your content on their social media platforms?

  4. Creating. How can you motivate your followers to contribute their content for you to use on your platforms?

So, have you wondered about the relationship between social media marketing and content marketing? I am curious to learn about your thoughts and experiences so please let me know in the comments below!

Frida Boisen guest in Content Marketing Master Class, KNTNT, Niklas Myhr
Frida Boisen's guest lecture during my Content Marketing Master Class

The Myhr Family, Piteå, Sweden, KNTNT, Niklas Myhr
The Myhr Family back in the Piteå days (me with blue pants)

With KNTNT team Thomas Barregren, Pia Tegborg, Fabian Sörqvist
Thanks to the KNTNT team of Thomas Barregren, Pia Tegborg, and Fabian Sörqvist

Taco Bell Stretching the Digital Comfort Zone with Tressie Lieberman

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Niklas Myhr and Tressie Lieberman at Chapman UniversityIntense curiosity and a willingness to take risks. Those are two requirements to be successful,  at least for Tressie Lieberman, Director of Digital and Social Marketing at Taco Bell. She came to share her perspectives with my MBA class in Social Media Marketing at Chapman University and the students were treated to a full menu of examples of how Taco Bell under her direction embraces new platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram with real-time marketing while also balancing legal and organizational considerations.

“I actually get nervous if I haven’t been nervous for a while” – Tressie Lieberman

Experimentation is key and instead of buying research data, the best research they do is in the form of the real-time feedback they get from launching initiatives and adjusting as they move along. Internally, she emphasized how critical it has been for their success with digital efforts to educate and provide reverse mentoring programs internally to get executive buy-in. For example, she spent four hours with the CEO showing her everything starting out with her personal accounts to provide a full picture of how consumers can interact with the brand.

Tressie Lieberman at Chapman University 5

To make it possible to have real-time conversations, Tressie Lieberman talked about how she had managed to reduce the bureaucracy needed for various initiatives on social media at the same time as she wants to clearly identify what they cannot do as they don't want to get in trouble which could stop all initiatives online.

Tressie Lieberman at Chapman University 3“Don't ever let the lack of a budget hold you back from doing something really cool” – Tressie Lieberman

Taco Bell launched a new app by doing a social media blackout so it looked as if they had zero presence on all networks that day. Also, mobile ordering they launched nationwide day one as opposed to doing a gradual rollout.

This all made for higher levels of social conversations about the brand and people started talking about the app. They broke through the clutter of 1,2 million apps and became a top app almost instantaneously.

Tressie Lieberman at Chapman University 1In conclusion, Tressie Lieberman says it is the best time to be in marketing and working in digital is like working like a change agent and is very rewarding career choice. Also, it keeps her on her toes as “you are only as good as your last week.”

The Social Media Professor

Orange County, California
United States

Also at NiklasMyhr.com

Contact

Please email me at niklas [at] thesocialmediaprofessor.com if you have any questions.

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