Risky is the New Safe (10 page)

Before each concert Jimmy does a live tailgate party on Radio Margaritaville, talking about the venue, set list, any guest stars, and just generally being a raconteur. It may be the best demonstration of how to use social media and technology to engage with a tribe that you'll ever see.

Jimmy gets it. It's not about selling records or tickets to concerts; it's about creating an experience. But here's the key: that experience really isn't about
him
. It's about how he makes his fans feel (rebellious, a little naughty, and young again). And that is the ultimate branding.

Of course, just when you think you've got the music business figured out, Mark Cuban is trying to change it again. AXS TV (Cuban's venture with Ryan Seacrest Media, CAA, and concert promoter AEG) is in the market with a business model combining love concerts, pay-per-view broadcasts, and DVD/Blu-ray releases. They partner with artists to do live events, which AXS TV broadcasts as they happen, and give the footage to the artist for physical products. I recently received a similar proposal from a media company for my seminars. You'll see a lot more partnerships like this in music, other entertainment, and education.

A brand is really a meme-plex—a collection of related memes, aka mind viruses. And nothing spreads memes faster than the Internet. When Nike creates a YouTube sensation like “Write the Future” or when, in the near past, millions of people tuned in to see Steve Jobs launch a new product—whenever someone tweets, posts a review on a website, updates their Facebook status, or adds a pin about their new iPad, memes are flying and branding is taking place.

Older, established companies lament the fact they can't control their brand. Smart entrepreneurs will realize that is a good thing. Because while you can't control your brand, you can actually monitor it in real time, exactly as it's playing out in the market. You can become aware of problems the moment they occur, help the people having difficulties, make corrections, and turn potentially lost customers into raving advocates.

Let's look at a few examples of how this happens in the real world.

One year I bought some last-minute Christmas presents from retailer Hammacher Schlemmer because they guaranteed delivery by December 24. Imagine my chagrin when I called my nieces and nephews on Christmas day only to discover they hadn't received anything. So naturally, I wrote a newsletter article titled “Hammacher Schlemmer—The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.”

A few days later, I received a call from the president of Hammacher Schlemmer. First, he apologized profusely for the mix up, and while he didn't make excuses, he explained to me how the mistake happened. He also asked my permission to reprint my newsletter, issue it to every customer service representative in the company, and make it required reading for new hires. Oh, and a week later, the kids got all of their presents—at no charge to me. I went from someone who would have never ordered from them again to someone who has since spent thousands of dollars with them.

When I was doing a speech in Valencia, Spain, I tweeted about how beautiful the city and architecture were. Five minutes later I got a message from the Valencia Visitor and Convention Bureau welcoming me to the city and providing a link to a website showing all the local attractions. You might wonder how they tracked me, but it's really pretty simple stuff. You just get an application like TweetDeck and keep a search column for certain keywords. Yet almost no one does it!

One day I was venting in my blog about the fact that the Ritz Carlton in Singapore hadn't given me the regular suite I had requested, and the room they had given me had no hangers for a suit. Thirty minutes after I posted this, I received a frantic email from a VP at Ritz to make things right. Turns out his mother reads my blog, and she wasn't very happy!

Examples like these demonstrate how organic brands really are, and how the web and social media can influence them in a matter of moments. They show how you can turn a bad situation into a great one.

Then there's the other side of the story
. . .

I can't count the number of times I've tweeted about surly service, dirty planes, or late arrivals on American Airlines. Obviously American can't either, since they've never responded to any of them.

Of course, I do get scores of replies from other frustrated elite flyers in their frequent flier program and lots of messages from loyal Southwest customers urging me to switch. (And I love you, Herb Kelleher, but that ain't happening until you guys add a first class!) If you want more dialogue, you need only go to the message boards at
Insideflyer.com
or search any of the other social media sites to learn what hundreds of other aggravated American customers have to say. Someone from the C suite at American could do the same thing—
if
they cared.
Note:
Now that they've filed for bankruptcy, they have just recently started responding to tweets. Of course, it's a little late.

I'm certainly not the only social media–savvy traveler, who takes out his frustrations in cyberspace. The image on the next page is an example from blogger Aaron Strout, with a little happier ending.

If I were running an airline today, I would employ one high-level customer service agent whose only responsibility would be to manage the company's Twitter account, blog, and Facebook page (jointly branded with the airline's name, a picture, and title, along with the company logo) and
then subscribe to the feeds of every single elite-level member of their frequent flyer program
. That's all public information; it would only take some searching.

And speaking of untapped opportunities, have you seen what a tragic disaster the day-to-day operation of the airline industry has become? Airplane seats were designed when people were about five feet tall. Now a lot of teenagers are pushing over six feet, and more than half the population is overweight, many by a lot. Yet the airlines are shoehorning even more seats into cramped, dingy cabins. They're charging you to call the reservation line, check your suitcase, select a seat, and they'd dock you for using the bathroom if they thought they could get away with it.

Imagine what an opportunity there is for an airline that brings the comfort and glamour back to air travel. (Although to be fair, yesterday I flew Aeroflot, of all carriers, and passengers were greeted by three flight attendants offering newspapers and magazines—wearing hats, white gloves, and high heels! It took me back to the halcyon days of Pan Am.)

Everyone focuses on customer acquisition when the real money is in customer retention—and social media can help companies retain customers in numerous and wondrous ways. You can connect with your tribe, build a deeper relationship, and create a bonding experience like never before. (And of course, the savviest entrepreneurs will extend this into the mobile app field.) It allows the personalization and emotional connection that simply wasn't possible before.

Just as Jimmy Buffett built his brand with his fans, young electronic music producers like Skrillex and Deadmau5 (pronounced “dead mouse,” but if you're cool, you already know that) are harnessing technology to do the same thing. They post free audio and video downloads, participate in social media, and stream webcasts to connect with an ever-growing legion of fans. These guys are selling out stadiums with frenzied fans for their techno shows. They offer early releases to their loyal followers and utilize the technology of social media brilliantly. Already by 2009, Deadmau5's performances were recorded and made available for sale immediately following his concerts on wristband USB flash drives.

All of this tech offers the opportunity for small and nimble entrepreneurs to outplay huge competitors. Right now, most large companies don't have a clue about social media or mobile. (“Janet, get us one of the QR code things.”)

They see them both as necessary evils they have to do because everyone else is doing them. Or worse, they think of them as two more channels they can use to broadcast press releases. Their PR departments set up a Twitter account for the president or CEO and then some clueless employee tweets in their name. Or they establish a corporate account and simply broadcast press releases and sales pitches. No one is monitoring the feed, listening, or interacting.

The perfect case study of a little guy taking on the big boys and cleaning their clocks is what video blogger and speaker Gary Vaynerchuk did with Wine Library TV. He used a daily video blog to grow a mom-and-pop liquor store into an online retailer grossing $45 million annually. Here are just a few of the many things he does right:

• Is transparent and real.
  
• Offers real value instead of pitching.
  
• Listens and responds to his market.
  
• Works his face off.
  

Any employee or entrepreneur can learn great lessons from what Gary did—and how he did it. Be sure to read his book,
Crush It!

The other thing social media does is allow you to create market demand from the bottom up. Gary did this in the retail world with wine, and I did it in the corporate market for my business as a professional speaker and consultant.

About five years ago, I decided to really take a hard look at social media and do some critical thinking on how it would play out in terms of building a business. I came to the conclusion that it would be the single most productive strategy I could utilize.

The first step was becoming active via my blog at
RandyGage.com
. It seemed to me that the most popular bloggers posted daily, so I started putting up five posts a week. This allowed me to form a great connection with my tribe and helped to grow my reach in a big way. Today my blog is in the top 1 percent of the world in terms of traffic.

Yet you'll notice that I never use it to pitch, because I know this isn't what my readers want. (Although by the time you're reading this, all bets are off, since I'll be relentlessly hawking this book!) Seriously, I consistently provide tons of free value. Then, when I come out with a new book or seminar or other resource, I'll announce it, but in a way that still offers value. The blog brings lots of visitors to my site. If they like my work, they look around the rest of the site and usually end up buying something.

Next, I began participating in social media sites. I started by launching a Twitter account and learned how that site worked while my number of followers continued to rise. After about a year, I got serious about Facebook and started putting up a couple posts a day and interacting with people.

It became apparent to me that video was going to be the real driver, so the next step was to get more active on YouTube. I started putting up a show occasionally and got a little traction. As I studied the serious players, most of them were doing a show a week. I modeled that and then things really began taking off there. These days I'm exploring Pinterest and Google+. I'm a little too edgy for the corporate world, so I don't do a lot with LinkedIn, but the corporate people I know swear by it. The other very intriguing possibility right now is Airtime, which is basically Twitter with video. It has the possibility to be the next big thing, simply because it's video-based instead of text-based.

I got to the point where I spent two hours every day on social media. Most people in my profession say they don't have that kind of time. But it's the best investment I've ever made. Not only have I formed strong connections with thousands of people around the world who follow my work, but I have scores of loyal fans who actually
drive business
for me. I have found my tribe, and they have found me. (This book is the result of them imploring me to write it.)

I haven't had a marketing packet for my speaking business for three years. I've never solicited a consulting job in my life. And I never make cold calls or seek business. My tribe
creates
business for me. They practically demand their meeting planner book me as a speaker at their conferences or insist that the CEO bring me in to work with the company. And this is the beauty of authentically engaging in social media: Instead of chasing after business, getting active on these platforms will get business chasing after
you
.

This all means that controlling your brand and reputation is harder if you're not actively monitoring and participating in social media—but it's actually easier if you are. And ultimately this new environment is better for everyone. Now, the only way to really control your brand is the right way: by providing great products or services, engaging with customers, and resolving complaints in a timely manner.

There's one place where the winners will separate from the losers:
scalability
. If you're a financial planner, speaker, or hair stylist, running your social media and online relationships is a simple enough equation. It's not
easy
, but it is simple. But if you're a hotel chain, automaker, or movie studio, it's neither easy nor simple. That's because bigger companies like these require the executive level to really get behind social media, both online and mobile. Not with lip service and mission statements, but by actually instilling it deeply into the culture of the business and getting every employee involved.