So I’m taking a little liberty with Tool Tuesday today – I’m going to talk about a tool. But the tool itself is so simple, that instead of talking about the “likes” and “dislikes” I’m going to talk about ways to use it.

TweetChat is a deceptively simple tool. Not a lot of bells and whistles, but what it does, it does well.When I am monitoring hashtags (say for example, #h50 during the Hawaii 5-0 episode each week), I like to use TweetChat because it eliminates distractions. That’s all. That’s the reason I use it. I can also eliminate RT or block certain participants.

BUT – what does this mean to you?

Most people don’t spend A LOT of time monitoring hashtags, but they often DO participate in Tweet Chats and this tool also allows you to HOST a Tweet Chat in a simple & smart way. Here are 5 hints for establishing a Tweet Chat with your brand.

Participate before you Moderate:

If you haven’t already done so, participate in a couple of Tweet Chats, it will give you an idea of what its like to be on the other side. Hosting a Tweet Chat isn’t an easy  task, so you’re likely to see the good, the bad and the ugly. Learn from the experience..and remember, even the best moderators can have an “off” night.

You can view a pretty comprehensive list of TweetChats here. Its independently updated, so feel free to add your own chat after you’re ready to launch. You can thank Twitter user, Robert Swanwick under (@twchat) for starting that list. Its pretty amazing-talk about Twitter Karma!

If you decide that you aren’t up for hosting a TweetChat, don’t forget that many TweetChats accept sponsors. Again, you can use the list above to find chats that are relevant to your brand. Listen in for awhile and I bet the marketing wheels will start to spin!

#Hashtag Hottie:

Using a #hashtag specifically for your TweetChat is fine, but what’s even better is if your #hashtag so well reflects your brand that it can be used throughout the day with your followers. It helps give visibility to your hosted chat, your brand and gives your followers something to rally behind.

Identify Your Most Passionate Followers:

Getting buy-in from passionate and engaged followers will help create some energy and buzz behind your chat. If they have their own following, don’t be afraid to give the chat over to them for a night or two.

Devil is in the Details

Consider your audience. Have questions and answers prepared (but not pre-loaded). Give your audience some guidelines about the discussion so they can stay on topic too. Be smart about which Tweets you answer and which you allow your participants to respond to.  Don’t be afraid to do a give-away or some other promotion during your TweetChat.

Hosted Tweet Chat App

Be Ready for Success:

From the beginning, archive your TweetChats. While there is no way to “download” the tweets, you can copy and paste. Use your TweetChat as a blog post (great SEO), which also reminds your blog readers of your TweetChat. You’ll likely be glad that you kept the transcripts at some point. Along those lines, don’t hesitate to cross promote your TweetChats in other mediums such as email, Facebook and/or LinkedIn.

If your TweetChats really take off, consider a format like #socialmedia uses for its TweetChats, they keep the conversation live on their site and have a nice, clean way for participants to engage.

RESOURCES:

Tweet Chat Listings:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AhisaMy5TGiwcnVhejNHWnZlT3NvWFVPT3Q4NkIzQVE&hl=en#gid=0

http://gnosisarts.com/home/Tweetchat_Wiki

Social media and event marketing are the two most effective ways to engage customers. They create passionate brand advocates. Customers who identify themselves by the owners of a particular brand. They give marketers a chance to listen to customers instead of just pushing information.

A new Forbes Insights study shows that businesses understand the value of engagement:

Overwhelmingly, the priority group to engage is customers  with 91% of businesses wishing to engage customers (with employees ranking second at 61%). Yet few businesses have a specific strategy or create marketing budgets consistent with engagement tactics.

What this suggests is that marketers are confused about what tools create engagement and that they often return to the old “faithful” of advertising.

More and more, I find myself reminding clients that while advertising is easy, it still remains expensive and that the more effective techniques are events and social media, the combination of which can be very powerful. The above charts show that both areas have room for growth. What I find ironic is that so many businesses indicate that economics is the main inhibitor to customer engagement.

There seems to be a disconnect here. Event marketing can be less expensive than traditional advertising (especially in larger markets) and social media tools remain free. I think the real problem is that these two tactics require (wo)man power and companies are reluctant to take chances on labor intensive practices in this economy. And the second most cited inhibitor was competition, which is baffling to me as well. Either your creating relationships with your customers or you aren’t. If you aren’t then your competition likely is creating relationships, which brings us back to engagement techniques.

My definition of engagement means a conversation exists: listening and interacting.  Yet the graph below shows that a full 27% of those polled in this Forbes Insight study believe that Direct Mail is an engaging marketing technique.

No it isn’t. You might get a RESPONSE from direct mail, but it isn’t an engagement technique.

Let’s be clear on that. Print ads are not an engagement technique.

If your marketing priority is engaging customers, no matter whether you are a B2B, B2C, national, regional or local business the only two marketing techniques that actually create interaction are social media and event marketing. Sponsorship is more effective (because of the event marketing benefits) than advertising. You should really be reviewing your budget and where you spend your marketing dollars.

Yes, relationships take work. Yes, relationships take attention. But the only way to create a relationship is to start a conversation. Almost no conversation starts with a static print or radio ad.

Instead of using print and radio as the primary message delivery systems, and social media and events as the support techniques,  businesses (large and small) need to start thinking about social media and events as the conversation starter and advertising as the support tool.

If your really looking to make the most of this time, then social media and events should be your go-to techniques. Period.

(all charts used in this blog are from Forbes Insights research)

Even in a crummy economy, sponsorship remains strong. Why is this?

Well, there are several reasons. For one, sponsorship “bundles” media which means you can have a very rounded out, smart program with a single purchase, which means alot of the heavy marketing lifting (buying media, designing programs, etc.) is done for you. All that’s left for the sponsor to do is come up with a brilliant activation program (easier said than done).

Where I live (Oahu) there was an article in the PacBizNews about the strength of sponsorships in Hawaii. It specifically addressed the upcoming Sony Open and Hawaii University sponsorships. Despite the recent Tiger Woods hoopla, the Sony Open is holding its own with sponsorships. Mainlander’s reading that article will note the aggressive rates for sponsorship here, particularly for the Sony Open where there is national media exposure. If you buy sponsorships in golf, take a look at the Sony Open, talk about value! It is ironic because as several testimonials note, Hawaii businesses “get” the value of relationships that sponsorships offer, yet our sponsorship rates here are quite low.  In general, businesses in Hawaii understand relationships in a way that mainland businesses miss. Sometimes, corporate America – especially in a recession – forgets the value of meet with people face-to-face, in a relaxed and fun environment. Shared experiences create relationships, period. A phone call does not create a relationship. An email does not create a relationship. Going to an event together does. Hawaii businesses don’t need lessons in creating relationships, for the most part, their business IS relationships. Which is one reason why sponsorship remains strong in this market.

Hopefully Hawaii’s smaller businesses (85% of the business community in Hawaii) will take note of some of these opportunities. Whether you choose to be affiliated with a highly visible national event or a highly targeted local event, there are sponsorship opportunities out there. There are some great Honolulu networking events and Hawaii is a destination for several other high profile sporting events that really make for some interesting niche market opportunities.

If you aren’t sure what a good sponsorship opportunity for your company would be, or how to pursue or negotiate a sponsorship,  or if you are a mainlander and would like to sponsor events in Hawaii, call me. I’ve sold and packaged sponsorships so I know what to look for and how to negotiate them.  I can help you find and activate a program that is suited to your budget and your objectives.

Twitter. Everyone is doing it. Social media has reached the masses.

Does anyone else think its interesting that Twitter, the hottest social media network today, is generating events? Ah, events. They just won’t go away, despite the trendiness of the web.

Prediction: tomorrow’s event, event marketing and sponsorship opportunity is with “Tweet-ups” where like-minded Twitter-peeps meet up to meet each other in person.

While these “Tweet-Ups” are excited when 100 people show up, here’s the rub: its a group of like-minded connected people who share what they know with others, meaning for each of the people who you reach at a Tweet-Up, your really reaching at least another 50 – and maybe thousands. While these Tweet-ups are small and before they reach critical mass, now is the time to get involved and start sponsoring. Here’s the great thing: by their very nature, Twitter-peeps share something in common, making it a very powerful marketing tool. You can’t sponsor Twitter – but you can sponsor Twitter-ups. The NHL is already using this Twitter extension to connect its brand with fans.

When will tradeshows start hosting Tweet-ups around the country to build momentum for their events? Will brands start holding Tweet-ups for their followers that are sponsored?

I think so. Its just a matter of time. This is just one of the new bright and shiny business opportunities in the gray economy.

Here’s a couple of interesting Twitter-Up resources:

http://tweetups.org/

http://tweetups.org/

Don’t forget: when you Twitter about this, use hashtag: #tweetup

I read today’s IEG with enthusiasm today. I was looking for some inspiration, some excitement. Something beyond the “how to get more business” articles that myself and thousands of others are writing right now.

Everyone is writing those articles because it is definitely top of mind. What do we do to stand out? How do we engage our attendees and sponsors in new and exciting ways? I think we are all clear, it’s not enough right now to “have a great event”. IEG published an article today about social media and its impact on Sponsorships. Now, I love IEG’s articles, they are relevant and to the point. Here’s my frustration, most of the examples it used of properties making the most of it were large sports entities (Phoenix Suns, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl). It was a little myopic in that it focused largely on one piece of social media: owning your proprietary website with social networking opportunities. But the social media opportunities are not limited to the big dogs – in fact, social media and it’s opportunities are perhaps the most democratic marketing vehicles out there. Whether you are a property with 50,000+ attendees or a monthly networking event, you can – and should – utilize social media.

There are so many ways to capitalize on social media to create revenue for your property, large or small. Let’s look at a couple of practical, start-right-now things you can do.

Use LinkedIn – If you haven’t already, start a group for your sponsors-and sponsors only. Utilize this forum to encourage them to work together and find new ways to partner with each other using your property as a launching pad. LinkedIn lends itself to business professionals and has a well developed tool for business communication. Make sure that you are regularly engaging them about industry up dates, event information first. Make this THE online destination to be for your sponsors. The Group mechanism for LinkedIn allows you to approve members, so you can always be sure this group is exactly who you want it to be.

You can also use LinkedIn to connect your attendees and Sponsors in yet another group. Partner with other industry “groups” on LinkedIn to offer some reciprocal promotion and arrangement.

Engage the LinkedIn community by becoming an industry expert. Ask and answer questions.

Use Facebook – While you are at it, start a group for your audience as well. Facebook is particularly well suited to maintaining a relationship with your audience/attendees. You can engage them regularly with invitations and updates and start question and answer dialogues. Use Facebook to drive your audience to your website to view new info, exciting announcements and relevant blogs from people your audience wants to hear from. Using Facebook as a community and invite forum will drive traffic to your website and enable you to make the most of your website as a revenue generator.

Use and Monitor Twitter – For real-time, honest assessments of the audience experience, watch the comments on Twitter. Also, be sure to keep the energy alive about your event by posting news and updates on Twitter regularly, and even more often as the event gets closer and closer. Keep it relevant, keep it fun, keep it short and people will subscribe.

Remember, using social media doesn’t take a lot of money, its time consuming, but may very well be worth the brand and marketing awareness. However, if you want to turn it into cash, you really have to be prepared on your website to be offering content that people will want to hear about. Make your website more than just pages and pages of unsearchable, old, information.

If you are considering some major upgrades, ask yourself, how can I keep the attention of my online guests? What do they want to see? Do I allow them to create an online “identity”(avatar), how important is that to my audience? Can they “share” the info on my site through other social media networks, Facebook, Delicious, etc. How can I offer my sponsors a place without traditional advertising? What online “experiences” exist which tie-in to my event? How do I ensure that my sponsor’s message is relevant and not just visible?

Social media audiences will want to be able take it all the way. Have fun with them. Offer your sponsors a way to reach this active, networked crowd. Whenever you can connect sponsors with audience in a relevant, engaging way, you have potential business on your hands. THERE IS YOUR NEW BUSINESS. There is the way to grow. Now, go get ‘em

Psssttt.. you can find me on LinkedIn and on Twitter and if that’s just not enough..you can use good ole’ fashioned email: tdc@akamai-marketing.com

The following article was written in partnership by Tara D. Coomans, Akamai Marketing, and edited by Brian Levine, Sponsorship Insights Group and originally appeared on the Sponsorship Insights Group blog

Economies are like gardens, the seeds you plant today will reap rewards in the future. With the right seeds, the right amount of light (your positive attitude) and some TLC (creativity) your garden can do more than survive, it can thrive.

Even in the current economic downturn, the wide variety of sponsorships and the trend toward better activations makes it a good industry in which to be. Although the current economic drought presents a challenging environment, with these six tools under your belt, you’ll be well on your way to creating a thriving sponsorship garden in 2009 and beyond:

The Seeds:

1) New Clients

Although it may not feel like it, now is a great time to attract new clients. Yes, marketers will be doing a lot of reevaluation on how/where they’re investing their budgets over the next 24 months. However, because properties have the potential to provide sponsors with significant value (i.e. the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts) spending on ROI driven sponsorships could in fact increase. Savvy marketers will be more open to reviewing your proposals than ever before. Now is the best time to start building new relationships with potential clients as they are reevaluating their options and considering alternatives. The seeds you plant now may grow into stronger or more lucrative partnerships down the road.

For sponsors looking for opportunities to do more with less, smaller properties may offer the best potential . Smaller properties often have the flexibility to be more creative with their sponsors and will be very excited to work with you in creating a partnership that works for you. Your business will likely stand out more with a smaller property than with properties overcrowded with other sponsors.

2) Trade

It’s not enough to know you have something to offer, you need to know what and how much. If there was ever a time to know the value of your property, it is now. The next 24 months should see a spike in requests for “trade sponsorships” as firms try to minimize cash outflow. By knowing the value of your property and its segments you can ensure that you receive full value in any sponsorship agreement, which increases the possibility that you can negotiate a trade and cash component. It will also help to be proactive in developing a compensation plan for these types of programs now so that you are prepared for this growing trend. Note that contra benefits are often valued at between 50% and 75% of cash.

If you are a sponsor looking for trade opportunities, on the other hand, you should be prepared to negotiate trade/cash opportunities. But remember that unless you are offering something the property cannot live without (i.e. alleviating a budgeted line item), noncash sponsorships may be overlooked because properties still need cold hard cash to stage and market their event.

The TLC:

3) Your Homework

Before you approach a potential sponsor, make sure you know their business objectives and that your proposal provides solutions to those strategic objectives. You should be reading everything you can find about your client before you ever present them with a proposal, then customize it to fit their specific needs. Sponsors need to know that you ‘get it’, that you are offering them solutions instead of a generic sales pitch.

As sponsors in this business environment, you need to find out what unearthed gems may exist within every property. You don’t get what you don’t ask for, so do your homework first so you don’t miss out on valuable sponsorship opportunities.

4) Be Creative

Properties and sponsors alike, challenge yourselves to create excitement and energy around your product. How can you make the good, great? How can you do more with what you have? One reason event marketing works so well is because of the potential for creating memorable experiences. This recession may just provide a catalyst for great ideas as everyone starts to reevaluate and try different ways to weather the economic downturn. Come up with something ground breaking that will be poised for explosive growth once the economy begins to recover from the market correction.

The Sunshine:

5) Free Community Events

Events, such as nonprofit ‘walks’ or large art fairs, that are free to the public will be hot over the next 24 months. This is great news for sponsors and mobile marketers, as these types of events are often very open to creating additional energy and excitement through activation of a product. Sponsors, seriously consider community events that align with your needs. Although it may not be any less costly than traditional sponsorships, more people will be in attendance that are open to experiencing interesting new products out of curiosity.

Community event properties, you should capitalize on the fact that your attendance is likely to be strong and actively look for creative ways for your sponsors to engage and excite your attendees. If you have never courted mobile marketers before, this recession is the time to see if you’ve been missing an incredible opportunity.

6) Be the Partner

It’s always important to approach your relationships as partnerships, but it is more important than ever in these tough economic conditions. Property and sponsors alike look for people who are willing to brainstorm, willing to work with together, willing to help the relationship grow. If you are a sponsor that has treated your properties with respect and professionalism, they are much more likely to work harder with you to stretch your marketing dollar. As properties that go above and beyond to create solutions for sponsors, you will find more loyal sponsors that will work with you to find innovative ways to create more value together.

Although the market is undeniably difficult right now, with a little creativity and flexibility, you can still grow through the recession in new and exciting ways.

Honolulu is an amazing event city. Every night, there is a fundraiser, networking or just plain fun event. For those of us that are “out there” the problem is more often “which event do I do tonight” rather than “what do I do tonight?”

This gives the businesses, large and small many, many opportunities to promote their products and services to a variety of audiences, in a variety of ways. And business here is very smart about participating, because Honolulu’s business is all about relationships, they know events are the place for them.

What’s lacking at these events so often, is an activation plan. I mean, how are you getting the attendee to experience and relate to your brand? For some companies, (food companies for example) this is easy, “here try!”. But if you are say, an insurance company, how do you get people engaged? Well, that’s called activation. Activation is one word that many marketers don’t want to talk about – they don’t want to hear that they have to take an active role in the success of their event, sponsorship or promotion. If you don’t know where to start with activation, ask for assistance from the event you are sponsoring, in fact, ASK for ideas when you get a proposal. If you have an agency, ask them too. The best activation, engages the attendees, collects information, and gives you a reason to engage them once again.

There is a great article in this month’s Event Marketing magazine about photo activation. They use three companies as examples: Home Depot, Evian and Oscar Meyer. All of them are fun, but for pure marketing value and practicality, I’d have to say that the Home Depot is my favorite. Here’s why I like it: it drives people to their website (where they sell items), collects information on their attendees (allowing them to know their customer better) and provides them with a branded “keep sake” that is likely to be passed on, therefore enhancing brand image. This idea also gives Home Depot a way to stay in touch and inform the participant on such things as “do it yourself clinics , sales and coupons, and drives traffic! Because the events Home Depot does this at are all events in which they have heavily invested already, its a great touch point, and the attendees enjoy the experience of the event all that much more. This promo just shows why events are so powerful as marketing tools-it gives wings to all your other marketing efforts.

As you start to brainstorm ideas about activation, you will notice that even the largest, most important brands use activation. Please tell me again, why don’t you want to or need to? As marketers, now is the time to get engaged…if you aren’t engaged, how can you expect your consumers to be?!

Without belaboring the obvious: its a tough marketing atmosphere out there. I know. I already wrote a blog on this topic..but now it seems even more prescient. Whenever the economy slides, the immediate reaction is often to “pull back” and while this makes sense to bean counters, marketers know better. We know that now is the time to either stay the course or increase marketing. We know that its going to take MORE exposures to get people to pull dollars out of their pockets and we know that now is the time to gain market share while your competitors run for cover and allow their customers to forget about them.

And yet, you and I both know that now is the time where your marketing dollars better work. You better be able to show ROI from them. You need your dollar to go further. Here are some real suggestions that I have for marketing during this time.

Use events! dollar for dollar they pack the most marketing punch. Whether you decide to speak at an event, or host an event or sponsor an event, they combine the ability to have media (usually print+either TV or radio) and they have the capacity to get your product right into the hands of users. Events are also fun and most importantly, engaging. If you haven’t used events now – its time.
More driving traffic, less branding. You brand in good times, so hopefully you have already done that and people already equate your brand to a lifestyle or an emotion. Now is the time to underscore that response to your brand by finding ways to drive traffic, promotions, sampling, demos, these are all ways to get people to try and experience your product. Once they try and experience it, you must follow up with some sort of coupon, special opportunity, something to get them to come back. And don’t forget to stay in touch with them; having experienced your product, they are most likely to try you first next time they need your product (or the next time you CREATE the need.)
Track your ROI from your events. If your using a staff for promos or sampling, they need to provide you with a post-event wrap-up that gives you feed back on quantity, demographic and response. Make sure that you track any coupons too.
Instead of spending less on your existing sponsorships, ask for more value. Ask for more ways to get your product into people’s hands or drive traffic. Ask for X-promos with complimentary sponsors, ask for opportunity to do a demo. You don’t get what you don’t ask for.
Make it FUN: Right now in particular with the uncertainly in the marketplace, people are attracted to anything that makes them smile, allows them to escape. If you can’t make your product fun, then attach to something that is. People will remember fun…they will quickly forget “blah, blah blah”.
REMEMBER: if you can’t track it, can’t drive traffic from it and can’t let people experience your brand from it – you should change it so they can. No matter how many eye-balls see it, if its the wrong market, or they don’t have a compelling connection to your brand, story or product, then its a marketing waste in today’s climate.

Hawaii isn’t the only location in the country to be experiencing a decline in tourism, but relative to other locations (even other hot-spots) the importance of tourism to our economy is a bigger piece of the pie. The state and the tourism entities are certainly working hard to ensure that new markets are opened and that Hawaii remains a destination of choice.

Sponsorship and events are playing a key role in destination marketing for other locations and it would be quite easy for Hawaii to do the same. For example, I just read about a tour that the State of Texas is doing throughout the summer to various festivals and events in the Midwest. The mobile tour features interactive games which feature Texas are more than just a dusty, cowboy centric place (i.e. guessing whether various photos were taken in “Texas or Not?”) and a video kayaking tour. Visitors are treated to a complimentary CD of Texas Musicians upon departure through the tour. In addition to taking the tour to 15 locations (mostly Fairs and Festivals), Texas is buying sponsorships to ensure inclusion in advertising and awareness beyond festival attendees. If Texas can change its dusty image, certainly Hawaii can attract new markets.

Imagine how easy Hawaii would be to sell with an similar interactive program throughout Asia and the western US? When people can feel as though they “know” Hawaii, what’s not to love?

On another note: about a month ago, there was an article in PBN about how the PGA has removed golf tournaments from the Hawaiian islands, while still taking the promotional dollars provided to them by the HTA to support such events. HTA was clearly frustrated by the lack of results, and their confidence in the PGA was shaken. When I read the article, I wondered to myself what the real problem was. After all, golf as a sport has changed but it is hardly hurting (I think major league hockey is the big major sport bummer) and how is it that the PGA can support events in smaller, less impressive markets, but not Hawaii? Automatically, everyone says “cost of getting here” but I don’t buy it – there are majors tournaments all over the world. Something seemed amiss, and I thought that it was the opportunities that the PGA provides its corporate partners that was at the heart of the problem.

Compare the PBN article (Aug. 08):

“I’m a little concerned about the PGA’s ability to secure title sponsors, and I am concerned about the overall field that they get out here to Hawaii,” said David Uchiyama, HTA’s marketing director. “You don’t see a Tiger Woods or a Phil Mickelson.”

to this:

“North American-based companies will spend an estimated $1.36 billion to sponsor pro and amateur golf tournaments, sanctioning bodies and related events in ’08, up nine percent from $1.25 billion in ’07. “ – IEG Sept. 08

Furthermore, the significant growth in golf partnerships is due to increased sponsorship opportunities that are more “robust” and come from golf associations other than the PGA including the USGA. Perhaps the PGA has gotten so comfortable that it is no longer being creative in its partnership presentations and opportunities. (Boy, if THAT isn’t a lesson learned for properties).

Granted the HTA has to be selective and smart about where it spends its budget, particularly in these times, but the HTA is right to request that its funds be returned. Perhaps they could send that budget on a program with the USGA or a marketing program that puts Hawaii into the hands of potential visitors, such as a mobile event-marketing program.