Final Piece Consulting, LLC

I’ve been working with a company for the last few months putting together a video contest.  I realize everyone attempts to do video contests nowadays simply in hopes that it will (gulp) – “go viral.”  Truth be told though – it is much more difficult to create a David after Dentist video or an Old Spice Body Wash campaign than you think.

Please, Please, Don’t say “Go Viral” ever again

First things first, stop saying “go viral” and just focus on coming up with a great idea.  Once you have that idea you have gotten to the point where you can flesh out the details and, with a lot of hard work, hopefully create something great.  Whether or not people actually see it is an entirely different story all together, and for the most part, out of your hands.

I could go on and on about the creation and implementation of a video campaign forever (and plan to create a comprehensive case study on this campaign after the fact) but really just wanted to talk specifically about the partner selection process.

Does any care about C-listers?

The company I am working with has a decent sized budget for this project (something similar to this awesome contest maybe?)and is investing the money to build a contest website and pay a C-list celebrity to be involved.

Did you just ask yourself why you would this idiot want to push his client towards this? 

I did somewhat initially, but now firmly, believe that the right relationship between a brand and a celebrity can be very fruitful no matter how large the name of the talent.  AdAge just recently showed us that celebrity endorsements, although sometimes hard to gauge value, are still very important in pushing product and growing brands.

Once my client decided they wanted to share the details of the contest with some comedians, writers and experts I got to work figuring out how to contact their agents and begin negotiations.  Without getting into too much detail, I spoke with an author whose book was made into a movie, a few regulars on Chelsea Lately, a regular on Jersey Shore and some 80s movie stars. 

After a few were taken out of the running based on cost we narrowed it down to about five.  This was when the ball fell squarely in our court. How you ask?  Because it’s impossible to hide what your online influence is.

Online Influence Matters – Even for Jwoww and The Situation

I researched ever corner of the Internet to figure out what kind of following the celebrity had and how often they were spoken about or mentioned by bloggers, media and the general public.  I looked even deeper into their engagement with fans online and how adept they were at working with social networks themselves. Did they have a Twitter and Facebook page? Did they have videos on the web they created? Did they have an interactive website? A cult following with power in a specific market?

After all the questions were answered we narrowed it down to two and then went with a gut decsion based on who we thought would make the most sense for the company’s brand, and more specifically the theme of the contest.

I don’t want to tell any comics, movie stars or reality stars what to do since they make 100 times what I do, BUT, seriously people get someone on your team that understands the power of online influence and next time maybe you’ll get the deal.

Starting this Monday and running until the end of time I plan on posting 5-10 of my favorite links from the previous week on social media, marketing, public relations and business. Some of this may have already appeared in my Twitter feed, but for those of you who like your coffee served with a nice mix of RSS straight to your Google Reader or inbox - this is for you.

1. Top 11 Free Resources to Improve Your Blog’s Content

Some fantastic links from Harry Hoover that cover the blogging gamete to make sure you are creating compelling content targeted at those people you want to read your blog.

2. There, I Said It: Screw Viral Videos

Although I don’t agree with the overall idea of the post – this is a great read from Jim Louderback.  I personal think the main problem is simply the word – viral.  Great video content is a necessity online it’s just your expectations and initial investment that need to be in check.

3. See How They Did It: 104 Social Media Case Studies

Just like it sounds and just as glorious. The Conversation Agent has used her blog to review 12 case studies specifically and then link to another 92.  Not too shabby. Enjoy.

4. Wake Me Up When Your Press Release is Over

Extremely true take on why boiler plates are so awful and how companies can move away from the traditional way of ending a press release from Jonathan Grieb at CEC Insider.

5. 60 Proven Ways to Increase Your Online Marketing Influence

60 sentences taken from The Influencer Project from the good people at HubSpot.  Special shout out to my buddy Kipp Bodnar who is currently crushing it up in Cambridge!

6. The 10 Worst Business Books of All Time

Great topic and hilarious entry all around from Geoffery James.  Either don’t read these books or read them and decide whether or not they made you dumber

What links did you enjoy last week?  Help me out because I can’t read everything!

I use a lot of different tools for a lot of different clients in a lot of different ways.  I just wanted to give a quick shout out to those tools whom I use every day and couldn’t live without. Most of you probably use these already, but for any of you that don’t – I’ll be here all week

1. TweetDeck - For awhile there TweetDeck had me worried as it seemed like I was having issues with old mentions and DM’s for a solid week about 6 months ago.  Then came version 34.2 and I fell in love with the dashboard all over again.  It’s ease of use and simplicity had me at hello and I’ve been an avid user ever since.  I have a girlfriend on the side in HootSuite, for some clients, but have never fallen for her like I did with TweetDeck. 

2. Social Mention - I can search user generated content across all social channels for free? Yes, please. I’m a big fan of anything that makes me more efficient and Social Mention analyzes content from almost all social media platforms and even offers up some basic insight and statistics.  It may not get the job done for extremely specific tasks but it sure does cut down on time for others.  And it’s fun!

3. Alexa - This site is sort of like the Griff Tannen of these five sites but it can sometimes be the most helpful in a application sense.  Alexa offers up a ton of great insight on any web properties you own and even some on ones you dont.  I especially love the comarison tab and top queries data.  I treat Alexa along with Google Analytics like they were part of the family.

4. Addict-o-Matic - Not only an awesome aggregate of social information, but it lets you create custom pages of the terms you are searching for! I love the name because this site is just that – addictive.  I view it as  my morning paper for each of my clients as I have that first cup of coffee.

5. YouTube - That’s right I said it – YouTube. I said this list was 5 Free Social Media Tools that I use everyday and to me it is a very valuable tool.  Just because it isn’t some site used only by social media nerds like myself doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a daily visit.  Whether it be for humor, ideas, tutorials or old sports clips – I’m there.  I think YouTube wears many hats and I am certainly an avid watcher.

What 5 Free Social Media Tools do you use everyday?

I had the pleasure of being interviewed via email over the last few weeks by a young up-and-comer in the social media realm, Cole Watts.

I previously worked with Cole when he served as an intern at 919 Marketing.  Now he spends his time putting together great blog content while looking to land that great social media job that I know is out there for him.

Below is a brief excerpt from our conversation, and feel free to travel over to his blog IDreamInTech to read the entire interview.

Most of us know you as the Social Media presence behind 919 Marketing, but you recently left to start your own company.  What can we expect from your new company “Final Piece Consulting”?

 First of all, I’m excited to hear that “most” people may know anything about me since I’m just a guy that loves working online. At 919 Marketing, I did my best to integrate social media marketing into as many client accounts as possible while still handling day-to-day PR tasks and account management. After spending the last 3 ½ years working at Triangle firms, keeping up with emerging trends and working them into my everyday tasks, I finally had a “Eureka” moment and thought – maybe there is something MORE I could be doing with all this great knowledge I’ve been able to soak up.

That moment was when I decided to start Final Piece Consulting. I view the company as place small businesses that can’t afford large retainers can turn to for help in social media marketing with a splash of traditional marketing, public relations, event planning and copywriting. Small Businesses are the lifeblood of our local economy and many of them flounder because they can’t afford high quality marketing help.  With the emergence and effectiveness of social media marketing I firmly believe you can propel your small business to success with the right guidance and expertise.

I also realize that cash flow and the bottom line is even more important to a small business than a larger entity able to take financial risks. That is why I will come in to your organization and make sure I fully understand it before I will even create a plan or offer up any inclination as to what you can expect if you work with me. Once I understand your goals on a holistic level I’ll head back to the Final Piece “cave” and create a full-scale 3, 6 or 12 month strategic plan.  The plan will include everything you need to achieve those goals, from what tools we should use and how we should use them, to what complementary PR and traditional marketing we need to elevate the campaign. Most importantly it will involve metrics of measurement (financial and non financial) that can be tracked so at the end of our (hopefully) long partnership you can see how your investment in Final Piece Consulting has paid off.

You’ll also be able to expect an honest guy who can sometimes be a little too sarcastic and is passionate about what he believes in. That belief can range from his approach to social media marketing to why the 1999 Virginia Tech Hokies were the greatest team to not win a National Championship.

Over the course of the last few months I have been moving non-stop in an effort to get my initial entrepreneurial endeavor off the ground. It has been extremely gratifying to see something I have complete control over come together but at the same time it has been overwhelming.  The one thing that has gotten me to the point where I am at now though (two clients and a good deal of freelance work) is my friends.

I can’t overstate the importance of reaching out to those friends you trust for advice, expertise, insight and an occasional kick in the pants as you begin a business. I consider myself an intelligent guy, but I know what I am really good at, and it’s the work I’ll be doing for this company – not the starting the company part.

Luckily I have a great group of friends I was able to look to when it came to choosing a business entity (Thanks, Bardin), getting my finances in order (Thanks, Theresa), designing a logo (Thanks, Ty) and searching for advice, insight and support (Thanks: Carrie, Mom, Dad, Dane, Mike, Ryal, Barbara, Lane, Will, Tom, Sean, Marshall, Kate, Ashlie and many others).  You may not have even known what you said or did was helping me at the time – but it was.

I know this isn’t going to be easy. I know I’ll have to work twice as hard. I know 100% of my livelihood and finances are now in my own hands. I know and understand all of this and that’s why I started Final Piece Consulting.

I thrive in high stress situations and love working for and with people I know have strong ethics and at the end of the day want to offer a quality product or service.

I wanted to be my own boss and you all helped that dream become a reality.

Thanks.

Almost….

We’re hoping to officially launch the site before September 1, 2010. Until then – Namaste!