Buzz Builder

How Brewer Dan Del Grande Is Using Social Media to Build Bison Brewing Company's Brand and Sales

I’m very grateful to Dan Del Grande, the owner and brewer of Bison Brewing Company in Berkeley, CA, since he took a leap of faith and became my company’s first client in 2002. Over the past few years, I’ve admired the creative ways that Dan has used social media to promote his company and products. Recently, I chatted with Dan about his social media usage and his answers provide valuable insight for any business owner looking to grow brand awareness and sales without advertising. Here’s the transcript of my conversation with Dan:

Patrick Galvin (PG): How long has Bison been on Twitter and Facebook?

Dan Del Grande (DDG): I've been on Twitter and Facebook since June 2009 and only got started because "I should" do it for my business (maybe like many of your readers).  I didn't really understand it.  Boy, was I impressed at the power of social media.  After three or four months, I was able to use the tools easily, and hopefully with focused business purpose, to engage people and build my brand.  I see social media is an accelerant for my brand and one of the main ways I generate word of mouth marketing. 

PG: I hear that Bison gained a lot of traction promoting #IPADay on Twitter. Please tell us about #IPADay and how it helped Bison.

DDG: Last month, Bison Brewing started a movement. We partnered with a few select craft breweries and social media sites around the world to launch the 1st annual International #IPADay. Our goal was to create a grassroots movement uniting the voices of craft beer enthusiasts, bloggers, and brewers worldwide, using social media as the common arena for connecting the conversation. It worked.

On August 4, craft beer drinkers from a dozen countries across the globe raised pints in a collective toast.  On August 4 alone, over 15,000 discreet tweets were recorded, and several hundred blog posts and online tasting notes were posted. We can't count the hundreds of craft beer bars, breweries and beer fans who organized and hosted “real life” #IPADay events, parties and tastings all over the world. Bison Brewing hosted two extremely successful events. At BoPGy G’s Pizza in Berkeley, CA, IPAs from five local breweries took over the taps and patrons enjoyed pint specials and camaraderie celebrating IPA. At the Napa Marriott, over 200 people enjoyed a sunny patio sipping IPAs from eight different local craft breweries, and raising over $1500 donated to V.O.I.C.E.S. Napa, a local non-profit committed to empowering under-served youth.

PG: Is the success of #IPADay inspiring any new social media efforts?

DDG: #STOUTDay is November 3 to build on a solid franchise for social media events and word of mouth marketing.

We are also planning fun, live beer-tasting events on a Big Red Bus where we invite good customers and supporters from Twitter and Facebook for a real world brand experience. Hopefully, the real world experience will live on in cyberspace as people tweet and reminisce about it in social media circles.

PG: What are other business benefits has Bison derived from being on Twitter and Facebook?

DDG: If "business benefits" is defined as "increased sales," the jury is still out on the absolute return on investment, but we are breaking even at least. I can say with certainty that we’ve gained several new points of distribution and tens of thousands of dollars of "new" top line sales, mostly with two new beer distributors, but also a couple dozen grocery stores and restaurants. We are looking more and more at Twitter as a consumer pull strategy. If you consider "business benefits" to be defined as "increased brand impressions," this is well underway but I'm uncertain how to measure it.

PG: Are the audiences and your intentions for Twitter and Facebook different?

DDG: Yes. My social media strategy is creating and sharing dynamic content. My Twitter audience seems to be 50% consumer and 50% opinion makers.  Facebook seems to be 100% consumer. You need to adjust the content accordingly.

My Facebook personal profile (Daniel Del Grande) and my Facebook Fan Page (Bison Organic Beer) are only about two things: (1) Bison news, recipes, events, and (2) sustainable lifestyle advocacy. I avoid personal things on Facebook, unless somebody posts a picture of me with family, which I usually delete or untag.

I try not to narrowcast my tweets. Anything goes. My tweets are about craft beer events, my beers, sustainability, and the fun "slice of life" of being a brewmaster, or my observations about life. I probably do about 1/3 consumer tweets, 1/3 sustainability tweets, and 1/3 "Dan is having too much fun" tweeting. I think I have finally found the balance between not sharing enough and sharing too much.

PG: What “secrets for success” do you have for a small business just getting started with social media?

DDG: We advertise by hand, like we brew by hand. I find that if you are genuine, there is a lot of camaraderie in the social media community. About 100 people I talk to on twitter I have also found interesting enough to meet when I’ve visted their hometowns.

There are lots of self-proclaimed experts out there and that can be intimidating. If you need some guidance, read the informative articles on www.mashable.com. You can do it! To get started, don't hire somebody to do it. Do it yourself. If you hire somebody, you will spend more time instructing the hired gun, checking the hired gun, and wishing the hired gun said it a different way. It’s pretty easy once you get started.

Get started with 1/2 hour a day and explore a little each day. Whatever voice you find, it has to be genuine and interesting--you don't need a pre-thought out strategy. Spend time reading commenting on other people's blogs that you find interesting and relevant to your business or brand, and tweet or share the blog on Facebook. Follow people that you think are interesting. They will probably follow you back unless they are a rock star.

Once you have a firm understanding and direction, and have established a voice (and this might take 6 or more months), you can give the daily responsibility to somebody in your organization that you trust to carry the torch. But stay involved, read what is going on, and tweet and post on Facebook at least one 1/2 hour session per week.

PG: What should a small business avoid doing in social media?

DDG: 1. Controversy. It is hard to win an argument in 140 characters. 2. Religion/Sex/Politics. You will surely offend somebody.

PG: What should the balance be between product promotion and other activities in social media?

DDG: I like the 33% promotion, 33% dialog with your consumers or potential consumers, and 33% about why you are compelling and interesting to your customers.

PG: Do websites still matter in our era of social media?

DDG: YES. Websites are still a requirement, but mostly as a catalog. It is an important place to archive your business achievement, product information, and act as a landing page to people interested in your business. It should be your primary SEO tool.  But most of my time online is centered on a blog, twitter, and facebook. 

PG: If websites do matter, how should they integrate with social media activities?

DDG: If put some really interesting links, commentary, or information out on Facebook or Twitter, I capture it in a blog post on the website for future reference.  Your website is also the place where you refer people back to when you comment on blog posts.

PG: Any other advice for social media newbies?

DDG: Get a smart phone with a data package. Period. Use the Facebook and Twitter applications daily.  It will allow you to respond to your customers within an hour. I do it while waiting at the bank, finishing my coffee, finishing lunch. Customers want to hear from you soon. Don't just do it once per week because you will fail.

Five Public Speaking Lessons from King George VI in The King's Speech Movie

 
My wife and I are time-delayed when it comes to watching movies that interest us since we rely on Netflix instead of movie theaters. Such is life with a toddler and the complications involved in arranging for a babysitter. One movie worth the long wait for its Blu-ray availablity was The King's Speech that deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Picture.  

The movie is based on a riveting true story that provides insight into the life of English royalty in general and King George VI's struggle against a severe speaking disability. As a professional speaker, I got five excellent takewaways about public speaking from the movie: 

1. Fear can motivate

According to various studies, more people fear of public speaking than death. I love how this movie shows how one of the most powerful people in the world was fearful of speaking in front of even small groups of people. Rather than let fear keep him from speaking, King George VI realized that he needed to work hard to overcome it. It inspired him to work with a speech therapist who irritated him but knew how to help the King get over his difficulties. The King's ultimate success is an inspiring example of how to channel fear into a force that drives self-improvement.

2. Practice is essential

Too many people put hours into a preparing well-written speeches but don't spend adequate time practicing the material. King George VI spent days rehearsing presentations that were less than ten minutes along. Although he did this becuase he had a severe stuttering problem, other speakers should follow his example. Speakers who practice usually sound much more confident and knowledgeable than those who don't spend the necessary hours to completely master their material.

3. Pauses sound good

For many speakers, the hardest thing to say is nothing. Heightened adrenaline and nerves make many speak too rapidly. Even with outstanding speech therapy, King George VI simply couldn't speak quickly an and there were many pauses in his most heralded speeches. His speech therapist told him not to worry about the slow speed and pauses since they highlighted his thoughtfulness. This is good advice for most speakers who tend to rush through their material. Rather than rush to fill the air with one's voice, it is often much effective to breathe in and pause.

4. Be authentic

It's tempting to turn admiration for another speaker into imitation of that individual's unique style. Yet, speakers will be much effective when they don't worry about being like anybody else. King George VI struggled for years to be more like his father King George V who was an excellent speaker. When King George VI spoke in his own style, pauses and all, his subjects connected with him. They appreciated his struggle to better himself as a speaker. Although it was never easy for him to speak in public, King George VI's gained recognition as the voice of British resistance against the Nazis in large part because his struggle to be a better speaker demonstrated his commitment to the nation.

5. Be brief

There is oftentimes an inverse relationship between a long speech and its lasting impact. A short, well-crafted speech that has been adequately rehearsed can cause tremendous benefits. Most of George VI's speeches were well under ten minutes, and these are the ones that made the biggest positive impact on his subjects. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a contemporary of King George VI, was surely not suprised with the King's oratorical success. Roosevelt said the recipe for successful public speaking was "be sincere, be brief, and, be seated." Roosevelt's advice remains as timely now as it was when he said it.

Guinness Records and PR: What Works and What Doesn't

My father Barry Galvin was way ahead of his time. In 1978, he broke the Guinness World Record for hammock swinging to garner publicity for his two hammock stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1984, my friend Mark Ungar and I eclipsed my father's record of eight days by a couple hours. The 1984 record got additional exposure because Mark and I said that we wanted to draw attention to the sport of hammock swinging so it would be made an official Olympic sport (a particularly good angle since the '84 Summer Olympics was about to take place in Los Angeles).Both record-breaking efforts garnered excellent exposure for the family stores including TV, newspaper, and radio coverage and hammock sales spiked. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a photo of our record breaking endeavor so I'm using a photo of the world's largest portable hammock.

This week, The Wall Street Journal ran an interesting piece entitled "Fastest-Growing PR Stunt: Get Into Guinness Records" noting that Guinness has seen the number of record-breaking requests increase 250% over the past three years, with the majority coming from corporations. Apparently, as event marketing has become more widespread as a promotional tool—ranging from from rock concerts to walk-a-thons—marketers have been casting around for new ways to help their events get noticed, and they've discovered that a Guinness record attempt is a great way to build buzz on the cheap (it only costs about $4,700 to have Guinness register a record). 

Based on my experience and what I've seen from other companies that have turned Guinness records into valuable publicity, the key is to ensure that the record being broken is closely related to the product or service that a company offers so the buzz around a record truly promotes what a business does. I was surprised to read that some companies are breaking records in areas that are completely unrelated to their core activities. For instance, recently cosmetics giant Estée Lauder set a record for having the "most landmarks illuminated for a cause in 24 hours." And, what does that have to do with cosmetic products? I'll keep on the lookout for articles about the tangible benefits that Estée Lauder feels it got from its record.

The Power of Follow Up Seminar Provides the Keys to Referral Success

One of the biggest frustrations I hear from entrepreneurs is that they don't get enough referrals in spite of doing great work for their clients. This complaint always gets me to share a valuable piece of information that I learned at a Word of Mouth Marketing Association meeting a couple of years ago. According to a professor at Northeastern University (unfortunately, I can't remember his name), nearly 50% of all people need to be specifically asked for a referral in order to make one.The professor said that people are either so busy that they forget to make referrals or they have no idea that the person whose products or services they enjoy is looking for referrals. Thus, without a plan for getting referrals, it's likely you won't get nearly as many as you deserve.

If you're interested in a plan for developing referrals and long-term client relationships, I highly recommend The Power of Follow Up seminar coming to Portland October 15 from 1 to 4 PM. The presenter is Judy Garmaise aka "The Follow Up Expert" who has spoken for many Fortune 100 companies including New York Life, Merrill Lynch, Adecco, Ajilon and KForce. Judy has written for over 200 business journals on how a methodical follow up plan will guarantee both referrals and business success. I understand that the seminar is filling up fast so sign up as soon as possible at Insightful Women Speakers.

Rory Sutherland's Brilliant TED Speech Illustrating the Triumph of Perception over Actual Change

In this entertaining TED presentation, ad guru Rory Sutherland of Ogilvy shares some hilarious examples that illustrate how it is often much easier to improve the success of a product or service with the creative use of language than trying to implement expensive changes. Sutherland reinforces my longstanding belief that more companies fail not because they're selling the wrong things but they're telling stories that fail to engage customers.

Suffering Haitians Need Your Financial and Blogging Support in this Dire Time

The immense tragedy of the recent earthquake in Haiti generated hours of sad footage like the below coverage on the CBS Evening News. It was heartening to see the initial outpouring and sympathy from people around the world. However, since the media has an increasingly short attention span, it's likely that the story of Haiti's difficulties in providing sustained assistance to its suffering populace will receive very little mainstream media attention. If just one percent of the 135,000,000+ bloggers in the world, wrote a post encouraging people to donate to organizations supporting Haitians as they try to rebuild their lives, that would be 1,350,000 million influential voices of support.

I've chosen to give money to Mercy Corps, a secular non-profit international aid organization, because they have a proven track record for minimizing administrative costs while maximizing direct assistance to the needy in times of emergency. Doctors Without Borders, another well-run non-profit organization and Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1999), has teams on the grounds in Haiti that desperately need assistance to provide the long-term medical care that Haitians will require as they recover from the worst natural disaster to ever strike them.

Please do what you can to spread the buzz about donating money or blogging on behalf of the Haitians.

"Marketing Without Advertising": Video Excerpts from a Presentation at the Executive Officers Club (EOC)

I gave a keynote presentation on "Marketing Without Advertising" at the Executive Officers Club (EOC)  in Portland, OR on May 21, 2009. Below are are excerpts from that presentation. If you know an association or corporation interested in learning about word of mouth marketing, please refer them to this video or my speaking web page.

Wineries Turn to Social Media Contests and Announcements to Generate Buzz

A couple of months ago, Murphy-Goode Winery in California generated tons of buzz when it announced that it was looking for a social media guru to "demystify wine" using Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites. The six-month dream job included a $10,000/month salary and free lodging.

The marketing folks at Murphy-Goode were inspired to create the position when it saw how Tourism Queensland in Australia generated a lot of online and mainstream media attention when it sponsored the "Best Job in the World Contest" that paid its winner $150,000 Australian dollars to live on a Great Barrier Reef island for six months. Interestingly, Ben Southall, the winner of the Australian contest, is now being criticized in the blogoshpere for an online diary that followers say sheds little light on what a normal tourist would experience.

Approximately 2,000 people applied for the Murphy-Goode position and 900 videos were posted on the company's website, a key part of the application process. However, when the winery announced the 10 finalists, controversy erupted when some of the top vote-getters weren't selected. Seemingly, the PR snafu was smoothed over when Murphy-Goode Winery selected Hardy Wallace, a noted wine blogger from Atlanta as its social media guru.

Murphy-Goode is not the only winery trying to leverage the buzz surrounding social media. Today, the front page of the business section of The Oregonian highlights how Willamette Valley wineries are successfully using Twitter and Facebook to boost sales - particularly with younger consumers. It was particularly cool to read how this year's Indie Wine Festival was able to to sell a lot of unsold tickets simply by getting the word out to its Twitter followers.

Greenpeace's Publicity Stunt on Mt. Rushmore Achieved Its Objectives

On 7/8/09, three Greenpeace activities climbed on Mt. Rushmore and unfurled a giant banner with President Obama's profile and message saying “America Honors Leaders, Not Politicians. Stop Global Warming.” Immediately, news of this action spread around the world. The stunt was particularly effective at garnering media attention for three reasons:

1. It took place on one of America's most iconic memorials.
2. It's bold size and juxtaposition of President Obama vs. great past presidents created a powerful image.
3. It provided a strong visual image to illustrate the passion of environmentalists regarding the talks about global warming at the G8 meeting in Italy.

A journalist for the Rapid City Journal (SD), who had found my post in this blog about publicity stunts, called me to ask about the efficacy of the publicity stunt and ran my comments in a story about the Greenpeace effort. The article observed:

“I’m guessing activist groups around the world are going to be looking at this saying, ‘hmm, this might be a case study for us,’” said Patrick Galvin of Galvin  Communications in Portland, Ore. Galvin specializes in helping businesses build buzz without expensive advertising.

Greenpeace snapped a photo of the banner with an aerial camera, and a video camera operator near Highway 244 at the memorial broadcast live footage of the incident online.

Greenpeace released a well-timed statement about the demonstration and placed it prominently on its Web site, which included live updates posted on Twitter, an online microblogging site. 

Media organizations throughout the country quickly picked up the video and still images supplied by Greenpeace. The video, images and Twitter messages fleshed out news articles which initially took much of their information from a Greenpeace statement issued moments before the climbers unrolled the banner.

Galvin said he also was impressed by the activists’ adept use of Twitter. Before the event, friends and supporters of the organization and the climbers on Mount Rushmore eagerly spoke of the event on the online site Twitter in the hours and minutes leading up the banner drop.

Several of the climbers broadcast their location to the world via Twitter as they rappelled onto Abraham Lincoln’s stone face.

“Twitter has become this platform that, more than anything else, people are attracted to it for its immediacy,” Galvin said. “Having one of the rappellers tweeting about it was brilliant.”

In a subsequent interview that I provided the same day to The Christian Science Monitor, which appeared on 7/8/09, I observed that the Greenpeace effort might not be a total success:

Galvin said in terms of communicating a message effectively, he’d give it a “nine out of ten.” But the jury is still out he says on whether the overall strategy will work. That’s because Greenpeace broke the law and if any damage to Mt. Rushmore was done, it could be a big negative for the organization.

“If there was any defacement, if that banner whipped a piece of Abraham Lincoln’s nose, then the message will get diluted very quickly,” he said. “I’d give it a qualified thumbs-up.”

Since those articles appeared, it appears as if the Greenpeace publicity stunt served its purpose. Traffic to the Greenpeace website spiked as the story was reported around the world in thousands of blog and media outlets. The global warming debate seemed to garner a surge of discussion. The apparent lack of damage to Mt. Rushmore and quick release of the Greenpeace activists who carried out the stunt did not engender any long term negative consequences for the organization.

Super Bowl Ads Can Build Buzz

Today my wife and I joined 90 million other Americans in watching the Super Bowl on television. I was most interested in seeing the game but my wife, who never watches football, always makes a point of catching the Super Bowl to see the ads. It's the only time a year we actually use TiVo to rewind our favorite commercials.

Fox charged almost $3 million for some 30-second spots although most advertisers paid far less than that depending on when they bought the time, how much they bought and at what point in the game it's placed.

For such a princely sum of money, it's easy to be skeptical that a Super Bowl ad is a good marketing investment. While I'm usually very suspicious of the claim that television advertising is a good way to create buzz, the Super Bowl is an exception.

In an interesting Dow Jones article a couple of days ago, there are some interesting cases of companies that generated tremendous buzz from Super Bowl ads.

For instance, Nationwide Financial Services had one of last year's biggest buzz building commercials with a spot  featuring Kevin Federline, best-known as the estranged husband of Britney Spears, fantasizing about doing a music video while cooking up fries at a fast-food restaurant. That ad has passed into Super Bowl legend, largely because of the enormous publicity it generated, with free media exposure estimated at $23 million in value.

In addition, the company said the ad generated more than 600,000 visits to nationwide.com featured advertising page, with over 500,000 new visitors, and was viewed 832,579 times on its Website alone.

One of the few commercials from this year's Super Bowl which seems to be generating buzz in the blogosphere is the racy Danica Patrick ad for Go Daddy, an website registration company. The company has long been known for pushing the envelope when it comes to good taste. In fact, that seems to be strategy. This year, GoDaddy generated free media attention for having 10 spots rejected by Fox before the network finally accepted one to air. In fact, the company even created a website that features some of the rejected commercials.

Although the Go Daddy ads aren't very creative, I salute them for creating a web page that leverages their Super Bowl buzz. It's amazing that many other companies spent millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads and didn't attempt to drive consumers to their websites to watch the ad again or learn more about the company.