Author: Bitter

There are now two reports out that the first day of SHOT seemed to be much slower than years past.  Interesting.

I’ll be curious to know what today is like.  Did folks just want to shave a day off of travel to save a few bucks?  Or, are they doing such brisk business at home that they are trying to minimize time away?  Or, is it because all the distributors and companies are so backordered with current products that they just don’t see much of a need to go play with the new?

There are so many possibilities.  If you know someone in the industry who isn’t going to SHOT this year, or has shortened their time at the event, what is their reason for cutting attendance this year?

Every once in a while I am shocked and left speechless. After researching so many failed opportunities to really harness new media, Browning’s presence is like a beacon of light shining out of a computer monitor onto the floor of SHOT.

And no, I’m not just saying that because I’m in love with the Cynergy. I’m setting my Cynergy love aside for this review.

First, I decided to check out Browning after reading The Hog Blog’s review of their new Maxus shotgun from Media Day. I wondered if they even had anything on their website about this new gun now that fans were talking about shooting it. Seems kind of important when it comes to media, yet so many seem to fail at this simple task. If you have people talking about it, make sure they can come to you as the producer and get details so they can make the decision on whether they want to buy it when it is out on the gun store racks.

Score! Browning has the information right on their front page. Even better? It’s under a link to a blog that’s being run during SHOT Show with actual live updates from the floor. I believe my words, upon seeing an actual updated real life inspired post, were inspired by Heeding God’s Call: Holy crap!

More importantly, even though they announced their new gun back in November, Browning realizes that writers will start talking about their product now that they have it in hand. Since that starts with SHOT, they made sure that release was still on the front page. Even better, if you’re really interested in this new line, it’s easy to sign up to get more information from Browning as the product rolls out this year. Customers, they are a good thing!

But the good news on new media integration doesn’t end there for Browning. Remember how I highlighted Facebook groups for Ruger that had self-identified customers and nothing was posted about their new rifles and handguns? Browning is so ahead of that curve.

There’s the official Browning page which 2,125 fans, posts started on the discussion board by Browning staff about what customers want from their social networking outreach, an announcement about their own SHOT coverage, fans bragging about looking forward to the new gun, videos, and photos. It does look like postings by Browning are a little sparse, but hopefully that will improve.

I would suggest that Browning bring the 30 fans of the John M. Browning page in on the fun. Maybe join that group and add some fun facts or engage it a little more. It’s a small group, but they are folks who obviously love the man and hopefully the products still produced under his namesake.

However, it’s interesting that Browning opted to start a page instead of a group. It doesn’t appear that they are adding applications to it, but maybe they valued the tracking abilities over the higher profile personal messaging benefits of groups.

The Browning Group (704 members) and Browning-The Best There Is Group (550 members) don’t have any posts or news at all. While I understand that Browning has an official page, I don’t think that it’s worthwhile to write 1,254 members of other groups off.

In addition to mixed results on social networking attempts, the attempt to do and share video gets a “meh” reaction out of me. Maybe it’s because I’ve been so terribly disillusioned by Ruger’s failed attempt at something real, and I should rank Browning’s at a slightly better rating of “it’s there, but not quite right.”

Featured prominently on Browning’s SHOT blog is a video link. They have a small little video player that has, as of “press” time, five videos showcasing products actually on the floor there at SHOT. Four are about other products, and one is actual footage from Media Day. However, none of these videos can be shared or posted. If I wanted to share their video about the absolutely gorgeous John Moses Browning Signature Gun Case with a friend who might be interested, I can’t do that easily. I would have to tell them to go to the video page and find it, something that will become much harder once they upload more videos.

I’m a fan of managing expectations. I’d much rather under-promise and over-deliver. I also don’t believe in doing something just to say you did it, just to add another metric that means nothing to some final report.

Since I’m talking about new media at SHOT, I thought I would throw out this quote on the meaning of “viral” when folks think about online efforts.

That’s why if a client says, “we want to create a viral video,” my first question will usually be, “what do you mean by viral?” If it turns out that their goal is to create compelling content that people in their targeted audience will WANT to send to their friends and family, then we’re off in the right direction. But if they really mean, “we want to create a video that will become immensely popular and spread like wildfire and everyone will see it,” we’ve got some ’splaining to do.

Because nobody can really predict whether or not a given piece of video or writing will take off like crazy, and there are a lot of people trying to make it happen. It’s a question of timing, content and opportunity that’s inherently chaotic, and hundreds or thousands of viral attempts fail for every one that gets seen by enough people to hit the bigtime — say, to get promoted to the top of YouTube or picked up on tv. It’s so remote a possibility that it may not even be worth aiming for, other than for fun.

But, good content CAN spread widely to targeted audiences through viral channels, regardless of whether or not it breaks out to a larger/mass audience.

This is much like what I said yesterday about the potential of Ruger’s video efforts. I would never expect them to go viral in the way most people think of viral. But, it would be worth it for them to re-think their efforts so that their current and most dedicated customers could pass around content they find informative and interesting.  And it would be good if they actually produced material on site and posted it timely.  But that’s another issue.

One of the innovations with the most potential audience growth over the years has been internet radio. Consider that an event like SHOT would have to rely on phone interviews or set up a full radio row in order to get serious radio coverage for their vendors. I’ve run a radio row before. It is not fun. None at all. After it was over, I went straight to the bar.

But with online audio production, the potential reach of an audience is even larger than what it would be with a full radio row. (Whether any host has made that reach is another question.) So that means for anyone broadcasting live, while you still have the work of setting them up with lots of bandwidth, the payoff for SHOT and the vendors has more potential than your general regional radio host.

When you consider that podcasters don’t need to broadcast live if they have purchased their own recording software and gear, then there’s zero effort for a small payoff. Although considering how small most podcasting audience numbers are, it may not be worth the time of most staff at an event like SHOT. Plus, because it’s not written word, vendors must hope that podcasters have some sense of SEO in order to make the archived broadcast turn up in search results.

The most prominent of online broadcasters from SHOT would have to be NRA News. They will be broadcasting live beginning at noon on Thursday and Friday. But perhaps the most interesting element of the NRA News coverage is that it doesn’t stop on the show floor. They actually give vendors and newsworthy organizations year-round coverage when they replay the interviews during their regular show breaks.

However, their big weakness is the lack of linkable/embeddable archives. Add into that the fact that with a flash-only site, it can’t be searched through Google. In order to get the most out of these interviews, companies need to have someone who can record them when they air or request a digital copy from the broadcaster. It would be wise for new media PR staff to set up YouTube channels and special pages on the company website to highlight positive interviews. Integrate these with other new media efforts and traditional marketing videos to keep content fresh for the most dedicated followers. By making versions that can be embedded, a company’s most ardent supporters can become an army of advertisers.

For podcast interviews, I still suggest that companies get copies before the interview goes live so they can do their own editing. With a relatively basic video program, b-roll can be added to the audio to really spice it up, and highlight what you want in order to share it with your biggest fans online.

One of the issues podcasters will face when dealing with PR folks is that their reach, while easily measurable, is tiny compared to radio (internet or broadcast) and there’s less direct return. However, whenever it’s viewed as part of a community-wide conversation, it’s worthwhile for the new media PR to at least pay attention once a year. Is SHOT the best time? Depends on the company and what they have to offer. It’s definitely appropriate at the NRA Exhibits.

UPDATE: I see one vendor did decide to host a radio show in their booth on Sunday.  ACR Electronics has announced they will host “Xplor the Outdoors” with Jim Solomon on Sunday morning.  It airs both regionally and streams online.  Perhaps most beneficial to ACR and the other companies sending representatives to be interviewed is that fact that the show’s webpage features a very informative pre-post making it more likely that archives of the broadcast will be picked up by search engines when potential customers are searching for information about their products.

I got all excited! Ruger was going to feature video live from SHOT, starting with Media Day on Wednesday.

Except now it’s turning over to Thursday, and there’s still no video.

Under promise and over deliver. Don’t do the opposite.

UPDATE: Okay, now I’m picking on Ruger.  Video fail.

They pledged video from the show and Media Day on Wednesday.  They did not deliver, but I would forgive that if they ended up cutting a spectacular Media Day video.  What did they finally post on Thursday labeled as Media Day footage?  Stock video of their new revolver.  There wasn’t a single shot of Media Day – shooting, interviews, anything SHOT related – and it was all put together before they ever even showed up.

So count this as a fail for Ruger in use of video.  If it was all stock footage, there was no reason to delay the posting until Thursday and it should not have been advertised by boppy head girl as Media Day footage.

Now that it’s Thursday, why don’t we see how some of the other brands are or are not tapping into the online world to promote their presence and products.

Continue reading “It’s Midnight, Where are the Video Updates?”

This year, NSSF’s communications shop is using Twitter to send updates and reminders to members of the media and participants at SHOT Show. They actually got the idea from our use of Twitter to keep folks updated at the Blog Bash last year. From an event standpoint, I can’t imagine not using Twitter. In fact, looking back, I wish I used it for more events during the Bash.* I think between being unsure of how it would go over to the broken foot and not being an active Twitterer prior to the event, I didn’t realize just how useful it could be.

NSSFComm has learned quickly when it comes to Twitter. I notice that someone is replying to a few of the tweets directed at them. I never noticed some of the reply tweets to the Bash account last year and missed replying to them. NSSF has responded to some, and hopefully will engage with other Twitterers even more as the event progresses.

Twittering for event organizing is something, from my perspective, you won’t ever get 100% right. That’s not to say that it’s impossible to master, it’s simply that you’ll end up thinking of some other way you could have used it or some other event you should have reminded folks about via tweet. No doubt that if they continue it next year, NSSF will realize even more uses for the service.

I would suggest that they upload a logo as their avatar and brand their Twitter homepage. While most people won’t be following it during the show via the web, a few will. More importantly, when people follow it throughout the year, they may be more likely to follow via web than text message. NSSF has the capabilities to handle it, and I think it’s one of those key branding opportunities if they really want to be seen as embracing this new technology.

Perhaps the most useful thing about Twitter for industry at the SHOW may well be the search feature. As more users – media and non-media alike – utilize these new technologies, companies could get near instant feedback after their announcements.

Let me pick on Ruger again since they debuted new products today. Searching for them on Wednesday afternoon, I found the results in the attached image. (Click the image to enlarge.) Those highlighted in blue are about Ruger products in general. Those in gray are about the new Ruger models announced. (Those which aren’t highlighted seem to be about a dog and a baby.) When you click through to those accounts, they have a total of 161 followers. Now, that’s not a huge number. But consider that:

• SHOT hasn’t actually started yet;
• when I search for the term “SHOT Show” on Twitter, most of the tweets on the first search result page are from people noting that they are preparing to leave to arrive tonight or tomorrow morning; and
• getting a tweet about a product from someone you know is the kind of word-of-mouth advertising you can’t buy.

In other words, the potential for very targeted communication with customers is very high with Twitter. Even if starting a Twitter account and conversation isn’t in the plans, companies should be tracking their brand via Twitter. When things get busy on the show floor, attendees who are on Twitter will literally be able to text out a tweet and send it to dozens of their closest friends before you can even introduce yourself. It will offer the opportunity for real-time response to positive and negative feedback about your product pitches.

I’ll be tracking some of the other top companies during SHOT to see what pops up. They might be shocked by just how many are now using this service. In fact, if companies wanted to make it easier, they would encourage their employees to tweet about their experiences during the show, and create a tag for easy tracking. For example, Smith & Wesson might encourage folks to use #S-W and Barrett might opt for #Barrett or #BRifle. If they had a new media presence or information at their booth about their then they could build a community on the show floor with little extra effort.

Continue reading “Twittering SHOT”

I’m not going to SHOT, but I’m going to cover it anyway. How, you ask? Easy, I’m going to focus on new media opportunities taken and missed by SHOT organizers, SHOT participants, and the firearms/hunting community as a whole.

There are a few “facepalm” examples, and some signs of real innovation from the community and industry leaders in terms of new media presence. I’ll cover them both and spare no feelings in the process.

First up: Ruger

We already know about Ruger’s likely new product announcement since it broke on blogs before anywhere else. I’ll be curious to see how, if at all, this changes their launch. I doubt it changes a damn thing since most of the industry guys are too busy preparing to have much time to do change up their plans. In fact, I questioned whether it would even be noticed that the blogosphere already posted pictures since it happened the Sunday before the show. I suspect at least Ruger knows since the original picture was linked to on their servers, whether the rest of the outdoor media noticed is anyone’s guess.

Interestingly, Ruger is offering up videos from the show floor this year. So far, the first video merely explains what they will be doing with far too much head bopping. Hopefully there will be far less head bopping on the floor, it’s distracting. (I’m serious, no more head bopping!)

Overall, I’d say it’s an interesting change. It means they can link and email these in-house videos to their customers without having to hope for coverage from other outlets online. However, they are missing out on one of the biggest advantages of new media – the potential for viral videos. No, I don’t expect their SHOT coverage to make it to the video page of Fark anytime soon, but forums, blogs, and Facebook users can’t share or embed their videos. If there’s something I really like, there’s no URL for me to embed it here or share it on my Facebook account. What’s the point in that?

It’s good to see a major industry player get in on daily updates via online video or other formats, but it’s distressing to see that they choose to do it so their customers and fans can’t share their excitement with their other gun owning friends. And with the excitement over the Ruger scoop, I think that’s a big missed opportunity.

Speaking of Facebook, let’s see what Ruger has done to excite their customer base about their new offerings at SHOT…

• Ruger Fan Page? Nothing. (425 fans missed.)
• Ruger Group that had to be created by a high school kid from Wisconsin? Nothing, but Ruger should be alerted that there are some customer care concerns that probably should be addressed posted on the Wall. (33 members missed.)
• Ruger Rifles Group that was created by a guy in Iowa? Nothing. (231 members missed.)
• Ruger Revolvers Owners Group created by a guy in Michigan? Not a peep. (210 members missed.)
• Ruger Single Action Revolver Shooters Group created by a high school student? Not a word to promote themselves and encourage users to check out some of their other offerings. (28 members missed.)
• Ruger 10/22 Lovers Group created by a kid in Missouri? Nope. (435 members missed.)
• Rugers are Sexy Group created by someone in Kansas? Not a single word. (112 members missed.)

My point in noting who created these groups is the emphasize that these are real gun owners. These are the users who care enough about the product to organize other users and advertise for the company on their profile. There are 1,474 users out there who could get the message through this free and easy marketing attempt. (Granted, doing social network marketing is about a conversation, so I would suggest that a company’s new media PR person sign up and join these groups to not only let customers know about new offers, but to also participate to some degree. Assuming some crossover between the groups, Facebook groups dedicated to Ruger’s product would have hit about 1,100 potential customers at zero cost and with little time commitment.) In fact, the beauty of so many different groups is that your marketing audience self-segregates for you. Now you know exactly who to pitch the new revolver to as opposed to the guys who might like the new non-PC rifle.

This post isn’t meant to pick on Ruger. I’m going to look at many other companies and I can promise you that I will find even more missed opportunities. Overall, I’d say Ruger has a positive for doing video from the floor, but needs work to really harness the advertising power of their fans.