Apr 18, 2008
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
Today's Friday Fun is being turned over to Mugsy, Iris, Suzanne and Suzanne, a few of the women who are the heart of the the WowOWow - Women on the Web site. However, Girlfriend, they are not the founders (media celebrities: Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Mary Wells and Joni Evans). Nor are they are paid employees. Nor are they are formal volunteers. In fact, they have had little to no interaction with the women who launched WowOWow. And that was what mystified and intrigued me.
A little background .. early this week I wrote a post about three social networking communities, Dove, Shine by Yaoo! and WowOWow - Women on the Web, that are targeting women .. and not only "mommy bloggers." A couple of the WowOWow women reached out to me to tell me their reasons for being involved and committed to a community where the founders/contributors seldom engage with their peeps.
I had several reasons for this post. I wanted to share these four
amazing women with the Diva Marketing community; and in doing so, give
them a platform to tell their stories about their WowOWow experiences.
The learnings about how to build social networking community is
evolving and we continue to learn from each other.
At first I thought the post might find its way to the ladies who lunch, the founders, and perhaps help them understand/encourage them to be more "social"
within their own community. However, as the emails flew back and forth
among the vintage vixens (Iris' term .. love it!) and myself I began to understand these
smart, savvy women had created their own community. They didn't need,
nor were they really interested in, extensive interaction with the
founders (altho I'm sure it would be nice).
Organically they have assumed the role of
community managers. As anyone who has been involved in online community knows influence grows with interaction. The vintage vixens want to be
involved in the development of what they consider to be "their community." It would be wise of
WowOWow to listen and engage directly with these women.
It with pleasure that I turn Diva Marketing over to
Mugsy Peabody, Iris Odonata, Suzanne de Cornelia and Suzanne Conti
Mugsy Peabody
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis?
Mugsy Peabody:
When else in history have women over 40 been actively asked to express their opinions about anything in public?
I mean, since Seneca Falls, which was when? 1848? I have always been interested in what women say when they are in a space to speak safely and honestly about their lives. Reminds me of my grandmother's kitchen on the farm, when the men were off somewhere, and the women were cooking together, telling the truth about their lives because they knew they would be heard.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site?
Mugsy Peabody: What I found lots of women like me out there. It helps with the cosmic loneliness of having Mensa IQ without an interest in hanging out with a bunch of snobbish winos who smoke too much.
I really am amazed that the wowowow people didn't realize we'd want to get in touch with each other and build community.
But most of them don't just make friends with folks; they get handed "suitable" people by others to evaluate, so they probably wouldn't know what the rest of us do to hook up. Like George Sr. not knowing what a grocery scanner is.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why the active, very consistent participation in not only adding comments but engaging other women in conversation?
Mugsy Peabody: Good conversation is one of the great rewards for dressing up our eternal souls in this human suit and lugging this corporal body about the planet for whatever alloted years we have. It's a skill I learned early on, growing up in a family not unlike J.D. Salinger's Glass family. Three brothers (one actually a rocket scientist) and parents whose brains were incandescent, and an adopted sister who glowed with smart genes. My sister-in-law is a big shot techie at NASA, e.g. All sorts of people used to gather at our house just for such conversation.
So I get some of that juice from the wowowow site -- not necessarily from the contributors or the owners (two separate sets of people) but from the posts of these amazing women who are sharp enough to have found the wowowow site in its beta state.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question .. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the convos?
Mugsy Peabody: For starts, the authors aren't necessarily the most interesting women on www.wowowow.com. (And I think that really surprised them!) So we're not really talking with them alone. Certainly if they want to join in, fine. Second, I'm honing my "voice" for my own web efforts, retrieving my humor writing skills. I must say, I've been really touched and gratified by the reception I've received in this community. And, third, who knows? The WowOWow women might just learn something from the rest of us.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What advice would you give people building communities who would die for peeps like you who organically take an active role in the conversation?
Mugsy Peabody: Make it really interesting for us. For example, we loved Joan Julia Buck's piece on Ms. Streep. And Jane Wagner's Care-Toons on the earth were so fabulous. Women over the age of 40 are some of the most experienced, inciteful, "smart" folks on the planet. Even though retired "soccer moms" are routinely ignored as being an interesting demographic, that is a serious error, a blind spot on the radar, because those women are the best organizers we have, and they determine where the household dollars get spent.
I know Ms. Tomlin can get down with "just folks," but I seriously wonder how many of these people are democrats with a small 'd'. And, P.S., for godzakes, don't try to BS us, because we have BS radar for days.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give to the founders?
Mugsy Peabody: Hire
me to help them get on track. Just one example: Whoopi Goldberg is the
only women of color on the masthead, and she hasn't bothered to fill in
her profile. Of course, that gets "read" as them saying, at the last minute, "Oh, we'd better get Whoopi, cause we'll drop a big piece of the audience if we're all white."
(Well, guess what, ladies? The whole dern rest of the country is
actually serious about pluralism! [Ms. Tomlin's support of Richard
Prior earns her a lifetime street cred on this issue.])
And of course, they've already dropped the Asian demo -- and trust
me, that's where their lack of inclusion will hurt them, cause my
Asian-American friends drop more cash at Tiffany's and on designer
bling bling than anyone else I know. As to today's blunder of talking
about how they "confuse" their "hired help" with "friends," oh, well, where do you even start with that? Hire me. I'm worth my weight in gold.
A little about Mugsy Peabody
I'm 61 years old, and live in Oakland, California. I've lived in the Bay Area since I came here with flowers in my hair, 38 years ago, and used to play pass tag on the Golden Gate Bridge with Janis Joplin. While I may walk a little slow, I still have god's own rock and roll in my soul. I don't disclose much personal information on the net, since what I have to offer here is my written stuff, and you've already got that. My beta blog site, Mugsy Peabody Online, first posting.
Sidebar: Mugsy's writing is absolutely as refreshing, funny and as smart as you would expect!
Iris Odonata
Greetings Miss Toby:
Where to start, where to start. Saw Mary, Leslie, Liz and Joni interviewed by Diane Sawyer on GMA at very beginning of site launch. Decided to visit and see what was up. Had only posted infrequently on a couple of other sites. Got drawn in by the idea of us vintage vixens having a forum for our voices. I have been awaiting this source of energy finally finding it's spark ...
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis?
Iris Odonata: You have and you must admit there are some of the most erudite contributors. Smart, funny, irreverent, brilliant, giving, educational and generous. Paying it forward and helping each other evolve. I am not speaking just of the Masthead Mavens. I am speaking of us just regular folks. This is Upstairs/Downstairs, Gosford Park stuff.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site?
Iris Odonata: Same reason I read on continuous basis. Plus, if I can get to half of Suzanne de or Mugsy or The Old Crone's brain power. These women are mentors in a way I could never have dreamed possible. I always knew I would be late bloomer. These AMAZING! woman are a gift.
This is accelerated, cut-the-crap, no nonsense practical and pragmatic information on just about any subject you could possibly want. Suzanne de may just single-handedly jump start activism again. That woman is one force to be reckoned with. Plus, there is "culture" being discussed. Gaudi/Gehry. Feadships? Learned something new on that one.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why the active, very consistent participation in not only adding comments but engaging other women in conversation?
Iris Odonata: Learning, teaching, being. Nice to be asked to the table. We've discussed the disappearing bees. Me thinks they are in our bonnets. This site is thought provoking and endearing, humbling and hubris busting. X marks the spot. X chromosome that is and this site will not only earn gadzillions, it'll let the boys in power know (who might be trying to learn their opponents weaknesses) swarm behavior is unpredictable. Swarm goes where the queen goes and each of us is a queen.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question .. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the convos?
Iris Odonata: Yes that is a big question. Do they care? Don't they? Set the cat among the pigeons, eh? I think they'll end up with the precise focus group they want as us "first posters" start make off-line contact. We may become more watchdoggish ourselves.
The Ladies who started this aren't really in control of it. They just own it and it's going to go where it goes.
I e-mailed Mugsy this a.m. and said this site is deliciously layered, just like Baklava. There are many many threads in this web. The convo twixt the foursome yesterday, will be read much differently "those" of their "echelon." Made me think of the famous Cavafy poem, "Barbarians At The Gate."
I don't want anyone dying to get a peep like me active in convo. This site has taught me that 54 years on the planet now comes with a users fee. So yeah, make it worth my while. Either compensate me financially or engage me emotionally. If it ain't got heart, I ain't interested.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give to the founders?
Iris Odonata: Get this thing more organized ASAP. We need a
venue just for continual/ongoing conversation, seperate from the
content exploration of daily question or brand promo. I think they get
that they are not dealing with dummies, irregardless of our
educational/geographical backgrounds. They also need to be upfront as
to why they want our input. You yourself are probably receiving scads
of useful information here so you can advise your clients as how to
best capture their market share.
A little about Iris Odonata's
Iris Odonata's bio....I am writing her memoirs now. I let you know when they are ready for publication. Sidebar: Yes, Iris please let me know when your memoirs are ready for blogging! Love your phrase vintage vixens also!
Suzanne de Cornelia:
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis?
Suzanne de Cornelia: I
admire the founders' highly successful media careers, and that now in their
50s-80s they are undertaking an entrepreneurial venture. I wanted to be at
the party.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site?
Suzanne de Cornelia: As a former
designer I find the clean architectural look and white/black/red scheme appealing and snazzy. The content is well organized and runs the gamut
of glitzy fun to topical and serious. It forces you to reexamine your
beliefs.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why the active, very consistent participation in not only
adding comments but engaging other women in conversation?
Suzanne de Cornelia: Three reasons
really. 1) I'm very sporty and techy and just shattered my foot and am confined to bed-rest. So the chatty site is a godsend. 2) I've been an
activist and involved in major projects my
entire life, and like to help grow
things and to support and also challenge other women. 3) Because my novel
"French Heart" will be out the end of the year and I'm also relocating to
France I want to develop an online network. The women who've thus far emailed
me from the site are Francophiles like me, including a writer who lives in
Provence where I'm headed.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question
.. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the
convos.
Suzanne de Cornelia: Theoretically, I'm partly using the site as a focus group for my
book, and building word-of-mouth. In practice I wind up shooting myself in
the foot by feeling obligated to respond to factually false responses on
things like unregulated derivatives trading and how it propelled the
foreclosure crisis,
then wind up pulling freight for free. The
founders need to either become more involved in the conversations, or hire
a moderator. When Mary Wells said on Charlie Rose that they are spending all
their time on this, I thought, "Hello?!" I know nothing compels me to do
it besides some feeling of responsibility in me when I see something posted
that demands an affirmation, acknowledgement,
or correction.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What advice would you give people
building communities who would die for peeps like you who organically take
an active role in the conversation?
Suzanne de Cornelia: Match the site to a passionate market.
The political, celebrity, society gossip, wine blogs, and other specialty
sites from cats to Joan of Arc garner that kind of readership. Look at the
Top 100 Blogs on Technorati and the Yahoo Groups for clues. Mainly I think
it is something that you need a real passion for yourself otherwise you'll
burn out.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give
to the founders?
Suzanne de Cornelia: The most popular class at Harvard today states the
recipe for happiness is finding activity that is pleasurable and purposeful.
From what I gather, WoW will be making some technical adjustment
to make
maneuvering through the site more pleasurable, and will be developing the
Change the World section in a manner that will make visitors feel more
purposeful. Those two things will really add to the site. However, there's
a certain dissonance the founders need to clarify: They write about their
lives tooling around glitzy locales, attending First Nights with
celebs, sponsors are high-end, and the weekly financial column is a summation of trends that would benefit those with hefty well-portfolios. But
when hundreds of readers responded to an economy-related question they
clearly wanted pragmatic advice.
There's a dichotomy between the
demographic they want to attract, and the one that is showing up and
demanding they be more diverse and inclusive.
Sidebar: The Change the World section launched on Thursday. It's my understanding this was one of the first times when the vintage vixens were
asked their opinions about how a feature should be developed. The energy
and excitement of helping to create the site comes through loud and
clear in comments.
A little about Suzanne de Cornelia: I managed $1 billion
in major design and construction for Fortune 100 firms and top
universities. Then an accident cost me $700K and my 20-year career. I
retrained in the UCLA writing
program, wrote my novel, and live in San
Francisco where I belong to two Web 2.0 groups.
Sidebar: Suzanne authors a delightful site My French Heart.
Suzanne Conti
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis?
Suzanne Conti: The caliber of the women contributing their comments - they were well informed, witty and I felt similar enough in views and characteristics to mine that we could have a real discussion of kindred souls. I enjoyed the amount of differences and new aspects in thoughts presented that stimulated serious consideration on my part on the issues. There was enough common ground to relate to each other, but not so much as to be clones.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site?
Suzanne Conti: That this site brought me together and allowed me to meet and have dialog with these fascinating accomplished blogging women who have and continue to make an impact on the world. I am not a “lunch” lady - I have been too busy working at a demanding career. But I do want to join with other women to make a difference.
The whole sexism issue coming back to light with Hillary’s campaign has raised my hopes that the activism of my generation of women would be reignited. Since I started my lawsuit against my employer in 2004 for glass ceiling, unequal pay I have been deeply disappointed (not surprised though) in women’s lack of willingness to do anything about their oppression – other than whine. I have also witnessed women’s unwillingness to support other women, to unite for progress. I was hoping this Wow site would be a mechanism to unite women willing to finish the women’s liberation we started decades ago.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question
.. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the
convos.
Suzanne Conti:
I am not a celebrity chaser and really could care less if they join in the conversations. I am there to talk with other women of substance who log on. These women have renewed my faith in humanity. I had no idea such thinking witty women were out there since I have spent most of my life in a male world of work as well as at home – brothers, husbands, sons.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What advice would you give people
building communities who would die for peeps like you who organically take
an active role in the conversation?
Suzanne Conti: It is all about the quality of the conversation, I am too busy to invest time reading and blogging back to small minded people and have no interest in just chatting – I am a doer- that is how I have achieved all that I have in my life I am not an idle chatter.
My husband is highly accomplished and my sons – one got a full ride scholarship to University of Michigan’s medical school and the other got a major scholarship to an art college on the east coast and was honored at Carnegie Hall for winning art awards, he also won an award that sent him to France for 3 weeks to study art there. I do not want to discuss what I sleep in and how many people I have slept with - Career women concerned about their professional reputation do not discuss such crap.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give
to the founders?
Suzanne Conti: Reduce to a minimum - the gossip Cosmo type
trivial articles or come out and tell the bloggers what your vision and
mission statement is so we know if we are in line with your goals. Recently, I am beginning to feel WowOWow is an oxymoron – wanting
intelligent, accomplished, women of substance to log in and then they
present such trivial, gossip, superficial topics. In all honesty I had
my concerns when I saw Liz Smith was one of the founders, but had no
idea she was going to be the dominant celebrity contributor – and
apparently nobody crosses Liz Smith!
A little about Suzanne Conti: At a time when women were traditionally in administrative positions Suzanne spent the majority of her career in a management positions in the male dominated auto industry. True to her husband's assessment of her as triple A type personality Suzanne was even the youngest buyer at a major Big 3 company .
In this world of social media we continue to learn together. Toss of a
pink boa to Mugsy, Iris, Suzanne and Suzanne!
Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Mary Wells and Joni Evans .. here's the secret .. you may have jump started
the convos but you are not the heart of your own
community.
My advise .. hire these amazing women to continue doing what they have been doing .. building community. Let the vintage vixens know that you are listening and involve the community in the creation process. It might be nice if you reached out in the digital world and in the offline world. However, a bit sadly, that's not really necessary.
Apr 15, 2008
Question: What does Dove soap, Yahoo!, a comedian - Whoopi Goldberg, a TV journalist - Lesley Stahl, and a gossip columnist - Liz Smith have in common?
Answer: They are tapping the hottest demographic trend in social media networking .. YOU. Me. Us. Girlfriend!
Recently BlogHer and Compass Partners co-sponsored a primary research study that provides some much needed insights about women who blog and women who read blogs. The findings were presented at BlogHer Business earlier this month. A few interesting stats from the survey. Among the respondents who participated (blah blah blah):
- 36.2 million women write and read blogs every week
- Approximately half consider blogs a “highly reliable” or “very reliable” source of information and advice about everything from products to presidential candidates.
- 24 percent of women surveyed say they now watch less television because they are blogging instead.
- 55% would give up alcohol
- 50% would give up their PDAs
- 42% would give up their i-Pod
- 43% would give up reading the newspaper or magazines
- BUT, some things are sacred … only 20% would give up chocolate!
Sidebar: PowerPoint of the study is posted at BlogHer. The link is at the end of the post.
Small wonder that within the last few weeks several social media networking sites, targeted to women, were launched by Dove, Yahoo! and a group of women celebrities. Take a sip of your skinny latte, I prefer my vanilla, and let's explore what these new sites have to offer US.
Dove
After it's successful Campaign For Real Beauty Dove (Unilver) became the darling of the marketing/advertising/pr world. The no-make-up-beauty-is-in-the-heart campaign also resonated with its target audience. Working with Ogilvy North America Dove is partnering with MSN to create dove.msn.com/
- Our goal is to become a global leader and a true digital media force by completely redefining the digital experience for women worldwide. We can do this by leveraging the Dove "real beauty" credentials -- our philosophy, compelling content and product offerings. Kathy O'Brien, marketing director Dove North America Money Central
The site is heavily branded including free product samples. Blogs, columns, discussions seem to blur together. Didn't see much participation or comments but it's early in the game. There is def lots to do on the site including games for tweens and social media profiling, ask the experts columns and product info. Demo target seems run from young girls to moms to women in general. A frustration for me was the content is "locked" .. can not be copied and pasted. Not very 'social.'
Big Question: Can Dove leverage the Campaign for Real Beauty concept
and goodwill to create a community where women will feel
comfortable and want to participate? Can you be all things to all peeps .. from young teens/tweens to 20-something, 30-something, ?-something?
Shine - Yahoo!
My first impression of Shine was .. a slick publication. There are nine categories including fashion, beauty, parenting, health, love and sex, food. Shine editors are responsible for content development. In addition blogs and articles are pulled from Yahoo!'s other lifestyles publishers (including male writers). Community members can add their comments and digg, del.icio.us, stumble, technorait and buzz up the post.
Shine is targeting the 25-54 audience - .. a highly sought-after demographic for advertisers. From a Yahoo! news article a new buzz word for this demo - Chief Household Officer. Wonder what Susan or Marianne or Jeneane would think of their new title (wink!)?
- We didn’t want to be a site just for moms or just for single women or working women, or any specific demo- or psychographic. We wanted to create a smart, dynamic place for women to gather, get info and to connect with each other and the world around them. Shine About Us Page
Big Questions: Can Yahoo! turn the "slick shine" down a notch or two? Can you be all things to all peeps .. from 20-somethings to 50-somethings?
Sidebar: Toss of a pink boa to Yahoo!for reaching out to women around the U.S., bloggers and not, asking for feedback about
Shine. I was looking forward to attending the session in Atlanta, alas! my hot water heater had
other plans for me. I won't go into details except to say walking on
squishy carpet is not a fun thing. Back in Skinny Jeans attended in CA and has a great post about her experience.
WowOWow - The Women On The Web
Here's the deal - you're smart, you're successful, you're rich, you're 40+ and you "know everybody." You want to make money, be an entrepreneur, get involved with something new on the web. Your journalist friend is complaining she is getting cut from 5-days a week to 3-days. Another chum wants to write more than about politics.
Over lunch an idea is born. Together you'll create a site where you can talk to your friends and invite other accomplished 40+ women to the conversation. It doesn't hurt that you and your girlfriends can each invest $200k or a total of a cool $1 million. You knock on your friend Tiffany's and Sony's doors for a few ads and launch a "ladies who lunch site."
Snippets from Charlie Rose's Interview with the founders: Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Mary Wells and Joni Evans
Charlie Rose - When you say geared to women over 40 what does that mean?
Joni
Evans – It means women who have had experience, women who have had
education, women 
who have had careers, women who have lived.
Leslie Stahl – Virtually every woman who is a
contributor is a known person. And they are commenting and writing on
something you wouldn’t expect that person to write about. Candice
Bergen on politics. Leslie Stahl on her new mattress.
I wanted to love WowOWow. Really I did. Accomplished, smart women reaching out to a demo who had been neglected. I wanted to love WowOWow. Really I did. I love Liz Smith's wit, and Candice Bergen's savvy and Mary Wells forged paths in advertising for women and Lesley Stahl is from Swampscott, MA where my college roommate lived. I wanted to love WowOWow really I did. Behind the scenes with the cool celebs who seemed to want to include me in their world. I wanted to love WowOWow really I did. But it falls flat for me.
Maybe they don't really want to talk to us. Trust me when I tell you I have spent significant time wandering around the site. I call it a site because it's way far not a social networking community. It's rather like being invited to join the "in group" in high school and then being ignored. In the Charlie Rose interview (he asked great questions but the women danced around giving straight responses) the founders made a big deal about the "conversation." However, few join in on their own conversations to talk to the peeps.
Sidebar: There are several women who actively comment and encourage conversation on many, many, many of the posts. Suzanne de Cornelia, Mugsy Peabody and Suzanne Conti. WowOWow has hired five employees and call me cynic but I can't help but wonder if these are them.
Maybe they don't really like us. In chat about privacy Julia Reed commented: I read somewhere that like 10 times the amount of people now Google themselves as did five years ago. I mean, you know, just … not people like Candice, who have reasons to be written about. What does that mean?
My ah ha moment is .. I don't think the founders of WowOWow get what
social media or building a social media networking community is about.
In the Charlie Rose interview when asked what blogs they read, Drudge
and news sites a la the Huffington Post (not a big surprise) were
mentioned. Women of the Web do you know there are vibrant communities of
women bloggers who are your target audience?
However, barely a few weeks old the site is doing quite nicely thank you kindly. My favorite bit in the Charlie Rose interview was when Joni Evans stopped herself because she wasn't "allowed to talk about" the site stats. Liz tossed off, “Go ahead. You have 100 books on the best seller list you can talk about any damn thing you please.” So she did. Average length on the site about 8.5 minutes - as of April 8th. Not an earth shattering piece of information. If the number of comments = success than out of the virtual box WowOWow is a huge success. Some posts are pulling in 20, 30, 50 comments and some have hundreds.
For me the lesson learned is that women want to express their opinions to women who they admire and might be paying attention even if there is no feedback. What does that mean? Is that part of the culture of the 40+ women .. that an outlet for expression is enough even if there is no conversation or response from the author? Is that what the political blogs have taught us? That it's enough to state your opinion but don't expect a response from the candidate? Or is it just as the SNL character Linda Richmond said, "Talk among yourselves."
Big Questions: Is this is a play toy for the founders or can they sustain the writing into year two and beyond? Will WowOWow turn into a female version of the Huffington Post (no shame in that)? Is it all about the celebrity?
Update: Suzanne de Cornelia and Mugsy Peabody DMed me. Neither they nor Suzanne Conti are part of the paid staff. To be continued ..
Feb 28, 2008
The lines of MSM (main stream media) and social media continue to blur. Last week I received a press release pitch that said, "As a member of the Atlanta media ..." Now, Girlfriend I readily admit that I've always coveted a backstage press pass and I love those cute foreign correspondent jackets with zillions of pockets, but I've never considered Diva Marketing to be media.
Sidebar: In an up-coming interview with RichardAtDell, that will post on Monday 3-3, RichardAtDell told me that unlike some companies e.g., Target, Dell doesn't distinguish anymore between a blogger and mainstream media.
Interesting. 
Diva a la Murphy Brown .. wonder how those jackets would look with a pink boa ;-) Photo of me - in a pink boa, with RichardAtDell and Brendan Hurley Goodwill of Greater Washington at the AiMA cocktail party, complements of Geoff Livingston
As with many other bloggers those pitches continue to arrive. Last week I also received a personalized email from Anand Chopra-McGowan, who with a few friends, recently launched a new community. Oh no! Toby you're thinking spare us one more social networking community! This one is a little different. YouIntern.com targets college students who are looking for internships and the organizations that provide those internships. Wonderful idea!
In the true sense of social media networking, not only does the site provide links to opportunities but candid reviews of the companies. Wonderful idea! Just for fun here's 
Atlanta based Turner Broadcasting System. Please click to enlarge the image.
I asked Anand Chopra-McGowan to tell us the the who-how-and-why. Remember as YouIntern.com becomes a social media rock star .. you heard it on Diva!
Toby/Diva Marketing: About YouIntern.com: What's it all about Anand?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: It's simple: we encourage advertising students to review their
internship experience on YouIntern.com. We then link these students
with employers, who post their open internships so students can apply
after reading reviews. We also solicit expert advice from advertising
industry professionals and write some sharp blogs so as to provide as
much information as possible to students, and to keep them coming back. Our goal is to build a community that allows students to find
worthwhile internships, and employers to recruit more qualified,
energetic, motivated interns.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Back Story: Are you and Dan the 2 adv execs noted in your release? Who are the students mentioned in the release? Do you come from the same school? Is this a class project?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: Yes, Dan and I work in advertising. I was recently at Arnold in Boston,
now Director of Development at The Ad Club of Boston (so that
connection's covered! Haha), and Dan is in account management at BBH in
NYC. Dan Chaparian, Anand Chopra-McGowan Jason Kahn, Jeff Li - Dan and I graduated from BU in May ;07, Jason and Jeff are current juniors there. After having some frustrating and some very rewarding internship experiences, Dan and I came up with the idea for an internship rating/review site. No, it isn't a class project.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Agency Involvment: How active a role are the agencies taking?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: We realized that in order to truly have an impact on the way internships work, we had to bring the agencies into the equation. Students could then apply for open internships, and employers interacting with the site could see what students were saying about their experience. The ideal situation (and we've reached this already in the case of a few agencies) is to have an open
internship posting from a company, and compare it to a review right there, from a student.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Response from Agencies: What do the agencies think of the concept, especially when they might get a "bad review?"
Anand Chopra-McGowan: Agencies
have been incredibly positive to the idea, with HR managers eager to
hear what students say about their internships. We've found that
YouIntern.com is able to provide a forum for feedback, without the
awkward, often scary, prospect of telling your internship manager
exactly how you feel, directly to him or her.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Promotion: How are you getting the word out?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: Since we're currently focused on advertising/marketing/pr only, we're getting the word out in a number of targeted ways: For students, letters/emails/calls to Professors at universities across the country, career services offices, posters on campus, Facebook social ads and groups, and we're testing with some Google AdWords.
For agencies, various forums across the internet, painstakingly compiled email lists for agency executives across the country, letters and "intern trading cards" mailed to them, follow-up phone calls, bloggers like you!! We plan to develop working relationships with Ad Clubs, AAAA, AAF, and
such.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Monetization: How do you plan to monetize .. what is your revenue model?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: At this point, our only monetization is a few Google ads on the site. Once we reach certain bencmarks, however, we'll be charging for premium postings, more prominent listings, the ability to upload photographs, direct applications from the site. We also are working to develop partnerships with various players, where premium members receive certain discounts, like magazine subscriptions and such.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Sustainability: How will the site be sustained over time?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: This is the wonderful thing about YouIntern.com. Every year we will have a certain percentage of users graduate, and that exact same percentage come in as freshmen. Internships are now an immediate concern for most college students, and these freshmen will have access to our incredible database of content and opinion as soon as they start school. As they experience various internships, this database will grow. Further, most internship reviews, barring any huge changes at the agency, will stay valid for at least 4 or 5 semesters. And finally, we plan on introducing a number of forum and interaction features that will allow users to ask each other questions, update reviews, and help keep content current.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The Future: Full-time gig?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: Yes, if all goes as planned, this could definitely be a full time venture. Jason and Jeff developed the platform using a programming language called Drupal.
Sidebar: Interesting resource for job hunters to use to understand a company's corporate culture.
Feb 26, 2008
Diva Marketing Talks
is a live, internet radio show. 30-minutes. 2-guests. 1-topic about
social media marketing. Why? To help you understand how to participate
in the "new" conversation without getting blown-up. Miss today's show?
You can pick it up as a podcast.
Today's Diva Marketing Talks explores an innovative, new model for a social media community. Dr. Daniel Palestrant, Founder CEO of Sermo, and Dr. Richard Thrasher, community member, join me to talk about Sermo, an online community open only to doctors (a niche) where for a fee sponsors can listen in, ask questions but not fully participate.
Big question: Would this model work for other verticals/market segments like moms or golfers or accountants or patients?
Topic for February 26, 2008: Where the Docs Are .. Someone Waits For Them. Paid Sponsors in a Social Networking Community.
Time: 6:30p - 7p Eastern/ 5:30p - 6p Central/ 4:30p -5p Mountain/ 3:30p - 4p Pacific
Call-in Guest Number: 718.508.9924
Guests:
Daniel Palestrant
Daniel Palestrant is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge-based Sermo, Inc. As CEO, Daniel is responsible for the overall vision of the Sermo community and business. His main tasks focus on ensuring that Sermo is a valuable resource to physicians while building a profitable and socially responsible enterprise.
Daniel's first experiences with Healthcare Informatics came when he conceived, designed, proposed and managed deployment of CIBUR (CIGNA Internet Based Universal Resource), one of the first commercial Web-based healthcare resources for physicians and allied health professionals. No stranger to the entrepreneurial side of medicine, Daniel founded his first company, Azygos, Inc., in 1998. During that time, he successfully raised $2.2MM in funding and deployed the company's first clinical application on schedule and on budget, before selling the company to BioNetrix in May of 2001.
After selling Azygos, Daniel joined BioNetrix (Now BNX Systems) as Director of Health Care. During his time at BNX Systems, Daniel helped numerous healthcare-focused businesses increase network security, improve patient privacy safeguards and comply with HIPAA. Daniel has done clinical and laboratory research in transplant immunology. He has a B.S. in biology from Johns Hopkins University, completed medical school at Duke University, and trained in General Surgery at Beth Israel-Deaconess Hospital, in Boston before leaving to launch Sermo.
Dr. Richard Thrasher
Dr. Richard Thrasher is board certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology. He established ENT practice - The Ear, Nose, & Throat Center at McKinney. He is also an active member of the Sermo community.
Dr. Thrasher received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah and his medical degree from the University of Connecticut. He completed a general surgery internship in Denver before going on to an Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery residency at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. While in residency, Dr. Thrasher spent significant time at Denver Children’s hospital (routinely rated in the top 10 children’s hospitals in the country) and has a particular interest in pediatric ENT.
Upon completing residency, Dr. Thrasher served on clinical faculty with the University of Nebraska Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery while he served as a Major in the USAF for 3 years at Offutt AFB in Nebraska. During this time he won three awards for best instructor as a clinical preceptor for family medicine residents and physician assistant students. He also served as medical director of the surgical service and chief of otolaryngology at his base hospital.
Dr. Thrasher was the first otolaryngologist in Nebraska, and first in the Air Force, to perform the new Balloon Sinuplasty® surgery. He was also the first otolaryngologist in Nebraska to perform an innovative base of tongue procedure for sleep apnea and is one of only 6-7 surgeons in the country currently doing this procedure. He has extensive experience performing the Pillar Palatal Implant® procedure for snoring. He has authored several publications and remains active in pursuing clinical research in sinusitis and sleep apnea.
Dr. Thrasher’s special interests include pediatric ENT, snoring/ obstructive sleep apnea, thyroid surgery, and sinus surgery. He is an active golfer and self-proclaimed technology geek. He lives in Plano with his wife and 2 children but hopes to move to McKinney in the next several months.
Tips From The Diva Bag
Complements of Dr. Richard Thrasher
- Log on frequently and just observe how things work for a little while. Some may feel comfortable seeing the personality of the site within a couple of days, some may need some more time. But I would observe how the interaction works first before just jumping in with a post. There is an etiquette on-line that is not always readily apparent to novices.
- When you do begin to interact, do so frequently. If you make a comment or post a topic, follow up on it frequently to see if there is any feedback regarding your input. This will definitely bring you into the community. Those who post and run will not feel like they develop a relationship with other users as well.
- Avoid trying to make overt discriminatory comments—this is the surest way to be ostracized. Whether you have a bias toward something whether it’s race, gender, educational background, etc, if you make those types of comments known, you will be quickly attacked. I have seen this on many on-line communities. Most importantly be open-minded of the opinions of others and at least respectful even if they’re factually wrong. There are definitely better ways to handle differences of opinion than through attacks.
- Disclose, disclose, disclose. If you market yourself or a product on Sermo and do not disclose a financial interest, but one is discovered, you will immediately be ostracized by the community at large. If you fully disclose your interest in the marketing, you stand a fighting chance of having a constructive discussion of your particular topic.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions about patients who have a diagnosis that you can’t figure out or who has an adverse event that you want to discuss. Often these are the best discussions on Sermo.
Can't call in but have a question? Drop a
comment and I'll ask it for you. Let me know what you'd like Diva Talks
to chat about. Don't forget Diva Marketing Talks morphs into a podcast.
Update: Enoch Choi, MedHelp of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation joined the conversation. If you have any interest in healthcare in the U.S. or where physicians' interest are in changing the healthcare system do not miss the After Show. In Ophra style, the After Show continues on a free for all flow for as long as the conversation goes on.
Feb 4, 2008
From blogs to podcasts to vlogs to micro blogs to social media networking communities brands continue to explore marketing opportunities. Laura Bennett from Embrace Pet Insurance shares her challenges and lessons learned about Why Facebook?
About Embrace Pet Insurance
Embrace Pet Insurance is a pet health insurance for cats and dogs. Every Embrace Pet Insurance policy is 100% underwritten by Lloyd's of London. Now that's some classy insurance!
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why use a social networking site, like Facebook, to promote the brand?
Laura Bennett: I’m fascinated by the development of online social networks and participate in a number of them myself. I thought that if I enjoyed interacting with other like-minded (or not) people online, maybe our Embraced pet parents (as we like to call our policyholders) and other friends of Embrace might be too. Embrace on Facebook.
At the core of it though, the open nature of Facebook dovetails very much with the Embrace philosophy - an upfront and honest interaction with just about anyone who wants anything to do with Embrace. Insurance is all about trust and pet insurance hasn’t had the best reputation in the past. Our mission is to change the flighty image of pet insurance one person at a time. Facebook puts Embrace out there in a real way and lets our audience decide if we mean it or not.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why in particular Facebook?
Laura Bennett: I like the flexible, clean look, the growing number of real people on the site, and the demographics of where Facebook is going (older, more affluent) – I think it matches our customers more closely than say MySpace. Having said that, we also have a presence on MySpace but I don’t personally run that.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What is success for Embrace's Facebook strategy?
Laura Bennett: The ultimate success would be for the Embrace group (I’ve Been Embrace By Embrace Pet Insurance) to take on a life of its own and to be run by Embrace evangelists. Just think how incredibly powerful that would be.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Is your Facebook strategy supported by other tactics?
Laura Bennett: I’ve been writing a blog on pet insurance for 2.5 years now with the same upfront and honest feel so the two go together but apart from that, we’re not doing very much right now. Since we’re an early stage company, our resources are very focused and my attention is on fundraising at the moment. Once that painful process is finished for a while, we’ve definitely got a few ideas we’d like to implement. Can’t spill the beans right now though. Would love to hear any brilliant ideas on what we could do though – what do your readers think?
Sidebar: Check out my guest post about how I found Max.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Are you/will you also use ads on facebook to complement the initiative?
Laura Bennett: We’ve used some ads on Facebook with little success as they weren’t very targeted; however, it wasn’t a coordinated approach. Perhaps that’s another thing to add to the to-do list!
Toby/Diva Marketing: What were a few of the challenges you face/faced?
Laura Bennett: Well the nice thing about Facebook are that there are few technical challenges. There’s really nothing much to do on that front. And there is just “getting” Facebook. I have to admit that when I started, I couldn’t see the attraction or how it worked. I’m not sure I’m totally there either. And we certainly need to work on augmenting the Group, increasing the appeal to interact with it. And then the challenge is to get a critical mass of Embraced pet parents to get the group going. You need thousands of interested members before it takes on some momentum of its own and we have a long way to go before we reach that. That means I have to find time and inspiration to get the current members involved. That’s always a challenge.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What are a few lessons learned you can pass along to other brands who want to leverage Facebook as a marketing tactic?
Laura Bennett: If you want a presence on Facebook, go for sincerity and real people, not corporate speak and faceless minions. It’s harder than you think. If your evangelists have created something about you, ask them how you can interact without getting in the way.
And always remember, it’s not about you, it’s about the people interacting with your brand.
Sidebar: If your brand's strategy includes a social media networking component like Facebook and want to be a Diva (or Divo) rock star interviewee drop me a comment.
Jan 3, 2008
BBF 
Shel Israel gave me a new year's present. Thanks Shel! He tagged me and Liz Strauss, Pat Phelan, Loic Le Meur Mer, KP Paine, Chris Heuer and Robert Scoble with the 8 Secrets Meme Game. You know the one you tell 8 things people don't know about you and then you tag 8 more people to play and then they tag 8 more people and so on and so on ..
Well, girlfriend to be completely honest and transparent and authentic .. I have no fabulous secrets to tell you. Amazing Divine Diva Liz Strauss t
old me she had none either - that I find hard to believe. So instead of telling you 8 boring things about us we thought we'd have some fun and cross post The Top Ten Secrets About Shel Israel That Even Shel Israel Doesn't Know About Shel Israel.
#1. It's not true that Shel knows everyone. He hasn't met one of the six fake Tazmanian Chris Brogans.
#2. Shel is not short for Shelly of the female persuasion. Shel was born Shel Red Sofa just outside Topeka, Kansas. He changed his name to Israel in 7th grade after a girl at school called him a "couch potato."
#3. Shel has never been seen wearing Connie Reece's pink boa.
#4. A recent quote from Shel "An Aussie snake with a lot of balls is noteworthy."
#5, Shel is an obscure Incan word that means "man who talks to Scoble in print without wearing clothing."
#6. When Shel was in college, he won a contest in which he drank a strawberry fruit smoothie while doing Irish Step Dancing with Meryl Streep's cousin, Louella. Shel is the staring in next season's Dancing With The Stars with BL.
#7. Shel is hanging up his consulting shingle. It was a toss up either go back to his beloved PR or sell shoes at Neiman's or renew his cabbie medallion. He decided to launch a social media community for burnt out bloggers ..calling it Shelomville.
#8. Shel has never been to North Dakota, though he once met a cat with that name and they liked each other.
#9. Naked Conversations was based on a personal experience in Shel's hot tub.
#10. Shel is famous for having great equipment. You'll have to ask him. We're not telling.
We know Shel would want you to link to Toby, Liz, and SHEL ISRAEL. You really should. After all, who are you to break a little boy's heart?
Sincerely,
Liz and Toby
P.s. Since this is a Top Ten I'm tagging the last 10 Twitters I read: Dave Taylor, Jake Mckee , Connie Reece, Robert French, Beth Kanter, Jonathan Trenn, Geoff Livingston, BL Ochman, Drew McLellan, Matt Dickman.
P .s. Liz's post is titled The Almost Real Secrets of Shel Israel and is brilliant!
Dec 24, 2007
Do you believe in
people miracles? On this day, or eve, perhaps you're popping by after the last package has been wrapped, I'd like to tell you a, as CK (@ckEpiphany) calls it, a social media Xmas miracle story. Steamy hot chocolate or spiced cider along with a cookie or two would be lovely to indulge in right now.
Connie Reese tells the story best of how a tiny snowflake twit grew into a green pea snowball of love. A green pea snowball .. how odd you may say but true stories are often stranger than fiction. Our story includes invisible people, a big scare, a brave woman and the spirit of kindness from so many.
Chapter One By Connie Reece (@conniereece)
A friend I’ve never met in person is scared. Very scared. Susan Reynolds (@susanreynods) is having a mastectomy tomorrow. She found the lump on December 5, went to the doctor the next day, and was immediately sent to a diagnostic radiologist. Big words, big fear: Invasive Lobular Carcinoma.
You can read about Susan’s journey through the cancer experience in her new blog, Boobs on Ice. The story I want to share is how a community of so-called invisible friends rallied around Susan to support, comfort and cheer her up–and somewhere along the way turned it into a fight–and a fund–against cancer.
It started on Twitter, where Susan is the self-proclaimed nana; she’s also a power networker with hundreds of followers. When she posted a new 
avatar–a photo of a package of frozen peas tucked inside her camisole to relieve the pain from multiple biopsies–she joked about putting her boob on ice. Her friends continued the joke.
On the Friday before Xmas Susan's surgery was a success. Joyous twits flew across the globe.
Chapter Two The Peavatars
Then came Ann Miller (@annohio)
who changed her avatar on Twitter to a package of peas. Within a twit Twitter was a wash in green
peas. Of course the peavatars must have a Flickr Peavatar Group. When last checked Frozen Pea Friday had almost 300 PPPs!
Chapter Three Frozen Pea Fund
One of social media's strengths is the evolution of ideas. Cathleen Rittereiser
(@cathleenritt)'s suggestion went from simply friends-helping-friends to a challenge to raise money for cancer research. In honor of Susan, the Frozen Pea Fund was launched. In the first 15 hours $3,493 was raised from 118 peaple on 3 continents.
FrozenPeaFund launched in under one week w/ no budget, no biz plan, no
mtkg plan .. just a handful of volunteers who understand social media - Connie Reece (@conniereece)
Chapter Four Lessons Learned and Questions To Ponder
As in any really good story there are lessons that we take with us. Frozen Peas teaches us lessons from a belief in the goodness of people to the power of micro blogging. What made this work was a sense of community. A sense of belonging. tiny snowflake messagethat grew into a green pea sn
Today's Friday Fun is being turned over to Mugsy, Iris, Suzanne and Suzanne, a few of the women who are the heart of the the WowOWow - Women on the Web site. However, Girlfriend, they are not the founders (media celebrities: Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Mary Wells and Joni Evans). Nor are they are paid employees. Nor are they are formal volunteers. In fact, they have had little to no interaction with the women who launched WowOWow. And that was what mystified and intrigued me. 
Mugsy Peabody
Iris Odonata
Suzanne de Cornelia:
Suzanne Conti
In this world of social media we continue to learn together. Toss of a
pink boa to Mugsy, Iris, Suzanne and Suzanne!
