06/17/2009
Add one more virtual place to network to your list .. TweetChats. Oh no! girlfriend you might be thinking not another social media thing to add to my running list .. and what is a tweetchat anyway?
Anita Campbell, Small Business Trends, has a great definition.
- A tweetchat is simply an organized group chat that takes place using the Twitter platform. Participants use an assigned hashtag (say, #sbbuzz) for their tweets during the discussion.
When Marc Meyer asked me to host one of the most popular Tweetchats this week I said .. of course! Held weekly, Tuesdays from noon - 1p, #socialmedia explores issues about social media marketing. The focus this week was on the "hidden demographics" of social media like bebe boomers, women etc. etc. etc. Title: Deciding the “now what” and the “who with” of social media in your company.
The exchange of ideas was fast, furious, exciting .. and the people .. so smart. Moderating was like running a race while juggling 50 balls in the air. Although #socialmedia is structured around 3 20-minute segments each with a unique question, it was fascinating to watch the sidebar conversations occurring simultaneously. The questions:
#1. What demographics are most powerful in each of the top social networks? And Why?
#2. Which demographics are most overlooked, ignored, or taken for granted, in the top tier social networks? Why?
#3. With the increase of social media usage, which demographics will drive innovation in social networking?
I found that our conversation didn't really follow the progression of the questions as much as some other tweetchats might have; but the discussion happened naturally on its own accord. With tosses of a pink boa to the amazing people who generously shared their opinions and experience and to Marc Meyer and Jason Breed the sponsors .. here are my takes of the highlights.
Boomers
The Baby Boomer generation maybe late in getting to this party but according to comScore there are about 16.5 million adults ages 55 and older engaged in social networking.
@conniereece - All I can say is that marketers need 2 wake up 2 how many boomers R online & how they use socnets. Connie thinks that boomers are the "lost demo" and not only for profits but nonprofits are missing opportunities.
Even in this economy, Boomers have more $ to spend then the X-Yers. Note to brand marketers (and main stream media): Take off your cool shades the internet and social networks are Not only for the "youngsters."
The challenge for brands per @CBWhittemore is to make it .." relevant to baby boomers & others b/c new marketplace imperatives."
The challenge for people who have not grown up with new technologies is understanding how to use the tools. A wrong click will not necessarily bring down the Internet or explode your computer. On a personal level @evelynso shared a great idea .. that might help grandparents have an ah ha! moment. Think of Flickr or Facebook as a global grandkids brag book. You get to share those cute photos of your precious darlings with your closet Friends; and if you wish some you might not know yet.
When it comes to How generations use social media platforms we noticed a few differences. - seniors/ Boomers have a different $ management style. Check
alternatives - sometimes SM is cheaper & faster. From @evelynso and @marc_meyers - boomers share content Gen Y shares the intimate details of their lives.
Where are the Boomers hangin' out? Consensus seems to be on Facebook. Very few boomer friends (male or female) on Twitter. For @conniereece - Lots on FB now, and a few on LinkedIn. @sonnygill thinks that - demos on the more established networks are wider ranged than Twitter is (namely boomers).
Wondering ... will we see a change as Gen Y's and Millenniums' careers shift into management levels and the Boomers become more comfortable with open conversations? Also will Boomers leaving the work force (those that can afford to do so!) result in more transparency in their social media interactions? In other words will the cultures flip-flop?
Gen Y
When it came to Gen Y we thought they were tech savvy but lacking in social media marketing, strategy expertise. @CathyWebSavvyPR
- I've heard from some college students that SM is a part of social
life, they can't see applications. That was my experience too when I
presented social media marketing to an advertising class at UGA.
When it comes to Twitter - @dcgf - I think it's Gen Y who are not very "savvy" w/Twitter. The movers and shakers on here are older...However @CathyWebSavvyPR believes that - I think Gen x/Y will once they begin entering the workforce & needing to use SM. their learning curve may B shorter
Can Social Media Close the Generation Gap?
Example of one of the sidebar tweet conversations
>At the risk of making assumptions, I'd hazard to say that the ave age of THIS "unConference" is over 35! (don't hate-ha) - @dcgf
>@dcgf
as an Mil-gen are you comfortable engaging with the 'older' peeps on
twitter? @dcgf could social media be the way to close the generation
gap? - @tobydiva
>def closes gen gap and @Mark_Meyer I think all gen's want to feel like they're being engaged on a personal level - @dcgf
Women
We wondered where women were hanging out online and if they were using social media diffently than men. Most of our tweets were based on observation and personal experience. @Verbatim told us that - Research shows men preferring Twitter and women, FB. Which makes sense to me, FB being more personal details.
@conniereece in regard to Twitter - if you look at *what* men/women post on Twitter, it's different. Women more likely to share, men to broadcast. #socialmedia (generalization). Seems that a guy agrees with Connie - @marc_meyer men generalize and women socialize...?
Tweets were not all serious we had some giggles along the way. @wpmc - Saw a book on communications "Men are Like Waffles, Women are Like Spaghetti" - Facebook is like spaghetti.
@CathyWebSavvyPR brought out an interesting point that brands should consider when using Facebook to reach women. - I know many women feel that FB is for freinds & family & resent the intrusion of business there. others like it.
Social Media Marketing
We also talked about what is social media? @greenhance offered an interesting concept - Altho I've no proof, I think SM adoption is personality driven. Some are more likely to use Twitter, others FB, etc.
@marc_meyer looked at in from this point of view - Twitter is 4 biz Linkedin is 4 networking, FB is the playground, or something like that. any1 remember the analogy?
When it comes right down to it people agreed with @ddeseta - It's not about the most followers. It's about having the most relevance within yoursphere. and with @mrochte - It's about convening not controlling #SocialMedia " - that's the message we need to understand http://on.ted.com/y mrochte
When it came down to what to make of the "hidden demographics" @greenhance reminded us - Brands can cultivate real loyalty with SM in a way that was previously limited by geography/reach. Social media is one aspect of marketingmarketing basics.
To wrap this up it's back to marketing basics - know who your customers are/where they hang out/what they want. @tobydiva Be careful of what you think you know.. your truth might be an illusion.
Resources
Tweet Stream
Business Week Social Media Gender Gap
Pew Internet has extensive stats on social media
Forrester Social Technology Profile Tool - John Cass for the link!
Blogher 2009 Women and Social Media Study
03/05/2009
In December 2008, the New York Israel Consulate held the first government press conference on Twitter and in doing so public diplomacy took one more step into social media.
The purpose of the 2-hour open conversation in 140 characters was to engage and provide the public with a platform where citizens' questions about the Gaza situation could be addressed directly by @DavidSaranga, Consul for Media and Public Affairs at the consulate General in New York. In addition to the running tweets from the press conference, updates were posted on the Consul's MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube pages.
With a few weeks distance behind him, I asked Mr. Saranga if he would look back on the experience and in retrospective share some of the marketing/PR lessons learned. My thanks to him and to the staff of the Department of Media and Public Affairs who kindly responded to my request. A special shout out to Noam.
Note: Diva Marketing is not a political blog but one focused on social media marketing and branding. My questions and Mr. Saranaga's responses reflect that positioning.
The Office of the Consul General in New York serves as the focal point of the Consulate. While it oversees all departments within the Consulate, the Lishka (bureau) primarily functions as the liaison between the State of Israel and the various centers of power and influence that encompass the New York Metro area such as national and local organizations, the offices of public officials and business alliances.
The role of the Consul General is to promote the positive image of Israel in the media and the surrounding communities by keeping them abreast of the most updated information on Israeli prominent personalities and developments.
David Saranga, Consul for Media and Public Affairs at the consulate General in New York.
Prior to joining the Consulate in New York, Consul Saranga served as Deputy Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel, and was responsible for contact with the foreign media. He was a Manager of the Direct Marketing Department, Visa-Israel Credit Cards and worked as National Sales Executive at Kidum Ltd. Consul Saranga has been engaged as an academic since 1989, when he worked as a Teaching Assistant at the Hebrew University. Subsequent work has included one year as Director of Studies and Lecturer in Marketing Management at the Open University in Israel.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Using Twitter as a media conference forum was innovative and brave. Why did you choose to go in that direction?
David Saranga: We have been involved in online work for some time, through our blogs (isRraelli and IsraelPolitik) and our presence on MySpace and Facebook. After reading about Twitter, we felt that the tool held a lot of potential for communicating with people online.
Firstly, we can “focus” on one person, but many people can tune in as well. This way, even when we are answering one person, other people are still taking part.
Secondly, Twitter is a site where people are increasingly going to talk, so we wanted to join the conversation where it was happening.
Toby/Diva Marketing: How did you achieve buy-in from the consulate and other stake holders?
David Saranga: The diplomatic staff here has really come to understand the value of web-based content and of social media. We told them how important a presence on Twitter could be, and they were hooked.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What were their main concerns? What were yours?
David Saranga: We were all mainly concerned with how many people would ask questions and whether we would be taken seriously. When we first joined Twitter and mentioned the “Press Conference” idea, we started hearing opinions that we might not answer so-called “hard” questions. So we needed to make sure that we answered as many questions as we could, even and especially the “hard” ones.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Where did most of the engagement come from?
David Saranga: While our Twitter following has been quite varied, we seem to have attracted people interested in learning more about the Middle East and people who work in new media, public diplomacy or both. It was quite interesting to see the range of people with whom we have had very rewarding interactions through Twitter and/or as a result of such efforts.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What lessons did you learn from the first Twitter press conference?
David Saranga:
- Our biggest lesson was the importance of making ourselves available to people through a medium they understand.
We are aware that this issue raises a lot of emotions, and we wanted to give people the opportunity to talk with us in an unmediated fashion. Many of the questions we received were thoughtful and inquisitive, and we were happy to share our point of view on what can be touchy subjects. 
It was also important for us that we could expand answers on our blog. While we could give only short answers online (due to constraints imposed by Twitter and by the sheer number of questions*), we did want people to know that we cared about their questions and wanted to give them the full attention they deserved.
*Note: Twitter allows only 140 characters per tweet.
Photo of staff of the Department of Media and Public Affairs tweeting at the press conference.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What was your biggest surprise?
David Saranga: We were really surprised by the amount of interest we generated. We started this whole project figuring we would get a few people to tune in. When our “followers” count began to rise precipitously, we realized we were on to something much larger.
Many more people than we anticipated were interested in having us take part in this conversation. The mainstream media got involved, too. We got coverage in the New York Times, Le Figaro, the Guardian, and other news outlets around the world. We were truly astounded.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What would you do differently next time (will there be a next time)?
David Saranga: We’re still evaluating the lessons of the first time, so we’ll have to evaluate whether we’ll do this again. We all felt this was an extremely positive experience, and we’re grateful for all the attention and ongoing relationships that resulted.
Our biggest problem was trying to respond to a flood of questions in an organized fashion, so fixing that issue would be a necessary step before organizing another press conference. That said, we’ve really been having an ongoing press conference since late December, as we are active on Twitter.
The next thing we hope to arrange is a TweetUp (i.e. meeting Twitter followers face-to-face) in the next few weeks to bring our followers together and help them see other facets of Israel with which they may not be so familiar. We’ve thought of a bunch of ideas (music, art, film, etc.) but want to see what our followers are interested in, too.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What lessons can you pass on to others who are thinking of using Twitter for their press conferences?
David Saranga:The best lesson we can offer is that you should not be afraid to answer the hard questions that come at you.
- The best thing to do is to be as transparent as possible and just be sincere in your answers.
Toby/Diva Marketing: To wrap it up … your thoughts on social media ..
David Saranga: It’s clear that social media is not just a passing trend, but rather an effective way to communicate. It is important for us to maximize the capabilities these tools offer and use them to help us in talking to as many people as possible.
Israel Consulate in Social Media
YouTubeFacebook
MySpace
Blogs: Israel Politk isRraelli.org
First Israeli Tweet-up in the making!
Twitter
Facebook
02/23/2009
This is the second part of my interview series with Joel Rubinson, Chief Research Officer at ARF, Advertising Research Foundation. Part I of Interview with Joel.
The ARF mission is to improve the practice of advertising, marketing and media research in pursuit of more effective marketing and advertising communications. When I learned that ARF was actively leading the charge to bring social media research into the mainstream of the marketing research industry I reached out to Joel. He graciously shared his insights on changes and future trends in marketing research.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The amount of consumer generated content is over whelming. One - What is the best way to mine that information? Two - Does using free tools like Google Alerts or Technorati still work?
Joel Rubinson:
Social media and the internet in general have turned life into an interconnected open book exam while traditional research is a closed book exam.
In real life, access to friend’s opinions is almost frictionless while in surveys, we spring a subject on someone out of the blue, don’t allow them to research the topic or ask friends. That discrepancy is striking to me especially for those products and services where people have a naturally tendency to turn to digital sources.
If you are hearing different things in social media it either means that comments are sparse or that something has truly happened and you’re the first corporate eye-witness. You have to decide and we’re still learning how to do that. Also, let me say that focus groups have their own problems when a strong personality becomes the group leader, which often happens. Much qualitative research has gone to one on one, and triads because of this.
Toby/Diva Marketing: In addition to conversations that evolve quickly changing opinions, what is your stance of content that is based on the person receiving payment for content (pay per post) or receiving free products? Can it skew the data?
Joel Rubinson: I’m not that familiar with that. In general though, I think there are two legitimate strategies for getting input which I gleaned from Dan Ariely’s book, “Predictably Irrational”. There is the social contract and economic contract. Sometimes you need to use the latter but then you need to get the exchange right.
Toby/Diva Marketing: You’re designing a research initiative. What does that look like in the year 2009?
Joel Rubinson: We have formed a Research Transformation Super-Council of the top leaders in our industry which started on July 15, 2008 with a small group of industry leaders. The atmosphere was electric, as we had direct competitors in the room; Procter and Unilever; Nielsen, TNS, and Motivequest.
We started out talking about listening and within 45 minutes we were talking about the very mission, vision, and scoping of the research function. Kim Dedeker from Procter expressed the opinion that research as we know it will be on life support by 2012 and Donna Goldfarb from Unilever said, “My God, we’re all having the same conversations!” This was really explosive.
Now, we have run two conference events that were incredibly successful on research transformation and we have a core leadership team that will propose a new path forward that will probably be based on creating a learning organization predicated on three cornerstones: putting the human at the center; bringing the human to life; and business impact. In only 5 years, the terminology of the future of research has completely and utterly changed and we are leading this initiative, which is very gratifying.
At the end of March, at the ARF annual “ReThink conference 2009” the journey continues with the most amazing learning event ever in our industry. The first day will start with industry leaders from Unilever, J&J, Microsoft, and MTV conveying a sense of urgency. Then we will have a panel of scientists (anthropology, behavioral economics, cognitive science) advise us. Then the leaders of Nielsen, WPP, and IRI will reveal plans for moving our profession forward. Finally, the former president of the Institute for the Future will talk about foresight, insight, and how to “get there early”. Day two, we have leaders from media talking about the 360 world we live in (including the head of NBC research talking about learnings from the largest media experiment ever called the Olympics) and how the only answer is to put the human at the center. Day three will be about “innovating innovation” with the kickoff coming from Gary Flake innovation leader at Microsoft. All of this will be supported by presentations from 20+ leading advertisers and a hands-on “listening zone” where you will learn all there is to know about listening tools. Repetition, reinforcement, constant communication—we won’t be able to change the industry without this.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Glad to hear that The ARF is taking a leadership role in how social research finds its place in the marketing research mix.
For the marketing research director who is exploring how and where social research “fits” into a marketing research project would you advice her to use CGM as a first step in the process and then bring in traditional research? In other words where do you see social media “research” fitting into the traditional marketing research world at the tactical level?
Joel Rubinson: Preliminarily, I believe it would fit in to a comprehensive research and learning plan in three main ways.
First, I would use it for continuous monitoring to spot corporate reputation issues, customer care problems, emerging social trends, and new vocabulary.
Secondly, I would use it as a front-end tool for significant new business questions that require their own project plan, coming before survey-based quantitative research and experiments.
Third, I would create an on-going “enthusiast” community for innovation and dialogue in the brand backyard such as Dell Idea Storm or Starbucks.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Joel Rubinson on Social Media “Research”
Joel Rubinson: Thanks for giving me this platform. I think this is the research profession’s moment in time if it has the courage and vision to transform and to drive a culture change at the enterprise it serves.
The new central concepts will be learning and bringing the human to life. Market Research should become the SPOC for bringing the human (the shopper, the consumer, the person living their life) into the boardroom for shifting focus from a product centric to a human-centric lens. The head of Consumer and Market Learning must synthesize the different data feeds and bring insights to life via storytelling, insights that can galvanize an organization like “only 2% of women think of themselves as beautiful” did for Unilever and Dove.
Over the next five years, you will see research shift focus to synthesized learning about the human and you’ll see a big change in who enters the profession.
It’s already happening at places like Crispin, Porter, + Bogusky where the planning function has researchers but also includes anthropologists and news reporters. Research, account planning, and consulting will begin to blend as research departments at leading advertisers begin to retool. Innovative research organizations will enable the change. Some of which will come from companies you haven’t heard of and some from the big guys. The ARF has become the industry’s leader at devising a listening strategy to extract insights from social media and how to integrate that into the broader range of tools. We welcome that responsibility.
Toby/Diva Marketing: This aint your father's (or mine) industry .. or then again perhaps it's just beginning to be ..
01/09/2009
Today I noticed an article in the Wall Street Journal title, "When Bad Times Make Good Movies" and thought that is exactly what is occurring today in the marketing community. Bad times are making us better marketers.
It's back to marketing basics but with new strategies in our tool box that may sound strange like wiki and blog and twitter. In addition we are told that what was once for family fun like videos and photos can be leveraged to give your brand a competitive advantage. I ask you girlfriend, has the world gone mad?
Perhaps. But then again, perhaps not. If bad times are making us good marketers .. the question that begs to be asked is was there something during the good times that made us bad marketers? So what is marketing anyway? Many years ago I heard someone ask that question to Philip Kotler. His response put so simply and elegantly -
Marketing is meeting the needs of your customers at a profit. Philip Kotler
When I listen to marketers, especially those in the c-suite, talk about their concerns regarding consumer generated media and rationalize why social media is inappropriate for their organization, I can't help but think of that quote from Philip Kotler and wonder .. how can you meet the needs of your customers if you don't know what they are?
Traditional research provides answers to many of your questions but why would you discount the answers you might hear to the questions you have not asked? Did we become complacent and loose touch with our customers and is that the reason we are now fearful to hear their unfiltered conversations?
Yes, the world is changing. Through the funny sounding tactics like wikis, blogs, twitter and social networks our customers are talking to us. All the time. What is as amazing is people in those companies (not the brand or the company but people) are taking brave steps to talk with their customers. Sure it can be messy. It certainly can be scary. It takes courage to develop trusted relationships .. especially in public. But that was how business began and from my perspective it is certainly nice to see people once again building corner grocery store relationships.
My friends at the American Marketing Association call this the New Marketsphere.
"Whether you like it or not, we are all part of it. It's a borderless planet of seismic changes occurring at warp speed, throwing a dizzying array of challenges at marketers." Mplantet website
To help us maneuver in this mad mad mad marketing world they have created Mplanet the marketing conference that will help us make sense of it all. The conference is build around four themes. I think I just addressed #2 Connecting with empowered consumers.
1. Brand Building in a digital world
2. Connecting with empowered consumers
3. Marketing mix in a fragmented world
4. Global marketing on a borderless planet
I'm honored to be speaking at the Digital Marketing Lab pre-conference along with: Stephanie Diamond, Digital Media Works, Julie Fleischer, DIGITAS, Brian Johnson, Microsoft, Russell Buckley, Mobile Marketing Association, Jim Novo, The Drilling Down Project, Jim Sterne, Web Analytics Association and Greg Verdino, crayon.
C.B. Whittemore, Flooring the Consumer, had a terrific recap of posts from around the blogosphere about the conference themes.
What-When-Where- Diva Marketing Discount Details
AMA Mplanet Conference. /January 26-28, 09. /Orlando, FL. As a speaker AMA has extended a courtesy discount to me to pass along to my closest friends and relatives you among them. shh.. don't tell anyone .. $995 from $1,995 - non member // $1,495 - member; DM me for details or drop a comment.
Starting where we began .. at the movies .. In Joe Morganstein's WSJ article film director Andrew Stanton told him, "In times like these you really understand the benefit of moviegoing, of sitting in a large dark room with strangers and feeling the collective reaction to the truths of life presented to you via humor, observation and the thrill of action. Movie going is not a panacea, but it's a hell of a multivitamin. Whatever the movies do should be geared toward bringing people together. Don't let them stew in their private darkness."
Put into marketing terms - Marketing can no longer simply sprout
meaningless messages that people ignore. Marketing must bring customers together with products and services that meet their needs at a proft. Don't let your marketing strategies die in your private darkness of the fears because you refused to acknowledge this new wonderful mad mad mad marketing world!
12/01/2008
This week Dana VanDen Heuvel, Bill Flitter and I will be on the road to Seattle for the last stop of our mini road trip for the American Marketing Association Hot Topic Workshop - Digital-Centered Marketing.
It seems like kismet to me, for you see, it was almost 4-years to the day that Dana, Bill and I we were in Seattle for the very first national program on how marketers could use blogs - which was also sponsored by AMA. At that session we were joined by Robert Scoble, Ben McConnell and Dave Williams. Almost all of the speakers had met through some aspect of social media/blogs and most had never met in-person. It was a program build on digital relationships about digital relationships.
We learned a lot from those early days when social media, Facebook, Twitter and social networks were not even part of the vernacular. We were taught our first lessons in blogger relations by TDavid. What begin as a rather sticky situation ended up in a better program and a new friend. I'm thrilled that TDavid will be joining us on Friday. Lessons Learned from TDavid
One blogger can be the snowflake that can start an avalanche. There is risk and reward in a blogged economy. - TDavid
>Bloggers are people who want to connect. They want to know that they are being heard. Bloggers care.
>With the easy use of blogs, micro blogs, podcasts, vlogs and other social media tools marketers can not control how customers will reposition a carefully crafted message.
>You can not control customers’ conversations. The secret is you never could. However, you can manage those conversations by listening, participating, and caring.
Which has me thinking more about the challenges of building trusted digital relationships using social media. It seems there are two aspects: the digital/web-based and the personal.
Although developed for traditional websites Stanford's Guidelines for Web Credibility provides some guidance on the first.
1. Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.
You can build web site credibility by providing third-party support (citations, references, source material) for information you present, especially if you link to this evidence. Even if people don't follow these links, you've shown confidence in your material.
2. Show that there's a real organization behind your site.
Showing that your web site is for a legitimate organization will boost the site's credibility. The easiest way to do this is by listing a physical address. Other features can also help, such as posting a photo of your offices or listing a membership with the chamber of commerce.
3. Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.
Do you have experts on your team? Are your contributors or service providers authorities? Be sure to give their credentials. Are you affiliated with a respected organization? Make that clear. Conversely, don't link to outside sites that are not credible. Your site becomes less credible by association.
4. Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.
The first part of this guideline is to show there are real people behind the site and in the organization. Next, find a way to convey their trustworthiness through images or text. For example, some sites post employee bios that tell about family or hobbies.
5. Make it easy to contact you.
A simple way to boost your site's credibility is by making your contact information clear: phone number, physical address, and email address.
6. Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).
We find that people quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone. When designing your site, pay attention to layout, typography, images, consistency issues, and more. Of course, not all sites gain credibility by looking like IBM.com. The visual design should match the site's purpose.
7. Make your site easy to use -- and useful.
We're squeezing two guidelines into one here. Our research shows that sites win credibility points by being both easy to use and useful. Some site operators forget about users when they cater to their own company's ego or try to show the dazzling things they can do with web technology.
8. Update your site's content often (at least show it's been reviewed recently).
People assign more credibility to sites that show they have been recently updated or reviewed.
9. Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).
If possible, avoid having ads on your site. If you must have ads, clearly distinguish the sponsored content from your own. Avoid pop-up ads, unless you don't mind annoying users and losing credibility. As for writing style, try to be clear, direct, and sincere.
10. Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.
Typographical errors and broken links hurt a site's credibility more than most people imagine. It's also important to keep your site up and running.
Person-to-person. - Need your help .. let's build this one together. Please share your One Secret on how you build trusted digital relationships using social media. I've set a brief survey in Survey Monkey to collect responses. I'll let it run for about a week .. analyze the responses and post to Diva Marketing. Click Here to take survey
11/18/2008
Update: 11-18-08; Kathy Widmer, VP of Marketing apologizes on the home page of Motrin. This is the follow-up post to one I wrote on Diva Marketing on 11-17-08 on how social media changed the direction of a Fortune 500 company's marketing campaign.
As is always the case in a slide down the slippery slope of social media, there are lessons we can take away from the Mortin Moms Social Media Case Study. I've reached out to Bonnie
Jacobs, VP Communications and Kathy Widmer, VP of Marketing at McNeil
Consumer Healthcare offering Diva Marketing as one platform to tell
their story. (Btw .. would not be surprised to see someone from the
Morin marketing team making the conference rounds.)
The influence of "just" a few thousand people changed the marketing
direction of a Fortune 500 company's multiple channel advertising
campaign (McNeil Consumer Health is a division of Johnson and Johnson). Within hours of social media conversations a website had
been taken down and put back up with an apology. Plans were in the
works to pull print ads and perhaps other initiatives that were set to
launch were halted.
Listening to, what went beyond the sentiments of "just" a few
thousand bloggers or tweeters, but perhaps reflected a signification segment of Motrin's target audience, may have
saved the company some hefty dollars in terms of ultimate goodwill and
stopped the ooze of brand erosion before it could spread further online
and off.
The social buzz is that the brand team could have responded faster. Perhaps. But for their actions to a Sunday Social Smackout McNeil Consumer Healthcare gets a gold star from Diva Marketing.
In trying to understand what happened, we don't have a lot to go on .. We don't know what research went on prior to the launch of the campaign. We don't know the infra structure or
the communication that most certainly flew from site to site to phone
to office meetings. We don't know when Mortin's marketers begin to
"listen" in on the tweets and blogs or when they first found out. Nor do we know when the decision
was made to send the letter to Amy Gates at Crunchy Domestic Goddess and why Amy and who else received Kathy Widmer's email.
We
can only guess the impact that this had and will continue to have on the human
resources at McNeil Consumer Healthcare and their marketing parners as they execute their new strategy. We can assume that it will cost a pretty
penny in terms of dollar investment.
We also don't know the end of the story. Or perhaps it is really the beginning of the story. What lessons did the Morin marketing team take away from the Mortin Mom's Sunday Social Smackout?
What counsel is their agencies giving? Will they embrace the women and men who
Helped them avoid an even bigger blow-up? Will they participate in the
social media conversations? Currently Motrin's people are messaging one-sided .. there is no dialogue that I can find.
Morin's social media experience reinforces that social media marketing is a complex, multi-faceted strategy.
- It is critical to have strong communication systems in place that integrate muliple departments: marketing, PR, customer service, legal, sales, operations, etc.
- It is critical to listen and participate in your customers' online exchanges.
- It is critical to be humble.
The end game to this post: There is value in the asset: Mortin Moms. Mortin marketing team .. what will you do with that one?
Sidebar: Thanks to Mark Story for posting the updated Mortin website.
11/02/2008
I me
t Jane Genova in 2005. At age 60 she was in the midst of a challenging transition stage of her life. Jane's world came crashing down during the last economic crisis. She found herself in a strange new world facing challenges that were not suppose to happen. Taking a dive into blogging she reinvented herself.
In the free eBook, Geezer Guts: Making a Buck No Matter, she tells her story raw .. with no punches pulled. Reading Greezer Guts I couldn't help but think that Jane's lessons learned have come at a time when they can inspire so many people who are now going through similar life challenges. A few of the life lessons learned from social media that even non geezers can take to heart.
- Business norms change
- People change too
- What was right for you yesterday may not be right for you today .. or tomorrow
- "Just be ourselves. That's plenty."
- It takes time and courage to learn new skills and a new way of thinking.
- Life on your terms can be different than what you imagined it to be yesterday.
- Ghosts from past careers/lives can continue to haunt if you compromise your dignity in the now.
- Trust in yourself and don't confide your plans to people who may not understand.
- Success is not always computed in dollars.
- Believe in yourself.
- "Being forced into a world we never expected being in seems to have made many of us accidental late bloomers. Adversity has unique transformational power."
- Take the road less traveled.
- Your "first job" can happen at any age. "Dump the past. No one is interested in our sad story. Eventually we won't be either."
- New networks are a must
- "What happens happens. The present and future are what we do about it."
Geezer Guts is a quick read .. but an important one.
Download it. Read it. Share it with a friend.
Read Jane's 2006 Blogger Story
10/15/2008
We talk, some times ad nauseam, about the community of the blogosphere. Well today, October 15, 2008 thousands and thousands of bloggers across the global are joining together to support Blog Action Day - a non-profit event. Blog Action Day was launched last year when two bloggers asked, “What would happen if all the bloggers of the world united for a single cause?”
- Blog Action Day 2008 focuses on raising awareness and initiating action to combat Poverty.
Act Locally. Think Globally. Change The Conversation
Act Locally
Grayson Daughters interviews Bill Bolling, Founder and Exec. Director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. A few snippets from their inspirational talk. Facebook Blog For Food
Having bloggers and networks is going to make this like nothing we've seen in the past."
We can't say now these are not people like us.
We are all called to do the best of what we have.
Anybody can do something from where they are.
These kinda sessions tells me we're going to use a new technology, a new kind of people ..
Think Globally
Digital Photography School - 17 images of poverty
Twitter Blog Action Day
Fund Raising on Kiva
Change The Conversation
IBMNA post by Easton Ellsworth
12-hour marathon BlogTalk internet radio show - Time: 12p - 12a
Act Locally Think Globally Change The Conversation
09/11/2008
Social media marketing must be graduating from nursery school if the latest meme is - What is your best practice in social media marketing? Liz Strauss , as in the Diva Divine Ms. Liz Strauss, tagged me to play along. The game was stated by Mitch Joel, Six Pixels of Separation.
Social media is unlike any marketing strategy I know. None of what I'd call tactics, some may call "tools" were built for marketers. Perhaps widgets might be the exception.
Think about it for a sec or two. Facebook was developed for students to keep in contact with each other. MySpace helped indie bands leverage the power of the internet for free promotion. Blogs (and micro blogs) were created to help people communicate with friends and relatives. YouTube, Flickr and other visual (audio and video) sites were more ways to share online.
Savvy marketers began to explore ways to include these nifty online applications in communication strategies. Business stepping into the social mix changed the dynamics for many. However, what did not change was the culture that had grown-up before we (yes I'm guilty as charged) marketers started playing.
Best Practice Social Media Marketing Tip .. before you incorporate any social media tactic into your marketing strategy it is beyond critical to understand the culture of social media. It is beyond critical to build any and every social media program based on the -
Social Media Mantra: Honesty, Authenticity, Transparency and a Passion about the topic
Bonus Best Practice Social Media Marketing Tip .. without a strategic direction and a plan social media marketing is just a me too play toy. It might be cool to talk about your YouTube video or your Facebook page at cocktail parties but trust me on this one .. it ain't gonna work for you as a business strategy. Give social media marketing the respect it is due and add accountability to the mix.
Off my soap box now and tagging Becky Carroll and Des Walsh who kindly included me on their BlogWorldExpo panels next week. Paul Chaney who is the new president of the International Blogger New Media Association (and invited me to be on the board). Merril Dubrow who has most kindly agreed to be a live case study in blogging for me when I present social media to market researchers at the AMA Marketing Research Conference in Boston next week. And Susan Cartier Liebel because she's one attorney who gets social!
Game Rules
Now it’s your turn:
Blog it.
Link to Mitch’s blog
Tag it “social media marketing best practices”
And then tag someone else with the meme.
Would love to hear your take .. what is your social media marketing best practice?
08/22/2008
Pulse of the Industry: Blogger Relations Part IV
Social media is growing up .. as an industry and as a marketing strategy. From blogs to widgets to social networks and micro blogging marketers are exploring how to tap into the communication tools that were not developed for business tactics. But were created for communication between and among people. Just people.
Along the way, we (I'm in this deal with you!) marketers realized that the people who were using these, let's call them "tools" - you know what they are .. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and the zillions of other social networks that are launching daily .. might be an interesting way to reach people who might care about our brands. So we began to read, build relationships and reach out to bloggers who were interested in the topics that we and our clients were .. like cars, parenting, photography, etc. What happened was a new marketing tactic emerged: Blogger Relations.
I was curious to know:
* Who was doing it right and who was doing it wrong
* What did agencies want from bloggers and what did bloggers want from agencies
* and most of all how could we work together for the benefit of the communities
I conducted an online survey among bloggers, agency and brand people. 99 people participated. Since the research is not statistically valid let's call it an industry pulse check from the people who are involved in the space. Their insights are thoughtful and the learnings they shared significant.
To thank those who kindly gave their time and to help our community understand this evolving industry I'll be posting the findings over the next few weeks. This is part IV in the series Part I: Blogger or Journalist Part II: Successful Blogger Relations Strategy Part III: Agencies Talk To Bloggers.
Question: If you are working with an agency/social media company ... what do you want to tell Bloggers when it comes to blogger relations? 29 responses.
Important to people who worked on the client-side were building relationships, values, respect and a willingness to learn what bloggers wanted. We are no longer in the wild wild west of social media and "etiquette" and we should be playing nicely together. One respondent even took bloggers to task for what she considered inappropriate behavior.
The big take-aways for me were:
Relationships are based on communication. Educate us about what you want and need.
Have patience.
Respect
Values are important
Etiquette Is Important - Please Play Nicely
For C.B. Whittemore if you are a consistent participant in the conversation blogger relations happens naturally. "I''m connecting as a blogger. Plus, not that many in the space so formal blogger relations haven't been necessary."
Relationships are based on communication. Tell us what you want and need. More than a ‘campaign.’ Educate. Patience
Tim Jackson feels that the phrase developing a relationship is over used but it "really applies." People like to do business with people they like and trust. As Tim says, "I get
many bloggers spreading my message FOR me because they "like me" and
don't see me as cramming things into their faces. It's built on sharing
and conversation for me."
Blogger relations is not a campaign in of itself. It's a process, and
needs to be thought of in broad strokes and in the long term. - Michael
E. Rubin
Just like with any relationship, tell those trying to engage you what you want -- what you want to know about and what you don't, how you want to be approached and what annoys you, what you consider valuable to your work, etc. It'll help lower the number of totally off-base pitches and help everyone get what they want. - Anonymous
From the client side, I think we mean well. Sometimes the company is "green" and needs to be educated. Sometimes the company won't learn. The question is how do you differentiate the two? – Anonymous
There needs to be two way education -- and we need to learn to speak each others' language. – Anonymous
Be patient, companies are only now understanding how to handle bloggers. - Cece Salomon-Lee
I want them to know that we respect them, we read them and we want to be a part of the conversation around our Brand. The good and the bad. If we do something bad, tell us. If you do something bad, trust me I will let you know! - David J. Neff
Start a conversation and begin a relationship before trying to sell me. Just like you (hopefully) would in person. – Anonymous
We're listening, and want to talk with them to improve what we offer. – Anonymous
Simply, I believe what I am working is of value to your (the blogger's)
audience which is why I'm contacting you. If you agree that it is cool,
please spread the gospel. I will reach out to you only if I feel what I
want to communicate adds value to your audience. We believe in a mutual
exchange/benefit! Prashant Kew
I want to tell them about my company, and myself as its founder. For me, they are one and the same. – Anonymous
Willing to work with bloggers to provide their side of a story.
Respect
Neville Hobson's simple promise should underscore any out reach, "I promise not to spam you and will treat you with respect." Yvonne DiVita reminds us that respect is what opens doors to
communication. "That they will always be respected, that their open,
honest comments are very valuable, and that there is an open door to
communication for and with them."
Another respondent felt strongly that respect is a critical factor to building a relationship and insults do not foster friendships.
Relationships are built on mutual respect. As a representative of my company, I'm committed to showing respect to any blogger with whom I wish to communicate. The reverse is true, too -- for a blogger to insult (not merely criticize) my company and then expect for my company to engage in a dialog with him or her is unreasonable. - Anonymous
Following up on the noise of SEO releases (just for the sake of
search engine placement), follow the rules. Don't be stupid! Respect
others as you would like to be respected. Scattershot releases and
contacts are causing more harm than good. – Robert French
Values
As with agencies values such as honesty and transparency were important to several "brand" respondents. Also appreciated was an effort to represent companies/brands fairly.
Be honest. - Kate Spencer
Please don't masquerade as someone other than who you really are. – Anonymous
If you consider yourselves journalists, strive for accuracy and perspective. We're anxious to work with you. If you have a question, please come directly to us. We're more than happy to give you accurate information. – Anonymous
Just tell the truth, spark controversy, add value to the
conversation, avoid trolls and spammers, and be fair to all. Before
complaining about a product or company, do all you can to resolve an
issue directly with the company. If the company ignores you, or is
obviously unethical or uncooperative, then you can rant against them if
you feel others need to be warned. - Steven E. Streight
Etiquette - Play Nicely Please
Susan Cartier
Liebel reminded us that we are no longer in the wild wild west of social media. "There is an etiquette. Failure to follow the etiquette can quickly
tarnish your name and your ability to effectively use blogging as a way
to promote yourself, your services, your brand."
Even though blogging is much more casual than writing for more mainstream forms of media, they should act professionally. – Carolyn Wilman
Get both sides of the story - be objective. Tell the story and stop trying to be a tabloid. – Anonymous
Next up last of the series and the bloggers will have the last word.
Thanks to the 99 people who kindly responded. The following agreed to be quoted and publicly acknowledged.
Michele Miller WonderBranding
Mei-Li Thomas, No Fear, Just DIVA
Paul Chaney, Conversational Media Marketing
Kim Haynes, Texas Gal Ramblings
Des Walsh Des Walsh dot com
Alan Wolk The Toad Stool
Elaine Fogel, Solutions Marketing and Consulting
David J. Neff, American Cancer Society; Sharing Hope TV
Steven E. Streight aka Pluperfecter (formerly known as Vaspers the Grate)
Nicole Simons, Cruel To Be Kind
Sherry Heyl, Concept Hub, Inc
Ike Pigott, Occam's RaaR
Mary Hunt, In Women We Trust
Yigal Cohen, Linx Analyst and Blogger Relations
Susan Cartier Liebel, Building Solo Practice University
Liz Strauss, Successful and Outstanding Blog(gers)
Robert French, infOpinions?
Cynthia Holladay, UpRight Marketing
Alanna Kellogg, Veggie Eventure; Kitchen Parade
Yvonne Divita, Lip-sticking
Jay Berkowitz, Ten Golden Rules
Heidi Richards Mooney, WE Magazine for Women
Tim Jackson, Masi Bicycles Masiguy Podcast
Marc Meyer, Direct Response Marketing Observations
Mark Goren, Transmission Content + Creative
Sally Falkow, PRoactive Leading Edge on the Daily Dog
John Cass Author of Strategies & Tools for Corporate Blogging Blogger at PR Communications
Shel Israel, Global Neighbourhoods
Ann Handley, Annarchy; Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog
Francois Gossieaux, Emergence Marketing
Erin K Vest, Queen of Spain
David Berkowitz, Inside the Marketers Studio,
Kate Spencer, Fordham University
Ed Gaston, Chrysler
Michael Rubin, Blog Council
Cyndee Haydon, Clearwater Real Estate Tampa Homes
Katie Paine, KDPaine's PR MeasurementBlog
Drew McLellan, Drew's Marketing Minute
Anita Campbell Small Business Trends
Rich Brooks, Flyte
Jane Genova, JaneGenova.com Law and More
Marianne Richmond, Resonance Partnership
Becky Carroll, Customers Rock
CB Whittemore, Flooring The Consumer The Carpetology Blog
Roxanne Darling Partner, Bare Feet Studios Bare Feet Blog
Dave Williams, Co-Founder, 360i
Tris Hussey, A View From The Isle
Kami Huyse, Communication Overtones
B.L. Ochman What's Next Blog
Carolyn Wilman Contest Queen
Rajesh Lalwani, Blog Works
Dave Taylor, Ask Dave Taylor
Cece Salomon-Lee, PR Meets Marketing
Nancy White, Full Circle
Neville Hobson, NevilleHobson.com
Nedra Weinreich, Spare Change blog
Dina Mehta, Conversations with Dina
Rohit, Influential Marketing Blog
Prashant, Markitechture
Katherine Malone, Fleishman-Hillard
Randal Moss, American Cancer Society; Community Mobilization
Cece Salomon-Lee, PR Meets Marketing
Merrill Dubrow, M/A/R/C The Merrill Dubrow Blog
Thanks to Grafiko for the alphabet graphic and to Toroller for the sudoku social media graphic.
