07/04/2014
In the wee hours of the morning traffic challenged Peachtree Street in Buckhead (Atlanta) experiences a few quiet hours before the mad rush hour/s begin.
But not on the Fourth of July.
Today the 45th Peachtree Road Race brought out more than 250,000 (60k official runners) people who woke up the city to take part in the world's largest 10K race.
Unlike it’s cousin the Boston Marathon, The Peachtree, as it's fondly called, is not just a race for runners or even joggers. It’s a community experience where generations of family and friends often walk together to celebrate life. Even for the people on the sidewalks who cheer on the runners, The Peachtree takes on a carnival atmosphere.
For many, like my pal Joe Koufman, founder of AgencySparks, it’s become a tradition. With race number 12 completed (note Joe's 1-2 fingers!), I asked Joe Why he continues to run The Peachtree. 
"The Peachtree Road Race is more of an experience than a race. The sights, sounds, smells, and feel of the race make it spectacular.
Some of the highlights for me are walking to the MARTA station when there are few people setting up and the police are patrolling the course, then packing into the train like sardines with sticky runners, the costumes (this year I saw Hulk Hogan, Beer Maid, a banana, marching band in Speedos, and others), the official (and unofficial) bands every mile, and the thousands of spectators each celebrating the day with their unique styles.
I am never really trying to get a personal record (though I do train and run hard for the Peachtree). I like to soak in the entire experience."
A much anticipated part of The Peachtree tradition is the t-shirt that goes to all official runners who complete the race. The t-shirt design is a ‘crowd sourced’ voting competition.
The 2014 Peachtree Road Race t-shirt was created by James Balke. James is a two-time winner; his first was for the 1997 race. By the way, did you know there is even a book about the history of the Peachtree Road Race T-shirt?
Take a look at both of James’ designs.
Notice any similarities? The 1997 t-shirt includes multiple Peachtree street signs while 2014 is a detailed map of the race. Although very different styles both represent maps and direction of Atlanta. Both represent the values of the race.
4 Lessons learned From The Peachtree Road Race
1. The brand can create a framework but it is the community who builds community. The Atlanta Track Club set the rules and the course for the Peachtree Road Race.
2. Execution of similar concepts e.g. tactics can take on very different results .. and that can be a good thing. James Balke’s designs demonstrate foundational concepts can produce distinctive outcomes.
3. Tradition plays a role in setting expectations and repeat ‘buy.’ People look forward to running the race year after year often with the same friends and family.
4. Little things make a BIG difference and become a customer thank you/reward. The Peachtree Road Race T-shirt is a treasured prize for finishing the race.
Happy 4th of July!
05/08/2014
The interweb and smart phones forever changed how we buy, what we buy, where we buy .. and who we take along on our shopping adventures.
What makes social shopping work is something so simple but at the same time it’s often a challenge for brands to achieve. The Social Share. Sounds like the next viral video dance!
One of the new ways to shop is taking your virtual entourage along. Your friends can be part of your shopping experience for seconds, a la SnapChat, or participate in in-depth discussions in Google Hangouts.
For some folks social shopping is an amazing adventure. Still don't know if it's really worth the extra money for the souped up camera? You have a way to bring friends, as the marketers might say, into the purchase decision. Girlfriend, are you in a quandary about which cute dress to buy? Through a few Snapchat photos of you modeling the potential new dresses you might justify buying them all!
If after their real time feedback you still can’t decide you can always create a Pinterest board, post on Instagram or start a Facebook or Twitter conversation. Upside: lots of opinions. Downside: lots of opinions.
If you can’t find the right ‘expert’ feedback from your family and friends, well there’s always the kindness of strangers. Odd as it seems, review sites like Yelp (www.yelp.com) influence purchase from the very important, your 27th pair of black shoes to the mundane, which dryer to buy. And then there is something in the middle .. Jelly a mobile app "knowledge search" from Twitter Founder Biz Stone. (It's my new favorite time suck.) Jelly combines your social network and your friends' network.
Retails both online and offline are launching mobile apps to complement our digial shopping experiences. Reseach from Internet Retailer indicates that in 2013 consumers on both major mobile platforms increasingly relied on mobile apps as part of the shopping process.
For others on-going opinions and reviews are a confusing maze of babble often resulting in a digital nightmare. Add to the mix input from brands and you have an over abundance of expert opinions.As Jimmy Fallon might say, “ew!”
Online and offline worlds collide in creating an important 360’ customer experience. For brands that have not built a digital community of people who will pass along reviews, photos, videos to their friends, social media is just another distribution channel. I ask you... why bother to invest resources in something that your website should accomplish?
Social Savvy Tips For Brands: It’s critical to monitor what customers and prospects are saying about their entire shopping experience from digital, in-store and of course the product. Often overlooked are hidden insights in comments on your own social platforms.
- With those insights gained take action beginning with thanking your customers for sharing.
Social Savvy Tip For Customers: Before you take out the plastic to make a major purchase read reviews from multiple sources. A Twitter search on a brand may turn up some interesting insights too. So many opinions, so little time.
How do you do The Social Shopping Share Dance?
03/24/2014
Part Two of a series of interviews with Adobe Digital and Social Media Summit Speakers & Attendees.
Tamar Rimmon, Conde Nast, tells us how her team provides meaningful insights to senior managment and internal clients that support the brand's goals.
About Tamar Rimmon - Tamar is Senior Manager of Analytics and Audience Development at Conde Nast. She works with Conde Nast’s brands – including The New Yorker, Glamour, and WIRED – helping them deliver unique brand experiences for their audiences and drive engaged users to their sites. Tamar’s career spans the television, publishing and digital media industries.
Toby/Diva Marketing: As Senior Manager of Analytics and Audience Development your days are filled with numbers. Often the people that ask for analytic reports may not live in your world. How do you tell the story of the numbers so your internal clients don’t get the ‘glazed over look?’
Tamar Rimmon/Conde Nast: My team’s goal is to help guide brand strategy by providing meaningful insights to our internal clients. I found that the best way to bring value is to get into my clients’ shoes and understand what matters most to them.
The story should not be about the numbers in and of themselves – it should be about what the numbers tell us regarding the things that are important to our clients, and how they can make better decisions by leveraging these learnings. I’m also a big believer in data visualization.
Presenting the numbers in a visual way is a great way to convey insights and make the data accessible and easier to grasp even to those who are not experts in analytics.
Toby/Diva Marketing: We understand that measuring success starts with goals/objectives. However, sometimes is seems like “data data everywhere and not a drop to drip.” (Apologizes to Samuel Taylor Coleridge). How have you determined which analytics to focus on in terms of demonstrating value to senior leadership?
Tamar Rimmon/Conde Nast: It's easy to get overwhelmed by data overload, but we have to be in control of the data instead of letting the data control us. Analytics must be derived from and aligned with the goals of the organization.
Conde Nast has always been focused on creating high quality content that caters to valuable audiences, so we structure our analytics around this objective. My focus is on harnessing the analytics to understand who our high-value audiences are, how they behave, and what we need to do to engage and delight them.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What is a must bring to Adobe Summit for you?
Tamar Rimmon/Conde Nast: A notepad! (mine is digital, though…) Adobe Summit is a great opportunity to meet fellow analysts and marketers and learn about all the innovative things they are doing. I like to keep track of the new ideas that I hear about and the thoughts they inspire in me, and I make sure to bring it all back with me to the office when the Summit is over.
Tamar's Adobe Social Sessions: Social ROI all star panel & The rise of the social analyst
This Diva Marketing post is part of an influencer Adobe Insider program for Adobe Summit. I receive incentives to share my views. All opinions are 100% mine.
03/13/2014
Those who tell the stories well shape our lives.
Often stories are as much about the people who tell them as they are of the story itself. In 2014, websites, blogs, social networks influence how we tell and pass along our stories. We might even add videos, podcasts, an infographic or graphic or two.
"Those who tell the stories also hold the power." "Those who tell the stories rule society." "Those who tell the stories rule the world."
These three quotes have been attributed to both Plato and the Hopi American Indians. Quite obviously they were worlds apart separated by thousands of miles not to mention centuries of time. The universal truth remains dead right .. The influence of the story teller can be life changing.
For the past 18-months I have worked among and with professionally trained story tellers .. call them journalists or reporters. It's their job to identify, research and tell the most significant stories of our society. Until just a few years ago their stories were the only way most of us learned what was happening in our world. Then the digital world entered and changed the game .. for them and for us.
In the digital world traditional media (radio, TV, print publications) and brands share several common challenges. One of the most significant is the expectations of our audiences/communities for on-going content for our websites, blogs, social networks.
No longer can traditional media tell stories only on the 6p news with perhaps a repeat at 11p. To remain competitive content must feed hungry digital assets (websites, blogs, social networks) multiple times a day. That's a whole bunch of new stories .. or stories with new perspectives.
Oh and those stories must satisfy a digital audience whose interests and attention span may differ from what they want from the legacy product.
The challenges of our traditional media friends are not so different from what a B2B, B2C or nonprofit brand encounters. Brands must also provide the content or stories that are relevant to their audiences/community. In the digitall/social media world the prize is the same .. The Share. If we don't create for the share and interaction social media is just another distribution channel. And I ask you .. why bother?
- What I learned from my media friends is that stories are everywhere. The secret is to look behind the ordinary.
In one morning pitch meeting (where reporters present ideas for stories they want to cover) that I attended a smart news director said something that shifted my thoughts about telling stores in social media. A reporter was pitching Matt Parcell, WFTV. Matt listened as she presented a series of different angles of a story. No. Nope. That's not it.
- Finally he nodded and said, "That's it. Now I care."
The digital/social media world levels the playing field and we find ourselves completing with both brands and media for the golden moments of customer attention. Sometimes those are the same stories.
Social media has been around long enough to know that the stories you post can't be self serving. We've learned to find content that adds value for our audience/customers/community. However, value-add stories have become the price of doing business.
What content gets the most shares and engagement? Stories that go a step beyond value-add to "Now I Care." Think about it.
7 Tips To Create Now I Care Stories
1. Know your digital audience's profile .. it may be different then what you think opening doors to a new segment
2. Understand how to use each digital medium to its advantage -- what works on Twitter may not be the same for Facebook. Creating original video is a world unto itself.
3. Begin your content creation with the question -- "Will my customer care?"
4. Track and analyze the social shares and interactions -- Identify a few tools that track social media analytics. Social Media Today Post by Pam Dyer offers 50 tools!
5. Review what your competiton is doing -- Look at the posts that receive the most shares and interaction
6. Test new ideas -- social media/digital brand content/stories are still a new frontier
7. Images and video -- include graphics and video we're living in a visual world
Toss of a pink boa to BBF Geoff Livingston and the XPotomac peeps, Shonali Burke, Patrick Ashamalla who kindly invited me to present at their fantastic event a few weeks agon. This post is based on my talk.
Max is reading Sybil Stershic's book Share of Mind Share of Heart.
Seems appropriate to end this with what veteran news camera man and uber cool dude, Jim Long said at XPotomac - "Tell me a story .. make me feel something." B2B marketers - no excuses you can do it too!
Broadcast and Print Media Adoption of Digital xPotomax 2014 / Video
12/25/2013
"We'll be known as the helpful store. The friendly store. The store with a heart. The store that places public service ahead of profit. The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before."
Nope, it's not a new innovative social network strategy (that would be a miracle of miracles!). In the classic film, Miracle On 34th Street, Mr. Macy took chance on a different way to conduct business.
Customers would not be coerced into buying what they did not want; however, the real courage was if another store had a better or less expensive product Macy's would refer customers there.
Fast forward 66 years. It is now 2013, and as we close out this year, we face similar challenges of how to provide value for our customers. Technology can be the gift that opens the new digital door to an exciting way to build relationships with customers .. if we can be as couragous as Mr. Macy.
Pull off the pretty red bow and you'll find social networks with funny names like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest. It's a world where to succeed we have to go beyond a one-off sale to opportunities where three entities: company, employee and customer create the brand experience together. That takes courage.
The miracle of social media is its impact reaches beyond just one customer. Digital relationships with the people who are the heart of your brand, both customers and employees, can set off a unique chain reactions.
My favorite act of couragous miracle making this season is from the Canadian airline Westjet that surprised passengers with presents that they wanted (not swag from the airline). Video is well done and worth a watch.
- Continuous listening -> learning -> understanding -> results in trust -> leads to loyalty -> leads to the cash register bells ringing. And every time a cash register bell rings a marketer gets a bonus or gets to keep her job (!) .. oops wrong film.
Corner grocery store digital relationships that are build not only with you and your customers, but among your customers and your employees could never have been imagined when Kris Kringle entered Macy's Santa Land in 1947. However, even as we approach 2014, for many organizations open conversations still seem like a Miracle on (insert organization name here) or like the ghost of Xmas future (oops wrong movie again.)
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible... consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
As we begin 2014, technology developments spin even faster taking digital business into areas that were impossible in '47 or '57 or even '2013.
Imagine a digital destination where you can include your review of the product, service or customer care that influences your or your friends' buying decisions.
Imagine a digital destination where you can talk to a brand employee who doesn't respond with a scripted answer.
Imagine a digital destination that allows for product and service customization.
Imagine a digital destination where you can start a conversation with a real person about what matters to you regarding a product or service.
Imagine a digital destination where you can actually help change the direction of a brand before it's even launched.
Imagine multiple digital devices from mobile to tablet and computer to wearable. How will you create unique content for all that is relevant? How will you respond on mulitple channels?
Imagine a digital destination where you can chat with people about their experiences and learn from each other .. in real time during your shopping experience. The result is smarter purchases.
Imagine an authenitc conversation, in real time, with your favorite actor, politician, author or reporter who responds to your comments not with platitudes but with thoughtfulness and courage.
Imagine an authentic conversation with your senior managmenet or an admired corporate executive where ideas are transparently exchanged.
Imagine an organization that works in partnership with its customers and employees to create a brand experience that is relevant, innovative and imaginative across multiple devices.
Imagine an organization that places its customers in the center of all decisions.
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
What a funny world we live in. It's interesting to compare a 1940's film, where finding solutions to customers' problems was perceived as unique, to 2013 where finding solutions to customers' problems is considered ingenious.
The techniques may have changed. New buzz words may be added to the mix. Bells and whistles may be a little louder. However, after all is said and done, the premise remains the same:
-Listen
-Understand
-Add value
-Do what it takes to go the extra mile to delight your customer
I believe that as we learn how to use social media it will change how we conduct business .. leading to creating an environment where people truly matter. And that my friends, is as courageous and innovative as Mr. Macy's Miracle on 34th Street.
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
And with that Max and I wish you a very merry holiday!
A classic Diva Marketing Holiday Post.
08/01/2013
We came, we saw, we kicked its ass. ~ Ghostbusters
Just One Crowd Sources Question
Recently many of my social media conversations seemed to be about the perception that social is a young person’s game. Perhaps that’s true
to an extent as the Pew 2012 Demographic report indicates.
However, many of the people who began exploring social media
7, 8, 9, 10, 12 years ago were 30+ when they/we started working in this
industry. At the time we stepped into what was fondly called, The
Blogosphere, it was an unproven direction to take business communications.
In fact, some companies thought we were a bit crazed to
encourage brands to embrace concepts like transparency, authenticity, honesty
and the most radical of all … customer-to-brand, peer-to-peer conversations in
public forums.
I was curious to understand why the people, who I think of as the "real people" pioneers of social media, took a leap of
faith to work in a field that skeptics and pundits said was just a fad. So I
reached out to a few folks from across the globe to discover their reasons for Why.
Some of the Whys
Business Applications - Several people saw blogs in a purely business context --a competitive advantage, opportunity to speak directly to customers and stakeholders, new avenue to expand networks and connect with industy thought leaders, easy way to share (business) information,
New Challenge - Other people liked the challenge of something new and wanted to experiment. Some realized that blogs could shape opinons beyond the influence and gatekeeping of traditional media .. they saw blogs as way to empower people.
Personal Expression - Others wanted to share not only information but their opinons. For other the satisfaction of personal expression influenced them to explore blogs.
Anita Campbell, Small Biz Trends - To set my business apart and gain national visibility. Blogs were the ticket to that.
Neville Hobson, Communication Consultant - Partly for that very reason: unproven, often risky! Mostly,
though, to try and figure out what blogs were and what they could do in
business. Today social media is pervasive and mainstream awareness is very
high.
It's a double-edged sword in business, requiring deeper understanding of
and sensitivity to people's changing behaviours and the complexities of those
changing behaviours in a workplace setting. A constant learning experience.
Nettie Renyolds, Nettie Ink - I was totally enthralled with how the new communication tools were going to educate and empower people online. I was also writing the Professional PR blog for Allbusiness.com. I was so blessed to get to try out these tools even in infancy.
If anyone who is under 30
and working in social media believes that everything they are using now will
apply in the same efficacy as it does in the next 24 months -they are misguided.
These tools are ever-changing so every tool and every piece of communication
must first establish context and then the best tool to use is secondary. Also -
keep your website as your central anchor!
Elisa Camahort Page, BlogHer - I started as a
personal blog. I reviewed movies, theatre, books, and restaurants, among other
personal observations.
Once I shared a
restaurant review with some colleagues and saw that review spread across my
network and encourage dozens of people to try that restaurant I had what I call
my "peanut butter chocolate" moment about how blogging and online
community was a natural communications and marketing channel.
I really thought the
ability to speak directly to your customers, readers, audience, etc. was an
opportunity that organizations should not pass up. And even my early
experiments in marketing via the social web channels that existed at the time
(pre-Facebook, pre-Twiiter, etc.) showed immediate and quantifiable promise.
Rajesh Lalwani, Blogworks - As a student and
practitioner of public relations and communication, I saw the emergent change
where organizations and stakeholders could engage directly; where the role of
shaping opinion and influencing purchase would no longer be limited to
mainstream media, but everyone; the changed dynamics of a world where news
would be disseminated first by people on the street.
I could see it
clearly that this will change how communication, reputation, marketing,
customer service, research, content had worked thus far. I felt this was my
opportunity to participate in the future of everything brand and I jumped in. I
didn't think this was risky. I was clear, this would be mainstream
Merrill DuBrow, M/A/R/C Research - Someone very smart (you - Ms Bloomberg convinced me to blog - said it is critical to buisness and yes you were right.
Yvonne DiVita, BlogPaws, Lipsticking - I joined in
2004 and it gave me immediate results. I was connected to people in the
business world that I would never have known about, before using a blog.
I started blogging
because my partner had learned about blogging in his college course (adult
learning) and thought it was a fantastic tool to connect people from all over
the world. And, he was right. It connected me to dozens of people in the
marketing world I was just then venturing to enter.
I think the younger folks
can learn a lot from us 'old timers' - including how to bring tried and true
business practices to a social media world. And, we can learn a lot from them -
such as learning how to apply some of the new tools being invented. This
shouldn't be a "them" or "us" kind of thing.
It should be an open
conversation about life. Isn't that what blogs and social media are all about?
And, isn't that how you build connections?
David
Berkowitz, MRY - I got into digital media because I wanted to write and
not be a journalist in any traditional sense. Before I was blogging in 2004, I
was already writing a lot for eMarketer (my full-time job), and then started
contributing to MediaPost.
Blogging was a natural extension, especially when I
decided to focus more on establishing my own voice through my blog. After
the fact, I came to appreciate the community of bloggers that I was part of
just by blogging.
B.L. Ochman, Whats Next - I had
been publishing a print newsletter called What's
Next and then moved
it online to my website as a weekly. When it became possible to switch to a
blog, I didn't hesitate for a second.
Started in 2002, and only took that long
to blog because it took me a long time to find a designer who could create it
to have the same design as my website. I wanted a graphic identity for my
content.
Paul Chaney, Chaney Marketing Group - It was an
outlet for personal expression, and a way to scratch my writing itch. My first
posts didn't have to do as much with business, but that's the direction it
turned pretty quickly.
Brendan Hurley, Goodwill of Greater Washington - When we
launched our social media/blogging initiatives in 2007, research data supported
the fact that at the time it was a medium dominated by a younger audience, and
that's who we were trying to reach and influence.
Our adoption was purely a
strategic business decision. However, we didn't go about it without some due
diligence. We consulted with Geoff Livingston, a well-respected social media
expert, who helped us develop a comprehensive and integrated approach.
Social
media is a powerful tool and has become a critical and growing component of our
overall marketing strategy. But in most cases, I still recommend taking an
integrated approach. Even Zappos is using TV...
Brent Leary, CRM Essentails - Just was looking
to share my thoughts and experiences in the CRM industry.
C.B. Whittemore - Opportunity to
experiment and explore firsthand with online tools when every sign I came
across said that marketing and business would head that way. I could do it on
my time, at minimal cost other than my time. Plus, the more I got involved, the
more cool smart people I came across - with Diva Toby being one of the very
coolest.
Barb Giamanco - My background
is in technology, so I saw these tools as the next evolution of technology to
support business processes.
It isn't about age. It is about attitude. Social
media isn't a young person's game - whatever that's supposed to mean, and I
think that the people who say that are using it as an excuse not to learn new
skills.
These new technologies and approaches impact business in the same way
that fax machines changed up business. So did being required to know word
processing or how to use presentation software. People resisted computers.
They
said we'd never do business using email. They also said that people wouldn't
purchase products over the web and that mobile phones wouldn't be a big deal. THEY
were wrong and still are if they think that social media is a fad.
Kevin O'Keefe, Lexblog - To help
people, specifically to help lawyers understand how to use the Internet in a
way that could enhance their reputations as a trusted and reliable authorities.
Marianne Richmond - At
first it just seemed so incredible to be able to connect directly online with
thought leaders, true experts and people working in same business. Then the
light bulb went off that businesses could connect directly with consumers and
vice versa.
Drew McLelllan, McLellan Marketing Group - I was curious
-- and it seemed like the right time to jump in. It was new, everyone was
making mistakes so I was free to experiment and explore, knowing that others
would be forgiving if I wasn't perfect at it.
There was also a professional
necessity. I own an agency and knew our clients would be need to consider
social media as an option. I couldn't counsel them if I wasn't fluent myself.
Rather than read about it or watch it, I jumped into the deep end, launching a
blog and creating a profile on all of the major platforms of the day.
Des Walsh, Business Coach - In 2003, there was a convergence of my enthusisam for networking, my keen interest
in communication technology (for communication's sake, not so much for the
technology itself) and my then new involvement in coaching.
At a coaching
conference in San Francisco early 2003 a session "become
an e-celebrity through blogging" opened my eyes to blogging as a way to
promote my coaching business beyond my relatively limited circle in Sydney,
Australia. As I went on I learned more about blogging and became an evangelist
for business blogging.
Too many mature age people see bloggng and social media
as being about technology. For me it is about people and communication. My life
has been immeasurably enriched through the friendships I have made worldwide
through social media and my business has benefited continually from my
engagement with and knowledge of social media
Sybil Stersjic, Quality Service Marketing - I
developed my business blog to share and further develop my professional passion
for employee-customer care. My blog also gave me a web presence since I did not
have a website at the time.
Jane Genova, Executive and Marketing Pro - It got me into
the "conversation" without having to be admitted by the
gatekeepers (editors) in media. I had a hunch that there were others like
myself who wanted to be in and be able to bypass the gatekeepers. Stay with
what's working. Be aware how your medium is changing. Change with it.
Shel Israel, Author - Are you aware that I spent about six months in 2011 writing a book
called Pioneers of Social Media? It never found a publisher, nor did I sense a
groundswell of interest that would have made me willing to take the risk to
self-publish.
Anyway, many of the pioneers are my age, we are 60s kids who believed
in power to the people and transparency and lots of sex. Some of them, A few
include Howard Rheingold, host the The Well, first online community; Randy
Farmer, co-developer of Habitat, first use of avatars, so that you could have
an online presence, Dave Winer, father of the blog, RSS and more, are all from
the 60s. Each had an interest in using technology to empwer people through
networking.
I am not a pioneer of social media. I'm more like a witness. I was in
the right place at the right time to see the revolutionary aspects that social
media promised. These people were talking about improving the structure of a
global society. I doubt that any of them ever envisioned cute cat photos.
I remain, a camp joiner more than a pioneer. I like to write about
people who see how technology makes life, work, health, learning, entertainment
and communications better.
The technology of the pioneers has done much to change the world. But
I'm not sure the current trends are what they had in mind. It's pretty much
like when television came in in the 1950s and NBC's Sarnoff dreamed of opera
for the masses. Around the corner, Bill Paley, was formed CBS. He looked at
Sarnoff and said "screw that shit. We'll give them I love Lucy and sell
cigarettes. Guess who won?
~ and me. I launched Diva Marketing in 2004, because my friend Dana Van Den Heuvel told me I had no credibilty talking about blogs, in training programs, unless I was actively involved. Diva Marketing was to be a way for me to learn. I had no intention of keeping it going for more than a few months.
Almost as soon as I wrote my first post people reached out to welcome me to the blogosphere. I quickly realized this wasa far different world than websites The potential to build and nuture relationships and talk directly to customers in this funny thing called "comments" was the missing link of the business internet. So I stayed .. and as they say, the rest is history.
Update
Beth Harte - I jumped into corporate social media in 2006 (it wasn't even a term then). I saw it more of an extension of PR than marketing. It was a tough sell back then.
Toss of a boa to these amazing people who were among the first to set the wheels in montion for an exciting new way to bring brands, employees and customer together.
Anita
Campbell - Small Biz Trends @Small Biz Trends Began blogging 2003 (USA)
Barbara
Giamanco - @BarbaraGiamanco Linkedin Began blogging 2004 (USA)
Beth Harte - The Harte of Marketing @BethHarte Began blogging 2006 (USA)
B.L.
Ochman Whats Next Blog Pawfun Blog @WhatsNext Google+ Y2006 (USA)ouTube Whats Next Blog YouTube Beyond Social Media Beganblogging 1996 (USA)
Brent Leary - Brent Leary.com @BrentLeary Began blogging 2004 (USA)
C.
B. Whittemore - Simple Marketing Now Simply Marketing Now Blog @CBWhittemore Began blogging 2006 (USA)
David
Berkowitz - Marketers Studio Blog About David Berkowitz @DBerkowitz @MRY Began blogging 2004 (USA)
Des
Walsh - DesWalsh.com @DesWalsh Began blogging 2003 (Australia)
Drew
McLellan - Drew's Marketing Minute @DrewMcLellan Began blogging 1999 (USA)
Elisa
Camahort Page - BlogHer G+ @ElisaC Began blogging 2003 (USA)
Jane
Genova - JaneGenova.com Law and More Over 50 Began blogging 2005 (USA)
Kevin
O’Keefe - LexBlog @KevinOKeefe Began blogging 1996 (USA)
Merril
Dubrow - The Merrill Dubrow Blog @MerrillDubrow Began blogging 2006 (USA)
Marianne
Richmond - Resonance Parntership @Marianne Began blogging 2005 (USA)
Nettie
Reynolds - Nettie Ink LinkedIn @NetReynolds (1999) (USA)
Neville
Hobson - Neville Hobson.com @jangles Began blogging 2002(UK)
Paul
Chaney - Chaney Marketing Group @PChaney Began blogging 2004 (USA)
Rajesh
Lalwani - BlogWorks @RajeshLawlani Began blogging 2005 (India)
Shel Israel - Shel Israel on Forbes Facebook LinkedIn @ShelIsraelegan blogging 2005 (USA)
Sybil
F. Stershic - Qualty Service Marketing Quality Service Marketing @SybilQSM Linkedin LinkedIn (USA)
Toby Bloomberg - Diva Marketing Blog Pinterest Bio Board @Tobydiva Began blogging 2004 (USA)
Yvonne
DiVita - Lipsticking @lipsticking BlogPaws @Blogpaws Began blogging 2004 (USA)
Just One Crowd Sourced Question is an on-going series that taps the knowledge, experience and yes opinons of people who believe that one of the core values of social media culture is learning together.
02/11/2013
Remember the all important word we were taught in kindergarten? Share.
We shared crayons, books and sometimes our PB&J sandwiches. Through sharing we made new friends.
What we didn't understand, at least at five I had not a clue, was that from these small interactions we were creating a unique 'classroom community' that was a little different from the other kindergarten classes.
Taking that idea into the social web .. each social network and digital community we particiapte in has its own culture influencing our experiences.
In the social web we're sharing like mad. Some people might say we're sharing too much. (Perhaps that's a post for another day!) There are lots of different social shares from product reviews on sites like Yelp to retweets, repins and of course Facebook and post/article shares.
The social web has brought friends and strangers together in a way that would have been difficult to image 10 or even 5 years ago. I wonder why it seems we've become obsessed with sharing. I came across an interesting study, conducted by the New York Times,The Psychlogy of Sharing. Passing along to you.Ok .. so I'm sharing!
Why People Share?
1. To bring valuable and entertaining content to others
2. To define ourselves to others
3. To grow and nuture our relationships
4. Self-fulfillment
5. To get the word out about causes or brands
What Influences A Social Share?
1. Appeal to consumer's motivation to connect with each other not just with your brand
2, Trust is the cost of entree for social shares
3. Keep it simple and it will get share .. and won't get muddled
4. Appeal to their sense of humor .. I might add carefully
5. Embrace a sense of urgency
Social sharing goes beyond an nice to know. Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Yelp, MySpace have forever changed what and how we buy. We've always sought opinions from family and friends. It may seem odd, but we now also depend on the reviews of strangers to shape our purchase decisions from the most important products .. like your 27th pair of black shoes to the mundane .. which dryer to buy.
The Advertising Research Foundation recent study - Digital & Social Media in the Purchase Decision Process -calls this type of shopping a winding journey where the shopper is “always on” because of the constant interaction with brand.
Social Sharing Tips
For Brands - Invest resources to monitor and track what people are sharing about your brands especially on your own social network pages like Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram. Go beyond counting the number of shares. The gold is in the details of the extended sharing and conversation.
For Customers - Before you take out the plastic read multiple reviews from more than one source or site. A Tweeter search on the product name might pull up some interesting insights and links.
Social sharing takes your unique, personal brand experience and turns it into a brand experience for anyone who happens to come across your comments. You could be more influencial than you ever imagined!
12/25/2012
"We'll be known as the helpful store. The friendly store. The store with a heart. The store that places public service ahead of profit. The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before."
Nope, it's not a new social commerce strategy. It was an innovative sales program
launched in 1947 by Macy's Department Store. In the classic film, Miracle On 34th Street, Mr. Macy took chance on a different way to conduct business.
Customers would not be coerced into buying what they did not want; however, the real courage was if another store had a better or less expensive product Macy's would refer them there.
Fast forward 65 years into the future and we struggle with similar issues of how to provide value for our customers. Technology has given us an amazing, let's call it a gift, that provides a new way to for us to build relationships and nurture with our customers.
Pull off the pretty red bow and you'll find digital platforms with funny names like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest. It's a world where to succeed we have to go beyond a one-off sale to opportunities where three entities: company, employee and custome can create the brand experience .. together. That takes courage too.
Unlike the impact of Macy's initiative, social media impact reaches beyond just one customer. For the first time, the entire enterprise has skin in the game. The digital relationships that the people who are the heart of your brand can set off a unique chain reaction.
- Continuous listening -> learning -> understanding -> results in trust -> leads to loyalty -> leads to the cash register bells ringing. And every time a cash register bell rings a marketer gets a bonus or gets to keep her job (!) .. oops wrong film.
Corner grocery store digital relationships that are build not only with you and your customers, but among your customers and your employees could never have been imagined when Kris Kringle entered Macy's Santa Land in 1947. However, even as we approach 2013, for many organizations open conversations still seem like a Miracle on (insert organization name here) or like the ghost of Xmas future (oops wrong movie again.)
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible... consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
As we begin 2013, technology developments spin even faster taking digital business into areas that were impossible in '47 or '57 or even '2012.
Imagine a digital destination where you can include your review of the product, service or customer care that influences your or your friends' buying decisions.
Imagine a digital destination where you can talk to a brand employee who doesn't respond with a scripted answer.
IImagine a digital destination that allows for product and service customization.
Imagine a digital destination where you can start a conversation with a real person about what matters to you regarding a product or service.
Imagine a digital destination where you can actually help change the direction of a product or service before it's even launched.
Imagine multiple digital devices, moblie, tablet, computer, television not "or" but "and" ... and one day even your glasses!
Imagine a digital destination where you can chat with people about their experiences and learn from each other .. in real time during your shopping experience. The result is smarter purchases.
Imagine an authenitc conversation, in real time, with your favorite actor, politician, author or reporter who responds to your comments.
Imagine an authentic conversation with your senior managmenet or an admired corporate executive where ideas are transparently exchanged.
Imagine an organization that works in partnership with its customers and employees to create a brand experience that is relevant, innovative and imaginative across multiple divices.
Imagine an organization that cares not simply about for for its customers.
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
What a funny world we live in. It's interesting to compare a 1940's film, where finding solutions to customers' problems was perceived as unique, to 2012 where finding solutions to customers' problems is considered ingenious.
The techniques may have changed. New buzz words may be added to the mix. Bells and whistles may be a little louder. However, after all is said and done, the premise remains the same:
-Listen
-Understand
-Add value
-Do what it takes to go the extra mile to delight your customer
I believe that as we learn how to use social media it will change how we conduct business .. leading to creating an environment where people truly matter. And that my friends, is as couragous and innovative as Mr. Macy's Miracle on 34th Street.
The plan sounds idiotic and impossible...consequently, we'll make more profit than ever before.
Sidebar: A Classic Diva Marketing post based on an article written for American Marketing Association Marketing News.
Max and I wish you a year of little miracles, joy and all things wonderful and bright.
09/18/2012
One of my all time favorite things to do is walk-the-beach in the morning. (I also like to walk-the-city.)
A few weeks ago I was visiting my family in Massachusetts. Lucky me that my cousins have a beautiful home a block from the ocean.
The beach is a wonderland of tactical sensations that helps me quiet my mind: sound of the ocean surf, the touch of the waves and sand on your toes, the smell of salt water and the gentle comraderie as people nod their hellos and exchange smiles as if to say .. "Welcome to our world."
As artist Maria Kalman says, "Wonderful things happen when the brain is empty."
As much as the walk can be a 'rebooting' experience, eventually you do have come off the beach. That's where it can get tricky. Walking a few feet away from the path that set you on your adventure you suddenly realize there are few signs to mark your return destination spot.
You have to make an effort to remember from whence you came.
Walking along I wondered .. how does a brand approach social media without getting lost in the wonderland of new sensations and shiny toys? To put it in marketing terms, do we even remember to take brand values into consideration? Or do we skip onto the social platforms and never look back from whence we came and one day realize that we are totally lost and that our customers are totally confused?
Seemed to me that there were two critical issues to consider content and voice. Here are a couple of examples including B2B, B2C, Twitter, Pinterest and Blogs.
1. Content -- While social media content can and should relfect the 'human side' of your authors, to be part of a business initiative it must align with your brand.
IBM's Pinterest bio positions the company as "forward thinking." Boards about a computer (IBM Watson) that played Jeopardy, building a smarter planet, smarter cities and more support that brand value. IBM gets a check for consistency. IBM Values Statement
Just asking .. do you want to talk trvia with your bank? Suntrust gets a question mark.
2. Voice - Employees writing for your brand should be encouraged to develop their unique 'voices' while maintaing brand values and promise. Keep in mind "voices" may not always be text .. video, podcasts, images count too.
One of my favorite CEO blogs is Marriott On The Move written by Bill Marriott. His posts, seem like personal letters direct to me from a charming man who I'd love to sit across the table from and share a meal or a glass of wine. Mr. Marriott wraps his post around personal experiences that always lend insight into the company or himself.
I must admit, if I were to learn that a PR manager or an out-sourced agency was ghost writing for Bill Marriott I'd be more than sad. I'd feel a break in trust between my friend Mr. Marriott and myself. Trust is a hard won prize not to be taken lightly.
Not all content or voice tonality will be right for every brand. While a funny cat post on Facebook may result in a bunch of likes and shares is that what you really want your customers and prospects to keep top of mind about your brand? Humor can be a great content direction but can you create it to be both relevant and fun? Are a few easy, off-brand wins worth a wobble to your brand image?
No one said ths stuff would be easy.
You have to make an effort to remember from whence you came.
Toss of a pink boa to Fisher for the inspiration.
08/01/2012
The relatively fast Pinterest adoption rate, of what we might call nontraditional to social media verticals, is amazing to me. From financial services, manufacturing to B-to-B, Pinterest seems to capture the imagination of marketers.
In particular is the healthcare sector where many hospitals and medical centers are embracing visual communications and doing interesting work on Pinterest.
I was very excited when Ashely Howland from Bayler Healthcare System agreed to tell us the back-story of Bayler's Pinterest strategy. Ashely graciously shares her insights and learnings. In fact, her interview was so rich and detailed that we decided to run it as a series. Please join me in welcoming Ashley to Diva Marketing!
About Ashley Howland is the social media manager for Baylor Health Care System. She has been with Baylor for 8 years where she got her start in Media Relations. She took on Baylor’s social media efforts in 2009 “on the side” and it quickly turned into a full time job. 
Diva Marketing/Toby: I applaud Baylor’s step into Pinterest. Your boards were one of the first that I pinned to my Brand Board. Perhaps you can shed some light on something I’ve been thinking about since I first saw your boards.
Healthcare, as an industry, was slow to participate in the social web. However, it seems the opposite is true for Pinterest. On a high level why do you suppose that’s the case?
Ashley Howland: Thanks for adding us to your brand boards! You’re right; health care was very slow to adopt social media. One of the biggest reasons for that are the regulations in our industry, i.e. patient privacy laws.
We have now embraced it and are using it to inform and educate the public with credible health information. We’re also using it to learn from them as well…what kind of experience they’re having in our hospitals, what type of information they’re looking for and most importantly, we’re using it to help our patients connect with each other for support.
I think one of the biggest reasons Pinterest is so popular in the health care industry is because of its demographic. Nearly 70% of Pinterest users are women, which is a target audience for the health care industry. Women usually make the majority of health care decisions in a household and are usually the ones searching the web for health information.
Pinterest is also not as personal as some of the other social platforms. While Facebook and Twitter are hugely popular, not everyone is comfortable interacting in those spaces. Millions of people have accounts, but they may not be very active on those sites.
I think Pinterest fills that void. It appeals to the people who may not want to share the personal details of their life, but have no problem sharing about their interests and hobbies.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Let’s explore Baylor’s presence on Pinterest. What was it that first caught your interest about Pinterest to take the “pin leap?” When did you pin your first pin?
Ashley Howland: We pinned our first pin in January of this year. I was using Pinterest personally and became addicted to it very early on…like everyone else!
We decided to take the “pin leap” because it seemed like such a natural fit for us. As a hospital system, we have historically been concerned with treating illness, but now more than ever, we are responsible for treating wellness.
Social networking sites are the perfect place to do that. With sites like Pinterest, we can not only inspire people to live healthier lives, but we can show them how.
- We are taking the wealth of knowledge and expertise we’re privy to inside the walls of our hospitals and converting it to an easy-to-comprehend visual format.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Currently Baylor has 21 boards with a wide range of topics from healthcare games and tips, food. holidays, fitness and even animal therapy and boards about Texas. How did you determine the topics? Any surprises on the reactions from your community?
Ashley Howland: At first, we determined the topics of the boards based on the content we already had available. We also started paying attention to what people were pinning on our personal Pinterest spaces. In addition to home décor, fashion and arts and crafts, I noticed that my friends were pinning lots of recipes.
Baylor may not be able to help you put together a stylish outfit or show you how to Mod Podge a picture frame, but we’ve got recipes covered! We also noticed that people were pinning a lot of fitness pins and just everyday tips and tricks. We have an abundance of printable health checklists and how-to guides on our website so we pinned them and people loved them!
The biggest surprise was the reaction we got from our Interactive Health Quizzes board. We have many health quizzes and risk assessments buried on our website so we dug them out and started pinning them.
I was surprised that some of them didn’t get any re-pins or likes, but once we started measuring the click-throughs, we realized they were wildly successful! Some people may be shy or embarrassed about pinning a “Are you at risk for depression?” quiz or a risk assessment for cancer, but they will definitely click-through to take the quiz.
Diva Marketing/Toby: What types of content are you pinning?Ashley Howland: What’s great about Pinterest is there is an audience for just about anything! Sometimes brands are frustrated by it because they think they have nothing to pin. On the contrary.
- Content is everywhere you look! You just have to think visually and figure out a way to re-purpose it for this medium.
Got a blog post with a list of tips? An online interview with a subject matter expert? Find a graphic for it and pin it! If you have graphic design skills or have access to a graphic designer, that’s the key. And don’t forget about videos! Videos are becoming very popular on Pinterest. In short, almost anything can be turned into a pin.
That being said, we pin just about anything we can find at Baylor. Instead of being an afterthought, Pinterest has become a driving force for our social media efforts. Every piece of content we create, we try to think of how we can turn it into a pin. Instead of communicating with words, we’re all learning to communicate visually.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Understanding that Pinterest is still in its infancy, what are your measures for success?
Ashley Howland: Although Pinterest is still in beta phase—which is pretty incredible considering the number of users—there are already third party websites available that can help you measure your success.
Right now, we are using Pinerly. Pinerly is amazing because it not only tracks your click-throughs on a pin, it allows you to upload content that may not have an image already attached to it. For example, say you have a great blog post or an article on your website titled “5 tips for working out at home,” but there is no compelling image on the page. If you are using Pinterest to pin this content, it won’t work. However, Pinerly allows you to upload an image of your choice while posting the link behind it.
Another measurement tool that I recently discovered is Curalate. I’m really anxious to try it out!
Diva Marketing/Toby: With any social network initiative there are risks associated with active participating. What were Baylor’s challenges and how did you overcome them?
Ashley Howland: You’re right; every social networking site has its risks. Unfortunately, Pinterest has been singled out lately and a lot of attention has been called to its Terms of Service. They have made a lot of changes to their language about copyright issues, but the truth is their Terms of Service are very similar to other social networking sites as well.
As far as copyright issues are concerned, we try very hard to pin as much original content as we can. We definitely repin the brands and people we follow, but we try to make sure we repin from credible sources and that the original source of the content is credited.
One of our biggest challenges with Pinterest, and any social media outlet for that matter, is to make sure we are sharing or repinning content from credible sources. Many people will repin without clicking through right away.
As a brand, we click-through every image we want to repin to make sure it’s coming from a credible trusted source, that we’re not endorsing a product, and most importantly to make sure the pin is not linked to a spam site. Even our beloved Pinterest is not safe from spammers, unfortunately.
Diva Marketing/Toby: In social networks there are two paths we can take: passively providing content and actively engaging within others. At this point, most people seem to be sharing content/pins but there is not a lot of conversation happening.
How active is Balyor in terms of engagement e.g. commenting, repining, likes?
Ashley Howland: Engagement is a big priority for us, but to be honest, we haven’t really taken advantage of fully engaging with pinners…yet. On occasion, we’ll thank someone for repinning us, comment on other pins and give out likes, but engagement takes time and a lot of effort.
It’s a big and very important job. We have recently increased our staff to include two community managers and one of their primary goals is to spend time interacting with pinners. 
Diva Marketing/Toby: One of the big questions that I’m asked is how do you find time to include another social network into your communication outreach? Would you give us an idea of the resource structure (people) and approximate how much time you’re investing to Pinterest?
Ashley Howland: I believe you get out of these networks what you put into them. If your intent is to share content, that’s great, but then you’re only scratching the surface of social media and using it as another one-way communication channel.
It’s a two-way channel. In fact, it’s more than that…it’s a community of real people. I think brands are finally starting to realize that social media isn’t a side gig. It’s an integral part to any communications strategy. Most importantly, it’s not free which is a big misconception. Of course the tools are free, but the effort that goes into them isn’t.
I think you have to figure out what your priorities are and what your company’s goals are and then go from there. Not every business will greatly benefit from Pinterest. Evaluate your objectives and figure out where you should be spending your time.
Baylor is very supportive of our social media efforts and has given us additional full time employees to help manage our social media presence. I recently hired two community managers who are doing a great job of not only finding and creating relevant content, but talking to our communities and helping us reach beyond the day-to-day postings.
- We could all stand to do more listening instead of talking in our social landscape!
In addition, our Public Relations/Media Relations department has incorporated social media as a part of their jobs.Everyone in our Marketing/PR department; including many of our clinical employees such as physicians, nurses and dietitians; is encouraged to attend what I call the Social Media Campfire, a monthly discussion of the tools we’re using and how all of us can make them a part of our communications toolbox…no matter if you’re in the Social Media Department or not.
Continue the conversation with Ashley and the social media team from Bayler Healthcare System
Pinterest Facebook Twitter-@baylor health YouTube Google+ Ashley on Twitter
Join me on Pinterest!
Pinterest Pinning For Business Learning Series
