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February 17, 2010 by Christina
Hey Gmail users: are you using Google Buzz? I’ve been ignoring the pop-up box that shows up when I log in, but this Mashable column is motivating me to take another look.
So what’s the big deal? Social media prophets are predicting that Google Buzz, which went live to most Gmail users on Feb. 10, will lure marketing dollars from Facebook and Twitter because its user base is more than 38 million (as of September 2009). And, Google reported that Buzz is generating about 160,000 posts and comments per hour.
Personally, I’m not yet convinced that I “need” another social network. Will you be joining the bandwagon?
February 04, 2010 by Christina
A few weeks ago, The Plain Dealer’s director of digital development, John Kroll, invited me and other NEO bloggers to attend a meet up at the PD to discuss how we can formulate a symbiotic relationship. In John’s words, “to talk about how we can help each other: That includes how we can drive more traffic to your blogs, and how aggregating your blogs can make cleveland.com an even better window on our community.”
I thought it was a great idea and was happy to participate (and munch on cupcakes with fellow bloggers and one of my former co-workers). We talked about how to integrate blog content with current Cleveland.com content from the PD…for example, referencing blog posts about a similar topic covered in a news article somewhere in the story. True convergence at work!
If you’d like to register your blog with Cleveland.com, here’s the link. Register your Twitter feed here.
What ideas do you have for how the PD/Cleveland.com and NEO bloggers can work together?
January 26, 2010 by Christina
Last week, I was interviewed for an NBC affiliate story that aired yesterday about how marketers are collecting data on consumers via social networks to offer deals. (If you watch the video, please excuse the EXTREME close-ups…I was super glad that I wore my HD make-up!)
During the interview, I mentioned that this trend presents both opportunities and obstacles for consumers. However, it’s important to note that the concept of collecting consumer data is not new (you know this if you use a reward card such as the Giant Eagle Advantage card).
Regarding opportunities, marketers are looking to get their brand and products in front of key influencers – people who are well connected, tend to be early adopters and who serve as an information resource to their contacts. If you fit that profile and love getting offers before anyone else, you’re in luck these days.
In terms of obstacles, privacy concerns is one of the biggest issues. So, aggressively managing your privacy settings on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter is paramount if you don’t want Big Brother Marketer looking over your shoulder at your friends list, your personal information and your status updates.
Because more companies are “listening” via social networks, one can argue that customer service will improve as well. For example, some airlines are helping with traveling snafus by letting their customers make direct appeals via the companies’ Twitter accounts.
So, what side of the fence do you fall on? Send me offers or stay away?
January 14, 2010 by Christina
When I was a kid, many of my Halloween costumes revolved around doing something crazy with my long red hair. My favorite costume was Pippi Longstocking. That Halloween, I took extra delight in sewing patches on a dress my mom bought me that I despised.
My husband had never seen any of these amazing hairstyles in person, so I decided to go back to my roots this Halloween and dressed up as Wendy from the fast food joint. See my doppelganger here. (Note: I had never bought anything from Wendy’s and had only tried a Frosty a couple times.)
On Halloween, as we passed out candy, I was trolling Twitter and saw a RT from fellow bacon lover @dlayphoto about Wendy’s giving out $50 for twitpics of bacon-themed Halloween costumes. I sent in this twitpic of myself to @UrBaconMeCrazy, a Twitter account manned by Wendy’s, and heard back that I was a winner! I told EVERYONE I know that I couldn’t wait to chow down a gazillion Baconators with my gift card. And then I waited…
And waited. And waited. I rushed to the mail every day because I was obsessed to get this gift card. I started “seeing” Wendy’s commercials all the time on TV and noticed a ton of drive thrus near my house for the first time.
After three weeks, I sent a DM mentioning how I’ve been drooling every day when I open the mail waiting for the card. I got a message back that my gift card would be sent out after Thanksgiving. I waited… And waited. And waited.
I have to admit, at this point, I was a little irritated (patience is not one of my virtues). And, when friends asked when I was going to treat them to a Baconator buffet, I let them know I hadn’t received the card. What had started out as an amazing ambassador case study, was falling flat.
A few days before Christmas (almost two months later), I DMed to say that all I wanted for Christmas was my Wendy’s gift card. I got a certified letter a few days later, and was pumped to try a Baconator!
After work, I hit the Wendy’s near my house (that I previously had never noticed was there) and ordered up two Baconator combos. I proudly handed over my gift card at the window and was immediately told they don’t accept gift cards. WHAT?
The next day, I went to work and rounded up a few co-workers who were stuck working in between the holidays, and we made a Baconator run (after calling in advance to make sure the store accepted gift cards). We crushed my gift card, and we had a great time. And, I now am a BIG fan of the Baconator. The burger tastes delicious and fresh. The bacon is delightful, and the bun is soft and yummy. Thanks Wendy’s!
So, what are the lessons here for folks executing social media campaigns?
1) If you offer a promotion, follow through in a timely matter. Otherwise, you risk alienating the very people you’re trying to recruit as brand ambassadors.
2) Recognize the power of word of mouth for both positive and negative experiences. This scenario unnecessarily involved both.
3) Twitter promotions can be powerful ways to connect with customers and potential customers. But, once you make the investment, you need to stay committed or you risk backlash.
4) I was tickled to get the gift card, but it made six other people bigger Wendy’s fans because they benefitted from the company’s generosity.
5) I have amazing Halloween costumes that bring in the dolla dolla bills y’all.
December 30, 2009 by Christina
Happy New Year (two days early)! Whether you pronounce it twenty ten or two thousand ten, I hope it’s a good one for you and yours.
I’m not really one to tie myself to New Year’s resolutions, but I do have some personal goals for social media for next year. Here are my top five:
#1 Time management: About every week, my Reader gets to 1000+ items. I’ve started editing the list of personal and professional blogs I read, but I need to do a better job of getting through posts on a more regular basis. I’ve created a must read list, that I try to get to each week, but I still need to pare it down a bit.
#2 Remember that social networks are “social”: Often I find myself getting caught up in using social media for my day job and forget that the purpose is to build and maintain relationships. I need to do a better job of staying connected to my social friends even when I’m busy checking Facebook ad campaign stats, Twitter chatter for a client, etc. And, I need to remember why I started blogging and got on Facebook in the first place – it’s fun!
#3 Making an investment in “meeting” new tweeps and bloggers: Because I’m busy (aren’t we all?), I haven’t done a great job of taking time to investigate interesting people and thought leaders to follow on Twitter or adding my thoughts via comments to the blogs I read. Nailing down resolution #1 should help with this goal.
#4 Maximize LinkedIn: I use LinkedIn a lot for business connections, but I’ve been lax about taking advantage of insight shared via forums and groups. I also haven’t linked it to my Twitter account…still debating on that one.
#5 Partner with thought leaders I admire on blogs: This year, I only ponied up one guest blog post and I haven’t featured anyone else’s thoughts on this blog. I’d like to improve both in 2010.
So, what are your resolutions?
December 23, 2009 by Christina
Happy holidays!
Enjoy this list from @dannybrown.
December 16, 2009 by Christina
TechCrunch featured an informative article earlier this week regarding possibilities for geolocation saturation (think foursquare). The article made the point that there’s only so many people an individual wants to share their specific location information with, and therefore, the more people someone follows on geolocation social networks, the less useful the network becomes. I wonder if that’s true for other types of social networks like Facebook, Twitter and even blogs…
For example, when you have hundreds of friends on Facebook, you can miss out on updates from friends who don’t post frequently. That issue is magnified on Twitter since some folks tweet every 15 minutes, others once a day and some infrequently. Personally, I’m less likely to read all blog posts captured in my Google Reader when the count soars above 1,000 because it’s less overwhelming to click the “mark all as read button.”
With that said, I’m not going to stop accepting friend requests or quit adding interesting blogs to my Reader. The issue for me is time management of social networks when the numbers get unwieldy.
How about you?
December 02, 2009 by Christina
For some time now, savvy marketers have been using social media to connect with key audiences on a personal level. However, not everyone wants to “connect” with an organization. So, how can we walk the fine line between engaging and stalking prospective customers?
With Twitter, a number of retailers and restaurants are relying on it this holiday season to share info on promotions with customers and prospects. And, per a story in today’s USA Today, more shoppers are searching for coupons online. Just like the next person, I’m happy to score a deal on a product or service, and I’ve been elated with deals I’ve found on products like Cleveland-based Zoya nail polish via Twitter. However, I’ve also been creeped out when a doc sent me a tweet about trying his clinic for a massage after I gave a spa recommendation to a tweep via Twitter. As a marketer, how do you draw the line so you attract customers and not alienate them?
I believe that for proactive social media programs, targeting and content make the difference. For example, if you monitor for mentions about your company or products/services on Twitter and @reply everyone who mentions you without investigating the context, odds are that you’re going to alienate someone like the doc did to me. And, if your content is all about you, you’re going to lose followers who feel like you’re spamming them.
So, what’s the right balance? Check out this case study in PC World about Naked Pizza in New Orleans, which is being lauded for conversing with customers on Twitter in a way that mixes humor with social and health consciousness – qualities that reflect Naked Pizza’s brand identity.
Regarding when to react to social media chatter vs. ignoring it, here is an excellent chart from the Air Force that its communications team relies on for evaluating whether to respond to a blog post about its organization. It includes a flow chart that provides direction on whether to monitor only, fix facts by responding to errors, respond to rectify a situation or to share success. It’s easy to understand and helps to put the potential impact of a negative post into perspective. For example, if a blog is not well read or credible, it’s most likely in your best interest to continue monitoring and not formally respond.
If your organization is actively tweeting promotions to customers, what’s your philosophy on how to attract and not alienate?
November 19, 2009 by Christina
Social Media Community Manager is the hottest title around these days. A couple posts this week have addressed qualities to look for in a social media community manager, so I’ll let them do the talking. Check out Chris Nerney’s WebNewser post here and Mashable’s post by Jennifer Van Grove here.
November 11, 2009 by Christina
Social media marketing among B to C companies is growing, even for small businesses (per a study earlier this year, 260,000 small businesses are engaged). I imagine that geo-tagging advancements are going to influence an explosion in those numbers for adoption. For example, concepts like foursquare are already taking off, and there’s been a buzz for months about implications and opportunities for Twitter geo-tagging. So, what does this mean for marketers?
For one, there’s opportunity to target potential customers with incentives when they’re on your doorstep. foursquare, a network that keeps tabs on places your friends visit in your city and lets you know who’s near your current location, is one type of network that offers this option for businesses. This could offer a huge opportunity for small businesses like restaurants to share discount offers.
Two, targeting tweeps on Twitter based on their location will become easier to make outreach and promotions more relevant (at least with users who opt-in to share their GPS coordinates once this feature on Twitter is launched). This has huge potential for grand opening publicity, etc.
Obviously, there are privacy trade-offs. For example, most people in my foursquare network share only the first initial of their last names, myself included. (I assume because they don’t want just anyone to know exactly where they are at any given time.)
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