Marketing Edge » social media

Dealing With Non Profit Proliferation in Social Media

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:12:34 +0000

Time 18:38

It used to be back in the day, that all you needed do is be on social media and your non-profit cause was welcome with open arms. Ask Stacey Monk of Epic Change, the organization that launched Tweetsgiving and raised money to help build a school in Tanzania in 2008. Ah the good old days there was little competition on Twitter for non profits, but the early mover advantages are short and sweet. Today, Monk believes creativity, a focus on love, and fresh look at combining talents are what’s needed to get a non-profit’s message beyond the noise.

In this Marketing Edge podcast, I speak with Stacey Monk on how non profits can use social differently than in the early days of Twitter and Facebook. The heart and soul of Monk’s advice is for the non-profit to believe in and use the word love as a rationale for their work. Connecting to the emotional side is what attracts attention, drives satisfaction, and sparks the desire to give. Least we not forget, Monk reminds, that having a set of proof bullets, that this progress report on the Epic Change site helps the thinking side of the equation be comfortable with the gifting.

Here’s Stacey’s impassioned video about Epic Change and the need to be almost raw in the emotional connections between the non-profit and its beneficiaries. That’s the love portion of being a non-profit. Listen around the 8 – 10 minute mark and tell me if you are moved to do better.

Monk mentions that when it comes to fundraising, challenges are a good tactic to use, so let’s see how this goes. In the podcast I mention to Stacey that that Marketing Edge will give $100 to Epic Change if Marketing Edge listeners donate a total of $500 by January 31. Just include the #MktEdge in the note section when you donate to help with Epic Change’s ongoing supportof their mission in Tanzania for Shepards Junior primary school and in helping other non profits raise funds.

2012 Social Media’s Adolescence

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 02:55:27 +0000

Time 16:24

Just like a 1960s father complaining about his teenage daughter being on the telephone constantly, social media is entering into its adolescent phase with some growing up to do. The novelty of receiving tweets has worn off, and Facebook posts are commonplace, so now comes the phase when the value of social will have to meet some higher standard. The Pew Internet and American Life Project reports more than 65% of online adults use a social network Ironically while the aggregate numbers may lead to the conclusion that social is mainstream, I believe it is still a core group of early adopters that drive “active social media usage”. The trend line of new users and unique visitors does, however, force companies to switch attention and dollars to social channels in 2012.

Social Media 2012 Adolescence

The novelty is worn off, the “that’s cool” reactions to new functions on the social web are not as frequent as the early days of Twitter et. al. We are now somewhere between what Gartner’s Technology Hype Cycle calls the Trough of Disillusionment and Slope of Enlightenment depending on where you sit.

In my work with and research of larger companies, 2012 will be a year to reassess the criteria by which they will judge the success of social media implementation. My suggestion to some enterprises is that social media’s major benefit will be with internal efficiencies and not the number of followers a brand secures.

Social Media Mainstream

This is not a question of dumping social media or the death of social media. I will however, point readers to a wonderful piece by Paul Wallbank on Business Insider commenting on social media’s business model. It is a question of how to make social media efficient in both discovery and content creation. This is similar to the challenge the web faced with search and one which Google seems to have solved to the satisfaction of many. The entire web is whittled down to the first page result on Google for any keyword. A bit simplistic for sure, but a dose of reality for those who never venture to page two of Google results. Is this the future of social commentary and creation? Are we looking at a day’s summary in a nice, neat one page set of bullets about our network and selected topics?

One can make the case we are almost there with apps such as Flipboard, Zite, and Boxcar –

Mainstream Real Life

The life of mainstream America is less centered on technology as it is facilitated by technology. Blaspheme to the geek in you, but please forgive me. The obligations one has to themselves, families, employers and friends is the focus of mainstream individual’s day. Technology companies, especially need to keep that in mind. To paraphrase James Carville, it’s the people stupid.

In this last of a three part episode with Laura Fitton, Inbound Marketing Evangelist for Hubspot, we discuss the time management aspects of building a social media brand, while being a parent and entrepreneur. It’s a great conversation if you are thinking social has gotten out of hand, too much selfless promotion and has diverged from its original course of facilitating the needs of a community. Part One, What Will Change Social Media in 2012 and Part Two Keys to Integrating Content That Motivates Audiences

New Year’s Resolution

Get better. Ok that’s a general resolution, but nonetheless a good start. If you want to be a better marketer in 2012, then start with Hubspot’s Marketing Grader – Similar to their website grader, it’s a free resource to benchmark your website against a criteria that measures content, readability and sharability – the ability for your content to be shared. (i kind of just made that word up )

Sometimes your own website gets stagnant, (guilty), so I’m using Market.grader.com to turn a new leaf for 2012. The report goes in depth, but it also has some great quick tips on actions to improve your site. Here’s an example for me.

Sure there are some boilerplate responses that are part of the report, for example a premise of the report is for the business to have a Facebook page. I concluded early on that I did not want a business Facebook page, for several reasons among them, time, producing new and different content, I already have a personal Facebook page, and it is a lot of “me tooism”. This is also one of the reasons I’m not big on solutions headlines, e.g. 5 ways to make great fried chicken, but they do work. Hubspot does give you food for thought with its Market Grader report as you implement your New Year’s Resolutions for 2012.

Happy New Year to all listeners of the Marketing Edge Podcast, thanks for listening.

What Will Change Social Media in 2012

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:48:24 +0000

Time 13:22

The year-end blog posts about marketing ideas for 2012 are endless. The one constant included in the majority of them is the importance of content. Now now, everyone and their brother has a book out about the latest consultant buzz word “content marketing”. Stop it; this should almost insult your intelligence, if you are a thinking person, for consultants to raise the content flag as what’s new in marketing.

The irony here is that digital and social media have created an environment similar to advertising. Here’s what I mean, in the last 20 years every space is open to place a logo for payment, from sidewalks to mobile apps. That same environment applies to content of all types, from “how to” videos to tweets about your blog post. The challenge is how many ways can you essentially say the same thing and how will it convince those who receive the information.

We get into a conversation about content with long time social media advocate Laura Fitton aka @Pistachio. She is one of the early adopters in the social community, an entrepreneur founder of OneForty, co-author of Twitter for Dummies, and is now an inbound marketing evangelist for Hubspot. I have no affiliation with Hubspot. Hubspot was all about content and digital crumbs long before today’s latest push for content marketing.

In this Marketing Edge podcast episode Laura and I discuss the shift from seeking customers to customers seeking. A difference that requires a shift in how you approach your own company and it’s role in the world of information. People have written books about this topic, I sum it up in one messily blog post Newsroom PR saving you time and money : ) .

Hubspot has a new twist on the way they analyze website content. Give marketing.grader.com a try, it will give you a report on whether the content on your website is attractive to readers and can help generate inbound marketing inquiries.

Maruggi’s Trends for Social in 2012

Mobile will drive foot and digital traffic so be there

Bloggers and customers want more to do your marketing

Companies will demand more feedback from consumers in exchange for something you value

Social Marketers: Is It the Seven Year Itch?

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:57:46 +0000

There are hundreds of surveys these days about social media usage with varying degrees of accuracy. Suffice it to say this one from GlobalWebIndex showcases the general mood of fatigue by users of social networks. It describes Facebook registered users decline, perhaps defecting to Google+, perhaps just being tired of the constant need to be engaged and requests to Like, to Give, to Attend, and so on, and so on. and so on.

Beware Marketers

Gartner has a similar survey of consumer fatigue with social networks with similar results. These snapshots of mood are an early warning signal to social marketers and more importantly to those in decision making positions whose only contact with the social web are two charts they see at meetings – those charts usually contain some ROI data about number of Likes, follows, mentions, retweets, blog posts, or related data.

These individuals who like you and have carried some marketing water for you, are not your employees. Sure at the beginning of this social experiment it was humbling to be Liked by so many. Then it was fun to see what subsets of this “fan base” would do. Would they like a product? Share a discount with their friends? Get others to Like you too?

In the ivory tower it is easy to look down on this picture and see individuals scurrying about at your every instruction, clue, deal etc. That’s a relationship that can be easily taken for granted. When they stop doing what you expected them to do in that maze you created, you wonder if the thrill is gone. After all social media gurus you said this was about relationships, speak with a human voice. And now, just like any relationship, it’s time for the hard part. The equivalent of the seven year itch. Does one of you bolt? Just a thought as the end of year budgeting battles begin in corporate America and you gather the information about what resources to dedicate to social media for 2012. I submit the equation needs to change in the tone and activities of many business social media strategies.

Is This What Social Media is Supposed To Be?

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:43:12 +0000

We, and I say we because social isn’t anything without we. We tried something last night that felt like what social media is supposed to be. It was a night that recognized one of hundreds of groups that contribute content in social. The group was sports bloggers, true bloggers in that they are not part of a news media organization that also blogs. They blog because they like to write about a sport they love. The bloggers were:

Tim Allen – Canishoopus.com @canishoopus

Nathan Eide – Hockey wilderness Also SBNation Minnesota (ask him about the soon to be released mobile app for SB Nation.)

David Erickson – Minnesota Vikings Chat and @derickson

Nick Nelson - Nicks Twins Blog
and @nnelson9

These bloggers were contestants in a live sports trivia show. The audience, who filled the back room at Gabes by the Park, (a St. Paul old school sports bar) was into being there for the interaction. Some were active participants in social media and others could care less about tweeting answers or checking in on Facebook. The joy for me was seeing them together, laughing, guessing answers, learning about each other, and that Bill Bradley and Manu Ginobili are the only two NBA players to win Olympic gold, a Euroleague championship and an NBA championship.

In the midst of this was also the sponsor component. Verizon in the Great Plains region has been an active supporter of social communities for a couple of years now, some examples is there support of Social Media Breakfast, Mobile Twin Cities, and many others. Their 4G network was featured throughout the promotion of this event, we streamed the event using the Verizon MIFI and Samsung Charge, and they had their devices on display at the event. More important to me, however, was they were there.

Live Video app for Facebook by Ustream

No Hoop Jumping

Some people were here because they saw the event on a social channel, some because they were friends of someone at the event. It was not a case of social gamesmanship, you know, tweet 5 times and you get a piece of cheese. Those tactics work and there is a place for it in the large landscape of social, this was different. The implementation this event was about recognizing the effort made to create content and to engage with a community of interested people.

A measure of excitement ( i use this word instead of success because I think success is overused ) was the conversations after the game. We talked about doing it again, and how to get others involved and, and, and… This is how innovation works in a very open way. It underscored for me, the we in social. Thanks to everyone for being a part of this fun experience.

Disclosure: Verizon is a client and I appreciate all that @vzwkaren does for the social community in our region.

Chris Brogan on Google +, Monetizing Information, and the Value of a $.99 Margarita

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:08:30 +0000

Time 26:39

Chris Brogan is like the James Brown of social media. Brown was called the hardest working man in show business and the same moniker can be applied to Chris Brogan in social media. Brogan and I met over $.99 margaritas in Vegas at an early Blog World conference. Fast forward several years and the social space has changed, matured to some extent, but still with many challenges for individuals and firms to monetize on a platform of abundantly free information.

There is always a rush to learn and determine whether shiny new objects are worth your time. Google Wave, Buzz, etc have not created the rush of praise and participation as Google + has in the last couple of months. Brogan has spent more than 250 hours on Google + with an eye toward how business can use it. As of this writing business brands are not welcome on Google + which prompted some criticism of Brogan’s webinar. In an era of personal brands, however, there are plenty individuals in business who can benefit from learning about the Google + platform. We get into Brogan’s big 3 reasons for business to understand the direction of Google +.

indexing
longer content
greater ability to follow

Debate, Differences and Gratitude

I wanted to interview both Livingston and Brogan in light of their public differences to highlight the social nature of this medium which is important to me. Keeping a dialogue about how to monetize information, whether in the form of a book, a webinar, a community or a consultancy, is critical for the space to develop. This open disagreement is also critical for brands to see as it gives them a picture of how individuals within different schools of thought engage online in a civil discourse. This is how our economic and organizational culture will adjust to a faster, more open way to reflect nature of how individuals communicate in a public forum. It’s my belief that if corporate hierarchies and individual perceptions don’t change from their pre-social media habits of controlling information and perceptions, then social media will be more a fad, or a niche event and not a cornerstone for global development that I hope it can.

For a variety of reasons, professional and personal, I am not as prolific as many of those who read and listen to the Marketing Edge and who I interview on the program. The fact is I do personally benefit from much of the work of others, including Geoff Livingston and Chris Brogan. The all of them I say thank you.

I realize how hard original content providers work to make the social space a intellectually rich. This podcast is a labor of love and a way, limited I acknowledge, but a way, I contribute to the social space.

Sports Bloggers Trivia Night

We are recognizing four Twin Cities area sports bloggers on Wednesday, August 3, at 6PM at Gabes by the Park. Come out and see a live sports trivia show, have free appetizers, get your hands on the latest 4G devices from Verizon and maybe win some free stuff. Here’s the details. at bit.ly/sportsbloggers

Google + Dust Ups and Corporate Social Perspectives with Geoff Livingston

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:44:06 +0000

Time 25:00

I scheduled this interview with Livingston to talk about his book Welcome the Fifth Estate, but issues surrounding Google+ rose to a higher level so we talk both in this podcast. And yes we do get into the online differences between Livingston and Chris Brogan, two friends of mine.

First the book and the idea of making your corporate culture receptive to being open. This is the issue of restructuring organizations to be nimble enough in a fast paced, socially engaged environment. This involves two issues:

1) Can you speak about the issues surrounding your organization without having your organization be the focus of that conversation? This paradigm is critical to your organization’s future credibility and the ability to build a community that will expend energy on your behalf.   Think like you were an embeded journalist in your company.

2) The social web has no geography or silos, can your organization and its processes accommodate this very different structure?

Google + Observations

Use it as a person, nothing like getting in the pool and judging for your self whether the water is cold or not.
Hangouts are very useful, even for a quick video group call with Grandma. And yes just because your brand can’t use it, 10 people can collaborate from your global offices.
Circles can serve as a Yammer-like platform, remember Yammer?
+1 can serve as a voting function for more than my comedy posts, for example your ad campaign slogans, designs, food at the office party.
Bottom line, use it as an individual building your network and seeing through your own work processes how it can benefit

Google + Dust Up

This story is moving fast, suffice it to say here. Google + for business is a lot like the history of the Oklahoma land grab. Just as I post this here is an update on Google booting brands off + and NBC News left Google + but are keeping their reporters on.

As soon as the invites were flowing, businesses opened pages claiming we know Google +. Some by being insiders like Mashable, others by spending hundreds of hours in the + playground. All this despite Google not having an official business policy other than “no brands allowed,” yet.

It’s getting ugly because social is a maturing business. Plenty of individuals in this space are businesses, me included. I am for hire and I am on Google+ and I do know more about it than someone who has not been on Google+. The rub is that brands are being told they can’t play on Google+ (as of this writing) , but in an era of personal brands, how is that possible to not be on. For example, in the social web, Scott Monty is Ford, Jeremiah Owyang is Altimeter Group, etc. etc.

This is a confusing and rapidly changing issue, with some major camps of difference. Livingston and Brogan, two guys I admire greatly for what they have given to the community and me, have sparred over how to monetize their expertise. Brogan this week produced a webinar for how business should prepare to use Google+. Another friend of mine, Jen Kane once called me Switzerland because I get along with folks so I feel uniquely qualified to be in the middle of this Kerfluffel

Here’s my take, this is the result of the “free” economy of information which resides in a mostly socialist state with individuals contributing to a larger community each benefiting each other, while the same individuals responsible for the information reside in a capitalist financial state who some how must monetize a portion of that same information.

It comes down to how you package what may well be available for free, how you add value to that information through analysis or experience, and whether the market is willing to pay for that package. An example in free and paid information of the same topic is software training programs. I get a tutorial and support forums where users offer their experience freely with most software I purchase. However, there are also companies that package “how to use it” information in such a compelling way that some people are willing to pay for it because it saves them time or allows them to understand the software better.

While packaging is the means many in social media are adding value and making a living, the underlying issue remains that the foundation of social media involves individual contributions to the larger group. The irony or the beauty is the community raises the level of “influence” of individuals by their own accord (gaming tactics aside) and the market is willing to pay for it. Perhaps through social media we are seeing capitalism in a more raw form over the last couple of years, and like sausage, sometimes it ain’t pretty – but damn tasty.

Facebook Losing US Users & Gaining P & G Commerce Pages – Confusing

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 19:12:41 +0000

Time 28:34

So many mixed messages these days. First its declining active users vs awareness on Twitter – according the the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Second, Inside Facebook reports Facebook lost 6 million users in the United States base of users. But not a day later, consumer products manufacturing giant Procter and Gamble announced it was opening several product Facebook Commerce pages for Tide, Gillette, Olay, Gain, CoverGirl, Luvs and Febreze. So there seems to be mixed messages about whether social media is growing or leveling off.

In this Marketing Edge Podcast with Garrick Van Buren, we talk about the characteristics that attracted the early growth of social media, and the attributes it has developed over time that may be responsible for the current pause in growth. Garrick is a web application developer and person who is an astute early adapter with an understanding of consumer interface fundamentals. He gives to the community but does like to fly under the radar which is one of the reasons he stopped using Twitter several months ago.

Key elements of the social trend curve

Early access to new information and people (enlightened conversations)
Efficient communication paths (quick messaging with clear intent)
low noise to clear signal ratio (no or little advertising )

As social grew

abundance of new information and people (quality high, but potentially overwhelming amount of relationships)
cluttered communications paths (advertisers and company participation)
noise increases and signal distortion grows (public and private agendas muddy the message)

The conversation highlights potential pitfalls marketers can avoid as they attempt to be valuable to social consumers and responsive to their internal business clients.

1) Be aware of consumer apathy
2) Frequency of ask can lead to fatigue
3) Divide social consumers in to smaller groups with greater interest and topics to keep enthusiasm

Marketing Edge Survey

Looking for your input on topics and other potential channels bit.ly/marketingedge

Twitter Traps and The Social PR Paradigm

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:38:52 +0000

Time 26:14

Patrick Strother, A long time, thoughtful practitioner of strategic communications and public relations is the guest on this episode of the Marketing Edge Podcast. He is the Chief Creative Officer and founder of Strother Communications Group and a visiting faculty professor of PR and strategic communications planning at the University of Minnesota.

The inspiration for this conversation was an article written by New York Times executive editor Bill Keller, The Twitter Trap. In this article, Keller (@nytkeller) laments giving his 13 year old daughter permission to be on Facebook, and I as a father of three teens, can empathize with Keller.

The journalist also highlights his concerns about how Twitter, et al. social is impacting out ability to give serious thought to issues, demand our attention, and perhaps even erode a bit of our humanity by undermining “complexity, acuity, patience, wisdom, and intimacy.”

Strother (on twitter @patrickstrother )and I talk about Twitter’s impact on parenting and the decisions that social media participation forces on adolescents. I thought this particularly appropriate given that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to explore the possibility of children younger than 13 joining social networks safely. This agenda advanced at a summit of internet and public policy leaders called the eG8 last week.

Strother and I take the conversation to uses of Twitter in building relationships with journalists. In his eyes, Twitter is not a pitching tool, but an effective research and relationship tool. Agreed. I also enjoy using Muck Rack to discover the journalists using Twitter. I read Poynter.org to stay close to the heart and soul of being a journalist in changing times. It pursues the agenda of independent journalism’s importance to democracy.

We discuss some of the skills necessary for companies to effectively participate on the social web, a place shared by journalists and company thought leaders. A place that can reward discourse.

The Social PR Paradigm in corporate communications operation should include:

1) Editorial planning as if you were a news organization for social spaces that feature your company’s expertise. I’ve talked about this for a while as the idea of an embeded corporate journalist
2) Read, engage, and comment on journalists blogs and twitter profiles that cover your industry
3) Gain a greater understanding of writing with a news , as contrasted with say marketing collateral.

On this last point, Strother makes a strong case in the podcast and is working to incorporate this concept for his students.

A Mother’s Day Marketing Tip

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 05 May 2011 01:30:19 +0000

I don’t use this space for personal stuff, but I’ll make an exception for several reasons.

1) My mother died when I was 12 and truth be told I probably never “got over it”

2) Overall in the world, women still get treated poorly and do most of the work to hold a family together. (generalization, yeah but anyone want to debate me on that one I’m open)

3) George Carlin had a great line about God being a man, he said “I know he’s a man cause the world wouldn’t be this messed up if a woman was running things” (not sure about that one, but it is funny)

4) I very much admire Stacey Monk the founder, organizer of Epic Change. She ran the first Tweetsgiving which succeeded in helping Mama Lucy Kamptoni build a school to educate children in Tanzania. Stacey has tirelessly continued to turn the spotlight on women of the world. All types of women. Women who do routine work under stressful conditions, in poverty-stricken environments, or under oppressive governments.

This year to celebrate Mother’s Day, Epic Change features To Mama with Love, a collaborative online art project that honors moms across the world. The funds raised by this art project will go to several remarkable women and their programs to help children.

You can learn about these women including Suraya Pakzad in Afghanistan, Maggie Doyne and Renu Shah Bagaria in Nepal at the To Mamma with Love website.

Happy Mother’s Day

Oh the marketing tip, don’t let another moment go by without telling a mom, any mom, how special they are to those who love them.

Facebook Sells Your Stuff – Keys to Creating Great Promotions by Home Depot

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:19:29 +0000

Time 27:00

Home Depot’s version of Spring Black Friday on Facebook was a huge hit, promoting sales items on the Home Depot Facebook page, then directing consumers back to the Home Depot website for the transactions – no apps, no plugins required.

Recently Angie Schottmuller @aschottmuller wrote a post about this campaign Home Depot used Facebook on selling merchandise in a matter of hours. On the Home Depot Facebook page they offered select merchandise for a limited time. The hook was when a product post reached a specific number of “likers”, the next promoted product offer was revealed. Anticipation and known goals are great motivators!

Schottmuller outlines six reasons why this effort was successful. I take another wrinkle on these reasons and tie them back to characteristics from other technologies, communities or old fashion, yes, behavior modification techniques, which have been around since Moses’ stone tablets. Funny, tablets are making a comeback too.

What Works There May Work For You

The Game – A concept perhaps best highlighted by TGI Fridays be a Fan of Woody where if Woody received a certain amount of fans 500,000 everyone wins a burger. In the Home Depot version, each promoted product was essentially a Woody, encouraging viewers to Like each one. With each threshold crossed a new product was revealed. Everyone knew the rules and was anticipating the trigger moment to occur. This highlights the effectiveness of transparency about milestones for a game environment, as Schottmuller points out in her post.

The “Members only” Approach – This Home Depot offer targeted current fans. So you needed to be a Liker of the page before you could weigh in on a promoted product. The way Facebook works is when I Like something my network knows it, making the content only visible to fans, was also a signal to the Likers’ network.

The Offer & Timing – Deep discounts and a limited offer, sound “Groupon” familiar? Yes, and a nice observation by Home Depot I suspect of what makes the Groupon system so effective. However, let’s not give too much credit to the digital generation. Limited time offers and scarcity has been around capitalist economies for a long time. The tactic is proven. The takeaway here is that social technology exponentially collapses time and geography which enables the information about the promotion, and the Word of Mouth association via the Like button to have essentially an economy of scale.

A Bit of A Question Mark?

Mari Smith, the co-author of Facebook Marketing an Hour A Day, commented on her Facebook page, “I’m assuming Home Depot are in compliance with Facebook’s Promotions Guidelines – simple liking of posts gets you deals. Hmm!!” The way I see it the answer is yes, Facebook Guidelines notice my comments in Smith’s comment thread.

As Schottmuller pointed out on the comments on Smith’s page, the Like-Gating tactic was about seeing what was next, not the current product up for sale.

Are you considering a gaming, time, discount, and/or networking element to your marketing?

And the Social Media Marketing Survey Says…

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:23:41 +0000

Time 22:10

I usually don’t budge on surveys, most of them are a dime a dozen and an often used way to get a little PR. This Social Media Marketing survey from Social Media Examiner caught my eye because of the sample size of 3300 marketers across the spectrum of business sizes and types. It’s the Social Media Examiner Social Marketing Report and in today’s Marketing Edge podcast we speak with Assistant Director of the Social Media Examiner Phil Mershon about the report. One of the trends different from last year is the increased interest in Facebook over Twitter. Facebook’s improvements such as, adding places, and making their business pages easier to engage the audience are, I believe, among the reasons for this change.

Phil and I get into some great examples of Facebook “Liker” engagement practices that work for big and small companies. In the survey, there were three major benefits for those using social media for marketing, and there was a correlation between the amount of time spent with social media communities and the benefit derived from them. This was encouraging for me because there is an attraction for some to look for the quick hit in social. You know the big discount or insanely creative promotion to create that initial spike and then no follow through. The connection between time and benefit potentially shows more attention to content and relationship.

Benefits of Social Media

– my comments in ( maruggi says…)

Stand out in Noisy Market (this will diminish as social media gets noiser )  
Improved Search Engine Results (content is king, and social allows you to expand your digital footprint)  
Direct connection to qualified leads (it’s public permission marketing – thank’s Seth Godin)

Social Media marketing vets with 3 years or more are enhancing their communications with other formats. For example, nearly all those social marketers surveyed who have participated in social media marketing for 3 year or more are major proponents of video. This trend is likely because of item number 1 above, also as I reference in the Marketing Edge Podcast episode, there are new technologies in video that will make that rich-media format more engaging.

Seventy-seven percent of marketers with more than three years experience in social media will spend more time with video and that number increases when you segment just the respondents with more than 1000 employees. This is exactly the issue I’ve raised about making your PR and marketing department more like a news organization. It’s a mindset that will be extremely beneficial for an organization with plenty to talk about that is beyond their products and services.

Time is key as the survey indicates, the more time you put in the more you get out. However, I submit part of the time element is coming up with the right content, not just pounding away at a keyboard.

The Social Media Examiner has it’s annual Social Media Success Summit a unique series of webcasts spread over the month of May. The speakers include Guy Kawasaki, Jeremiah Owyang, and Frank Eliason. April 14 is the last Early Bird rate, take a look and take advantage.

Maruggi’s Take

The social media road is littered with spammers, in-active accounts, and disappointment due to lack of research about whether your specific audience is “active” in social media, notwithstanding the results of this survey.

Take the time to clearly identify the quantity of your qualified audience.  
It is easier to leapfrog than catch up. Ok so you take great pride in being a follower. You joined Twitter in 2010, the leaders were there in 2007 and earlier. But that’s OK. You don’t have to be a follower all your life. Life moves fast as Ferris Bueller says. Now that you have your feet wet, move quicker to experiment with what’s next.

Establish an emerging tactics swat team and do quick deep dives on early adopter ideas like the use of video, QR codes, augmented reality, and the semantic web.

What’s on your social media marketing agenda next? Video, audio, mobile marketing?

Jacob Tucker’s Social Media Slam Dunk

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:36:11 +0000

Time 12:29

UPDATE: Jacob Tucker just won the NCAA slam dunk competition, Congratulations!!! Victory for you and another win for social media in public relations.

Below was the original post from March 14.

One part viral Two parts grassroots campaign. The story of Jacob Tucker starts from the ground up. Dick Vitale calls Tucker, the hi riser Elevator Man. Tucker is a 5’ 11” guard at Illinois College who has a 45” vertical. Tucker, a senior plays basketball at the Division III school and so is unlikely to get noticed by many. He had a goal to get invited to the NCAA Dunk Contest. To that end he hoped to catch the eye of those at ESPN and others who contribute to the decision of those invited to the NCAA Dunk Contest by launching a video of his major hops.

What started in the early morning of March 4 ended up with media interviews and a huge spike on YouTube views in less than a day. Ten days later it’s approaching 2.3 million views. David Gaines, a friend of Tucker’s since Freshman year and a biology major, led the Jacob Tucker social media effort with a Facebook page effort which began with a network of less than 200 people. The key metric for Gaines was the second send of the link, once you know the first wave likes the content, then it’s a question of when and whether it will find it’s way to traditional media to make a quick leap to the next level of audience views.

ESPN knows gold when they see it and have layered an element of crowdsourcing to this selection. They have added another Division III high flyer Rico Cunningham from Lee University to a voting contest which begins March 17 and ends on March 28. You can vote on this ESPN 2 Facebook page

We will follow up this story because what goes up, must, at some point, come down.

Are You a Whining Consumer Who Doesn’t Pay Full Price? Join the Crowd

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:27:01 +0000

Time 24:59

The second part of this Marketing Edge podcast interview with author of the book The New Small, Phil Simon and Albert Maruggi talks about the type of consumer that the “New Small” economy may be creating. Picking up where Chris Anderson, the author of the book Free, a tome about the free economy.

In this free economy, supported in great part by the social web, consumers use platforms from Google to Hootsuite, from Twitter to Facebook for no cost (or a nominal fee) Simon’s book the New Small shows how businesses can tap into the free economy companies who are providing technology infrastructure at a fraction of the cost compared to the last decade. As a buyer at least, Simon contends the free economy is in your best interests.

More Whiners Than Buyers

Is this new small economy comprised of consumers who want something for nothing? Are they the same consumers that will share their criticisms to the world about a product they are using for nothing? Or perhaps this new small economy is about technology companies who calculate the more users the greater the revenue potential from other sources such as advertising, and in that model users are justified in their visible critiques?

Maruggi and Simon discuss ways to approach this highly vocal, highly opinionated consumer. The New Small doesn’t mean only small will win, it means there is a new perspective about creating businesses and new consumer perspectives that will impact businesses of all sizes.

Chance to Win The New Small

Enjoy this conversation with author Phil Simon, examine the book The New Small and enter a chance to win The New Small book used by Maruggi to conduct the interview with his notes by posting a comment or Tweeting about this podcast with the hashtag #mktedge Follow Simon on Twitter @philsimon on Twitter and Maruggi @albertmaruggi

I Believe in Social Media Again, Thanks Egypt

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:36:40 +0000

I feared that I was naive. I gave up a bit on social media being anything more than a cheap marketing tool. I didn’t think this way, years ago I wrote a piece about social media being more a movement than a market . The message in that piece is that social media has much more potential than pushing multi-level marketing efforts so your friends can get 50% off teeth whitening.

The potential that keeps me going is the idea of cultures learning more about each other. Not necessarily a means to push western views, but a way to better understand other humans. With this desire to learn about other members of our species, perhaps will result in a better society. Communication is a cornerstone of freedom.

Here’s a video I did a couple of years ago with Robert Scoble and Gina Bianchini. What do you think, is freedom social?

Digging Into the Groupon Model

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:14:50 +0000

The merger of multi-level marketing, a buying cooperative and steep discounting is a successful mix for Groupon. In less than two years Groupon has 40 million global subscribers spread across 300 local markets. According to this Ad Age report What’s Next For Groupon, the Chicago-based company’s international growth by acquisition is a major reason for its rapid growth.

As a marketing advisor to business Groupon is a conundrum for me. Groupon has significant benefits of reaching potentially new buyers in a specific location, the question is how to leverage the Groupon tactic with growing the most profitable customer base for each business. One restaurant client, a steakhouse in a midsize city, calculates that his break even point is if 10 percent of the estimated Groupon buyers return without a promotion.

Groupon’s shared revenue model of a 50% discount split with the restaurant where Groupon takes half of that amount. Its payment structure to its customer businesses is a 1/3 upon sale of the Groupon, a 1/3 increments at 30 days and the remaining third at 60 days from time of sale. A recent study by Rice University professor Utpal M. Dholakia questioned whether Groupon is worth the $6 billion offered by Google for the company whose annual revenue is more than $1 billion based on the price sensitive nature of Groupon users.

I’m looking to see how consumers use Groupon. I’ve focused on a popular restaurant in the Twin Cities which has a Groupon going on today. The restaurant is French Meadow Bakery and Cafe. As you can see in this graphic, as of about 8:20 Monday, December 13 there are 429 sold well over the minimum required to initiate the deal. UPDATE – in the half hour it took me to proof this post from the time I took the image, the number of buyers is up to 1,933!

I’m interested in reaching the people who purchased this Groupon to ask the questions in the survey below. Basically I’m interested in whether they have been to French Meadow before and whether they are purchasing this Groupon as a gift for someone else. Yes I understand it may be a stretch trying to reach them on this post, but let’s give it a try, I’ll use Twitter, Facebook and some other Twin Cities communities to get the word out. If you have ideas on how to reach them, put it in the comments section.

French Meadow Bakery and Cafe Groupon Buyers

If you purchased Groupon for French Meadow Bakery and Cafe in the Twin Cities, can you answer these two questions? Thanks

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There are several articles on the issue of whether Groupon is a good fit for all small business. This New York Times piece for example I have several theories I’m working through on Groupon, one is from a simple dollars and cents standpoint, the other is from a conceptual perspective about whether Groupon’s concept is a way capitalist economics blends with social collective behavior.

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Tourism and Social Media – A Natural Fit (Crawshaw pt2)

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 05:33:07 +0000

Time 28:27

This is the second part of a two part conversation with Bob Crawshaw on the topic of social media and tourism. Bob engages social media for the Australian War Memorial a museum and interactive center in Canberra Australia. Given the long travel for most tourists to get Down Under, social media is a critical part of tourism.

Crawshaw reflects a major crowdsourcing tourism campaign that tapped Australians’ love of country with the Nothing Like Australia campaign, compiling more than 29,000 submitted experiences about places that make Australia a great travel destination. There was also voting on the Nothing Like Australia experiences with a list of finalists and a winner.

Back to the Australia War Memorial and what makes that website and experience special. You’ll hear Crawshaw talk about the war diaries section of the website. The war diaries section contains documents, letters, and even orders to soldiers that gives you a window to the life a typical Australians serving in world wars.

The recommendations I have for using social media for tourism include the following:

Keep it on a personal level
Provide experiences that given insight into average lives
Tap a crowd where possible

What resources do you consider when selecting a travel destination?

Social Media Helps Us Honor and Share War Stories

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:04:49 +0000

Time 18:17

No, I don’t mean social media war stories. Sometimes the social media world gets caught up in its own world of GAP logo changes and Old Spice YouTube ads to remember there are wars going on.

I mean real war stories and social media plays a role in sharing the realities of conflict. In part 1 of the Marketing Edge conversation with Bob Crawshaw, we talk about his role in marketing the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australia. Bob is a long time listener of the Marketing Edge. When I heard about his work with Australia’s historical and living commemoration to its participation in defending freedom around the world, and his use of social media, I thought listeners would enjoy the conversation.

In this episode we highlight how the Australian War Memorial is using its own Flickr Commons photostream to share its thousands of images. I found that link on its website to be an interesting way to encourage others to use those images across the web. I have not see other sites with a specific link to the organization’s Flickr stream of non-copyrighted images.

This conversation also reinforced for me the power of still images, at least some still images. I was captivated by an image of a World War I solider whose identity is unknown so his image is called “handsome man”. I reminded me of the male equal of the famous National Geographic image of an Afghan girl.

I invite you to spend some time on the Australian War Memorial website. It’s a trip through freedom’s history of a country whose citizens have fought side by side with Americans in virtually all of its international conflict to this day. More importantly, the social digital presence of the Australian War Memorial is an opportunity for a country, one separated nearly as far as you can be from the United States, to share its stories of shared values; values for which men and women are willing to sacrifice.

How are you using or have seen Flickr used in an interesting way?

Boxers or Briefs? Manpacks Has The Answer

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 04:18:57 +0000

Time 31:38

You thought the TV remote was the greatest invention for men, check this out. You can order men’s underwear online from Manpacks. You can even get packs of the boxers, briefs, or boxer-briefs for the uncommitted delivered on a regular basis. That’s right, now men have more time to use the TV remote with the time he saves not walking the asiles of some local Target store.

This podcast with Manpacks co-founder, Ken Johnson, reveals that while the idea of automating the purchase of essentials may be the next wave in retail, there is considerable learning, Johnson has done since launching Manpacks in January. Among the take aways:

Twitter is a better relationship building platform for Manpacks than Facebook,
Listen intently to customers for danger signs that you’re not providing the right products or services,
analyze customer buying patterns to anticipate what they need in the future.

I’m joined in this interview by Justin Dessonville who gave Manpacks the idea of a cause marketing promotion, Buy One Give One. The sales of Manpack underwear in the month of October will be matched 1- to – 1 from Manpacks with donations to Saint Stephens homeless shelter. Web entrepreneurs like Johnson, have an unquenchable desire to execute their idea, and the successful ones are married to the learning, not chained to their ideas. Enjoy the podcast and leave your ideas on whether you think subscribing for essentials is a good idea.

Geo Services Sparks Creative Carolina Panthers Purrsuit

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 01:20:24 +0000

Time 23:17

I believe social media is not about cookie cutter programs. If you want that, stick to direct mail and don’t worry your head about Twitter that or Foursquare this.

Now, if you want to look beyond and get your adrenaline pumping, (and that of your customers and sponsors) then social is the world of the possible. Hat’s off to the NFL’s Carolina Panthers for putting together a program that attempts to engage fans, tap into social networks, geo services, and sponsors’ interest. A key person to follow from the organization is Mike Mahoney of Panther Sponsorship Sales. The event is called Panthers Purrsuit (notice the 2 Rs) It’s a urban adventure in football, pictures, and discovery that appeals to the sense of adventure and competition. It’s open to teams who will follow clues and instructions around Charlotte area. The winner will go on an expense paid trip to see the Panthers play the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In this podcast we interview social marketing consultant Scott Hepburn, author of Media Emerging Blog who came up with the idea as he was experimenting with geo services and urban discovery this spring. What makes this event attractive is it includes the following elements.

1) Discovery of an area
2) Competition
3) Management vision with a flair for fun
4) Sponsorship benefit
5) Fan recognition and reward

The early odds are on Yarbyand CLTBuzz But will they last? dozens of other teams are after them. Follow this fun, creative event on October 23 on twitter with the #purrsuit and on Twitter @pantherpurrsuit

The Money & Ethics Hits the Fan at Blog World

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 17:38:40 +0000

Time 19:59

It had to come to this, the social web, the attraction of following a passion by blogging, the pursuit by companies of A list bloggers and visa versa for mutual gain, and the lower costs compared to traditional communications means all is coming to a head in discussions at Blog World Expo 10 in Las Vegas this weekend. This is a good thing because we’ll see what people and companies truly value.

Will mommy bloggers tire of doing product reviews for a few coupons and free stuff? Are we headed into paid content relationships and if so will companies want complete editorial control? Will corporations grow weary of the work it takes to be in “relationships” with amplified consumers? and do those companies even have a choice?

I discuss these topics from the Maketing Edge studio in Minnesota with Kasey Skala, head of social media for Great Clips, author of the Electric Waffle blog, and now attending Blog World Expo 10. Follow the trends from the Blog World Expo 10 conference with Trendistic

5 Ways to Help Your Business With Yelp

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:14:01 +0000

Time 34:56

Yelp, one of the most popular websites and mobile applications for consumer comments. The powerful tool allows you to discover all types of – restaurants, hotels, retail stores and many other business and community categories. The last year has seen tremendous growth for Yelp in part because of the jump in mobile smart devices, in part because of the segmentation of search engines used for particular functions. Yelp has become popular for geographic searches, for example you are looking for a particular businesses in a neighborhood, or a type of ethnic restaurant.

More Than 12 Million People Per Month Use Yelp

Yelp is a community just like most others where its members write reviews on their experiences. In this Marketing Edge Podcast we interview Luther Lowe, Manager of Local Business Outreach for Yelp. Here are five ways businesses can take advantage of Yelp.

1) Claim your business at Biz.Yelp.com once you do you will be able to see the most important piece of information, how many times has your business been viewed. That’s the measure of opportunity gained or lost. Many business owners look at the number of comments, I look at the exposure those comments are getting as a more significant metric.

2) Be creative in completing your profile, use photos, creative language and menu items.

3) Use the area under your business name as an ongoing place for promotions.

4) Regularly consider the reviews to determine if they highlight an area of your business that needs improvement. This is akin to listening to your spouse’s criticisms which in most cases are true, there I said it.

5) Download the Yelp mobile app and use it. This is the best way to demonstrate the power of instant information as it impacts consumer decisions. Go to the neighborhood where you business is located and search for the category of your business using your “current location”. Try it in other places around town or in new cities to discover your surroundings.

We’ll have much more on Yelp in future episodes, what questions or ways to use Yelp?

Social Media Plateau or Pinnacle?

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:51:30 +0000

Is social media at a resting place being evaluated by companies perhaps to be adopted by more or has it seen its best days? A Marketing Sherpa survey makes be pose this question. After all that social media has been through in the last year or two I’m surprised by today survey results published by Marketing Sherpa called Perceptions of Social Media at Budget Time. Only 7% of 2300 marketers surveyed at moving ahead with increased budget and time for social media. Really, 7%?

click to enlarge

You mean the Dave Carroll United breaks guitars video wasn’t enough to inspire more than 7% enthusiasm from marketers working with customer relations departments?

You mean the few million tweets to crowd source the naming of Kodak’s inspiring pocket video camera PlaySport didn’t move the confidence needle more than 7% from marketers?

You mean with more than 80% of all business travelers booking more than half of their own business trips themselves using online tools like PriceLine and Hotels.com and TripAdvisor with the hundreds of thousands of comments about destinations those sites have, you mean that is not enough to generate double digit confidence in social media?

Wow, and marketers are supposed to be a source of innovation and creativity in American companies? There is either A) much more work to be done to inspire the profession that is charged with inspiration or B) the lipstick on the social media pig ain’t doing the trick.

Marketers, does social media work in your world, for your company’s product or service?

Restaurant Opportunity Cost Hidden in Social Media

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:54:13 +0000

Time 23:58

This podcast is loud, but we were in a successful restaurant. In this case it was dinner with Christopher and Mary Lower of Sterling Cross Communications. I usually talk social media and PR with this couple and on this occasion we decided to record it. The setting was a Tuesday evening at the Loring Kitchen and Bar. It’s a bit noisy, ok it’s a lot noisy in parts, apologies ahead of time, but it was a neat opportunity to talk about why restaurants have such opportunities in social media and public relations.

The Changing Ways We Search

Searching for a restaurant yields a variety of results including restaurant websites, articles in local newspapers or from foodie bloggers, and comments from patrons on sites like Yelp. According to Chris even Foursquare is becoming a quasi search engine.

Foursquare along with several other geolocation services include gaming elements where individuals can obtain points and badges. Businesses are using this element to reward, recognize, and incent loyalty and other behaviors. When you read this you might get images of the rat in BF Skinners box, but to the skeptics the gaming is there for those that like that sort of thing and for those that don’t, look it as a way to obtain content that you do find useful.

In the image below you’ll notice that you can use Foursquare as a search engine to find things. In this case, Pad Thai in St. Paul, MN. No games, no badges, just the information I want from people who have experienced it, giving me some comfort that I’m not wasting my time, money or sacrificing my intestines on a whim.

The tie-in to social media and PR is a natural. Like most business owners, restauranteurs are too knee deep in details to see the story angles of their business. Or, if I may be so bold, have no idea how to tell a story and therefore they are in the right business of cooking food to make people happy and not in PR. Mary Lower is great at taking a fresh set of well trained eyes to uncover story gems. It can be the personality of a chef, the design of a dish or the unique wine selection, PR in the competitive field of food requires research, creativity and persistence.

We get into the discovery process of great story lines in this podcast. The ability to be both cheerleader and cynic, to question without interrogating, and to describe the story in a way that connects to the audience of the reporter or blogger.

Have you used or commented on restaurants online?

Enjoy this podcast. Coming up in future episodes is Joe Sorge of AJ Bombers, and Luther Lowe, Manager of Small Business Development for Yelp.

Facebook Marketing Examples WIth Ads & Engagement

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:46:06 +0000

Time 21:33

We round out part two of this series on Facebook Marketing with some highlights from restaurant. shipping companies and others . We then get into the social promotion of the social web with Facebook Marketing An Hour A Day co-author Chris Treadaway.

Here are some examples of Facebook Marketing tactics that work.

1) Dumb Questions – yeah some people think they are dumb, the type of questions where you might say “Who Cares” but oddly enough, they get people responding. Questions like, what did you have for lunch or what’s your favorite color. Why do they get a response? Perhaps because they are easy questions, you know the answer right away and it takes little time to answer. Perhaps because there is no right answer just an opinion and everyone has those. The result is lots of conversation starters, which may convey the perception that you have “sway”, that you can get people engaged.  
2) Seek Advice – Chris Brogan did this with his new office using a Facebook wall post, showing pictures of his empty office and asking how he should arrange it. Classic, we the progress from, IKEA furniture to his beverage selection. One of the benefits to this tactic is it sets up a storyline that you want to follow to its conclusion.  
3) Facebook Ads – I’ve had some success with Facebook Ads, whether it provided market insights in the potential online market size of people that can be engaged or actually producing ads that drove behavior, Facebook ads are a valuable resource.   This chart shows the pattern of click throughs on an ad for USA2Pilipinas, a shipping service to the Philippines. We targeted market segments in the Philippines and Filipino communities in the US using Facebook Ads. The ads are producing a steadily increasing number of click throughs and we’ve adjusted to copy and even gone dark to assess interest. This program had an objective to register 1000 users by the end of the year, it has achieve more than half that number in the first 6 weeks.

Facebook Ad Stats Chart

Treadaway on Social Promotion

In part two of our conversation with Chris Treadaway about his book written with Mari Smith, Facebook Marketing An Hour a Day, we get into some of the subtleties of promotion in social media. It’s a very interesting time, a paradox in that some of the tactics that are selfless, talking about the accomplishments of others, can also be self-serving, gaining inbound links. Hhhmm I wonder if Brogan or Treadaway will link to this page?

No criticism here, just an observation about how interdependent we are. This is highlighted in the Free Economy as coined by Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson where there is so much information available for free. The logic is no different than your local grocer offering samples of product in the aisles, maybe you’ll by some of my intelligent property while you are browsing.

Facebook Marketing An Hour A Day Drawing

We are giving away the book Facebook Marketing An Hour a Day to those entering the drawing. To enter either email me MarketingEdge AT providentpartners DOT net or just tweet a link to this post. Now if that’s not self serving I don’t know what is. Any proceeds gained will go directly to my five children.

As I post this Facebook is rolling out it’s location check in service called Facebook Places. check back here for ways to incorporate that into Facebook marketing.

Facebook Marketing Tips – Hungry?

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:50:51 +0000

Time 24:33

You know I could have done the solutions headline and just throw a number in there, but I hate those things. The hungry part is because in some of this podcast we talk about Facebook and restaurants. Facebook Marketing, An Hour A Day is a book by Chris Treadaway and Mari Smith. In this podcast we talk to Chris Treadaway about some of the ways Facebook is used to market companies. Facebook is a place that requires attention, lesson one if you are not prepared to give it attention, forget it. This is where the hour a day comes in.

To pull a favorite useful idea out of this podcast I’d call attention to using Facebook as a market research tool. Creating an ad in Facebook will give you insights into potential online market size. Here is an example where I took the city of Chicago, people age 21 and over that self identified interest of football or fantasy football. The kind of information of interest to a sports bar owner. Targeting by interest, geography, age and other variables is a great feature of Facebook.

Using Facebook Advertising for Market Research from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

We are holding a drawing for the book Facebook Marketing An Hour A Day. Email MarketingEdge AT Providentpartners DOT net – put Facebook in the Subject line. Link should do that for you.

Other Examples of Social Marketing to Hungry Patrons

Smalley87Club – Tied Twins ticket drawings to items people like on the menu with a link to the Smalleys 87 Club menu page. (I helped on this one)

Dino’s Gyros IAMDEZ – Guess random number between 1 and 10,000 on Tuesdays before 7PM, closest 10 get a free gyro.

Izzys Ice Cream incorporates a variety of platforms and communities. Also has unique notification of the availability of limited time flavors Dave Erickson

The Sterling Cross Group broke new ground with Motoi only Japanese saki brewer in Twin Cities

If keywords were a stock price Public Relations would be hurting

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:12:11 +0000

Back in 2005 it really hit me that public relations was impacted by social media. Between a client (Technomic Asia) getting called directly from a National Public Radio reporter after the reporter listened to his podcast, and another client’s feature piece on the front page of the Wall Street Journal getting but an ounce of subsequent attention, I realized the world of communications was changing.

So I did a little keyword number crunching and dug up this chart from Google Insights for Search. The Red trend line for good ol’ PR is not exactly stellar performance. If the PR trend line were a company’s stock performance heads would roll. Now I completely understand that these search terms are relative and in some cases public relations has more absolute searches, relative to social media, however public relations keyword searches were on a long slide to parity if not lower than the term social media.

I suspect social media consultants and PR firm executives will battle royal over which is which, and who was a leader and who was a follower. The inconvenient truth for corporate communicators, marketers, and public relations professionals is the two must coexist. In my digital dog walk audio piece for Tuesday, August 4 I reminisce about the public relations & social media tipping point, and reflect that it is not an us vs them world.
Here’s what i have found to be helpful for client PR as these two functions have converged:

Four Ways to Capture Reporter’s Attention

Identify key people inside a company that can relate to a social audience
Find ways for the client to tap the social web either by their own actions or mentions by others on the social web
Tell the client’s story on social channels
Create a multimedia newsroom
Reference articles and blog posts in your client’s digital footprint

Brian Solis, Mia Lee, & The 9 Ways Marketing is Changing

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:57:27 +0000

Time 25:21

In this podcast we highlight two major issues 1) The idea of resonance as implemented by promoted Tweets and interpreted by Brian Solis at a recent presentation in Minneapolis, and 2) We dig a bit deeper into the 9 ways marketing is being transformed in a conversation with college curriculum developer and instructor Mia Lee

We have a winner for the drawing for Brian Solis’ book Engage with my commentary in the margins where necessary – Ken Okumura of Minneapolis and a Marketing Edge listener is the winner of Engage. Solis was a guest on the Marketing Edge prior to his presentation in Minneapolis on July 27.

I attended his presentation which was thought provoking. One of his key areas for social media moving forward is the concept of resonance. It’s a word Solis combines with Relevance and Significance as a major way to determine value of social object. A social object is a piece of digital content, a tweet, a photo, etc. As companies continue to find ways to engage social commnities and platforms look for ways to garner advertising dollars, measuring the investment of time and dollars is being refined.

Measurement includes Retweets, mentions, clicks, actions, influence etc. During Solis’s presentations I tweeted this :

@WichitaCindy on Twiter asked me why. The reason for the excitement is because it’s a chance to engage and perhaps have an impact on anything, products, service, government etc. The reason for the nausea is caused by the many ways popularity and influence can be manipulated. The irony is that as consumers we revolt against advertising, even coming up with technologies to circumvent ads and now on social media those same consumers may well be part of message, and I don’t mean that in a good way. I mean just because you get a $5 coupon for a burger if you get your friends to fan a restautant doesn’t make it any less of an advertisement. In some respects we are being coopted under the guise of being social.

This is a fine line, and I hope I’m not the guy throwing sand in the social media sandbox, but the potential exists and there are plenty of tactics being used that contribute to search and klout. For more on resonance see Jeramiah Owyang of the Altimiter Group. The Solis event was produced by Jen Kane who does a wonderful job on these events.

9 Ways Marketing is Being Transformed

A while back I did a post on 9 Ways Marketing is Being Transformed. The beginnings of this post was an exchange on Twitter with WebbieGirl AKA Mia Lee instructor and program curriculum developer of digital marketing workshops. Mia developed a popular e-marketing program at the Wichita Area Technical College for social marketing.

In this podcast we get into some of the ways marketing is changing, including

1. Very public behavior – privacy or not
2. Ability to call bull – corporate transparency
3. Everyone is a media outlet – content marketing at its best
4. Consumers are marketers – How to build a community of passionate customers
5. Social culture vs. social tactics – Companies will benefit by adopting their culture to the social web
6. Consumers have an active role – the more you interact the better the information companies will provide
7. Personal brand networks matter – Instead of direct mail lists, online networks will preform better
8. Knowing how the system is gamed – the more social is quantified the more participants will try to gain an advantage, ethically or unethically.
9. Product development will dominate marketing – the social web will recreate how products are researched and developed

Have any to add?

Independence – Nice Notion But We Are Not Really

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 17:20:28 +0000

Disclaimer – this is not a shot at the USA on its birthday. This is not a political commentary because this is the Marketing Edge podcast and Blog. I hope it will be a quick eye opener to acknowledge that the citizens of America and the world, live in an interdependent world.

Let’s separate Independence the apple pie, flag waving idea from independent growth.

Independence is the beautiful way Americans have been able to worship as they choose, to roam our vast land without “papers” (with some exceptions over our very short history), to assemble, start a business, build an idea into reality, have children etc. etc. etc. That’s our society, warts and all that we choose to celebrate today. I’m in favor of it. Happy Birthday.

Now let’s look at independent growth. This is the notion that we glamorize for individuals who achieve certain levels of accomplishment. You know top ten lists, richest people, All-Star teams, A, B, C, and D Listers. We love to refine things and people to lists, without appreciating how those on the list came to be, how they were impacted by other people and events.

The social web has put a spotlight on the amazing gifts we give to each other, some of which contribute to personal gain and recognition. The concept that we learn from others in this or past generations is not new. One that comes to mind today is the electrical engineer Nikola Tesla whose work was trumped by Thomas Edison in his day, is the foundation for today’s energy saving light bulbs.

Let’s apply that interdependent concept in the area of social media authors. For example. today’s social media thinking by Charlene Li of Altimeter Group on Open Leadership, a wonderful book about the new participating consumer and how companies can embrace them. It’s a premise based on the work of Shel Israel and Robert Scoble in Naked Conversations or the Cluetrain Manifesto Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger, and McKee Jake. Can we trace some of this thinking to Ralph Nader and his early consumer empowerment? On the marketing side do we owe some recognition to Neil McElroy the Procter and Gamble marketing executive who advocated the concept of brand managers, market segmentation, and several brands under the same parent company?

How about that patio furniture, your sitting on or the grill, or lawn chair at today’s Bar-b-que. My bet is one of them was made by a worker earning $5 a day instead of $10 or more an hour. (Not a political statement just an economic fact of life) What about the house, car, boat for today’s activities, likely owned by a bank now or at some point in the past. This consumerism and ownership is based on the interdependence of individuals and institutions.

America is a nation built on economic and intellectual interdependence. Our roots grew on blood and sweat of willing and unwilling Europeans, Africans, and native Americans (for the most part). Independence – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

In pursuit of these rights we are an interdependent people of the world. Social media brings this to light with each minute on twitter, each shared cause on Facebook, each entry in Wikipedia, and on and on. It has never be clearer to me that our Independence is based on our interdependence which is now expanding beyond our nation as the social web grows. Our fast-paced society likes to pedal short lists of everything, from recipes to
people. I hope that with every list read today, there is a mental asterisk with the caption *this list compliments of the contributions of many other individuals.

Is Your Company Social At Its Core?

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 00:02:32 +0000

Time 14:20

This was a fun piece to put together, let’s face it I went back to Izzy’s Ice Cream three times to research all the different flavors. Izzy’s Ice Cream is a premium, delicious ice cream with unique flavors, some of them available on a limited basis. Izzy’s co-owner Jeff Sommers realized the loyalty his customers had to certain flavors. He also puts great effort, ingredients, and love into the product. The combination of a quality product and loyal customers, gives a business owner great confidence to do what is best for the customer.

Izzys Ice Cream – Flavor UP from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

Sommers created a system where customers could subscribe to a flavor and be notified via email, on Twitter and Facebook It’s called Flavor Up – pretty interesting stuff. As the ice cream server replaces the flavor in the dipping case, they also replace the sign with the appropriate flavor name. The sign has an RFID tag on the back which communicates the new ice cream flavor name to a database which in turn updates, well everything. The system was a Sommers brainchild and the Nerdery did the development work along with contributions from other service providers from laser cutting signs to RFID tags.

Izzy’s is famous for “The Izzy” - a delightful little dollop of ice cream to taste on top of most any selection you choose. The concept of the Izzy’s scoop is to allow people to discover new flavors at minimal risk, to reward customers for remaining loyal to a premium product and to potentially engage the conversation about ideas for new flavors.

Sommers brilliantly comments in the podcast and video about the power of the social web crowd to come up with solutions that may not otherwise be achieved, and for individuals from that same crowd to advance an idea that is beneficial to the community at large. This concept and the way Izzy’s has grown a mom and pop shop into a taste playhouse of retail innovation is an example of a social culture in a business. Whatever social tactic Sommers uses will be a success because he begins and ends with the two most important ingredients. They are - a steadfast dedication to a quality product, and the belief a customer engaged with the Izzy’s experience will always look forward to their next time there.

The takeaway of this podcast for other companies is to determine whether your culture is social. After listening to Sommers’ comment on the Izzy mission statement, do you have a similar perspective about your customers. Social media can be used as a marketing tactic, but without a social culture my experience is it will have a short term impact of limited success.

Special thanks to David Erickson from Tunheim Partners for including me in the Flavor Up news conference. David is the author of the e-Strategy Blog.

The Facebook Privacy Conundrum – Not Limited to Facebook

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:44:06 +0000

A number of posts recently about privacy has prompted me to write this post.

Can you trust Facebook? really, no more than you can trust any one organization with many investors. One person is easiser to trust or at least determine if they are worthy of your trust, with larger institutions it gets a little harder in a capitalistic economy.

Second – Privacy on the web is a facade, gone with the credit card, internet, mobile phones, terrorists, ATMs, and our unquenchable thirst for deals, reward zones, frequent flyers, buyers, stayers and everything elsers.

Consumers have opened the door to their own behaviors. We then swarm onto free platforms, Facebook is the 4th largest country. We complain about the ads that subsidize those free platforms, essentially biting the very hand that feeds our free desires to post about private lives then cry foul when those at risk, those being Facebook management and investors, dare to figure a way to pay for the servers in which our data is stored. That’s rich.

Be forewarned, if you jump my case about Facebook not telling us, changing the rules of the game, etc show me your copy of the Terms and Conditions that you read thoroughly. Yes, I’m being snarky to highlight how we have created our own cycle of addiction.

A society so consumed by consumption and connection, so impatient to get to the next thing, through our actions we have relinquished our privacy and attention to details. Oh yes I’m sure there are 100 of you that read T&Cs etc, and can argue the point. It’s a false argument because it’s not the way the majority of people engage with the social web.

Many marketers know this and act accordingly. This leaves a void for government to “save” us from our own impatience and irresponsibility.

I say the system works. You’ll never have true privacy again, and when the social mob screams loud enough, those dependent upon us to actually exist will listen. Facebook is no more if there is a mass exodus of Israelite proportion from the fourth largest country. The plans for this exodus are being developed by the Diaspora great name BTW. I’ll join Diaspora, but I won’t leave Facebook, competition is good – Hey My Space where are you in this!

No worries Facebook lovers, Facebook is circling the wagons they will repsond to the latest political bandwagon. The yelling pendulum will swing back to Facebook investors and the general crowd of those who want to boost revenues. Then Facebook management will come up with another way to minimize their screaming. Look at it this way, through privacy, advertising, or fees, the residents of the fourth largest country will need some taxation. Through it all, the happy middle will include a a degree of suspension of privacy, willingly or unwillingly to feed our addiction.

This is the conundrum of a socialist information society in a capitalist economy.

Social Media Overwhelming? Take a Deep Breath with Shel Holtz

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:35:18 +0000

Time 17:20

All the social media talk in the last year or so is like gnats on a humid, summer day at dusk. It’s time to get inside, take a deep breath and consider the state of social media. I did that with business communicator and IABC Fellow Award winner Shel Holtz. Holtz and I had dinner at Smalleys 87 Club in Minneapolis after his keynote presentation at the IABC gala.

We share some concerns about the state of social media, they are:

1) The continued blocking of access to social sites by more than 50% of companies.

2) Still too many voices echoing the fear of negative comments about their brand or company. (clearly denying access to the social web will shield those ostriches from their critic, sorry just had to slip that in. the timing seemed perfect)

3) Chasing the A list is not the same as gaining influence, it’s about niches and communities.

4) Over promising that social is a replacement pitting communication functions and their practitioners against each other. Business communications is not a zero sum game, nor should social media advocates do so at the expense of other media which will contribute to the ultimate business goals.

So what does stimulating conversation about business communications over a quiet dinner and a couple of beers get you. Some ideas for consideration what it means to integrate social media into a companies strategy.

1) Drop the word social and approach the communications strategy from the end objectives, essentially what do you want the recipient to do, feel, believe. As you plot out how the recipient of your message will interact with that information, who they do so in a digital way? If so, then social will naturally work it’s way into your effort. No big fanfare necessary.

2) Social cultures are easier to create from scratch than insert comfortably in an established institution. Patience and flexibility are key to bringing about change, incorporating social will require rewriting some company policies along with believing in them.

3) Social media is a communications support function, communications is a business objectives support function. Holtz raised this simple concept as a reminder of how the pieces of this puzzle can fit. Credit given to Shannon Paul for the reference point.

What are the chances of social media being implemented as a standard practice? Is it a fad or a true evolution of business in America? Catch more of Shel Holtz on his podcast For Immediate Release with Neville Hobson.

Disclosure: Smalleys 87 Club is a client with good burgers and beer selection. I suggest all consultants have at least one client with these qualities. Follow Smalleys87 Club on Twitter for fun stuff.

Social Media Experiments by Retailers, What We Learned

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:34:24 +0000

Time 32:21

The eMarketer report How Retailers Handle Negative Buzz caught my eye. eMarketer senior analyst Jeffery Grau and I talked about what we are learning from the first phase of retail social media. According to a report by Dynamic Logic and Milward Brown, AdReaction 2009: Brands + consumers + Social Media” 71% of respondents which were social networks users say they follow companies and brand in the retail space compared to 33% who follow restaurants, or 23% who said that follow banks or financial brands.

Grau singles out Best Buy for having success in social media because they are using it across the board. From promoting products and services, to crowd sourcing new ideas about to to customer service. Based on that report I engaged Grau in some of the experiences of retail brands.

Social Media Tactics for Retailers

1) Build a group of supporters who are socially savvy either as an inner circle group or by giving some kind of value. I’d recommend added access compared to a quantitative remuneration in dollars, discounts or products.

2) Expand any PR crisis communications plan with something a little less menacing, such as defining an escalation and response process for public consumer complaints.

3) Extend social media processes to capture new product and service ideas, criticism of competitors and other market research or product development information.

4) It is an “Always-On” environment sad to say, but a party-induced online rampage from consumers late on a Friday night can get pretty messy by Monday morning.

5) Twentieth century structure corporate structures won’t work. Some parts of the corporate retail structure may not reflect the way consumers on the social web behave or expect companies to behave, for example geographic sales territory, delayed responses, and not having access to certain types of consumer data will disappoint and confuse consumers on the social web.

6) Answers Please – If you have a consumer product that is somewhat complicated, it is becoming necessary to have dedicated “answer people” or at the very least respondents to engage those posing questions on Twitter. You especially see this in these products mobile device, computer, and software. Also with these services, travel, finance and taxes, and real estate.

What are your lessons learned during the first phase of experiences with social media?

9 Ways Marketing Has Transformed – Have You?

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 09 May 2010 20:24:17 +0000

I’ve been in communications for 25 years spanning all types of the functions associated with organizations “getting their message out”. Those functions included journalism, grassroots campaigns, legislative lobbying, technology marketing, and public relations.

Perceptions are a largely based on perspectives, so laying out this experience I thought would be helpful to appreciate the lens through which I see these transformations. I’ve also experienced working in large companies and venture capital start-ups and mid-size growth organizations. I share this because it plays into the context of the obstacles facing marketers over this second decade in the 21st century.

Marketing Transformation #1 – Naked conversations leads to naked behavior. Gaining insights to consumers as they willingly (or unwillingly) act transparently by giving up their privacy. This data with be cross referenced and used in proactive programming.

Marketing Transformation #2 – Marketing Rhetoric vs Reality Reconciliation made simple with social media. Careful with your company puffery, there plenty of people and chances to call Bull.

Marketing Transformation #3 - Companies as media properties. Contribute to the stream of conversation that surrounds your company without being the center of attention (don’t be that guy, very difficult for some companies to do). Those that do will gain respect and leadership.

Marketing Transformation #4 – Consumers as marketers, really? When the novelty of social communities wears off, and the reality of the time commitment necessary to be social sets in, be ready to answer the consumers’ question What’s in it for me?

Marketing Transformation #5 - Social Culture vs Social Tactics. Plenty of companies will not make the transition which is OK, social culture will be similar to systemic corporate change like Total Quality Management and Six Sigma. There will be a divide between social companies and social hacks.

Marketing Transformation #6 – Greater consumer participation necessary. As the dismemberment of old advertising continues, companies desperately want to know what motivates you, the more you interact, the better the relationship.

Marketing Transformation #7 – Yesterday’s direct mail lists are today’s personal brand networks. Regardless of FTC blogger regulations, established individuals are conduits of word of mouth as being social on the web has significant overlap between helping and being helped, it’s the ultimate form of interdependence.

Marketing Transformation #8 – 2010 is the year of social media skeptic, have a contingency plan. The more social media is absorbed by the mainstream, the more people will try to game the system causing all kinds of turmoil among the ranks of advocates, enthusiats, and critics.

Marketing Transformation #9 - Less about convincing and more about delivering. Taking a page from the World of Mouth adovcates, companies with enough confidence in their ability to build products and delivery services that consumers are comfortable recommending will spend less time having to “message” their way to growth, they will listen their way to profits.

Recommendations

I don’t see the current format of social media being the end game. It’s extremely time and labor intensive and unless companies are willing to commit to those elements of participation, they will merely pay lip service through this initial adoption phase of social media.

Some believe the data is circumspect, sure if Facebook was a country it would be the fourth largest, but what does that mean? What kind of country exactly? Will its inhabitants grow weary of sharing their data, lobbying each other for worthy causes, and doing the work of marketers who were laid off because friends don’t make friend buy bad things? Or will they unify in a community of users of like mind, feed off of their shared new experiences, and expand to improve their current condition?

Inside HP Software Social Media

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 03:51:10 +0000

Time 21:13

Corporate America is getting comfortable with social media. Not every company, and surely not in every situation, but a year after the spike of Facebook and Twitter, and 18 months after social media contributed to the election of a President, social media is finding a spot in the processes of many Fortune 500 companies.

The number of Fortune 500 integrating social media, blogging, Twitter or YouTube content for starters has increased in the last year. Burson Marsteller did a survey of social media use among the Fortune Global 100 checking to see who had accounts on the top few social platforms.

“65 percent of the largest 100 international companies have active accounts on Twitter, 54 percent have a Facebook fan page, 50 percent have a YouTube channel, and one-third (33 percent) have corporate blogs. Only 20 percent of the major international companies are utilizing all four platforms to engage with stakeholders.”

A more detailed longitudnal suudy was done by Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., Eric Mattson CEO, Financial Insite for the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachuetts at Dartmouth Fortune 500 and blogging. Not surprising in this comparison study over time of Fortune 500 companies vs Inc 500 companies (Inc companies are much smaller than Fortune 500) the larger companies are slower to adopt compared to their smaller counterparts.

The issue for many corporations is about process. Sure lots of debate about “losing control”, but most companies realized the consumers’ freedom to comment was a reality whether the corporation participated in social media or not. The conversation about ROI for most companies includes a way to somehow create a neat and tidy process for being social. Processes are great because they are easily quantified, look great in job descriptions, HR policies, and performance reviews, and the measurement charts are terrific eye candy.

On yes, and processes for the most part work. They provide structure, guidance, and help unify hundreds and thousands of people in a corporation around a set of business objectives. Which, when achieved, enable a predictable paycheck and all the good things that come with it.

HP Software has been active in social media. They have been blogging for years, but they also have taken the time to think through whether and how social media becomes a part of their processes. Michael Procopio, Social Media Business Manager for HP Software, and a long time Marketing Edge listener has done considerable study about the business of social media and HP processes. I admire Michael because he understands his internal customers and evaluates shiny new objects, without being distracted by them, and is thoughtful and strategic.

In this first interview since taking the new position of Social Media Business Manager for HP Software, Procopio clearly lays out how social media fits into HP Software’s comprehensive approach to the complex B2B technology market. As you listen to this podcast notice how HP Software weaves in experts in specific areas to participate in blogs and the newly launched HP Software Solutions Community, how customers help facilitate discussion about issues that prospects of HP Software may have, and how HP Software will reach out to existing communities within there market base with valued content and expertise.

Procopio has done a classic job of integrating social media in a large business unit’s objectives and processes in the following ways

1) Found ways to plug into current marketing and thought leadership programs

2) Spent time conducting learning and listening sessions with internal groups to get buy and participation

3) Studied the communities and content audiences valued such as Doug Kaye’s IT Conversations (this is podcasting old school pre Adam Curry – thanks Doug)

4) Evaluating and incorporating the latest tools without getting distracted

5) Incorporating metrics to determine value, progress, and feedback

All the best Michael in the new position and thanks for listening.

What’s your corporate America social media story? Is it part of a process or are you a lone operator within the corporate environment?

Social Media Innovators in the Midwest – Nathan Wright

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:14:33 +0000

This series, Social Media Innovators in the Midwest, profiles several business communicators in the Midwest, a place where innovation that’s practical gets high marks. I developed it in part because I believe that innovation is not limited to the few, or the brightest, but is born along a path of experience. Some on that path challenge convention to create innovation, some are innovative within the parameters of convention. The latter may well be a more difficult feat.

On my road trip to the South by SouthwestInteractive Festival, I thought of the enormous collection of ideas, opinions, and individuals that social media presents to our society. As a consultant in this field I’ve established relationships with many of them who are generous with the time and experiences. This makes everyone richer, which is recycled as others build upon and expand the conversation, keeping the community nourished.

Nathan Wright Social Media Innovator in the Midwest from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

I decided to turn the camera on a few of these individuals during this 3,000 mile journey from Minneapolis, through Des Moines, Omaha, Kansas City, and Wichita, to ask three general questions.

1) Why are you participating in social media?

2) Have we seen all the benefits social media can provide or are there more?

3) What types of innovation have your seen in the Midwest?

I hope you enjoy their commentary and this series, contribute to enrich the path, and share these videos as you see fit.

Nathan T. Wright – Lava Row

Nathan Wright, founder of the firm Lava Row, has his foundation in advertising, but saw the potential of incorporating social media to achieve business objectives for clients. Follow Nathan on Twitter as @nathantwright

Nathan has the perspective of small business and large corporations which is typical of the dynamic of the Midwest. Des Moines is home to high finance and agriculture, a fairly wide spectrum that gives Nathan a good view about the practical applications of technology.

Disclosure Credits:
I developed this series while on assignment for the Midwest region of Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless is an active participant in social media communities in the Midwest, follow Karen Smith on Twitter @karenVZW

An Experiment in Brand Journalism

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:38:54 +0000

I covered the South by Southwest Interactive Festival from a mobile perspective because that is the “hot” area for the social web. I am fascinated by location services and what I think are the conservative predictions by web analysts that half of the web connections will be on a mobile device within 3 years.

The mobile device is central to social web 2.0 growth, “because it is carried with the user at most times, is ideally placed to capture information at its source, and is a key enabled of user-generated content and social web interaction.” The report also predicts that the mobile web market will reach $19 billion by 2014.

I am fortunate to have had Verizon Wireless, a regional client, to also be interested in supporting this coverage. We decided to have a little fun with this project as well. I took several new Verizon mobile devices with me, the Droid by Motorola , and Devour with Moto Blur, the HTC Eris, and the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus. Also the Verizon Wireless MiFi mobile hotspot, which I happily named, “Web in my Pocket”.

The coverage around this project is not meant to be a review of phones or service, just how we used them and how they were presented within the context of brand journalism. Author David Meerman Scott talks about brand journalism in his book New Rules of Marketing and PR, also in a recent Marketing Edge podcast episode

I believe this will be the way marketing, PR, and trade journalism morph into coverage of topics, products, and services. It will become part of the conversation of these topics in social ecosystems.

Web In My Pocket

Look it’s one thing to make a voice call driving 80 miles an hour but it’s another to connect to the web, send emails, upload photos from your lap top with Wifi speed. That’s what my traveling colleague Rick Mahn, founder of Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul and I did on this road trip. It was virtually uninterrupted coverage using the Verizon MiFi in the car plugged into the car charger port. We didn’t miss a beat with other work back home or with the Twitter stream following our trip on #smbsxsw Oh, did I say 80 miles an hour, no I was mistaken I meant 70, sorry.

I gave it the nickname “web in my pocket” during the Social Media Breakfast at South by Southwest. The popular morning gathering of those interested in social media and marketing held a wonderful breakfast on March 14 at the Hyatt hotel in downtown Austin, TX. There were more than 200 in attendance which would push many hotel WiFis to the max.

I was either A) selfish or B) considerate in that I did not tap into whatever open network was available, I did turn on the Verizon Mifi, which was a secured network requiring a password, to access the web, twitter and email. It was fully charged so the couple of hours during the breakfast was a snap. I also used it during some of the peak times of the SxSw conference panels which worked out great. Selfish or considerate you decide.

SxSw What’s it Good For?

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:07:33 +0000

South by Southwest a place to see and be seen for sure. It was for music and film the primary focus of the festival for years, and now it is for the world of social interactive media. Any place where you need to be on a list to get into a party will have that kind of cache (typo intended for geek punery). As a DJ in Philly in the early dance era I get the whole list thing. Let’s put celebrity in perspective, SxSw is not the Oscars, but social media is getting its celebrities. Some traditional celebrities enjoy being a part of the SXSW social stream. Comedian Brian Posehn entertained the crowd at Joseph Jaffe’s party launching his new book Flip the Funnel (Greg Verdino shares some excellent photos

The Twitter trend spikes when Chris Brogan walks into a room or when #secretwinetasting signals, the King of Social Media, Gary Vaynerchuk is pouring into, and for, a party, this one was at Big Omaha. sponsored by Silicon Prairie News

But @GaryVee will likely be the first to tell you that there are no kings of social media. That all those at SxSw and those who are active in the social web contribute to the ecosystem of social. It’s an ecosystem that supports quality content in all types of niches. So Ed Bennett and Jane Sarasohn-Kahn are celebs in health care and Becky McCray rocks the house in tourism circles and Gregory Ng is truly the Master of Frozen Food with Freezer Burns, and the list goes on as long as there is an audience to comprise a niche. No they don’t do wine pourings, but they, as does Gary, command the attention and respect of their audience because of their passion for their content. It’s the foundation of Gary’s book Crush It!

Celebrity Closer to the Fan Base

There is still an element of camaraderie throughout the Austin convention Center that on the social web there is a common thread. The connection that every social media celebrity began from a first blog post, or video or podcast. Perhaps it’s a connection that can be maintained at events like SxSw. There is less distance between those who have succeed in their niche and those hoping to learn from that success. Everyone started out the same in social media and there is still the belief that others can achieve the same level of recognition, and in rare occasion, financial success. Why? because the rules of success are the same, good quality content, presentation, and yes, timing and luck factor into success today just as much as they did in the industrial age. Today It’s just less costly to enter and produce.

The question is whether social media will follow the patterns of the majority of other industries, which is early expansion followed by consolidation. Will the wide open landscape that is fertile ground for the first generation of web 2.0 content celebrities morph into the hierarchal, gatekeeper, celebrity maker, structure of the previous century. Just as an appearance on Johnny Carson was the golden ticket in the golden era of television, will todays’ celebrities be tomorrow’s king makers? If this is the case, then what will SxSw look like in 2015?

Disclosure:
My road trip from Minneapolis to Austin and coverage of South by Southwest is sponsored by Verizon Wireless.

Provident Partners will donate a food item to a St. Paul, MN food shelter for every comment on this blog

Three Ingredients for Your Social Media Pantry

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:47:32 +0000

Time 10:15

Kansas City social media practitioners shared gems at our South By Southwest tweet up yesterday, thanks to local organizer Lisa Qualls of Fresh ID. As Rick Mahn and I make our way to the SxSW tech festival we are asking consumers and producers of social media about the state of the medium, and how businesses are using it (or not). Also how consumers are interacting with each other and with brands. The dynamic debate among this group was outstanding.

As a journalist of these issues, as well as a practitioner, these gems of opinions from others are data points I keep in mind as I assess recommendations for companies. There is no “right way” to do social media, and each case, each company culture has a different perspective, which is why this summary should be viewed as a pantry of good quality raw ingredients, and not a recipe for the one size fits all social media strategy. Some ingredients may be right for some, companies may have the budget to use them all, some may not.

Measure everything, apply tools like Google analytics, www.bit.ly and www.idek.net (last one shared by Bestofjess ) to every link. – Really I say? Really, the fact is whether you are an individual blogging about a passion or a Fortune 500 company selling cars, measuring is one of the major ways you know that what you intended to communicate is what the recipient receives. Don’t leave it up to the response mechanisms like comments to determine whether you have engaged or not. Measurement to me in social media is like watching someone’s body language when you are having a conversation. Those gestures, facial expressions and twists and turns are cues which impact the next message you send.
Explain stuff until people understand it. Regardless of the “advanced” level of the group there is always something new for anyone in the group to discover. Whether it’s, “this is an RSS feed” or this is the beta version of Google buzz, heck, this stuff is being made hourly, there are no experts on everything. There is constant learn and props to groups like the Social Media Club and Social Media Breakfast who are in local communities creating forums for learning. Bless you.
The relationship between data, individual, and their location is a condition I call mobile which is powerful. Mobile services interacting with location based applications like Yelp, Layar, Foursquare and Gowalla (to name only a fraction) come as close to getting inside your head as we have today. An example raised at the Kansas City meeting was telling. Jenn Bailey was traveling in New York City, stopped in a couple of shops and local landmarks checking into Foursquare at each location. After her fourth stop she received an invitation that went something like this “You’ve been busy this afternoon, must be tired, stop by our restaurant and we’ll buy you a drink.”
As the group concluded, we’ll give up a little privacy to gain something that may well be very relevant to us at that point in time and space. The huge increase in smartphone sales is simply making this relationship easier and putting the power in the hands of consumers as they interact with a society on the move. Analysis predict 50% of web connections will be made via mobile device by 2012.

You can see the discussion at the Twitterface page created for the event. Twitterface is a neat application that allows companies to create a brand experience with streaming video, which is also recorded, and the social media stream.

San Diego Chargers Do Social Media Right

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:45:50 +0000

Social media is at its best when people come together. That was the case when I met Joel Price, the manager of interactive services for the NFL’s San Diego Chargers at the February meeting of the Social Media Breakfast San Diego. Joel, who can also be found on Twitter @joelprice, is the guest on this episode of the Marketing Edge, which we produced on video. Joel takes us through some interesting topics around the tools they use including Twitter, Facebook, and even an efficient way to use Posterous as a news release distribution system.

Link to video for embed code – San Diego Chargers Do Social Media Right from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

The Chargers do like to get social with:

Tumblr
Flickr
Twitter
Facebook
Forums
Posterous – Chargers Media

Think of the unique challenges of social media in professional sports:

Vocal fan base (yes fans come in all sizes and dispositions on any given day)
Huge amount of content under a variety of licenses and parameters
Not the only game in town, these days there is intense competition for disposable income and sports is a entertainment/hospitality combination
The players themselves are social media celebrities

One might think it’s a double edged sword. Me thinks social media is not only perfect for sports, but mandatory. And here’s why:

It’s all about fans following the team and players, right? sound familiar
Candid conversation, from bars to talk radio, tailgates to multiplayer Xbox Madden draft day, bring on the topics. It’s the one category of conversation universally allowed to be raised in any venue, even church.
Personal brands, yes every player is one and the type of interaction players have with the fans will have an impact on revenue, don’t believe me, ask any parent who’s kid just got an autograph.
Tweeting while you work (game time) or about sensitive information (personnel changes before they are official) can be a dicey situation that require clear policy guidelines for sure. However, the overwhelming majority of the time, social media is a unique communications experience and an extension of what has gone in for a hundred years in sports. My father would tell me when growing up in New York, it would not be uncommon to see members of the Yankees, Giants, or Dodgers around town. Those days may be gone, but that’s where social media can bring the fans closer to the players and still accommodate the barriers erected by celebrity in the 21st century.

San Diego Chargers on Twitter include Shawne Merriman, Shaun Phillips, and Antonio Cromartie among others. There is a great website called Twitter Athletes that is a comprehensive list of hustling professionals players using Twitter.

Some in professional sports are a bit confident and out spoken, no surprises here right? Ozzie Guillen, manager of the Chicago White Sox, was ruffling some feathers because of his Tweets. I say that’s a bit odd, you let the guy give press conferences, yet you are nervous about Twitter?

What’s your take, if you owned a team, what would your policy be for your players? Remember, every comment we get, Provident Partners gives a food item to a St. Paul, MN food shelter.

Does Your Company Need A Social Media Policy?

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:04:13 +0000

Time 22:27

This podcast is part of the Marketing Edge series of conversations with speakers at the NewComm Forum, April 20-23. This comprehensive conference produced by the Society for New Communications Research is one of the best events of the year covering social media, networks, and policies. It is a packed agenda and if you register use the promo code NCFPPP to save money off the registration price. In this podcast we feature Eric Schwartzman, who helps corporations and large government agencies establish social media policies.

Many a social media speaker will suggest that the rules regarding employee’s public discussions about the affairs of an employer are covered in most HR personnel documents. Whether those discussions take place over the telephone, been around since the late 1800s, or on social networks – I heard Andy Sernovitz talk about creating a policy that simply adds social media to the list of communications devices in public disclosure documents email, fax, telephone, social media. And yes in general that is quite true, we need not make this more complicated than necessary. When it comes to the issue of individual employees and their public disclosure about company information, a whisper at a trade show booth is no different than a Tweet ahead of the quarterly earnings report.

Great, now that we’ve established social media from the context of distribution channels, let’s examine the potential details of a policy across an organization with tens of thousands of employees with sensitive information, a visible brand, involved in controversial issues and now essentially conducting customer service in public. Yes, this requires a little bit more thought. Should there be official blogs or should everyone be allowed to blog? should there be a corporate blogging platform? Should there be a corporate workflow process to handle customer service type social comments? What are the enforcement, monitoring and punitive policies?

In this podcast with Eric Schwartzman and I highlight Eric’s presentation to the NewComm Forum. His presentation entitled Building a Social Media Policy covers the ups and downs of securing consensus and how social media involves a bit of change management to create a successful policy.

Does your company have a separate policy for social media or is social media included as another distribution channel for corporate information?

We donate a food item to a St. Paul, MN food shelf for every comment we get on this blog.

Marketing Edge World Wide Rave Book Contest Winner

Cathy Dunham a Marketing Edge podcast listener from Lannan, WI. She listens to the podcast with her colleagues at KKom Marketing. We’ll send out the book World Wide Rave by David Meerman Scott to you this week. Cathy thanks as well for your email compliments on this piece about generating leads with social media. If lead generation is a a topic of interest give a listen to Swartzman’s interview with the CEO of Slideshare about using that presentation community platform as a forum for thought leadership. His podcast is called On The Record Online.

The Marketing Edge podcast will also have more with David Meerman Scott. we’ll have him on a upcoming episode of the Marketing Edge podcast about the second edition of his book New Rules of Marketing and PR. The New Rules of Marketing and PR is available now.

What Corportate Communicators Can Learn From the Super Bowl

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:28:12 +0000

As I watched the Super Bowl the talk online was about the commercials and brands. The online chatter focused on the medium and interruptive ads. Although I’d be hard pressed to say that these ads were an interruption, at least during the Super Bowl, ads are eagerly awaited, a rarity surely in the world of advertising.

I learned more about social media by watching the game. The game was a reflection of the crossroads at which corporate communications and marketing stand today. The choice to go by the book, stick to what’s been done, surely it worked in the past, but it’s been done; or the choice to be different, to be daring in the face of predictability. The choice to go against “conventional wisdom,” the choice to do something that will make people talk.

That’s right talk

What Da? he’s not going for the field goal? Did you see that,?! The Saints didn’t kick the sure 3 points in the second quarter. What Da, off sides kick to start the half? Who Dat? They must have believed in their product eh?

Second guessers, the world is full of ‘em in every profession, on every topic. Detractors, every company and every product has them, even if it’s because the product is perfect. Some people don’t think Michael Jordan is all that, they are not Jordan fans. I am not one of them, but I have run into a few.

So now that we’ve accepted the fact that we can’t please everyone and there will be critics. What are we going to do to make people talk? There is an old expression people would use to convey that the product or experience they had was mediocre, it goes, “It was nothing to write home about.” Isn’t that the antithesis of social media, I must give you something to write home about.

Well the Saints gave us something to write home about and on blogs, on Twitter, on forums, on YouTube etc etc etc. And if they lost, their decisions would still be the ingredients of our content. Why? Because they dared to be different, they dared to have confidence in their skills, their preparation, and each other. Aren’t those the attributes you want a company to have? Those attributes bring freedom.

Freedom to accept the results of your decision, freedom to try something new, freedom to believe your fans (Superdome fans or Facebook fans) will understand you.

This is the essence of being a social company, not just implementing social tactics, but truly being a social company. Why, because social media is everywhere and growing. Companies that get high marks for the social strategies are usually not those that play it safe, it’s those that play it straight. Of course mistakes will happen, own them. Of course your customer may have a better idea than the creative employee making six figures, embrace it. Of course you have hundreds of people that like what you do, give them a forum.

Thanks Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints for breaking another barrier in this new century. A century that is shedding light on the illusions of the last century. The Illusion that we can’t really control or predict the future, but that we can only prepare for the present and react to what it gives us. Dreams can be more powerful than plans.

One Way to the New Mass Market

Albert Maruggi — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:24:19 +0000

Time 18:10

Alleluia the Mass Market is alive and well, we have rediscovered the masses. This is good news for all those companies that watched their mass market target disperse like cockroaches when you turn on the lights. Now the bad news, the path to reach them is through 1 percent of the people that participate on-line in social media – content creators, commenters, and communities. In this podcast, we chat with Jackie Huba, co-author of two books Citizen Marketer and Creating Customer Evangelists, about reaching the One Percenters as Huba calls them, and how they are the new gatekeepers to the mass market.

Huba is a keynote speaker at the NewComm Forum, a three day conference, April 20-23 in San Mateo, California, full of interesting learning about the application of social strategies in business, non-profit, and government, and as always excellent networking. As a listener and reader of the Marketing Edge podcast and blog use the promo code NCFPPP to receive a $200 savings if you register by March 12.

One of the interesting parts of this conversation with Huba is when she refers to social media as the “canary in the coal mine” for many companies. Huba is on the money with this metaphor. I associate this idea to political communications, a place where rumor can become perceived as fact fast. Political communicators are indeed accustomed to this position, I was in the national political environment for a decade. The speed of information puts an enormous burden on corporate communications to be tuned in 24/7 and on the corporate communications process (by that I mean approvals and empowerment) to be efficient in reacting to unfolding events.

Enjoy this podcast and use the promo code NCFPPP when registering for the NewComm Forum. Huba’s blog along with co author Ben McConnell is the Church of the Customer an interesting read as well.

How are you approaching the One Percenters? Do you think they are gatekeepers to the mass market, or do you approach them as market segments, separate communities similar to market segments?

Re-Tweet Shout Outs

I had fun last night during #brandbowl Twitter’s conversation about ads during the Super Bowl. Thanks to stephaniethum , shashib , and tkpleslie for advancing the conversation about when we’ll have television advertising created on the fly based on social conversations. It won’t be long now I’m guessing.

Remember comments to the blog result in a food item being donated to a St. Paul, MN food shelter. Your opinions matter.

Five Ways Social Media Will Generate More Leads

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:55:15 +0000

Time 26:57

First, I dislike the kind of headlines like the one above. It’s called the Reason Why Headline and it is one of the most effective at getting the reader’s attention. I dislike it because it proliferates across the web making thousands of websites look the same, but I can’t argue with Copyblogger and other copy writers who say Reason Headlines are effective.

Yes, lead generation starts with getting attention and good headlines are one of many components. Of course there are more ways to get attention than headlines, and social media provides many opportunities. In the context of generating leads for a complex type of sale, integrating social media is becoming essential. I’ll define complex sale for B2B and B2C products and services in the following way; in the case of B2B it is usually for business mission critical products and services, like enterprise software, strategic business consulting, and/or decisions that touch many departments in a company and have a significant financial investment. In the case of B2C it is usually a higher ticket item, that will have a long duration of usage, where there is a potentially strong brand attachment opportunity; products such as appliances, computers, and vehicles are examples.

Second, in the world of long sales cycles, relationship building, and credibility I believe the following are essential elements to generate leads:

1. Content that is valued by the audience (beyond the headline, content does matter)
2. Formats that are most powerful (all formats are afford, using video, audio, and mash-ups are effective)
3. Frequency that generates SEO benefits (In this search engine dominated era you have to be known for something, and that something must be indexed by search engines)
4. Community participation (It is anti-social to think your company is the center of the universe)
5. Thinking like a reporter ( I think I coined term is the embedded corporate journalist)

In this podcast with Mark Palony, former digital marketing manager for the enterprise software company Softbrands, we discuss the social media tactics he used in conjunction with traditional marketing tactics. Disclosure: Mark and Softbrands were a long-time client until a much larger company Infor purchased Softbrands last summer.

Over the course of years, Palony integrated video, audio podcasts, audio and video soundbites specifically for individual sales cycles, blogging, community participation, and Twitter, among other social elements, as part of a comprehensive marketing program. These components allowed Softbrands to develop a greater relationship with prospects while establishing credibility among its intended audiences. Examples of integrating social media in the B2B enterprise software lead generation include:

Video channel with customer stories about implementing SoftBrands inside manufacturing plants.
Using Twitter to build relationships with SAP marketing and subject matter experts. (this enabled Softbrands, and SAP partner gain greater exposure within SAP)
Effective digital assets developed for sales process (A video and audio library of relevant content used by sales and in conjunction with blog posts, Twitter commentary, and community comments.)

I think many companies are treating social media as a side bar, not an integrated component of their marketing. Sure they throw up a Facebook page or Twitter profile, but don’t incorporate them in a comprehensive editorial picture. Is this the case from your perspective? Are marketers and corporate communications treating their content as if they were publisher? Are they participating in communities or communicating to communities?

Seminar on Integrated Marketing

Mark Palony and I are conducting a seminar using elements of what we learned during the years of implementing social tactics for lead generation of the complex sale. Some might call this content marketing. The seminar is Friday, March 12, The New Marketing Mix.

Marketing Edge Book Drawing

David Meerman Scott’s the World Wide Rave will be given to one Marketing Edge podcast listener or reader. To enter, send me an email to marketingedge@providentpartners.net Include Rave in the subject line. In this book, Scott, provides entertaining examples of how companies incorporated social tactics to create digital product advocates.

Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Store, Cause, or Business with Foursquare

Albert Maruggi — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:34:15 +0000

Time 19:59

If you are business skeptical about social media here is a new way to look at it. What if someone wants to find a new widget (you make, sell or have something to do with widgets) and this person comes to your place. When they get there, they use their smartphone, one of more than 291 million sold in the third quarter of 2009 alone.

They will use an application for the Android and iPhone among others called Foursquare. This interesting application combines the use of the location of the phone, city maps, an increasing database of business, civic, and other locations, and taps the curiosity and competitiveness of human nature.

Here are some screen shots from Foursquare and how I use it. You can see when I check into a place, Starbucks for example, it give the number of times I have told others I am there, points for checking in, and when I do that more than others over a week’s time I can become Mayor of that location. A competitive or at least context reference point compared to your friends on Foursquare and others using Foursquare in that city. Foursquare has a variety of rewards like becoming a Mayor when you have checked in to a specific place more than others in that city, or earn badges for specific types of actions. In this podcast with Tristan Walker, vp of business development for Foursquare, we discuss ways retail and non profits are driving traffic to their venue.

Using the same incentive and reward concepts as scouting badges (or promotions, perks, and discounts, for big scouts) you can drive behavior. Hmmm that health insurance provider cutting those premiums for people who have the Gym Rat badge. The concepts are proven, the integration with other elements of technology and lifestyle are not.

The ability to share a piece of information when you are close enough to do something about it, that’s the logic behind Foursquare’s Nearby Special. I check in at a restaurant across from the Target Center in Minneapolis, and I see a message from the Timberwolves with a link to the game day media report and offers for that night’s game.

Today’s I’m attending the Social Media Breakfast Des Moines where will be talking about mobile applications and how the expansion of 3G networks and beyond, is creating innovation like Foursquare. Follow #smbdm on Twitter.

It’s early, so now is the time to push innovation with this application as a business. Foursquare is looking for what people, businesses, and organizations find of value in geotagging, crowd sourcing, consumer behavior, and demand creation. Foursquare will capture a marketer’s attention in the same way Twitter captured the attention of individuals. It’s a communications platform with plenty of potential uses, many of which are yet to be tried.

Robert Scoble reported this week on Foursquare releasing their API for developers to use with other applications. Ah, here is the catalyst of innovation, once you’ve created something people find interesting, give them the wherewithal to shape it to their needs. Innovation is like cookie dough, not cookies.

Scoble suggest in this post about how developers might use a Foursquare stream of individuals as a map of a lifestyle. Scoble refers to tracing the steps of noted wine expert Gary Vaynerchuk. I think if you are in New York City you might blurt out to your friend, ” Hey I’m going to have a Jimmy Fallon weekend,” and do the same things that he does an a weekend. Yes, this is a much better, honest form of celebrity endorsement.

Is This Social Media or Word of Mouth?

Albert Maruggi — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:49:39 +0000

I’m not sure how to categorize this video example as social media or word of mouth, help.

Find more videos like this on Provident Partners Social Sandbox

Swedish Covenant Chicago – A Thoughtful Social Media Approach

Albert Maruggi — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:35:11 +0000

Time 23:38

This Marketing Edge podcast focuses on health care and includes an interview with Leigh Ginther director of marketing and public relations of Swedish Covenant hospital in Chicago. Ginther describes the logic, strategy and resources they used to create Swedish Covenant social media programs.

Ginther also discusses how they identified resources of physicians to blog and deliver unique content that attracts patients. They spent some months learning the communities first and aligned those that were most active online with the appropriate service lines

They also have a program geared to general hospital offerings and awareness.

We get into the details and practical issues of resource allocations for social media programs and whether it helps achieve the hospital’s goals.

HEALTHCAMP MINNESOTA - Come On Down October 24 .

Social Media No Slam Dunk for Health Care

Along with all the hype and hypesters attempting to apply social media to anything that breathes, health care in many cases, is a cautious participant, taking time to evaluate what it means to be social.

While other industries can dip there toe in the water, a subjective opinion about a big screen TV isn’t going to kill me, health care opinions can have consequences. Checking a box once you create a Facebook Fan Page does not a social media strategy make.

HealthCamp Minnesota is a conference on Saturday, October 24 that will discuss the consequences of social media, technology, and ailment communities in healthcare. In many cases there are clear benefits, however it’s not that simple. Is our culture ready to take the time to learn about preventative care? Is rating a doctor something a patient can do accurately beyond beside manner without any medical knowledge? Will medical devices come to market quicker because companies are interacting with social ailment communities? If yes, somebody better tell FDA.

Health care is a complex topic involving the legitimate differences about the interpretation of scientific evidence and the emotional pull of life and death. One of the keynote speakers at HealthCamp Minnesota is Rachele Chrismer who will share an inspirational story about her son’s diagnosis of Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy which took her to 7 different states, many false hopes, and dozens of hours of research.

Lee Aase manager of syndications and social media for the Mayo Clinic will open the program with an overview of the behind the scenes impact social media has had at the Mayo Clinic. Panel members from Blue Cross Blue Shield, AbbeyMoor Medical, Fairview, IHC Health Solutions, CG3 Consulting, Health Grades, and the National Marrow Donor Program, among others. This is a camp format which means the attendees will be encouraged to contribute to the dialogue of each panel. Register for the program here. There is also a welcoming reception for attendees on Friday evening,

Companies, Do You Want Continuing Revenues? Help a Customer Out

Albert Maruggi — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:51:43 +0000

Time 29:58

In this second part of a conversation with Twitterville author, Shel Israel and I get into the strategy some companies can use to improve their business in social media. The short answer is be generous. We get into the rewards of being generous, some direct and some not. Trust among individuals practicing and advising in social media has to be pretty high these days. With so much generosity on the web (translate free information), the more providers have to trust they are not undercutting themselves.

I find that the generosity model still is working. Perhaps because this method of communicating and relationship building is different for each participant, each company, each employee representing a company, and each person engaging with each other.

I recently had a situation with Comcast during a tech call, the rep noticed that my package of services qualified for a lower rate and offered it up. Nice. Say do you think banks or credit card companies would do such a thing? It pays to be generous especially if you are in a subscriber relationship like cable. When the customer knows the company is looking out for his or her best interest, that’s called trust.

Personal Background

Shel Israel and I met online and we have a common interest as senior fellows at the Society for New Communications Research. We come from different political perspectives and view some aspects of social media differently. As I listened to our conversation while writing this post, it strikes me that the social web facilitated this civil, respectful relationship. The result of which is a discussion of issues I believe listeners will enjoy. Had it not been for the social web this relationship would never have happened. Schmaltzy?, maybe, but it underscores the ecosystem companies are trying to understand and participate. Hey Shel did I use the word Schmaltzy correctly?

Win a Copy of Twitterville

Enter the Marketing Edge podcast book contest by emailing me at Marketingedge@providentpartners.net with the word Twitterville in the subject line. We will announce a winner the week of October 5. Or take all the risk out of it and buy the book at www.Twitterville.com

The Marketing Edge is also available on Stitcher Radio

The Mayor of Twitterville Talking Change

Albert Maruggi — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:08:55 +0000

Time 24:46

Social media can bring people together, case in point, Albert Maruggi and Shel Israel. Two guys with little in common on the political spectrum, yet politics is something they exchanged online at first. They would have little chance to break bread except for their new found common ground called social media.

Is this that new? No, I spoke to the Rotary Club in Shakopee, MN and saw 50 people many of whom had little in common except living in the same locale and a desire to get involved before joining the Rotary. Over time, there is plenty to share.

Israel is one of the great conversationalists and story tellers. In his book Twitterville, Israel is at his storytelling best as his travels, online and off reveal the human impact of digital communications. Sappy you say, a little too soft for you corporate type A’s, listen how Nike and others are recreating the deceased mass market one consumer at a time.

In this podcast we take a high level view of the type of change taking place in communications and society. Our discussion is eye opening for companies who look at Twitter and other social channels as a shiny new object instead of a fundamental change in the way people engage each other and with organizations, companies, and government.

Israel reflects on the change social media has made on the initial meeting between individuals. Year’s ago a person’s business card and the company’s logo on that card would reflect on the person handing the card to you. Today, for those that are active in social communities, their individual reputation reflects on the company whose logo is on their business card.

Twitterville Book Drawing

This month, enter the Twitterville book drawing – Send an email to marketingedge@providentpartners.net put the word Twitterville in the subject line and we’ll include your name in a drawing for a copy of the book.

Last month, the winner of Trust Agents is Joe Mueller of Missouri and a frequent Marketing Edge listener. Thanks Joe, he too is a resident of Twitterville

4 Ways A Company Trusts Social Media

Albert Maruggi — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:42:38 +0000

Time 16:22

Chris Brogan and Julien Smith have this thing about trust. Their new book Trust Agents is a journey for companies and individuals to determine whether each is worthy of trusting each other. After all, all this access to information and opinions makes the world a very uncertain place, and the number one element of fear for companies and individuals is the unknown.

During a conversation tonight with a recently retired and senior Fortune 500 executive, I was reminded of the capitalist’s mantra, shareholder value. You can line up all the other metrics you want, you can argue to various degrees of accuracy that these other metrics impact shareholder value, but those educated in the ways of the corporation will come back to the shareholder number.

In this second and last part of my conversation with Chris Brogan we get into how corporations should adjust to maximize their benefits from social media. Brogan shares parts of his conversation with GM CEO Fritz Henderson, bottom line, the new GM wants to listen.

Brogan and I also get into the current state of social media. I think it has hit a plateau, it’s a time when we’ll see who trusts and who was just in a quick marketing fling. What’s your take? Have too many companies and consultants jumped into the social pool because they want low cost sales or a chance to make a buck telling people how to set up a Twitter account?

The Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies shows there is an initial spike of usage, a decline and then a refocus on some of the more practical and thoughtful applications of the emerging platforms. I pose that social media in general is toward the decline on the first peak.

Maruggi’s Social Company Trust Test

1) Have a company-wide process to handle learning and comments from social communities
2) Develop multiple social media participants
3) Response plan in place for social media originated hot topics – I won’t say crisis here because if the company is participating online, the likelihood of a socially inspired crisis is reduced.
4) Develop metrics unique to social participation that roll up to shareholder value

Book Drawing

We will hold a drawing next week for Trust Agents – send an email to marketingedge AT providentpartners Dot net – include the word Trust in the subject line.