NeoMarketeer

Social Media -- Mainstream and No Longer Cool

2009-04-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

You knew it was going to happen. Social media, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, is used by so many people, it finally becomes mainstream . . . and no longer cool. Even older boomers are using social media. And we can mark the date when social media when mainstream as 4/17/09.

Last week marked several major milestones that, unless you live in a cave, you could not have missed. First, there was Ashton Kutcher hitting 1 million followers on Twitter. This was followed by Oprah's first tweet. And, lest we forget the impact user-generated content can have on corporations, the CEO of Domino's Pizza responded to the employee video with his own YouTube video. All of this was reported by Brian Williams on the NBC national news on Friday, April 17th. And so, that day marks the official Social Media Goes Mainstream day.

As with everything that goes mainstream, though, a price is going to be paid. More and more people feel like they should put a profile on Facebook, or Twitter, or create a video. The pressure mounts to be seen as somewhat with it, even though that time has long since past. We remember the iPod or the iPhone. Those who are cool are always the first to adopt new technology and new products, and they are always on to the next big thing about the time the old big thing went mainstream.

Who knows what will come next? One thing is always certain, like death and taxes, is that there will be a "next big thing."

What is This Twitter Thing?

2009-04-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

More and more of my friends have been asking me lately: What is this Twitter thing? Do I need to Twitter? Why would I use Twitter?

It's been interesting to watch the spread of Twitter and the ever-increasing pressure to join the crowd who tweets. My advice goes back to Marketing 101 and a few simple questions you have to ask yourself.

(1) What are your marketing objectives?
(2) Who is the target audience you are trying to reach? How are they using Twitter?
(3) What channels are you currently using to achieve your marketing objectives?
(4) Can Twitter help you to reach this target audience and achieve your marketing objectives?
(5) Do your competitors use Twitter?
(6) Is Twitter a better channel? Can Twitter help you communicate your message more quickly and consistently?

There isn't a right or wrong answer to the "Should I Twitter?" question. Even though it is free to set up a Twitter account, it takes a lot of resources in terms of time.

An easy way to try it out is to offer a Twitter channel when you run a webinar or event. This provides attendees with another way to converse before, during, and after the event. And, it allows you the time needed to see how many resources are necessary.

Of course, you might find that you get hooked on Twitter and that it is a great channel for communication.

Personal Transparency

2009-03-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

We hear so much about transparency these days and the need for corporations and government to be more transparent about their actions. The move to transparency from the government and corporations is very much welcomed, as it seems that too much has been hidden for too long. However, this move to transparency has extended to personal transparency, or the revelation of personal details in public places. I'm not sure that this is, as Martha Stewart used to say, a good thing.

Social media is driving this new personal transparency, and the revelation of personal details on one's blog, Facebook page, or Twitter is everywhere. Examples are everywhere from "sexting" to tweeting about how one really feels about accepting a job at Cisco. A senior executive at a social media company was recently asked about his disappearance from social media channels. The expected response might be something like illness, family demands, or a personal situation. Instead, we were treated to a rather in-depth description of the person's divorce and the impact on their social networking and interaction. I found the revelation to be unnecessary, but many of that executive's followers responded as if they were close personal friends.

Since this is one of those areas where new technology is generating new social patterns and behavior, there is clearly no right or wrong. It is very interesting to see how people are broadcasting more and more personal information across social media channels at the same time that privacy issues are at the forefront.

When Analysts Cross The Line

2009-03-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

High tech analysts have always provoked their vendors. On the one hand, the analyst needs to develop relationships with the vendors in their area of focus in order to really understand the market and what is going on in it. On the other hand, they ultimately want the vendor to pay for their firm's services. Some analyst firms have made it very clear how vendors can "pay to play" while others pretend that they are objective. When analysts from the firms that insist they are objective cross the line, a lot of damage is done to the credibility of the analyst and their firm. Recently, a very high profile analyst from one of the leading high tech analyst firms crossed the line. First, he tweeted that a potential vendor that he follows was having financial difficulties. Now, if this is true, then he does a service to report that fact as soon as possible to the people who purchase his services. Unfortunately, the tweet was based on 4 emails and was not confirmed before he tweeted about it. And, to add to the injury, he arrogantly demanded that the company in question "brief him immediately." This was irresponsible on the part of the analyst, and in many other industries, would have been all that was necessary to ask for his resignation. While that hasn't happened, his credibility has now been called into question and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future, and potentially undermines the quality of whatever he says in the future. We not only hope that he learned his lesson, but we hope that the industry treats his "objectivity" carefully in the future.

Newspapers -- Finding a New Business Model

2009-03-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot written lately about the demise of newspapers. We know that the old business model no longer works. More people get their news and entertainment online. And, fewer people purchasing newspapers means fewer eyeballs, and fewer eyeballs mean that newspapers can't attract advertisers nor can they get them to pay a premium for more eyeballs.
Instead of experimenting with new models, most newspapers just post the news online for free. This makes it even more unlikely that anyone will pay for a newspaper, since the news is no longer news when you receive it in print. To add to their problems, newspapers have decided that the few remaining subscribers should pay what it costs to deliver the newspaper. The San Francisco Chronicle has raised the six month delivery charge for Fri-Sun from $29 in 2007 to $52 in 2008 and now to $117. If they were doing pricing research, they found my price barrier. In order to find a new business model, newspapers have to become NeoMarketeers. They need to ask online and offline readers as well as non-readers to differentiate and separate types of content into the following 4 buckets. And, they need to determine the price elasticity for each. Add this to a demographic and geographic profile, and -- surprise, surprise -- newspapers will have a very nice segmentation on which to build their new business model:

What I Need to Know
What I Want to Know [use of RSS feeds]
What I Didn't Know I Need to Know [education]
What I Know I Don't Need to Know -- But Want Anyway [entertainment]

I think we need to get the conversation going here -- for the sake of newspapers and for the sake of those of us who still relish holding a newspaper in our hands in the morning.

www.USAservice.org -- Tapping the Power of Community

2009-01-13T11:40:00.000-08:00

Last night I got an email from Michell [Obama] asking that I donate time on January 19th in honor of MLK Day. It was a typical social media email complete with video of Michelle and a request to sign up for service.

The Web site http://www.USAservice.org/calltoservice literally blew me away. I could put in my zip code and determine what days (even what year) and how far I wanted to go to volunteer. Once I input this information, I was taken to a Google map with American flags marking all of the volunteer opportunities that met my requirements. Each flag is clickable and gives the details of the service event -- type, date, address, length of commitment -- even an RSVP button to make it effortless.

It is so wonderful to have the first "Internet President" who really gets what a community is and can do. Remembering back to the famous Sarah Palin comment that President-elect Obama was "just a community organizer," I have to laugh. If only everyone got it and knew that the true value of the community he built in just two years to get him elected was also going to be an amazing resource for research and input on issues as well as a source for volunteers.

And to sum it up, I just quote Michelle's email: "It will take ordinary citizens working together with a common purpose to get this country back on track. This national day of service is an important first step in our continuing commitment. Now is the time to remind all Americans what ordinary people can accomplish when we stand together."

Social Media in 2009

2008-12-30T09:32:00.000-08:00

Social media in 2009 will become even more pervasive for these reasons:

(1) The tools are available, cheap and easy-to-use.

(2) Marketing budgets will continue to shrink -- or even disappear -- and social media will make it possible to keep the conversation and brand going.

(3) The use of social media by our President-elect will insure that even more people are involved in social media for the first time. And, as with most new technologies, as soon as they try it and see the benefits, they will find more ways to use it.

I read that the Obama community of supporters (financial or not) numbered 13 million. After the election, the conversation did not stop. In fact, I still get weekly emails from the campaign. One of the most impressive uses of this community was the very lengthy survey they sent out after the election asking for detailed information on how you prioritized the issues/problems facing this country and how you would like to be involved in which issues at the grassroots, community, state, or national level. That survery got 550,000 responses. This really shows the power of social media in ways that will impact everyone who chooses to get involved.

And that will be the most positive thing we will see in 2009.

The Top 1% of Bloggers

2008-10-31T11:13:00.000-07:00

I attended the Social Media Strategies Conference in San Francisco this week. There were some wonderful case studies from H&R Block, Kodak Direct, 1-800-DENTIST, and Wells Fargo among others. Although it appears that B2C companies have been faster to test and adopt Web 2.0 marketing tools, there were innovative use cases and best practices from both the B2C and B2B segments.

There was one data point -- and I don't remember whose presentation it was from -- that if you are going to blog, it is fairly easy to come up high in the rankings. The person pointed to Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2008 Report that if you blog once a week, you are in the top 1% of all bloggers. Here's a link to a great report:

http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/

Sad to say, but I'm not in that 1%. And, it's not just me. Many of the participants at the conference complained about the resources needed to blog from a corporate perspective. Although blogs are easy and inexpensive to set up, there are other costs that make them difficult to maintain.

Paul Gillin's Secrets of Social Media Marketing

2008-10-09T11:20:00.001-07:00

There are a lot of books out there that cover the theories and philosophy behind social media. Paul Gillin's book is one of the first to cover all of the practical aspects of social media marketing and the challenges it presents to marketeers. It is a great tutorial on how to develop a social media strategy and how and when to deploy the tools. What I found to be the most valuable, though, are the many wonderful examples, case studies, and best practices. I think this is going to be the handbook on social media marketing and not just for those new to the area, but also for those who are seeking a way to ignite brainstorming on new ideas for social media marketing campaigns.

Social Media in Academia

2008-09-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

You might not expect innovative uses of social media in academia, but I recently received a great example of how social media is being used in academia that has relevance for other industries.

The University of London is promoting their conference "Exploring and Expanding the Boundaries of Research Methods" to be held October 31st and November 1st, 2008. The marketing included an email to research students and scholars who might be interested in attending the conference.

The email included a call for papers and information to be posted to the conference blog and included instructions for registering via the blog, which you can see at this link: http://expandingboundaries.wordpress.com/

But, there's more. In addition to using the blog site for registration, they also created a Facebook page for conference registrations. The email pointed out that for those people who already have a Facebook account, they will be able to easily connect with the research students and scholars attending the conference. Check it out:
http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=40018431351

An interesting and innovative use of blogs and Facebook to create a community around a conference. And, a great example for any industry to use for their conferences and seminars.

Customer Service 101 -- Why I Won't Bank with Wells Fargo

2008-09-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, Neomarketeer is supposed to focus on Web 2.0 marketing and best practices for marketers in Web 2.0 tools and techniques. But, customer service impacts the brand and the brand image can make it easier, or more difficult, to get new customers or keep the ones you have. So today's topic is Customer Service 101 -- Wells Fargo-style.

I have been thinking more about Wells Fargo lately since they are supposedly one of the least-impacted banks in the current financial morass. I was a customer of Wells Fargo for 8 years and I was treated so poorly that I finally converted to Bank of America. Given the state of the financial industry, I thought it might be time to give a little money back to Wells Fargo for "safekeeping" and we use that term lightly these days.

Last Saturday, my partner was having difficulty using his Wells Fargo debit card. We discovered that the magnetic strip on the back was virtually gone and some machines could no longer accept the card. So, he stopped in the local Wells Fargo branch, where he has banked for over 4 years, and asked that they order him another card.

Today, the branch called and asked that he either: (a) call the branch to provide them with information to order the card; or (b) call the 800 number on the back of the card to order a replacement. Since I answered the phone, I asked the obvious question -- what kind of information do you need? The answer was that they needed his file information. I asked why they didn't have his file information and yes, you guessed it, the answer was: "Because he has been a customer for a long time."

So, if you are a long time customer of Wells Fargo, they lose your information? Or perhaps they misplace the information for their long time customers? Or maybe the hackers got it and didn't give it back?

And for those who think we were being "phished," I verified the branch phone number and the woman's name.

End of story -- and onward to find another bank.

Facebook -- The Social Network That Doesn't Communicate

2008-09-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a rather interesting story about Facebook's inability to communicate. A friend of mine had their Facebook account disabled by an administrator. There was an FAQ page to go to if you had any questions about this action, but there were only three Qs: Why was my account disabled? Can I see the content that got me disabled? Does Facebook remove everything that gets reported?

The answer the first question was pretty simple -- you violated Facebook's Terms of Use. After going through the terms one more time, it was not apparent that the Terms of Use had been violated. So, it was on to Q2 to which the response was: "Unfortunately, for technical and security reasons, Facebook cannot provide you with a description or copy of the removed content."

Basically, if you can't tell what you did wrong, then we aren't going to tell you. Nor are they going to give you a clue how to fix it.

I'd advise anybody who has a Facebook page to really read the Terms of Use. You give up virtually the right to anything by signing up with Facebook.

If only MySpace would get their act together.

Brand or Product Pages on Facebook

2008-09-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

Social media strategies now seem to include a corporate brand or product page on Facebook. I received a direct mail piece from Marriott earlier this week that referred me to their Facebook page, although it wasn't clear why I would want to go there.

I started to build a brand page for a client this week, and there are a lot of open issues about how to start one and how to use the page after you have one.

First, a little bit about the technical issues. Facebook doesn't make it easy to set up a page. In fact, with the new user interface, it becomes even more challenging to determine how to start. You can't just create a brand or product page for a company. You have to have an individual account and then create a brand or product page from within that individual account. There are exceptions for advertising accounts, but many companies just want a "face" where they can create a personality that complements or extends their brand. One of the first issues in the execution plan will be how this is handled and who is the admin for the company. Another interesting issue is that Facebook doesn't allow multiple individual accounts, so a separate email domain will need to be established so that Facebook can verify it. It is easy to add other admins, though, who will have the ability to create, add, delete, revise, and publish content on the page.

A good resource is available for a price from Facebook. It's called "The Facebook Marketing Bible" and it's $39 and worth every penny. Although it does lack a lot of details on exactly how to set up a page for a company, it is filled with a lot of information on how to use a corporate page for viral marketing and how to market your company to groups on Facebook without offending them. It helped me a lot, and has provided some excellent insights on guerilla marketing tactics you can use.

Video Twitter

2008-08-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

Check out an interesting site called: www.12seconds.tv

The concept is simple -- it's Twitter for videos. You can upload short, 12 second videos that you take with a webcam or cell phone. It's still in private alpha, but obviously, this could become yet another channel for marketing messages. It would present some challenges to marketers, particularly those who are used to the 30 second version of an ad message.

And, it is amazing how long 12 seconds can be . . .

Microblogging for Corporations

2008-08-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

As with any bleeding edge technology, the early adopters are out in force trying to figure out how to use the new tools. With microblogging [Twitter], companies are putting their toes in the water to see how it feels. I was doing research this week to pull together a social media strategy for one of my clients, and an important part of the overall strategy was to answer the questions: Should we use Twitter at all, and if so, how?

The first and most common use of microblogs seems to be for customer support. And in this, they do serve as another channel. I wonder how difficult it will be for a smaller company, though, to have to staff, manage, and monitor yet another support channel.

One of the better examples of a "brand" microblog has to be JetBlue, http://twitter.com/JetBlue, although they seem to use it mostly to send out information on potential flight delays. They do provide some Tech Travel Tips on Tuesday. They have 3816 followers as of today. Recently, they used the microblog as a channel for communication with their customers about their new policy of charging for a pillow and blanket. This allowed them to monitor the conversation to see how much of a negative this new policy was going to be, and it gave them a channel to justify the new policy. The uproar seemed to die down pretty quickly on the microblog and I think that using the channel in this way helped JetBlue to manage the response and minimize it more quickly.

I'll be sharing more examples as I find them. If you've seen a good use of a microblog by a company, let me know.

How Corporations Twitter

2008-08-14T16:12:00.000-07:00

I have been researching the use of Twitter for several clients -- and recently started twittering myself (G-rated form). Twitter states that they are "a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?"

So, why would a company have a Twitter profile? Some of them are using Twitter for internal tweets between co-workers only, which seems to fit Twitter's mission statement. Unfortunately, other companies send out marketing tweets and end up producing Twitter spam like this from Cisco IT:
ciscoit Move to virtualized servers has saved Cisco $19 million dollars http://tinyurl.com/6cwrsh about 3 hours ago from web

Of course, I can stop following them, and I have. I found other examples of companies that haven't sent out any messages yet, but still maintain a corporate presence. These companies seem to be consistent in posting their vision or boilerplate as the "bio." This makes a lot of sense and provides a quick brand reinforcer, like this example from Mzinga:
http://twitter.com/mzinga
Bio We help enterprises join in conversation with people interested in their products and services.

As with any new media, marketing is still in the process of learning how to use it and best practices are still to emerge. A question we should all ask, though, is: Should corporations Twitter at all?

Shameless Self-Promotion

2008-07-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

It's time to promote my Web 2.0 Marketing course that I will be teaching at UCSC Extension this fall. It is a 6 week survey course designed to look at the transition of marketing from the traditional push marketing in the 80s to the consumer-driven, pull marketing of today. We'll look at best practices and discuss how to apply these in our own marketing programs. I taught the course in 2005, but it was a bit on the bleeding edge at the time.

The course is on Saturday mornings at the Bubb Road facility in Cupertino. You get 2 credit units towards the Marketing Management certificate.

More info at: http://www.ucsc-extension.edu/ucsc/public/category/courseDetails.do;jsessionid=25762180C5319A797FF2F2E5F47C9922?method=load&courseId=3000727&selectedCategoryId=1000075&selectedProgramAreaId=1000167&selectedProgramStreamId=1528546

Positioning 2.0

2008-07-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

Positioning is more critical than ever, yet it seems that there are fewer companies who understand the importance of it, and even fewer who are able to develop positioning for the sound byte era of Web 2.0.

One of the major mistakes I see so many companies making is to confuse category with positioning. This is especially prevalent in the social networking category, where there are so many start-ups that many companies fall back to the "Hey, I'm here, too" positioning. So what is the difference? If you say you are the "Leader in Enterprise Social Media," you communicate that you are the "leader" and that the category is "enterprise social media." Unfortunately, a lot of companies are saying the same thing, so credibility goes out the window. You aren't saying anything that differentiates you from the pack, except that "you" think you are the leader. You aren't making a promise; you aren't explaining a key differentiator; and you aren't delivering a benefit.

You might as well go to the Web 2.0 Jargon Generator http://smogger.wordpress.com/2007/06/19/web-20-jargon-generator/
and pick a sound byte or two.

Code of Ethics

2008-07-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

Developing a strategy for your organization's blogs is frequently part of the NeoMarketeer's agenda. After the business objectives have been established and the people who will be blogging have been identified, the conversation will generally get around to a discussion about a code of ethics. Is it necessary? Isn't it against the philosophy of blogging that you need "rules?" How can you establish what is acceptable and what isn't from your company's point of view? One of the best code of ethics I've seen is from Forrester Research and Charlene Li's blog. This level of detail may not be needed at every organization, but it is comprehensive and should be a starting point to have the conversation in your organization.

Sample Blogger Code Of Ethics
I will tell the truth.
I will write deliberately and with accuracy.
I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly.
I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes so as to maintain the integrity of my publishing.
I will never delete a post.
I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic.
I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly.
I will strive for high quality with every post – including basic spellchecking.
I will stay on topic.
I will disagree with other opinions respectfully.
I will link to online references and original source materials directly.
I will disclose conflicts of interest.
I will keep private issues and topics private, since discussing private issues would jeopardize my personal and work relationships.

Originally from the Forrester Best Practices report, Blogging: Bubble Or Big Deal: When And How Businesses Should Use Blogs.

Dark Marketing -- Part I

2008-07-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

In the July issue of Wired, Jargon Watch listed "Dark marketing" as "Discreetly sponsored online and real-world entertainment intended to reach hipster audiences that would ordinarily shun such corporate shilling." Dark marketing seems to be a niche in the larger category of "stealth marketing" which has been around for some time. An example of stealth marketing is the launch of cell phones with cameras. A cell phone company hired couples in major metro markets to pretend they were tourists. They would walk up to people on the street (demographic targets, of course) and ask the person to take their picture with their phone. The person would get to see the camera phone and actually take a photo with it. Even if the target didn't immediately run out and purchase their own camera phone, at least he/she would tell their friends, and the viral buzz would begin. So, is stealth or dark marketing ethical or not -- or does it matter? Would the cell phone company be able to accomplish the same thing by giving their product to key influencers?

Thank You Blogger

2008-06-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

It took 10 days for Blogger to investigate my alleged spam-blog "NeoMarketeer" but now it has been reinstated. I sent 4 emails to Blogger requesting the reinstatement, and I never received a single email response. Today, it is magically working again.

It is an interesting automated system you have if it picks out potential spam-blogs and disables them for no reason. A little email communication might help, too, unless you have an automated system for reinstating them?

But, we are back in the blogging business, so thank you, Blogger.