socialTNT» social media marketing

“20+ Ways to Fold Your Laundry Online: Social Media Tips for Packaged Goods Companies”

Christopher Lynn — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:20:19 +0000

What do these videos all have in common?

All but one of the above videos have had hundreds of thousands of views. Each video was made to share and educate. And there are tons of other videos with fascinating laundry advice, each with tens of thousands of views. Many of these videos were created by men to teach other men how to “impress women.” *sniff sniff* Nope, not dirty clothes. I smell a niche audience!

Imagine a scenario in which a laundry detergent or packaged goods manufacturer wants to target college-aged (18-24) and single bachelors aged 25-34.

In the era of new media marketing and PR, companies have to ask what they can do for their customers. What interests them? What are they searching for? What do they want to learn? How can your product or service fit into this equation?

Unless they had a parent who taught them how to do laundry, most guys go off to school with a limited knowledge of washology. Since 70% of this demographic would give up TV over the Internet, it’s safe to say these guys are easier reached online–and no better way to build a relationship with them than through social media.

Here are a few ways a detergent company could engage with male college students and single bachelors:

As our quick search showed, there are plenty of opportunities to give laundry advice. Set up a YouTube Channel with a weekly video series giving how-to tips on everything from folding clothes to getting out tough stains.
Extend this with a weekly “Ask Mom” segment where consumers can leave video questions on laundering needs. Perhaps even “Show Us Your Stain” segment where users upload videos of tough stains and “Mom” shows us how to get them out
Partner all of these with a blog to archive the tips and tricks (kind of like this but more conversational and not so one-sided). Combine that with a blogger outreach program to target young men on sites like LiveJournal and WordPress, places where they are already talking about they day-to-day activities.

What packaged good companies have yet to learn is how to use social media to build relationships. Instead of advertising on Facebook, try more listening, more give and less take. Add value by becoming a resource and a trusted confidant to your customer. Become a part of the community. Most importantly, stay human.

What is some advice you would give packaged goods companies to more effectively use social media?

“Three Killer Social Media Case Studies from SMC San Francisco”

Christopher Lynn — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:42:32 +0000

On Tuesday night, the San Francisco/Silicon Valley Chapter of the Social Media Club hosted a night of social media marketing and PR case studies. That’s right, six companies pulled together their best campaigns from the last couple months and threw them into PowerPoint presentations. Some might call this a geekfest, we at socialTNT call it heaven. All the presentations were amazing, but we’ve chosen some of our favorites to bring you notes from the front line.

Starbucks Gets Feedback From its Customers Through Online Community

Matthew Guiste, program manager for mystarbucksidea.com joined us live via Skype video from Starbucks HQ in Seattle. Like Dell’s Ideastorm, Mystarbucks.com is a community set up to increase communications between the company and their customers. It serves two primary functions: to respond to the community and to review and promote ideas. Customers join the online community to submit suggestions/comments and vote on others’ ideas. There are also forums where customers can talk directly to Starbucks representatives (roughly 200 moderators) from departments like beverages, cards, food and Human Resources.

For Matthew, the biggest challenge has been maintaining engagement to keep visitors involved and excited. Anyone can create a community, but creating sustainable activity takes work. Starbucks handles this through six “pillars”

Visible Action
- Starbucks has to show visitors that their ideas are implemented. You have to show the community that their voice is being heard
- To date, Starbucks has made approximately 50 changes based on customer suggestions. Some of these include Splash Sticks and Gold Cards
Great discussions
- Mystarbucksidea.com strives to be like a group discussion with the company. It also encourages discussion between customers
Promotion
- Ads and placards in stores that show this idea brought to you by community
New Features
- Mystarbucksidea.com includes dynamic new features to keep customers engaged and interested. One successful tool has been polls–like one asking: “If the barristas were able to have tattoos, would you still come”
New Geographies
- Starbucks plans on adding other countries to the mix
New ways to use site to have people engage in brand
- One upcoming feature will let customers with stores under renovations connect with employees so they can help decide things like what art, books and music will be included when their store opens

Since it’s launch in March of 2008, Starbucks has had these results:

3 million unique visitors
60,000 ideas submitted
100,000s of comments
460,000 votes
2,500 moderator comments

LSF Interactive Launches Successful Viral Video Campaign for Hooman TV

David Peck, social media strategist at LSF Interactive, presented a case study around the promotion of a YouTube video. The video, sponsored by Palm, was created by Hooman TV to get out the vote during the election.

LSF Interactive agreed upon on these objectives with their client for the video:

3,200,000 views
3000 comments

The campaign started with Facebook. David and his team shared the video to their newsfeeds. They also targeted political-oriented groups, posting a brief synopsis of the video and a link to the group walls.

The bulk of the outreach, however, was based in YouTube. The team focused their efforts in a three pronged approach:

Active facilitation of conversation and discussion in the comments section
- The team had around four moderators watching the comments on the video. Whenever anyone commented, the managers commented back. They disclosed their affiliation through their name
- Because it really helped get conversation going, David believes this form of engagement was crucial to the success of the campaign
Daily modification of SEO terms to draw viewers from related videos
- YouTube recommends videos based on the keywords. Each day, the team looked at top political videos and matched the Hooman TV keywords to reflect the most popular on the relevant channels
Active engagement with blogs or sites who link back to the video
- YouTube offers free stats and link data on each video you upload. Using this information, the LSF team could track linkbacks and then comment on the blogs who have shared the video with their readers.
- This active participation created more discussion around the video and also positioned Hooman TV as active members in the online community.

At the end of the campaign, LSF Interactive’s efforts yielded these results for their client:

Posts on blogs and sites like CNET, Yelp, Huffington Post and DailyKos (14,00 views from this site alone)
5 million views
3,692 comments
Video has 4.5 stars from 3,700 user ratings

Swirl Uses Social Media Outreach to Successfully Promote an Event

Cory O’Brien and Bo Jacobson, both account managers at Swirl, presented how they promoted the Dwell on Design event for sustainable design magazine Dwell.

The team’s number one objective was to sell out the event. Because they wanted to reach audiences and interact with them where they live, they chose to use a combination of Twitter, Facebook and blogger outreach to build their campaign.

Some obstacles the team encountered:

Since the event was located in LA, the blogger outreach would need to be limited to regional targets. The team would need to check the location of each blogger to ensure they weren’t sending them irrelevant information
They were running an online campaign for an offline event. The team would need to be sure to keep messaging clear and easy to understand
The client had a PR firm to promote the magazine. That PR firm had already claimed top tier bloggers

The team started by creating an online media kit to house all the digital assets. Kinda like a social media newsroom, this repository became the place that bloggers could get anything they would need to build their story. This included all the creative work like videos, photos, banners, widgets and slide shows.

The blogger outreach started with a listening phase. Using technorati, blogpulse, blogcatlog and google blog, the team complied a list of blogs. Before beginning outreach, the team vetted the targets using these qaulifying questions:

Does the blog cover events in LA or the Southern California region?
Does the blog focus on design? Have they covered Dwell Magazine in the past?
Does the blog cover sustainability?
Would they want information? Will they want to participate?
Will the promotions be fun for them?

The team narrowed it down to 200 blogs. Some of their outreach included discounts to the event.

Since Dwell magazine already had a Facebook page, the team decided to create an Event page on Facebook. The goal of this page was not to drive traffic outside of Facebook, but instead to serve as a central hub to point people in correct path. This included schedules and other information to help people decide whether they wanted to attend. The event page is also easy for people to share with friends and it shows up in people’s newsfeeds.

For Twitter, the Swirl team searched for people already talking about Dwell magazine. Sometimes this role took on a more customer service slant. During one search, they found a Dwell reader who’s subscription had ran out. The reader was hesitant about renewing because he had questions about the sustainability of a print magazine. The team informed himt hat a digital version was available. They also encouraged him to check out the event.

The Swirl team’s campaign ended with these results:

15,000 tickets sold (sold out)
ongoing facebook community
Satisfied client

ROI was key to winning over the client. The team presented their results in an Excel graph showing outreach with response at a quick glance. They also showed a Facebook graph, denoting spikes when messages came out.

Hope these case studies gave you as many ideas as they gave me! What other things would you have done in these campaigns to make them more effective? Have you run similar campaigns? Share your battle stories below!

Special thanks to Cathryn Hrudicka, Mike McGrath and Shashi Bellamkonda for great presentations!

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“Breadcrumbs: Using Curiosity to Strategically Reach Audiences”

Christopher Lynn — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:01:02 +0000

Last week, Robert Scoble declared Tech PR useless. My response, a light-hearted post to shake off the negative energy, called for change within the PR industry. Many of you emailed me asking about the future of PR and marketing, so today I wanted to share those thoughts.

Changing Landscape

The founders of our industry, in my opinion, did not intend us to be keepers of the keys and intermediaries, but actual creators and facilitators. The original press release was not an announcement, but rather a creation of compelling content that editors wanted to print. They looked for stories to tell and then pitched these to reporters. And it worked, as long as the mainstream media was in control of the information.

Things have changed. Today, the Mainstream Media is struggling and the walls are crumbling. The rise of the Internet has moved content consumption online. Also, thanks to social media, everyone has the ability to create content themselves. Translation: The Internet is a REALLY REALLY noisy space.

Information Overload

Technologies like search and RSS feeds make information easily accessible–but they never seem to find *exactly* what you want. Also, social networks and bookmarking sites have added the human element to finding content, but even that isn’t always enough. With traditional media, reporters distilled the real world into articles. Likewise, bloggers take information on the Internet and present what’s good.

With decentralized information filtering, how do we make a significant impact to reach our audience, whether they are bloggers, reporters or consumers?

Curiouser and Curiouser

If I understand Robert and the other Tech bloggers, they are finding information through community and curiosity. They listen to what others in their online peer network (whether Facebook, Friendfeeed, Twitter, RSS Feeds, etc.) are saying/sharing. They also track and discover products and services the same way consumers do: word of mouth and surfing/searching.

What does this mean for PR and marketing practitioners?

The goal is to leave breadcrumbs your audience follows to find you as if by magic
To do this, we have to think like our audiences
Instead of asking “What do we want our customers to think?”, we have to ask “What are our customers interested in? How can we reach them?” and “What can we teach them?”
We no longer create stories, we look for conversation
We execute strategy to reach audiences where they share ideas
We engage in industry wide discussions with our clients as the moderator

We Are The Music Makers, We Are the Dreamers of the Dream

Instead of just producing viral videos, widgets, blog posts and (gasp) press releases, let’s create content people will want to consume. Let’s build rabbit holes of discussion that our curious audiences can crawl into.

The ultimate goal: Be known for facilitating stimulating conversation around topics related to our clients/services by creating content our audiences will be interested in.

How do you see the future of PR? How do you inspire curiosity and conversation to energize communities and build awareness?

[This post inspired by a conversation with Tim Dyson, CEO of Next15 (the holding company that owns my firm, Text100) and numerous conversations with Todd Defren and Brian Solis]

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[The above photo, "Down the Rabbit Hole" by valkyrieh116 on Flickr, used under Creative Commons]

“3sday’s 3Q’s in 3 Min: Chris Heuer, The Conversation Group”

Christopher Lynn — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:01:29 +0000

Like the cold winter wind, today’s biting “3sday’s 3Q’s in 3 Min” will chill your bones!

Every Thursday, socialTNT channels the spirit of citizen journalism by putting bloggers, reporters, PR pro’s or anyone with something to say about social media in front of the camera for a short, three minute interview. The videos are meant to encourage dialog between PR/communications practitioners and marketers on the future of media.

This week, socialTNT met up with Chris Heuer, partner at social media communications firm The Conversation Group. He’s also an executive and cofounder of the Social Media Club. In today’s episode, Chris tells us his definition of social media and proclaims that PR is dead.

When Chris and I met, we started talking about his book, a discussion of social media tools for internal communications. He enjoyes bouncing ideas off of people to spawn creativity. He also prefers working in collaborative, Socratic environments, so it’s not surprising that Chris cofounded the Social Media Club as a venue to share ideas about emerging media. This manifested itself throughout out our conversation; every time one of us would say something clever, he’d jot down notes in a a Moleskine notebook, potential ideas for the book. After a few minutes, our chat diverged away from his book and into a discussion of social networking, disposable attention, and brands.

As Brand managers everywhere try to stifle social media and maintain a uniform brand image, Chris promotes opening up. Instead of silencing employees, companies have to let go. To maintain, companies have to trust and educate their employees. To support his theory, Chris broke out a power point slide with a quote from Thomas Jefferson:

“I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but
people. And if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not
to take the power from them, but to inform them by education.”

Fun Facts About Chris

Once taught Interactive Advertising at the Miami Ad School
Has a Virtual Assistant outside the country
Does not have or use an RSS reader
Is a hit-and-run Twitterer
In July 2007, married Kristie Wells, VP of Customer Advocacy at Joyent, the company that used to host Twitter
Prefers in-person, real world communication over its online counterparts, but you can still find him on Facebook and LinkedIn

Ever wonder exactly what social media is? Chris’s succinct definition is not to be messed. He also explains what changes Public Relations and Marketing will need to make in order to stay alive. Check it out:

Wow. A lot to chew on. Is PR dead? Has social media killed it? What do you think PR will need to do to evolve? Is Schizophrenic Branding a problem? How do marketers deal with multiple voices coming out of their company? Let us know in the comments.

Quick Note: Today marks the first day socialTNT’s “3Q’s in 3Min” is available for download on iTunes. Yup, that’s right: Now you can view our video interviews with today’s top reporters and social media experts anywhere you want. Watch us on the train, at the gym or even at the break room of your stodgy PR or marketing firm. The last seven episodes are currently available in high-quality video, with the full library coming soon. Oh, and it’s all available to you for FREE!

Also, don’t miss a post: Please add socialTNT to your RSS reader [what’s that?]. Better yet, subscribe to socialTNT by email!

[The above photo, “Utterz Meetup House of Shields - Chris Heuer” by Brian Solis, is used under Creative Commons]

“Let’s Get Physical: 10 Lessons Abt Social Media I Learned at the Gym”

Christopher Lynn — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:01:12 +0000

A little secret about me: I’ve been involved with sports since I was a kid. I can give a rocking sports massage or plan a kick-a workout. At one point in my life, I’d even studied to become a Physical Trainer. Today, I’m here to pump you up with ten lessons about social media I learned at the gym.

When first starting out, get to know the gym, the exercises and proper use of the equipment.
- Same goes for a social media campaign. Check out your surroundings. Listen to the community and see how they interact before diving in. It also doesn’t hurt if you know the tools inside and out.
Flexibility can prevent injuries.
- Communities are built from people. People don’t always react how we want them to. Go with the flow. If you are flexible to their needs, listen and respond to their comments accordingly, then you can prevent a PR disaster.
Have patience. Quality results require a long term commitment.
- Rarely do you see results in a short period of time. Lasting relationships are built with time and interaction.
Eat healthy. You have to feed your body to grow muscles.
- Same goes with a blog: consume relevant media content to help develop your ideas and grow your community.
Healthy living requires a complete lifestyle change. If you want lasting results, you have to let go of old habits.
- Social media isn’t just about looking pretty, it’s about opening up. You have to let go of corporate messaging and the tired notion of brand. It may be scary at first, but I guarantee once you get the hang of it, it will feel great!

When in doubt, get a trainer.
- Sometimes we need someone to give us that extra push to help get us in shape. A community manager can help shape community relations.
A workout partner or a team can keep you motivated and increase results.
- If your company has a hard time maintaining the corporate blog, bring some more writers on board. This will make it easier to keep producing content.

Different bodies need different routines.
- Not all workouts and diets work on every body. Same can be said about social media strategy. Play around until you find a plan that works with your marketing objectives and fits your community’s needs.
Don’t wait too long between exercises.
- In order to keep that target heart rate, you have to keep moving. If you slack on a blog, your readership will drop.

Make it fun!
- It doesn’t have to always be serious. Fun posts make it enjoyable for the reader and easier for the blogger.

Happy Friday, Everybody! Thanks for your continued support!

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[The above photo, "getting-huge.jpg" by ericmcgregor on flickr, used under Creative Commons license.]

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Recommended Reading:

“It’s a Conversation, Stupid! Part 1″

“How Media Relations Got Its Groove Back”

“3sday’s 3Q’s in 3 Min: Mario Sundar, LinkedIn”

“I’m a Binge and Purge Blogger, What About You?”

“3sday’s 3Q’s in 3 Min: Jon Ray, Suited Productions”

Christopher Lynn — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:05:12 +0000

Like a marshmallow in a cup of hot cocoa, today’s “3sday’s 3Q’s in 3 Min” is guaranteed to sweeten up your cold winter’s day.

While on vacation in Austin, socialTNT was able to catch up with Twitter friend and Social Media Marketing Consultant, Jon Ray. Today, Jon tells us what it is a Social Media Consultant does and also what to look for when choosing a live videocasting host.

At the ripe age of 23, Jon is founder of Suited Productions, a media production and marketing firm. The company, founded in 2005, originally started off as an HD video production company for television and music video. Jon’s move into social networking campaigns began in the early days of MySpace, when a real estate company asked him to figure out ways to attract a younger crowd to the near-campus district. Jon set up a renter community to help calm parents’ and young renters’ fears, while also generating leads for the real estate firm.

Since then, Jon’s main focus is helping brands integrate their ad campaigns and marketing goals into social media campaigns that create a conversation. His biggest success so far has been the Toyota Line of Scrimmage to introduce high school students to Toyota. The series involved reporting on and broadcasting high school football games from the back of a Toyota Tundra. Not surprising, Jon has been hired as a consultant for ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi.

Jon’s approach to social media is very hands-on and experiential. He’s not just satisfied with reading about the various tools and strategies, he has to test the technology and see what works. You can find him on Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Right now, Jon is testing transparency while trying out various lifecasting and video casting platforms.

[For an archived video of Jon's lifecast from our interview and warm-up, click here. Watch as we talk about Apple's lack of social media strategy and other geek stuff.]

See the results of Jon’s trials to find out which videocasting platform Jon prefers and listen to him say sooth on upcoming social media marketing and advertising trends for 2008!

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.481736&w=425&h=350&fv=]

Are you as much a video fan as Jon and I are? Or do you think live video is just another fad?

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[The above photo, "Jon Ray is the Future," used by permission from Jon Ray]

“MacBook Error: Six Tips To Apple On Social Media Marketing”

Christopher Lynn — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:20:32 +0000

It’s MacWorld fever in San Francisco. I think their new Macbook, the MacBook Air, is beautiful, but everytime I hear the new name, I hear MacBook “Error.” Today I want to address the biggest MacBook Error: the thinness of their conversation in the social media realm.

Yes, I know they are on top of the world, but there are voices from the blogosphere that point to cracks in the MacBrand base; early adopters and super fans feel left out. As Apple becomes more of a consumer brand, more mainstream users will purchase Macs. This means more complaints, stretching the ardent fans–and customer service–thin; no longer will every negative Apple post be bombarded with super users flaming the blogger. To address this, Apple will need to stop pushing products and messages at its community. Instead, they will need to become more engaged with their community.

Steve, are you listening? Here are some of my top tips for Apple on refreshing their Social Media efforts to revive the Fan Base:

Stop trying to silence your superfans!
- Whether suing super-fan bloggers or threatening children, Apple has a horrible strategy towards online communities. Lighten up! Repeated actions like these will really put off you most passionate audiences.
Beautiful Ads and Demos, set them free!
- Sharing is Caring. Let the videos into the wild by allowing them to be embedded into other sites and shared. Just by sending a link back to the page is tres 1.0. Do this with Steve’s keynote, too.
MacBook Air: Behind the Scenes
- For movie buffs, the “Extra Features” on a DVD are one more reason to buy. Same goes for tech geeks. Show us the behind the scenes of the MacBook Air. Intimate video chats with the Hardware Design team. Live podcasts (with call-in) featuring the User Experience team.
- Too hardcore? Ok, open up developers’ blogs!
Like a shepherd herding the flock…
- A Community Manager could address the worries early adopters are having re the MacBook Air. They can also hit up the Green bloggers upset about Apple’s lack of true environmental concern, or just common users P.O.-ed about Leopard’s constant crashes. Go and address those posts head on. Cut the messaging and speak to them like people.
Open up a dialog
- Apple currently has a web-based form for feedback, but it feels like you are sending it out into a void. Make it a community, like Dell, where users can submit suggestions/concerns and then vote on the ideas. Yes, there is a forum, but it relies heavily on super fans…and forums are SOOOOO 1.0.
- Customers also need to know that they are taken seriously. Close the feedback loop. Let them know the status of their suggestions.
I’m Streaming of a Live MacWorld
- Ok, it may be a little far fetched, but I want a cam to be following someone through the MacWorld experience, like a fly on the wall. Bonus points if that fly is STEVE JOBS!

I love all my Apple products, but I’ve been a little upset since upgrading Leopard. No longer can I play music on Front Row through my Airport Express. I filled out a comment form and have not received any sort of follow-up. I’ve dropped so much money on my desktop, laptop, keyboard, Airport, Airport Express, and I deserve some sort of acknowledgment.

What do you think? Is Apple heading towards Dell Hell or are they on the right track? What suggestions would you give Apple on reinvigorating their fan base?

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