ESPN Covers Twitter

Posted by Kevin Spidel on Aug 10th, 2009 | Comments

The Shawne Merriman Tweetup that our Managing Partner Kevin Spidel broadcast on USTream was covered on ESPN. Our Kevin makes an appearance at 1:25 of the clip:

Respect Culture Within the Social Web

Posted by Kevin Spidel on Jul 16th, 2009 | Comments

In the offline world, respecting cultures is just common sense. Different ethnicities, different geographic locations, heritages, traditions, etc. are all around us.  People come from different backgrounds; in my opinion, cultural diversity is what makes the human race a beautiful thing.

Similarly, the online world is full of different cultures; however most assume online cultures consist of the same  factors that define culture offline. Sure social web users have diverse backgrounds that include religion, traditions, regional understandings, etc., but beyond these distinguishing elements lie cultures of each social network.

What does that mean?

People interact and consume information within a specific social network differently then they would others.  For example, if you are on Twitter and link your Facebook status to your Tweets, do you often get people within Facebook telling you to stop spamming their feed with all your status updates?  They might not even be involved with the same social networks as you and not understand that Twitter is about microblogging short posts.

In the case of Twitter and Facebook, these are two very different worlds. Facebook’s main landing page is a social stream of your network. Where folks can see photos, links, comments, events, etc from friends, family, and colleagues. This tends to be a more intimate interaction as posts are not limited to 140 characters like Twitter.

The point being, if one evolved within a given social network, they understand many social norms within that space that might not carry over to another space. If you tweet a lot, and carry that over to Facebook status updates, some might consider that spam. Or at the very least, see it as a social faux pas with that social space.

Social networks develop social norms within their space; be mindful and respect the given culture within that space.

Many large corporations hire anthropologists to understand the business etiquette of various nations in order to minimize the cultural gap.  Here at Activating Word of Mouth, consider us your cultural consultant to the online world.

There are many spaces that have different cultures. Make sure you don’t take that fact for granted.

The Social Web: Companies that are Catching on in a BIG Way!

Posted by Jennifer Kindred on Jun 29th, 2009 | Comments

When we sit down with potential clients, many are still trying to grasp the world of social marketing. During out pitch, there tends to be a lot of education about what the social web is, and what makes us different than other marketing/PR firms. Many think that volume is the key strategy to the social web. We feel that there is a fine line between spam and volume on the social web. So today we decided to post about different approaches to the social web and how our strategies coincide with these successful engagement methods.

Our specific strategies start with social networks…evaluating a brand’s digital foot print, determining which networks work best for the brand, and executing a specific strategy for the brand.  Obviously we add our special sauce that provides analytic reports. Evaluation is key. Our Managing Partner has spent nearly 10 years in political campaigns.  His specific background is in “field.”  Field work is about breaking apart the trend data of voter files and marketing lists to target a voting base and then “activate” them. With the social web, the data is there!  Marketing lists and social interaction data is resting in the code of the tweets and the pings.

The following are examples of brand sponsored social marketing strategies. Companies are catching on in a big way!

Last week we had the privilege to partner up with Jennifer Van Grove, the Associate Editor for Mashable.com, for the #sdtweetup with Shawne Merriman.  ActivatingWOM was a big part of the event.  Her latest post:

“brand sponsored social media campaigns are everywhere. From SeaWorld, Starbucks, and Dunkin’ Donuts, to Cadbury, A&E, and even Universal, it’s officially the hot trend to replace or supplement traditional marketing campaigns with social media.”

SeaWorld has created a Facebook game application where you can challenge friends to get the most points; Starbucks challenged its network followers to be the first to post pictures of new Starbucks advertisement signs. Cadbury has taken a page out of Ford’s viral marketing campaign and created a contest for Cadbury fans to get as many social media views and points as possible while participating in “Operation Goo.”The winner gets £20,000 ($32,900).

The newest social media campaign is coming from Huggies in partnership with the social site, Circle of Moms. Huggies will be putting its content directly in the path of its primary consumer group…moms.  The “Huggies Zone” will be an interactive site with advice columns, baby photo sharing space, parenting polls, and of course diaper information.

As these examples demonstrate, companies are approaching the social web in a variety of ways…everything from Facebook applications, to photo contests, to large scale viral marketing, to an interactive page focused on a specific consumer group.  Companies can spend and do as much or as little as they want on the social web.

Here at Activating WOM we understand different social media strategies, implementation, analytics/tracking, and most of all reporting.  Companies need to know if their marketing strategies are effective.  We believe in authentic marketing, which is what creates a viral marketing campaign.

When taking the social web plunge, companies should be opened minded …as demonstrated above there is a whole new world of online communication.

Companies should see the social web as a cost effective way to talk about brands, engage consumers, and most importantly track their progress.

The social web is here…. are you ready?

Activating WOM the WRONG Way: Celebrity Edition

Posted by Kevin Spidel on Jun 7th, 2009 | Comments

By Kevin Spidel

We are up in the Bay area this week discussing the big differences between traditional PR and Social Media Consultation versus Activating Word of Mouth. We are surprised to find how many CEO’s and Public Relations firms are still not understanding that Word of Mouth authentic engagement can be managed within a social network. They feel it is strictly organic. Organic conversation growth is a big part of WOM, but having organic growth and detailed strategy is not mutually exclusive.

One topic that keeps coming up is celebrities using Twitter and Facebook. Access is now more convenient for their fans to create conversation with celebrities they love. This is exactly what traditional PR agencies fear, turning their clients loose on the web with no filter.

On June 5^th Shaq caused some drama in the athletic world that then  activated word of mouth on the social web. At first glance it just seems like a simple spat among two high-profile athletes. Shaq posted an unusual series of taunts and insults tweets about Howard, while the Orland Magic star has been quiet since losing to the L.A. Lakers on Thursday.

This prompted coverage in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/sports/06leading.html?_r=1

This is the wrong way to activate word of mouth and becomes costly to the individual athletes who now need a PR firm to clean up their social web faux pas. Further social media mistakes might prevent others from effectively using Twitter and engaging their fans for fear of similar things happening.

This is where strategic word of mouth is needed. Before an athlete makes the jump onto the social web there needs to be a plan, coaching, and the ability rapidly respond with support should something go awry.

Here is some of AWOM secret sauce to manage celebrities’ social media web presences:

• Step one: Evaluate the digital footprint of the athlete
• Step two: Determine what role each social network will play in impacting that digital footprint
• Step three: Coach the individual about authentic engagement without compromising the plan
• Step four: Engage