Advertisers Kill Tradition

Posted by Kevin Spidel on Jul 20th, 2009 | Comments

Tonight in a Tweet, I realized how true this statement really is; advertisers who approach the social web as a communication vehicle, kill cultural norms within a given space. Case in point…Twitter. Twitter is not just a vehicle to communicate. It is not a tool. It is a culture.

Here at Activating Word of Mouth we focus on authentic word of mouth. This begins with relationships, not spam. We take the advertising out of marketing. Other marketing firms approach social networks as a new vehicle to get their products/services out in volume. They are about noise. Last night I noticed a new trending topic “Chris Brown.” My first thought was, did I miss the news? Did he do something to Rhianna again? I clicked on the search for “Chris Brown” in Twitter and saw this: (more…)

Network Growing Pains…Don’t Let Them Cripple Your Authenticity

Posted by Jennifer Kindred on Jul 3rd, 2009 | Comments

Lately, I keep coming across services such as PMS Social Suite and Tweeterfollowers, which claim to grow your Twitter network to thousands of followers within 30 days. Who are these followers? Are they spam bots? People who have similar interests as you? Are they even people?

I am from Illinois and lived in Chicago for sometime. The City’s reputation for wind, beautiful lake paths, horrid winters, and corrupt politics are all right on. Growing up I recall hearing jokes and comments about dead people voting in Chicago…as a child I would try to picture a deceased person rising from their resting place and voting, then wondered how a cremated person could vote (yes I was a strange kid). Now I understand that dead people of course did not actually vote but their propensity to vote straight ticket Democrat preceded them into death thanks to Chicago party politics.

What does this diatribe have to do with Twitter and social networks? My anecdote poses a very important question, are these services akin to having dead people following you on Twitter?

There is an internal debate among the social web community regarding numbers v. authenticity, which is more important? Are they mutually exclusive? We argue that when numbers and authenticity coexist a very powerful network is born. For those that are entering the social web world for marketing purposes, we assert that the “magic sauce” exists in the strategy in which you engage your network. Meaning, if you opt to use a follower aggregator service, you must put extra time in auditing your network to ensure that your numbers reflect real authentic followers.

I think of “fake followers” as inflation, just because your numbers are bigger does not mean you can buy more influence as the influence price will also become higher. So 30,000 followers may seem like a lot but really you only have 2,000 engaged followers. Further, when you follow other artificial networks, your perceived influence becomes almost impossible to gauge. At the end of the day if you are using Twitter for marketing purposes, you must be able to measure your influence and potential ROI. Inflationary numbers will distort your true influences, just as it does in the monetary economy.

If you choose to use a service that automize your network growth there are several strategies you can take to also authenticate your network:

1. Review your new followers everyday.
2. Take out any spam bots or other fake profiles.
3. Go to new follower profile and look through Twitter feeds to see if they are interested in your brand/topic.
4. ENGAGE new followers through authentic conversation and mention of your brand/topic.

Follow these steps and not only will you have a large following but one that is engaged in your topic area. Activating WOM works with clients to develop network engagement strategy and produce marketing analytics to track your network’s influence in terms of sales, brand discussion, and network interaction.

Don’t let your network become dead, white noise…unlike Chicago politics, where a vote is a vote, in the social web world, an authentic follow is much more valuable than fake followers.

China Mist Tea Tour TwitPics

Posted by Kevin Spidel on Jun 30th, 2009 | Comments

Last week one of our clients, China Mist Brands, wanted to thank all of their Twitter followers by hosting a “tweetup” tour of their factory. We had about a dozen “influencers” on Twitter show up. The reality is, these are all fans of the brand who showed up to gain more knowledge of the brand that they love!

Of course various types of user generated content was produced during the tour. We want to show you some of the TwitPics from their fans. This is authentic engagement, real honest marketing that yields the best results:

@azneville—Alex Neville
•    http://img291.yfrog.com/i/vdjn.jpg
•    http://img145.yfrog.com/i/8h0.jpg

@wesleytech—Wes Novak
•    http://twitpic.com/8foxm
•    http://twitpic.com/8fiif
•    http://twitpic.com/8fhll
•    http://twitpic.com/8fi1e

@chrislee—Chris Lee
•    http://img141.yfrog.com/i/kbo.jpg
•    http://img291.yfrog.com/i/58761960.jpg/
•    http://img261.yfrog.com/i/f9b.jpg/
•    http://img146.yfrog.com/i/5g3.jpg/
•    http://brightkite.com/objects/15ce703461ef11de93ca003048c10834

@wonet—Warren Owen
•    http://twitpic.com/8fc50

@ChefVern—Vern Gill
•    http://twitpic.com/8fk5k
•    http://twitpic.com/8fe1f

@jen2281—Jennifer Kindred
•    http://twitpic.com/8fgfj

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?

Your Customers Are Talking About You – Why Aren’t You Talking To them?

Posted by Kevin Spidel on Jun 12th, 2009 | Comments

By Jennifer Kindred

Last week Kevin and I spent several days in the Bay Area.  The trip was a professional and personal success for both of us; we met and interacted with amazing people all over the Bay Area, particularly in Santa Cruz.  I could go on and on about our trip, but then would miss the point of this blog entry, which is utilizing the social web in our everyday lives.
On our last day in San Francisco we had a meeting with a potential client who suggested we go to lunch and that I pick the place.  Hmmm, I’m a Chicago gal, not so familiar with San Francisco, so my first instinct was to go to Yelp.com.  Yelp is a great resource for reviews of almost anything, including restaurants.  The site not only gives you information about the restaurant but provides reviews from people who have eaten at the restaurant.  This is word of mouth in its purest form on the web.

I thought about the power the reviewers had over a restaurant’s business and my choice.  I personally do not put 100% stock in other people’s opinions but in a world of infinite choices, others opinions do provide guide posts.  Quite honestly, I am much more apt to bypass a restaurant if there are several bad reviews on a site like yelp.

Sites like Yelp are a PR agencies worst nightmare…no control over the reviews.  However, that is because traditional and Web 2 types do not understand how to engage and use both good and bad reviews that are found on the social web.  Bad reviews are often the most valuable pieces of information that a business such as a restaurant can find.  If a restaurant contacted the reviewer and engaged in real conversation about the bad review and then offered to compensate them for having a bad experience at their restaurant; the restaurant would have just taken a negative impression and turned into a positive interaction with a customer.

Word of mouth marketing gives power to the consumer but also allows the business to find out exactly how their product/service is being perceived and consumed.  A major part of Activating WOM  is to track semantic conversations about our client’s service/product.  In a world full of choices make sure you are engaging your customers in a meaningful way.

The next time you are in a new city and rely on the social web to navigate restaurant choices, remember to provide meaningful reviews about your experiences.  Empower yourself through Web 3!

Is SEO Dead?

Posted by Kevin Spidel on Jun 2nd, 2009 | Comments

There has been a lot of talk about PR firms embracing current SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques  in their digital service packages. Today, for example, Jason from C&C posted a really great post outlining the details that should come in these packages.

He lists some great “How to” steps to familiarize yourself with this word and how it MUST be included in current PR work.

I couldn’t agree more, but there is a big part missing; the evolution of search engines, semantic data, and word of mouth is the trend of Web2 to Web3 boundaries.

There are technical limitations to typical “meta data” that is associated with traditional SEO data. The New Media Knowledge group has pin pointed this as why SEO might be dead in an article here.

Technical limitations such as code standards and non-indexable data (videos, flash, etc.) are only small aspects to why traditional SEO techniques are dying. As the web evolves, influence/word of mouth marketing and transparent networks are increasing online traffic to brands. What does that mean?

Think of it this way. If you know what you are looking for and can break it down into keywords, then by all means Google it. You most likely will find it. Just like you would if you went to a library and searched for something on a subject using the dewey decimal system system. There is still a need for that fundamental way of searching for your product online and making sure your data is coded and optimized for this standard.

However, as conversational networks exponentially grow daily, semantic (conversational, back and forth exchange of data) data is being indexed. There are no influencer gatekeepers on the web. If someone loves Oprah and wants to buy everything she suggests, she is on Twitter, Facebook, Skype, etc. The content that she puts out as an influencer in the market attracts consumers already willing to buy these products. Her conversations are retweeted by lesser influencers to networks and then talked about again and again. If you wanted to know about the best products to buy in your given trade or hobbyist obsession… you can find those influencers in that trade, interact with them, and every little didgibit is archived and index into searchable content. This is the new SEO. Semantic search and inflencual conversations.

SEO is still important, but without a comprehensive word of mouth plan that involves strategic semantic optimization, PR firms will not be ready for Web3. Web3 is transparent, honest, and all about word of mouth. Traditional SEO was about frequency of keywords and searches. Word of Mouth & Semantic Marketing is about authenticity. It is not about frequency of conversations, it is about the integrity of the conversation.

Is SEO dead?

No… but the methods have evolved.

Time to catch up.

What is Web3 Word of Mouth Marketing?

Posted by Kevin Spidel on May 26th, 2009 | Comments

We all know that the fastest way for an idea to spread is through word of mouth communication.  When you hear everyone talking about a new product, service, or site, you immediately want to check it out to see what all the hype is about.  That’s the power of word of mouth – but how do you get it?

Activating Word of Mouth engages your consumers to be brand advocates for you on the social web.  We identify your fans, build on the existing culture of your brand, and activate your fan base to spread your message.

We are a Web 3 Marketing firm that takes you from concept to contagious word of mouth, using Web 3 empowerment strategy. This strategy revolves around the idea of targeting your audience based on semantic (conversational) data and how it relates to the consumer.

Why We Are Different

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

Authentic Empowerment

Everyone claims to have the answers when it comes to marketing on the social web. But are those answers the best for your brand?  Social online marketing is not about how much content is distributed or how many “followers” you have; it’s about establishing an engaged, empowered, authentic online following for your brand.

True relationships yield greater results. We take the advertising out of marketing.

Word of Mouth is only effective if relationships are fostered and maintained.  This is why we focus on word of mouth authenticity, which requires strategy and additional time to effectively implement. We empower your consumers to become brand advocates for you.

Consumer empowerment is the most effective way to create brand advocates. Consumers that are already fans of the brand are able to discuss what they like about the brand to their social networks. We have created the following three step process to identify and build your network of brand advocates.

1. Identify existing online customers and give them the tools and rewards to become authentic brand advocates and marketers for you;
2. Identify new customers and influencers on the social web based off of our individual semantic targeted research;
3. Empower and harness authentic voices to creative social media such as videos, about your brand, which become viral on the web.

These steps ensure that your presence on the social web is strong and effective.  The social web is populated by people who want to share their thoughts and experiences, as influencers we understand social capital and authentic voice.  Through authentic engagement and building a targeted audience based off of semantic data we build successful brand presence on the web.

This is what sets us a part.

This is Web 3.