Next Generation Communication: Social & Digital Media

New Mexico AMA – March 19, 2009

Dana VanDen Heuvel

Dana is the founder of The MarketingSavant Group and a widely recognized specialist in emerging marketing technologies such as blogging, social media, RSS, Internet communities and interactive marketing trends and best practices and speaks regularly on these topics at industry events. Dana is the creator of the American Marketing Association ―TechnoMarketing‖ training series and the author of the AMA‘s Marketech ‘08 Guide To Marketing Technology and the recent e-book, Social Networking: MySpace, YourSpace and TheirSpace.

After-Event Slides & Resources

The slides and resource links are available electronically after the event:

clients.marketingsavant.com/nmama

The Key Topics We’ll Explore:

1 | Defining Social Media – What is it, Who’s Using It?

2 | Social Media Toolset

3 | Social Media Cases – Good, Bad, Ugly

4 | The Social Media Implementation Plan

5 | Questions?

SOCIAL

MEDIA

So, What Is Social Media?

SOCIAL MEDIA IS AN UMBRELLA TERM

THAT DEFINES THE VARIOUS ACTIVITIES

THAT INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY,

SOCIAL INTERACTION, AND THE

CONSTRUCTION OF WORDS,

PICTURES, VIDEOS AND AUDIO. http://www.wikipedia.org

Social Media: Defined!

Why Social Media?

1) Social-networking sites are officially more popular than porn sites.

2) 78% of people trust the recommendations of other consumers.

3) People are talking about your organization or industry right now!

4) Social media ―is only going to become more pervasive and as such, become a critical factor in the success or failure of any organization.‖

5) Tomorrow‘s consumers are today‘s ―digital natives.‖

Where Everything Is Headed

2009 2050?

Digital

Non-Digital

Today

Source: Google1996

More Simply Put:

―Social Media is

people having

conversations

online.‖

From Monologue to Dialogue

The old communication

model was a

monologue.

We‘ve entering (or,

area already in) the

market dialogue, or

market conversation!

Source: Brian Solis via Flickr

The conversations are powered by…

Blogs

Widgets

Micro Blogs

Online Chat

RSS

Social Networks

Social Bookmarks

Message Boards

Podcasts

Video Sharing Sites

Photo Sharing Sites

Virtual Worlds

Wikis

(…just to name a few)

How do YOU

participate

online?

10 Questions For You

1) Do you read blogs? Which ones?

2) Do you have a personal blog? What's it about?

3) Do you participate in at least one social network? Which one?

4) Have you ever uploaded a video online? What did you use to do

it?

5) What's your favorite search engine. Why?

6) Have you ever used an online classified service like craigslist?

7) Besides making phone calls—how else do you use your mobile

phone?

8) Have you ever registered a domain name?

9) Do you use social bookmarks or tagging?

10) Do you use a feed reader of some sort? Which one? Why?

*

Who Participates in Social Media?

“The Toolkit”

Learn to Blog

Foundation of

content/consistency/

connection

Metaphor for Social

Media & networking

Transferable skills to

video & social nets…

Transferrable benefits

to SEO, SEM & TLM

Evolution of a Multiple Blog Strategy

Micro Blogging

Monitor conversations

Use for promotions

Live ‗twittering‘ from

events

Source for breaking

info

For the hyper-involved

Social Networks

To learn to express

opinions

To share experiences

To make friends

To participate

To find a job

To sell something

Niche Networks

Over 350,000 pets

Approx. 700 new each day

Beyond Students

Real Estate

InvestmentsMoms

My Space Politics

LinkedIn

Create a group & discussion

Connect with professionals

Connect with customers

Ask questions

Approach prospects

Create a Page!

Start a Cause

Enlist Supporters

Recruit new hires

Facebook

How Big is Facebook?

Over 120 million active users

Adding 250,000 new users each day since Jan 07

4th most trafficked website

Most trafficked social media site

Top Social Search Engine

More than 55,000 networks

More than half are outside of college & fastest

growing demographic is 25 years or older

10 Reasons to be Active on Facebook

1) Meet your peers. Facebook is not just for

college kids anymore.

2) Find business contacts. Not only are your

friends on Facebook, so are your prospects,

your customers, and, of course, your

competitors. You need to be on too.

3) Instant gate opener. You can easily begin a

dialog with highly successful—even

famous—people who were previously

otherwise unreachable.

4) Build relationships. By engaging in

conversations with your prospects and

customers, you can better adapt your

marketing and business services to meet their

needs.

5) Raise visibility. By consistently showing up,

posting relevant information, and being a

thought leader, you can increase visibility

and credibility as an expert in your area.

6) Develop your personal brand. You can reveal as

much or as little about yourself as you wish,

allowing you to personalize your brand.

7) Target your niche. Users volunteer vast amounts of

information about themselves that you can readily

access. These kinds of demographics,

psychographics, and technographics would

previously have cost fortunes to access. Author, John

Battelle, calls Facebook a ―database of intentions.‖

8) Get rapid top Google placement. Create a Page

for your business and ‗‗push‖ information to your

―fans.‖

9) Place targeted ads. With Facebook Social Ads, you

can test out extremely targeted advertising for

minimal cost.

10) No cost marketing. Aside from paid ads, Facebook

is totally free to use and with regular activity you‘ll

end up with more traffic, more subscribers, and

more paying clients.

The Many Opportunities for Marketers

Advertising

Banner Ads

Contextual//NewsFeed/Flyer Ads

Social Ads

Marketing

Facebook Pages and Sponsored Groups

Beacon

Word of Mouth/Interaction

Applications

Intelligence

Profiles and Network information

Public Groups

MySpace

Create a Page!

Connect with Millennials & Alumni

Customer Community

Customers gain access to the significant corporate resources

Connect to current and ex-employees with whom I feel a real camaraderie

Endless opportunities for doing business with other employees regionally, nationally, or globally.

Involvement in initiatives of mutual interest such as community projects

Idea-Centered Communities

Small business focused credit card company is changing the business financing discussion through ideas

Created ideablog.com to stir the conversation about what it stands for

Positioning itself as the most helpful credit card company to small business

Involved in other small business related causes to help developing countries

Online resources for small business owners just getting started

Collaborative Idea Generation

Leverage the wisdom of crowds/customers to improve the company

Submit, vote, watch, see what gets put into action

Integrate into other TLM activities

Dell

Oracle

Starbucks

Social Bookmarking & SMO

Thought leadership

through links

SEO Links (bookmarks

travel)

Brand exposure

Socialize your content

Virally enable your site

Can be active or

passive

Del.icio.us & Others Like It

One click saving

Tagging

Sharing (multiple forms)

Shared wisdom

RSS feeds

Portable

Collective influence

Internal knowledge share

RSS & Syndication

Part of a smart SEO strategy

Leverage for:

Inbound traffic

Spam-free channel

Advertising

Rich media distribution

Set your content free

Combine with widgets

Podcasts & Vodcasts

More human &

emotional than

blogging

Share thought

leadership

Low investment

Easy distribution

Differentiator

Share Things

Like Photos… …and Videos

Tell The World - PR 2.0

“The Good”

Jones Soda – Youth BlogsCompany: Jones Soda

Industry: Consumer Packaged Goods

Blog URL: http://www.jonessoda.com/blogs/

Launch Date: Multiple (individual bloggers)

David vs. Goliath:

•Grassroots marketing efforts

•Well targeted to Gen-Y consumer base

•Blogs align with underground image and the

brand stewards, (non-traditional athletes) notably

skateboarders,

Blogging Model:

•Loose connection of independent youth &

athlete bloggers

•Event driven marketing/blogging

•Community building as a corporate strategy

Brand Community

[Blogs]:

•Built on context and

relevance of content

•Consciousness of

kind

•Create a community

around yourself

Indium Social Media Strategy

25% reduction in marketing spend

Major account wins

Entire organization involved

in the ‗community‘

Twitter Community Lends Support

.

$3500 Collected In The First 15-hours!

Widget

Voltz & Grobe (Diet Coke + Mentos)

20M video downloads

$10M in free publicity for Mentos

½ its annual marketing budget

1.5B ad impressions for Coca-Cola

Southwest is Winning with Widgets

2 Million Downloads

Generated $150M

45% of customers book

again

July ‘07, blog attracted

100k visits, 40M

uniques

Past 12 months, blog

has received 6,200

comments (20 per day)

Integrated Social Media Strategy

Goodwill Repositioning

Blog

YouTube

MySpace

ebay Store

A Few Stats

Over 11,500 unique visitors to the virtual fashion show 9/12 launch

Over 42,000 page views

16% of fashion show visitors have been converted into online Goodwill shoppers

Fashion Show Visitors from 31 countries and 48 states plus DC

48% of fashion show visitors are from the DC, MD, VA region (the area we serve)

Blog is averaging between 600 & 700 visitors a week

5.6% of blog visitors are being converted into online Goodwill shoppers

Blog visitors from 77 countries and all 50 states

Brick & mortar stores during the two weeks following the launch of the fashion show:

Customer count + 6.6%

Rack sales (clothing) + 16.5%

Total sales + 8.275%

http://dcgoodwillfashions.blogspot.com/

“The Birmingham-based chocolate firm said

the comeback was a response to online

petitions and campaigns on social

networking sites such as Facebook and

Bebo..”

Cadbury Wispa Comeback

80‘s candy bar brought

back to life

Facebook group, online

petitions, social media

buzz

Cadbury was listening!

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-

Archive/Article/20082851280368

Jeep‘s ―Jeep 2.0‖ Strategy

1. Portals (using contextual/Google and behavioral/AOL targeting)

2. An IM avatar development program

3. Online video - A new campaign site which was redesigned to host rich-media offerings like video vignettes

4. Virtual "test drives―

5. Ads on free music download sites with viral marketing (pass this song on to your friends capability)

6. Microsites

7. Traditional TV with product placement

8. Events and bowl games - An online fantasy football sponsorship w/print component

9. Print ads

Jeep –

The way beyond trail

A choose your own adventure

interactive film

User integrates him/herself directly

into the video and story reflects

their personal registration selections

Program provides clues in exchange

for ―tell a friend‖

Product directly integrated and

demonstrated through plot line of

film

InDecision 2008

Both campaigns provided amazing lessons

This is what social media is all about. This campaign is the product

of superior multi-channel audio, video and text content distribution

using new and traditional media platforms.

Getting the message out.

Keeping the message fresh.

Sticking to the story.

Tracking and staying in touch with the interested visitor.

Developing a worthwhile engaging relationship with those who

can support you and your concerns.

How They Stacked Up

Source: Jeremiah Owyang

Who wins…

Source: http://www.barack20.com/

“The Bad”

Digital & Social Media Conversations

“There’s a real cost to ignoring the conversation.”

No Love for Iams

What if half the store shelf

said, “Don’t Touch This?”

Wal-Mart:

Disclose, Disclose, Disclose!

Comcast Learns Social Media…

Comcast tech filmed

sleeping…waiting for his own

customer service team.

A viral video & blog sensation (of

course!)

Popular blogger ‗Tweets‘ his

Comcast woes

Comcast calls him 20 min later

and resolves his issues!

“The Ugly”

Kryptonite: No Match for Blogs!

―Rahodeb‖

Unethical, covert blogging by Whole

Foods CEO John Mackey

According to FTC documents, Mackey

had been posting comments for the

past eight years until last August.

Accused of hyping his

own company's stock

and running down rivals.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118454129429667079.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks

Other Notable Disasters

“Content is the new democracy

and we the people, are ensuring

that our voices are heard.”

Brian Solis, “The Social Media Manifesto”

So, Now What?

Social Media Strategy in 8 Parts

Part 1: Learn to Listen

Part 2: Join the Conversation

Part 3: Start a Blog (or… Be the Media)

Part 4: Tap into Your Community

Part 5: Crowdsource Your Next Big Idea

Part 6: Harness the Power of Social Networks

Part 7: Share Photos and Videos Online

Part 8: Measure Your Success Online

Learn to Listen

Where are your customers online/offline?

Blogs, Social media tools (e.g. LinkedIn Answers), Discussion Forums, Twitter, etc…/Events

Monitor these conversations:

Find your brand using Google Alerts, Keotag.com, Boardreader.com and Technorati.com

Use a central tool to track the different conversations happening around your company. Most online conversations are RSS enabled, barring a few Yahoo! groups that don’t support RSS. Use a RSS reader (e.g. Bloglines.com) to gather all these conversations into a central repository and create a folder that you check on a daily basis.

For Example: Best-in-class organizations pursue social media listening as a daily

discipline and have a response strategy to engage in the conversation if necessary.

Join the Conversation

Be transparent. Be open and

honest in all communication.

Be ethical. Live by the WOMMA

Practical Ethics Toolkit

Be relevant. Share information

and perspectives that are valuable

to the online community

Personalize and be personable.

Address negative discussion

head-on.

Court evangelists & advocates.

Even if you‘re not ready to join the conversation, it pays

to have a sound strategy for dealing with any social

media conversation taking place about your brand.

Be the Media (or, Start a Blog)

Feature a link to the

blog on your company

home page.

Employ a team of

bloggers.

Provide guidelines to

bloggers.

Share company news and thought leadership.

Post a combination of written word, photos and video.

Link generously to other digital influencers.

Allow moderated comments to foster a two-way conversation.

Tap Into Your Community

Community members can

be worth 30% more

Tap the power of your

customer base

Increase long-term

lifetime value

Involve them in

something meaningful

Know what customers

really want to buy

Crowdsource Your Next Big Idea

Define an idea

management process.

Design and develop the

online community.

Promote the community

with your customers.

Invite them to contribute.

Post questions to spur

their thinking.

Celebrate great ideas.

A Crowdsourced Business

Seventh Generation, a leading green consumer

products company, used a crowdsourcing approach to

design an eco-friendly diaper bag as part of its Wee

Generation campaign. Mommies, children and leading

environmental experts collaborated to design a state-

of-the-art, limited edition bag, which Seventh

Generation now sells.

Harness the Power of Social Networks

Connect with your customers

in their network.

Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace,

etc…

Build applications for them in

their networks.

Assign someone in your

organization as the

‗community manager‘.

If you build it, they won‘t

come – put together a sound

seeding strategy

Share Photos and Videos Online

Create a brand channel on

YouTube.

Upload your company‘s videos to

your YouTube channel

Adds to your search results

• Promote your company‘s YouTube

channel or specific videos on your

Web site, emails, newsletters.

Engage your audience by

encouraging them to add

comments, rate videos, share

video.

Update your content frequently to

keep it fresh. This is critical to keep

people coming back.

Measure Your Success Online

The value of social media presence can be calculated by simple methods:

ReachHow many people are influenced by our social & digital media efforts?

AcquisitionHow much of their attention have we acquired through connections, website visits, and time spent engaging with us?

ConversionHow many have we ‘converted’ toward the ultimate goal (subscription, sales, leads, registrations, evangelists, etc.)?

RetentionAre we reducing customer churn, lowering our overall cost to serve, increasing the purchase value/volume/frequency, and growing the lifetime value of our customer base?

RACR (Reach, Acquisition, Conversion, Retention)

MEASURE

Another take on the process of measuring social media value

Source: Forrester Research

“Every brand needs to be relevant and part

of a community. They need to open a

dialogue with their consumers, but they also

need to be prepared for what could be

negative feedback and I don’t think all

marketers are ready for that.”

- Bob Ivins, EVP, comScore

Five Keys to Success

Be Generous With Your Knowledge Share beyond the marketing speak

Be Consistent Calendar your activities – daily, weekly, monthly

routine

Always Deliver Value Listen, think, revise, teach, repeat

Take A Stand Take your strong positions to market

Focus On The Long-term Benefits Track your results in months & years

New Media Homework!

Find blogs in your area of interest

Seek out podcasts for marketers (or whatever you fancy) in iTunes or Podcast Alley

Sign up for a free RSS reader (Bloglines, Google Reader) and consume feeds

Join LinkedIn

Anyone not visited YouTube yet? Look for your favorite things there too

New Media Extra Credit

Become a regular commenter on blogs that interest

you

Join Facebook & ask a question on LinkedIn

Start a blog of your own on a topic of your choice

Create a podcast

Switch over some of your newsletter subscriptions to

RSS feeds

Get a Flickr account to share photos

Next Generation Communication: Social & Digital Media

Q & A

Need help after the presentation? Email dana@marketingsavant.com