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Thought Leadership Thursday – How to Find the Right Social Network for Your Business

jdolan@capstrat.com (Jay Dolan) — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:33:39 -0400

Once again, it’s Thought Leadership Thursday!

I’m often asked, “Which social network is right for my business?” While I wish there was a one-size-fits-all answer, it’s not that straightforward. Do you select a mainstream social network like Facebook or Twitter, or a more focused effort on a smaller network like Quora?

Deciding which social media platform is right for your business – and where you can ultimately spread thought leadership – depends on one thing: where your audience is.

Find your Social Media Audience

Your audience is comprised of the people who will have the biggest impact on your social networking efforts. Finding this audience may be the most time intensive part of deciding on a social network, but the research done here will have a long-lasting impact. Here are a few tips to keep in mind while researching your audience:

Set your own preferences aside – You may love Pinterest, but your customers may love Springboard. Look at multiple social networks, even unfamiliar ones, to see if potential audiences are waiting for you.
Start searching – The search tools for Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ give immediate access and insight into what people are saying right now about your company and your products, if they are saying anything at all.
Use directories and lists – User- generated lists and directories are a boon to finding audiences online. Dig through directories like Klout, Followerwonk, and Twellow to locate your audience.
Look at your competition – Do your competitors already have a social media presence, and if so, how successful is it? Don’t be afraid to use your competition’s social channels against them to find influencers and audiences.

Facebook has over 800 million users with more than half of them logging in daily. 500 million Twitter users send 290 million tweets daily. There are 48 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. Your audience is online.

Now go and find them.

If you have a question you’d like Capstrat’s social media team to answer about establishing thought leadership through social media, feel free to post it on our Facebook wall, or seek us out on Twitter.

Read more Thought Leadership Thursday articles:

The Case for Comments
Three Steps to Developing a Content Strategy
Introducing Thought Leadership Thursday

Or read more Social Media articles.

There's No Place Like Home

Capstrat — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:24:43 -0400

I was feeling reflective this weekend. So I put down all my digital devices for a moment and sat down on the back porch. I got to thinking about the word “home” and what it means to me today. I’m sure it means different things to different people. For some, it’s about the familiarity and comfort of being among your “things” and the security of going about your daily routine. It’s about feeling grounded in a hectic world. I too, find value in all this. But when I really get down to the heart of it, home is more than a physical location.

Home is a treasure chest full of snapshots and memories. It's somewhere that you celebrate your successes. It’s also somewhere that you grow and learn about yourself and about how to treat others. It’s where you challenge yourself and fall down and skin your knee. It’s where you learn how to pick yourself up and keep going. It’s where you come to realize your shortcomings and your strengths...and learn to embrace both.

Most importantly, it’s where you spend time with those that shape the person you will ultimately become. For me, home does not have to be the physical place that you grew up or where you currently live. It’s more about the cumulative experiences you have with those individuals that have influenced your life. Those individuals that at different moments, have both comforted you and pushed you to be a better, stronger version of yourself.

I feel so fortunate to have experienced my own personal definition of "home" with some very special people and places throughout my life thus far. So before I pick up my smart phone again, let me ask you this. In this digital day and age, what does the word "home" mean to you? As technology has advanced, has your definition changed?

Selling The Scream

Capstrat — Fri, 04 May 2012 07:02:56 -0400

Maybe you’ve heard about an iconic, over licensed, 19th century piece of art recently sold for a whopping price tag. The art history nerd in me is compelled to examine the recent sale of Edvard Munch’s The Scream and try to understand why that much, now?

After yesterday’s record sale of $120 million, one of the four versions of The Scream is officially the most expensive artwork in the world. The expressionistic pastel from 1895 was estimated to go for about $80 million, but two determined bidders battled to force the final price up to $119,922,500 including commission. Recession be damned.
In the past couple of decades The Scream, which depicts a genderless figure, hands pressed to head against a sky of vibrant swirling colors, has shown up everywhere. From punching dolls to coffee mugs to editorial cartoons it’s attained the highest level of status in popular culture. Oddly enough, the iconic Ghostface mask from the popular Scream series of horror movies is based on the painting. Makes sense.
Versions of The Scream have been the target of several high-profile art thefts. Most recently happening in 2004. Shortly after, M&M's candies began using the painting in ads for its dark chocolate candies and offered a reward of two million M&Ms for the painting's return.
It’s interesting that this century-old work is probably seen now more than ever through people’s email and on their desks. I think it’s a thumb in the eye to the Lords of Cubeville who ask more and more of employees daily. The work is the high brow Dilbert. We’re somehow comforted that this poor soul is our primal scream proxy.

I guess all of this is to say we marketers pushed the value of that piece to record levels. Not the bidders.
Even an art history geek like me struggles to name another Edvard Munch work. Several other works by him in the same sale failed to reach their low estimates and in one case, not at all. So it’s the screaming that’s valued, the Munch. When classical art becomes part of popular culture, it’s perceived as more valuable. Mind you, the new owner doesn’t get royalties from licensing. The Munch Foundation can still paste it everywhere for money. But I guess when the new owner goes to sell it, they can rest assured it will have great promotion behind it.

Capturing Eyes Beyond The Couch

milardi@capstrat.com (Melissa Ilardi) — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:04:30 -0400

Everything we’ve been reading and experiencing as we plan and place on and offline buys, continue to suggest that TV and online video will continue to merge – and at a rapid pace. A recent Digiday poll, only confirms what we already know - How we think about video is changing.

It’s so important that when we dream up of how an ad will look on a beautiful 52 inch LCD screen, we also think about every other size, down to one in the palm of your hand. Considering how a :30 will play out as a :15 is equally important. These eyeballs are just as important, and in many cases more impressionable, given the personal nature of our beloved ‘devices’.

Unified measurement is still a concern, but soon it should be ironed out. Planners need to press on, and not wait for the perfect measurement tool, or we are going to miss reaching key audiences. The brand engagement with the audience, holding something that is so personal to them is just too important not to capture.

Thought Leadership Thursday: 5 Tips to Effectively Pitch Bloggers

Capstrat — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:23:36 -0400

In last week’s edition of “Thought Leadership Thursday,” Angela Connor stressed the importance of showcasing knowledge through comments on blogs and news stories. Before that, Jay Dolan provided “Three Steps to Developing a Content Strategy.”

It is crucial to develop your own voice in comments, posts and other content to establish thought leadership. But sometimes outsider third party endorsement is just what you need to elevate public opinion.

Once you narrow down a list of influencers, you must tailor your approach to resonate with each.

Here are five tips to effectively pitch your story:

1. Connect with influencers on social media: Familiarize the influencer with yourself as an individual, not necessarily the brand or company for which you are pitching. Follow them on Twitter and file them under a Twitter list with an attention-grabbing name. Interact with their content if appropriate.

2. Take time to get to know them and their content: Sure, you have already vetted the blog. But for the pitch, understand their voice and their distinct point of view. Match the formality or informality of your language to theirs. Mention a relevant or recent featured topic.

3. Only pitch relevant information: Make sure the blogger and their audience would gain something from your pitch. Do they currently do something that aligns with what you can offer them? If they feature a weekly Q&A, suggest an interview. If they do regular giveaways, elicit a product review or contest partnership. By making their job easier, you will be one step closer to a featured post.

4. Follow up: If you do not hear back on your first attempt, try again. Make sure you do not send the same message and do not reply to your first email. Be polite. Bloggers are busy and things slip through inboxes. On the flip side, do not badger them incessantly or they won’t consider working with you now or in the future.

5. Keep in touch: Once you have built a relationship, keep up with the influencer. Read their content and interact once in a while. You may have the chance to pitch them another story. Treat them as you would a former colleague or business contact.

Some influencers get pitched tens, hundreds or even thousands of times per day. By following these five steps, you will give yourself a leg up on the competition and a larger span of thought leadership.

Read more Thought Leadership Thursday articles:
The Case for Comments
Three Steps to Developing a Content Strategy
Introducing Thought Leadership Thursday

Or read more Social Media articles.

Thought Leadership Thursday: The Case for Comments

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:07:42 -0400

It’s week three of 'Thought Leadership Thursday,' where our goal is to provide ideas for establishing thought leadership online, particularly through social media. Last week, Jay Dolan touched on developing a content strategy and the week before that, we launched the series with finding your target audience on Twitter.

This week, we're focusing on sharing your knowledge through comments.

This may be a new concept to you if you’ve never posted comments on blogs or news stories, but when you have a plan and do it strategically, it can pay off big. I've gotten several interviews for stories and made great connections as a result of posting thoughtful, well-informed comments I posted on blogs. Simply put, comments yield opportunities.

The first thing to do is determine what topic or topics you'd like to be associated with and then identify some of the top bloggers and journalists writing about those topics. Read their content daily and add something of value to the conversation in the comments section. Do this often.

In most cases, before you post, you will have the opportunity to include your name, a URL and your email address. When clicked, your name will link back to the URL you provide. This is a great place to post the link to your blog if you have one. If you don't have a blog, you can leverage the space in the comments box by including your name and title after your comment, and even your Twitter handle if you're hoping to land new followers. You can also link to your website, LinkedIn Profile, YouTube Channel or any other web property you'd like to promote.

Your goal would be to share unique insights when possible and demonstrate a command for the subject matter, keeping in mind that you never know who is reading. Your comment could also catch the attention of the author who could ask you to guest post or feature your comment in a future post.

You won't see success overnight, but if you commit to trying this for 2-3 months, and posting comments on a consistent basis, you will get recognized in some capacity. If nothing else, the search engines will start seeing your name more, and that's not a bad thing.

Remember to always post thoughtful comments that elevate the quality of conversation and include your name and title. You'd hate for someone to love your comments and have no way of finding you.

So try it. It works.

Thought Leadership Thursday: Three Steps to Developing a Content Strategy

jdolan@capstrat.com (Jay Dolan) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:45:18 -0400

Once again, it’s Thought Leadership Thursday!

Last week, my colleague Angela Connor wrote about four ways to build a targeted audience on Twitter. If you’ve started with her tips, you’ve been reading what your target audience on Twitter is talking about. By now, you’re probably wondering how you can influence these targets.

To speak to them in a way that resonates, you’re going to need a content strategy.

Thought leaders don’t follow. They lead through original content, curation, and research. A content strategy will help you decide what to write, what to share, and when to do it. . It will also help you create blog posts , tweets, and Facebook photos that help you meet your business goals.

Here are three steps to get you started with your content strategy:

Create an editorial calendar: How much original content can you produce daily, weekly and monthly? You’ll need to figure out what you’re capable of creating. This plan will probably be different for Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and any other social networks you’re participating on. You may even want to consider creating a conversation calendar with topics on which you’d like to initiate as a part of your content creation.
Develop a curation plan: To be a thought leader, you don’t need to create every piece of content yourself. Sharing news, resources, and information that is relevant to your audience can be just as insightful as a well-written blog post and you get credit for leading them to it. Don’t forget to evaluate whose content you you’re sharing. Does it come from a competitor? Does it mention you? Does it help you, your audience, or both?
Review and analyze: Review your content at least every thirty days. What got the most comments and shares? What got the least? How was each piece of content promoted? There are many different ways to measure the effectiveness of social media, and a robust analysis will help you determine how social media is moving the needle for you and your business.

Content creation, curation, and analysis are essential to becoming a thought leader online. You must lead people with the content you create and share. Together, these three steps of a content strategy will get you started positioning yourself as a thought leader.

9 Ways to Measure Social Media

jdolan@capstrat.com (Jay Dolan) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:20:06 -0400

What is social media doing for your business?

If you can’t answer that question, you’re not measuring social media effectively.

Aligning social media metrics and analytics as part of your overall business goals will ensure you effectively use your time available for social media. It will also give you an idea of where you are right now and what needs to be done to make your social media work for you.

Here are nine ways to measure how your social media campaign is performing:

Sales – If you’re a retailer, you can measure the sales that come as a result of traffic referred by social networks. Brick and mortar stores can use coupons and promotions to see if online promotions drives offline action.
Leads – For many companies, the sale might not come right away. Instead, measure the number of leads and the leads that resulted in sales
Audience – Your goal may simply be to increase the reach of your PR and marketing messages. If so, you can not only measure the number of likes and followers, but also the reach of those posts and the number of people talking about them.
Engagement Rate – Want to know if your messages are successfully capturing your audience’s attention? Calculate how engaging they are. Add up the number of likes, comments, and clicks on a piece of content. Divide that sum by the total number of impressions. The number you’re left with is your engagement rate.
Influence – Your content may be engaging, and you may have a large audience, but that doesn’t mean it’s doing anything for you. To establish yourself as a thought leader, you’ll need to measure how much of your content is being shared and used as a springboard for other people and businesses’ content. Shares, retweets, reblogs, pingbacks can all be used as a way to see how effective you are as an influencer.
Volume of conversation – Sometimes you need to know how many people are talking about a subject. Measuring the total number of mentions of specific terms will tell you the volume of conversations taking place.
Share of Voice – To be the voice of your industry, you’ll need to calculate how much of the conversation you are generating through what you say and others are saying about you. Calculate your total social media mentions for a particular term against those of your competitors to find out who is dominating the conversation.
Site and Referral Traffic – If you’re using social media to drive traffic to a website, you’ll want to be watching these numbers closely. Look to see which networks and updates in particular are driving people to your website.
Sentiment – Are you loved or hated? Use social media mentions to inform your research. Many sentiment measuring tools are not that accurate, but they can give you ideas of where you stand.

Those metrics won’t apply to every business and every business objective, but at least one of those can be measured to see how social media is affecting your businesses goals.

How are you and your business measuring the effects of social media?

Introducing Thought Leadership Thursday

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:36:41 -0400

Everyone wants to be a thought leader. The go-to source for information related to their industry. They want to be the first person reporters think about when seeking a source. They want their names and businesses associated with industry know-how and expertise. They want to be recognized. They want to be THE ONE!

When we work with clients at Capstrat, we often find that they have mountains of content that could help establish them as thought leaders online. They just don't see it as that. Many have employees who have written books, and are true experts in their field. They have whitepapers, surveys, research reports and other valuable content that isn't being used in their favor. They possess loads of internal knowledge but sharing it with no one.

When we make that content top of mind and show them how it can work for them through social media, and put them on a path to do it with consistency, good things start to happen:. A CEO becomes a popular, sought-after blogger, an executive is being noticed at trade shows from their YouTube videos, and interview requests start pouring in as a result of a Facebook live-chat series.

Establishing thought leadership online, particularly in the social space can yield unforeseen opportunities for individuals and their businesses. But it doesn't happen overnight. It takes time and serious commitment.

So, today, the Capstrat social media team is launching, "Thought Leadership Thursday." Each Thursday, you will find helpful information and quick tips that support your goal of becoming a thought leader. We will share some of the tools we use and offer tried and true tactics that have worked and continue to work for us.

In this series you will hear from Jay Dolan, our social media strategist; Hannah Harrill and Leigh Morrison, our social media account executives, and me.

Today, for our inaugural post, I offer this: Four ways to build a targeted audience on Twitter. What most people miss about Twitter is this: you have to have to find the people who are interested in your content or whom you'd like to do business with to make it worth your time and theirs. All followers are not created equal, and having a following of 10,000 who could care less about your business is a complete waste of time.

So without further adieu, here are my four tips:

Search for your targets by title. If you want to get in front of cardiologists, find them. Use Followerwonk or Listorious. Focus on your target and no one else. it works.
Identify relevant tradeshows and conferences you plan to attend or have attended in the past. Follow the organizers and forage their existing lists. Follow the hashtags even if you can't attend.
Follow the journalists who write about your areas of expertise. They are looking for sources and story ideas on Twitter. Follow the news organization's new handle and the reporter's themselves. If you have to choose, go with the reporter. The hStart a conversation with them.
Identify your competitors and watch them like a hawk. Who are they following? Who's following them? If it's public, it's fair game. Don't be ashamed to do this. It is a must.

I hope you find these helpful and plan to come back next Thursday. If you have a question you'd like us to answer, feel free to post it on our Facebook wall, or seek us out on Twitter.

Tweet to @Capstrat

Ever heard of a social drinking app? Meet 'drinklobby'

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:24:44 -0400

Just when you thought there were no original app ideas left, you thought wrong.

If you've ever wanted to have a New Year's Eve toast with a friend in a different city, state or even country...you'll be able to do just that come midnight, January 1, 2013, thanks to a new social drinking app called drinklobby.

According to the press release, drinklobby is a "unique social enjoyment tool, unlocking for iPhone users a whole-new exploration of the world of beverages." But it's more than that. It's also a drinks recommendation engine and database for keeping track of what people drink, a wish list and portal for user reviews of all kinds of drinks. (Alcoholic beverages only for now, but coffee, tea, and other beverages are on the horizon, which is a differentiator among others out there.)

I can't say that I ever thought I'd need such an app, but it is intriguing, and in the social and mobile space, intriguing can really take you places.

If you're wondering why this app came to be in the first place, here's a quote from one of drinklobby's creators, Cesar Guinovart:

"Drinking is an inherently social activity, and the world is more connected today than ever before. I created drinklobby because I want people to continue to interact and have fun by sharing drinks through social media. It appeals to everyone from lovers of White Zinfandel to connoisseurs of fine Bordeaux; basic beer drinkers and lovers of local micro brews, sippers of fine whiskies and aged Single Malts and consumers of Cosmos and intricate mixed cocktails."

Once you download drinklobby, you can log in with Facebook (of course) or through drinklobby itself. I've played around with it a bit but given the fact that I am at work, I do not have an alcoholic beverage in front of me to share at the moment, though I suppose I could review a couple I've had in the past. On second thought, I think I'll wait until coffee and tea have been added to the mix to play it safe, but I'm sure others will have a blast sharing their spirits with friends.

Here are a few other features of interest:

Drinking Buddies – Find friends and start saying "Cheers!"
Drinks Feed –"Check-In" to the social drinking app with a drink, upload a photo, and let others know where you're enjoying that tasty beverage! This feature shows a live feed of what's being enjoyed right now, and allows users to "Cheers", "Comment" or "Add to Wish List."
User Profile – A user's profile stores all of the beverages they've consumed in the past (which might, of course, be a little scary!). Users can also upload a photo of the label, a rating and review, making it easy to find that wine again.
Wish List – Click on others' drinks or enter a new beverage and save it to a Wish List
Ratings – Rate and review drinks! Make those reviews public and share with other drinklobby users
Win Trophies – Be a BrewMaster, or a Cork Dork! drinklobby rewards points and trophies for posting both drinks and comments and keeps a point-based leader board between Drinking Buddies.
Facebook & Twitter Integration – Share experiences with potentially millions of other social drinkers beyond the social drinking app!
Discounts on Beverages – Using location-based services, see where your friends are enjoying drinks! Upcoming features will offer personalized discounts to suit tastes and through Foursquare integration, location.

If drinklobby decides to hire a community manager, I'm sure the applications will be plentiful.

I think this is one to watch.

If you're releasing a new app, launching an online community, or doing anything cool in the social space, or would like to...Capstrat's social media team wants to know. Send us an email at socialmedia@capstrat.com, or connect with us on Twitter via @Capstrat. You can also read our blogposts, here.

Students Teach an Old Goat New Tricks

tcoats@capstrat.com (Todd Coats) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 20:12:38 -0400

Capstrat’s sixth annual student networking night is on April 12th. Each year, I’ve expected my duty is to give advice to noobs. And each year, I’m reminded that they repay the favor to me in spades. They teach me I’m never too old to learn new lessons.

The program was originally designed to give area graduating seniors an edge as they hit the job-hunt pavement. They interact with Capstrat professionals and clients in a casual environment where conversations and debate flourish. They get the real story. The stuff not taught in classrooms. Each year the program grows bigger. Now it’s one of the most popular and most rewarding events Capstrat produces.

As the event evolves, I’m more and more surprised at how prepared these students actually are for the “real” world. Certainly more prepared than I was entering the job market 26 years ago. Unlike me, these students have it together. Back when I was in their shoes, I had it all figured out and couldn’t understand why idiotic agencies weren’t blinded by my talent as much as I was.

So, I got over that quickly.

Let’s face it, today we have a preconceived notion of millennials. But the students I’ve met through the Student Networking Night are different. They aren’t saggy-bottom “Brahs” nor are they dreamy-eyed ninnies. They are sophisticated about the world, attuned to the nuances of today’s communications toolbox, have aspiration to make good as well as do good and they know nothing replaces hard work. Nothing. This is one of their last opportunities to get a pass and they take full advantage of the conversation and contacts.

All good ideas¬ each of us should remember no matter where we are in our careers.

_{(If you want to attend this year’s Capstrat Student Networking Night go here: https://www.facebook.com/events/312368345477228/)}

Warning: Educated and Jobless

Capstrat — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:31:06 -0400

By Elizabeth Weinstein

I’ve heard baby boomers stereotype my generation, the millennials, time and time again. “Too connected to technology. Too disconnected from reality. Too unprepared.”

But we’re different than any generation before us. We’re ambitious, quick and we have smartphones.

To all of you skeptics out there: we aren’t all hopeless. We’re not so arrogant as to think that we have all of the answers. That’s why we need your help.

Insert miracle here: On Thursday, April 12, 2012, Capstrat will host its sixth annual Student Networking Night. This is an opportunity for college students to build their network with potential employers and gain valuable insights on how to make it in the professional world. Student Networking Night will provide the fundamentals for sustained social and professional development where students are given a "hand up" rather than a "handout."

This is no ordinary seminar where you sit, listen and take notes. Rather this interactive evening is creatively designed so that area professionals can interact directly with students and tell them what they really need to know.

This year’s theme, “Secrets Your Teacher Never Told You,” will give students the opportunity to hear from communications professionals. The classroom can only prepare you for so much. Sure, professors can teach you how to write a proper press release and how to analyze a case study, but is that really the extent of the skills needed to succeed in the communications industry? The workplace is constantly evolving. We need to learn about social media, how to blog and adapt to the changing news cycle.

These are the types of conversations we must have. It’s important to find out from those actually in the field what skills are relevant in today’s workplace.

Capstrat’s Student Networking Night will offer a deeper understanding of how to succeed in the real world. I hope you will join me and the more than 100 other students who have already registered to attend our April 12 event at Capstrat. For more details about the event or to register visit our Facebook event.

Finally, I’d like to say thank you to Capstrat. Thank you for caring. As an intern helping to plan this event, it is comforting to know that there are employers out there who see promise in my generation.

Have You Updated Your Facebook Brand Page?

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:56:28 -0400

In case you missed it, Facebook has made some pretty significant changes to brand pages.

It happened last Friday and if you didn't do anything to become compliant, chances are your page isn't very appealing at all.

If you had a default landing page, it is no longer the default. Users are automatically taken to what was known as your "wall" which is now your "timeline." The biggest element of the timeline is the cover photo, which takes up quite a bit of real estate on the page. But if you haven't created and uploaded a unique cover photo, your page appears to need a makeover.

We wrote about this in detail a few weeks ago in this post: "Breaking news: What you need to know about Facebook Timelines for Pages" and worked with several clients in advance to redesign their pages for the new Timeline format.

The screenshot below is the redesigned Start Here, Go Places.® Timeline, which can be found live, here.

You'll notice the four images representing what was once known as "tabs," directly under the cover photo. This is an area that needs attention as well and you have to keep in mind that there will only be four visible at any given time. Since Start Here, Go Places.® just launched a new app called "From Passion to Paycheck", that app is one of the four, along with a link to a custom landing page. Facebook has decided that the photos and number of likes will take two of the four slots so that really only leaves you with two. You can have up to 12, but only the four will be visible to those who don't click the arrow to see more.

It really does behoove brands to embrace these changes, like Start Here, Go Places or risk being left behind. Remember, with this new layout, you get one chance to make a first impression.

If you need help transforming your page, email Capstrat's Social Media Team at socialmedia@capstrat.com.

It’s A Girl's World – Take Advantage Of It

lwessel@capstrat.com (Lindsay Raplee Wessel) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:39:16 -0400

As a female caregiver, the woman is usually the one scheduling appointments, taking note of important health news and consulting providers regarding health concerns – for her and her loved ones.

So in a time when healthcare organizations might be wondering where to fit in the world of social media, perhaps the answer is right in front of them: Connect with women.

A 2011 Media Badger report finds that while men and women are spending a relatively equal amount of time on social media channels (though women still 6 percent more than men), women are far more engaged with social media than men. Forty percent more females share content on social media sites than males. And 28 percent more women are more likely to respond to comments and messages in microblogs.

This data supports the fundamental sociological theory about how women tick – we’re naturally more social, crave interaction and gravitate toward community, which makes social media a perfect fit for reaching us. So what makes for a female-friendly social media strategy?

Post content that women seek. A 2011 Pew Research survey listed adult caregivers and women as the groups most likely to look online for health information. Among topics most searched were pregnancy and childbirth. Tailor your social media content to topics such as this. Offer weekly tweets about pregnancy progress or pediatric advice, or host an online chat session through Facebook with a reputable OBGYN.

Create a community geared toward women, but give it a local spin. Women want to share their point of view and empathize with those with similar experiences. A community creates a perfect environment for women to do so. The key to a successful community is differentiating it from the WebMD powerhouses that exist. Creating a community that connects neighbors with each other and provides local tips and resources could prove to be a unique, relevant and valuable way to connect with women.

Be accessible to women on-the-go. Two facts about women: we’re busy and we love our smart phones – especially moms. According to BabyCenter’s 2011 Mobile Mom Report, mothers are 18 percent more likely to have a smart phone than the average person. This translates into the ultimate sweet spot for healthcare marketers: women, social and mobile. Look for opportunities to connect these three. If starting a community, make it accessible via mobile. This could greatly increase the value to your users.

If healthcare organizations can adopt a social media strategy that connects them with the primary caregivers of most families, women in mind, they may be surprised just how far their messages spread.

The Facebook Logout Ads

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:35:02 -0400

Facebook said they were coming and now, we've seen one for ourselves.

Upon logging out of Facebook this morning one of our Social Media Account Executives saw an ad from Subway. But it wasn't just a text ad...it was a video ad.

You have to give it to Facebook on this one. While it might be a little annoying, there is quite the potential to rope people back in, which is ultimately the goal. And if there was no opportunity for success, they certainly would not have embarked on this endeavor.

And for those of you who didn't think anyone logged out of Facebook, consider this stat: 37 million people hit the logout button every single day.

When presented with the ad after logging out, Capstrat Social Media Account Executive Hannah Harrill said it caught her off-guard because it looked so much like a Brand Page in Timeline. But guess what, she did engage, so mission accomplished for Facebook, and Subway, of course. When I asked Hannah what prompted her to interact, here's what she had to say: "I engaged because of the 'play' graphic on the image. The video it led to was a blooper spot with LA Clippers' Blake Griffin. Most of the comments were related to Blake, not the sandwich. So if you've got the right celebrity this could work."

Harrill says the one big drawback she sees for logout ads across the board is that she rarely logs out of Facebook, and once you log back in, it's really tough to find the video again.

The logout ad opportunity is currently available to select brands, and I'm sure costs a pretty penny.(Update: Advertising Age reports the asking price as $700K per day!)

We'll see where it goes from here.

Accept The Consequences of Your Posts

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:44:55 -0400

If you post disparaging remarks about your boss on your Facebook page, he or she finds out and you are suddenly faced with repercussions, there is no one to blame but yourself.

I know, I know, it's your PERSONAL Facebook page, right? And they have no right to judge you on what you post and are way out of line for actually calling you on it or taking any kind of action, right?

WRONG!

You shouldn't have posted it in the first place. If you want to take part in this kind of activity, be prepared to deal with the consequences. As long as you have "friends" or people who CAN view your content, please understand that it can be copied and shared with others. Your privacy settings are no safeguard against the almighty "cut and paste."

I was listening to a talk radio show this morning where the topic centered on employers requesting Facebook passwords from employees. They were referencing this particular case, about Robert Collins, who was asked for his Facebook password so that his employer could check for any gang affiliations. The ACLU picked up his case and it has been a major story for some time now. I understand the outrage about that.

But the discussion on the radio show morphed into something else. Callers were sharing stories about content they posted about their employers and supervisors that got back to them and the unfairness of what happened to them as a result.

What was missing from the conversation, in my opinion, was personal responsibility. You are ultimately responsible for what you post, period. Look no further than some of these examples:

In no way am I saying that the outcome in each of the above cases was correct. My goal here is to help people understand, that just like your actions, you are also responsible for what you post online. We are living in a new era - the digital conversation era - where nothing is truly private. So be smart.

If you're an employer, make this part of your orientation process. Let employees know where you stand. Share your social governance policy. If you don't have one, work on getting one.

At the end of the day, the ball is in every person's court. If you don't want it out there, don't put it out there. One day, employees may not have to worry about this kind of thing, but today they do.

So act accordingly, or pay the price!.

Social Media in the Classroom

Capstrat — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:58:18 -0400

As communicators, we know that the key to reaching your audience is to find out where they are located and talk to them. Many educators are employing the same principle to teach students. With the popularity of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter amongst students, teachers are finding interesting ways to incorporate interactive classroom activities to drive learning.

Social media has the potential to cater to student learning styles and produce greater student engagement. After talking with teachers in the area and through researching influencers, I discovered a few ways educators are revamping the classroom with social media:

Blogs
Teachers are creating blogs to provide supplemental learning materials to students. They post class notes, videos and pictures of the board for class and additional resources. Furthermore, parents can follow teachers’ blogs to stay up-to-date with lesson plans and assignments.
Some teachers opt to use classroom blogs as a means for interactive learning. Students act as contributors and are graded on blog content and commentary.

Facebook
In lieu of educational software from companies like Blackboard, teachers use Facebook to post assignments, announcements and classroom reminders on a class designated Facebook page. Students are encouraged to continue discussion outside of class, and post questions related to homework assignments or class lectures. Students connect to Facebook apps like “Flashcards,” “Notely” note-taking and “weRead” book reviews as study aids.

Twitter
Possibly the most interesting use of social media in the classroom occurs with Twitter. Teachers designate a hashtag for discussions and allow students to tweet questions during and after class. Shy students have the confidence to speak up through Twitter and have their questions answered without taking center stage. Teachers can administer pop-quizzes through Twitter and track classroom progress from student tweets.
Students access experts, follow major events, and receive news in real time for the ultimate social learning experience through Twitter.

Video
Many teachers are reexamining teaching methods and switching to a “the flipped classroom” education model. Teachers record lectures in voice-over power point presentations uploaded to YouTube or SlideShare and assign the videos for homework. Class time is reserved for challenging problems, collaboration and added instruction as dictated by student needs.

Interactive learning educates students where they are most engaged. By showcasing how fun, collaborative and topical classroom activities can be, students can start to view entertainment resources as educational resources.

Best Hospitals for Cardiology and Heart Surgery Could Use Some Help on LinkedIn

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 13:53:08 -0400

There are too many companies with huge followings on LinkedIn missing out on the opportunity to communicate with them in a big way.

You may recall that LinkedIn rolled out a feature for companies with pages on the social network - allowing page administrators to post updates on behalf of the company itself, last year. (To refresh your memory, see the blog post: A big boost for companies using LinkedIn.) This was and still is a very big deal.

However, there are many companies, and organizations failing to capitalize on this opportunity. What makes it such a great opportunity is the ability to share news and information with users who have opted to follow you. Not only did they take the time to visit your LinkedIn Company Page, they ultimately made a conscious effort to click "follow company." This means they want to hear from you. It's a green light to keep them informed.

Because I have an interest in how hospitals use social media, and helping them do so effectively, I decided to take a look at the Company Pages of U.S. News and World Report's Top10 Hospitals for Cardiology and Heart Surgery. What I found was a sea of missed opportunity: Only one of the 10 listed had a status update connected to their page.

The Mayo Clinic, which holds the second spot on the list had a status update promoting an upcoming social media residency program. The others had no updates at all. In all fairness, I will point out that The Mayo Clinic is seen as a leader is social media, so there was no surprise there. But I did expect to see more from the others. These hospitals likely have robust PR departments and tons of news to share. But it apparently stops there, unless they are sharing it elsewhere.

But even if they are (and I will take a look at their other social networks) all have large followings on LinkedIn and could take advantage of that with one post of a URL and a share button. Here is the top 10 list along with the number of LinkedIn users following their company page:

Cleveland Clinic; 15,240
Mayo Clinic; 14, 243
Johns Hopkins; 4,870
Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (St. Luke's Episcopal Health System); 727
Massachusetts General Hospital; 8,902
New York Presbyterian Hospital of Columbia and Cornell; 5,338
Duke University Medical Center; 3,889
Brigham and Women's; 5,988
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (UCLA Health System on LinkedIn); 4,211
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (University of Pennsylvania Health System on LinkedIn); 5,196

This exercise could be done for any industry, and the results would likely be similar. But in this case, there is a clear need to take action. I know that social media takes time. I am also a strong advocate of only participating in activities that meet your company goals. But I'm willing to go out on a limb here and bet that raising awareness, generating positive word of mouth and patient referrals are somewhere in the goals of all of the hospitals mentioned above.

LinkedIn is offering you a way to do just that. It's up to you to take it.

Why Your LinkedIn Updates Matter More Than You Know

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 18:24:45 -0400

It's one thing to gripe on Twitter. People expect it. If it's a customer service issue and you're lucky - the right person from Company X will see it, work to resolve your issue, and you can move on. It's a common occurrence these days as some companies are offering better customer service on Twitter than they are over the phone and in person. But that's a post for a different day.

Back to the griping.

Because Twitter is so fast-paced chances are, the majority of your followers won't even see the gripes if they are few and far between. You are in no way classified as a common complainer and can easily go back to your normal way of tweeting. No harm, no foul.

But when you post the same kind of content as an update on LinkedIn, it attaches to your profile page and is visible to anyone who happens to view your profile. Now remember, this is a professional network. What you want to appear in that space is something that reflects positively on you or your business. (I recently posted link to a video highlighting some of the work Capstrat's social media team has done on Facebook.)

What you don't want is something that casts you in a bad light or leaves a bad impression on someone who may be interested in working with or for you, hiring you, or gleaning a bit of information from your profile to make some other decision about you.

I came across a LinkedIn profile today that had an update filled with Time-Warner bashing. And you know what? I wasn't phased by the bashing at all even though there's a great chance that all of his claims are true. I was more concerned about the person who was willing to sacrifice their own image on a professional social network, just to blast Time Warner. In my opinion, that is a major mistake. This person may be the best of the best in their field, but after reading that rant about Time Warner, which shows just below his name and current position, I wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

Now what if I wanted to hire him or contact him about an opportunity? I am now questioning his professionalism and quite honestly have lost interest.

You've heard it before, but with social media, you have to be smart. You can't post everything that crosses your mind. Be selective about what and where you post. And when it comes to LinkedIn, keep it professional.

Save your gripes for Twitter, where they belong.

How to not fail at Facebook live chats

hharrill@capstrat.com (Hannah Harrill) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:03:42 -0400

Nothing is worse than a live chat on Facebook that is a complete flop, so committing resources to securing an expert panelist, designing a template, promoting the chat and running it can be nerve racking. But if you stick to these rules, the chances of dead air and unflattering results should go way down.

Be choosy about your panelist. Make sure you can secure your first choice. Choose someone who already has a following on social media, is viewed as an expert in the chat topic and has good writing skills and a likable personality. Let the panelist pick dates that work for them and schedule the chat for a time where they can be unburdened and relaxed. You don't want a panelist that is exhausted and stressed.
Be choosy about your topic. The topic of your live chat should be timely and interesting. Think about the rules of newsworthiness: impact, timeliness, prominence, proximity, oddity, conflict and currency. Add to that: does it fit with your target audience? Is it applicable to your industry or company? Do you even want to be a thought leader in this area? Basically, is anyone going to care?
Do a test run. A couple of days before the chat, walk your panelist through the software you are using. Try some test mentions, use all the different features the chat offers like polls, quizzes and media sharing. Make sure your panelist feels completely comfortable - it's often the technology that makes people more nervous than the content.
Promote through various channels. First, budget for Facebook ads. Create a compelling ad for the live chat that drives to a preview page that allows participants to set email reminders. You don't have to spend much, and they make a huge difference. Next, reach out to influencers in the chat topic area that have a following on social media. Let them know about the chat. Create and editorial calendar for all your social channels that promotes the chat for a week to two weeks leading up to it.
Measure: before, during and after. Analyze your Facebook Insights before you begin promotion, paying close attention to the People Talking About your Page and how many people Like your Page in your target demographic. Go back right before the chat to look for changes since promotion began. Especially if you ran Facebook ads, you should see an increase in People Talking About Your Page as well as overall Likes. After the chat, look for more increases as well as changes in your demographics. A major success story to tell is the change in your target demographic.

These guidelines should help you use Facebook live chats to increase your visibility, connect with your target audience and advance thought leadership. Plan ahead and on the day of, you won't be sitting there twiddling your thumbs. Instead you'll be racing to type answers to all the great questions from your followers.

Breaking News: What You Need to Know About Facebook Timelines for Pages

jdolan@capstrat.com (Jay Dolan) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:45:34 -0400

This morning, Facebook surprised me with a message saying “On March 30, 2012, Facebook pages will get a new design.”

Oh boy. Here we go.

We all knew the timeline design was coming for pages as soon as it was announced for personal profiles back in the fall, but no one knew what features it would bring, and how it would affect brand pages. I’ve been playing around with the new design since the preview launched this morning, and here is an outline of the big changes to come:

It’s all about the cover - It’s time to redesign your landing page into a cover image. You can no longer designate a tab for new users to see. You’ve got to entice them to click “Like” with the content in your cover image and the engaging content you are posting.
Timeline – Your wall has been replaced by a timeline, which offers a new way to highlight important posts and emphasize images. You can use the feature to highlight your organization’s history by showcasing major events with beautiful, large photos. Start thinking strategically about which moments and milestones you want to use your timeline to highlight.
The dashboard – Facebook page administrators are going the love this., You are now presented with a collapsible dashboard of the latest posts, comments, and messages from your fans, as well as a snapshot of your latest analytics. No longer do you need to dig through your page to reply to the latest posts and comments.
Moderated wall posts – Facebook is finally allowing administrators to approve content posted by fans. This change has huge implications for regulated industries which have to moderate their wall content, as well as businesses that might be more timid in social media.
Message a page – Pages can now allow users to send them messages. This feature has a lot of customer service potential and can save people from having to publicly share their personal information. Pages can only message users in reply to a message though, so don’t expect to have private conversations with all your fans.

This is only the first day of the preview, so we expect to see even more changes as Pages are able to integrate apps with Facebook’s Open Graph sharing capabilities. Our social media team is monitoring the changes Facebook makes as they approach the March 30, 2012 launch date and will report on other changes as we encounter them.

What do you think of the new timeline design? Is your brand ready for a new Page?

Teaching kids to navigate the Web safely and wisely

chodges@capstrat.com (Charles Hodges) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:28:58 -0400

According to a recent Forbes story, there’s a disturbing new online trend. Tween-teen girls are posting videos of themselves and asking YouTube users if they are “ugly, pretty or fat.” One middle school-aged girl has 3.5 million views and 93,000 comments which range from helpful to just plain vicious.

Rightly so, the question posed in this story is “where are the parents?” Luckily, my toddler can’t quite post videos to YouTube, yet. But we do spend a lot of time on our iPhone and Blackberry, playing games and watching PBS kids’ content. Seemingly from day one, as much as we’ve tried to limit over exposure, we keep finding fun and intelligent things online that she enjoys – and that keep her occupied.

Our lives are becoming ruled by our reliance on the web, mobile devices and apps. There’s convenience and access available that was unimaginable just a few years ago. But how do we instill in our kids skills for safe and responsible web use, that doesn’t compromise self-esteem or pushes a young girl – or boy – to seek approval online? How do you monitor their activity without pushing kids to be even more secretive? So far, I'm doing okay with an 18 month old. I'll be nervous wreck when she's 13.

As parents, teaching our children about using the internet safely and in ways that don’t compromise them personally is just the first step. We also have to show them it’s just as important to show respect and kindness towards others; treat people as you would if they were sitting in front of you, not anonymously floating through the internet.

And as a company providing more and more online and social media ideas to our clients, we have an opportunity to share resources on ethical and safe use of the web, and encourage our clients to do the same.

Engaging utility customers through social media

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:14:15 -0400

By the end of 2017, more than 624 million utility customers worldwide will use some form of social media to engage with their electricity providers, according to a report by PikeResearch.

The number seems staggering, but I believe it.

I've seen a lot of this communication firsthand, particularly on Twitter, and even communicated with my own utility company during a power outage after a tornado last April.

This poses an opportunity and a threat for utility providers. On one hand, the ability to communicate with customers through social media opens new doors and can help bolster a company's image. I was definitely impressed with my providers availability and level of personalization during that tornado. So much so that I posted several complimentary tweets about my experience and have spoken about it many times since.

A rapid response can turn disgruntled customers into ambassadors, and because it happens on social media, it's there for everyone to see, which enhances the utilities' overall reputation in the social media space.

As with most industries, when it comes to social media, there are some who are leading the pack. According to PikeResearch, they include: Duke Energy, Avista, Southern California Edison, Pepco, Puget Sound Energy, Pacific Gas & Electric, Salt River Project and Ameren. Green Mountain Power, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Public Service Company of New Hampshire, and Dominion are also included in the Case Studies section of its report. Below is a proactive tweet posted by Pepco on Saturday, urging customers to report power outages.

Customers are urged to report outages and downed wires by calling 1-877-737-2662 or by visiting pepco.com.
— Pepco (@PepcoConnect) February 24, 2012

But on the other hand, active communication and high levels of personalization aren't necessarily sustainable if you don't plan to grow a social media team or incorporate social media communications into PR, marketing or customer service, overall.

The projection of 624 million customers using social media to engage with their utility providers by 2017 is exponentially higher than the 57 million who did the same in 2011. So, it would behoove providers to start developing strategies to communicate with these customers if they haven't already. And those strategies must scale. Listening is a key strategy, and if there is one person charged with communicating through social media, it most certainly will not scale. Listening and understanding on behalf of a utility requires a dedicated team.

Another important element of the report is the best practices section, of which I agree wholeheartedly. The best practices include:

Embrace social media
Know your customers' social media preferences or profiles
Finalize your social media objectives
Establish a strategy for your social media efforts
Select and deploy the appropriate technologies
Integrate social media with existing channels
Commit to using social media for the long term
Measure social media customer engagements
Stay flexible and creative

This is a great list, but it's important to remember that for utility companies struggling to find their way in social media, best practices probably aren't top of mind. Not all utilities have embraced social media and there is great fear that comes with open dialogue, particularly in regulated industries.

But that doesn't change the fact that customers expect to see their utilities engaging on social sites. And quite honestly, I don't see a way around it. In 2012, energy utility companies have to determine their approach to social media, and get in the game fast. You have to communicate with your customers where they are congregating online because the conversation will happen with or without you.

Passing up an opportunity to steer that conversation is a big mistake.

Facebook: the promotion predictor?

mcbrawley@capstrat.com (Melissa Brawley) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:51:39 -0400

Facebook, Facebook…
I’ve read your wall.
Who’s the most adept employee of them all?

Can Facebook predict your next promotion or whether you’ll earn an A+ in that Media Law class?

Not exactly, but according to a recent story by the Los Angeles Times, your Facebook profile is extremely accurate – even better than IQ tests – in predicting your job performance. Or academic success, if you’re a college student.

The LA Times reported on a new study that revealed just how much our Facebook profiles say about us. Researchers from two universities enlisted the help of a handful of Human Resource professionals to review photos, wall posts, comments, education and hobbies listed on 500 Facebook profiles. The HR professionals then rated the subjects on several perceived personality traits – like dependability or emotional stability. The 500 subjects also took IQ tests.

A few months later, researchers followed up with employers of the subjects asking about job performance. Incredibly, the study found that the Facebook ratings were more accurate at predicting job success than IQ tests!

I think this just serves as a reminder to job applicants – and even those of us that are employed– that our use of social media says a lot about us. And we should always put our best foot forward, particularly since so many hiring managers do use social media to screen applicants.

Now I’m just trying to figure out what I can delete from my profile that will magically increase my paycheck.

The Only Constant is Change in North Carolina Politics

ameehan@capstrat.com (Andrew Meehan) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:11:37 -0400

When North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue announced she would not seek re-election, she further shook up the 2012 elections. But big changes were already in the works at the North Carolina General Assembly, where redistricting and a spate of retirement announcements continue to change the political landscape. This state has rarely seen such a large influx of new faces in Raleigh, and anyone with interests at the legislature should start preparing.

On the eve of the November 2010 election, Democrats held large majorities in both the North Carolina House and Senate, and the Governor’s office was in Democratic hands. In November of this year, there will likely be between 80 and 100 legislators who were not in office just two short years earlier. The General Assembly is already firmly controlled by Republicans, and the same could be true of the Governor’s mansion after November 2012.

Such seismic shifts are rare in North Carolina, which has only 170 legislators total. This is a General Assembly that was ruled by Democrats, almost without break, for more than 100 years. And regardless of party control, low turnover has been the norm.

The consistency once allowed companies, organizations and interest groups to partner with powerful legislators who protected their appropriations and pushed through favored laws. But over a two year period, many of those legislators in both parties are going to be out of office – either through already-announced retirements or by defeats on Election Day. It’s time to start thinking about how to make new friends.

As if that weren’t a big enough shift, redistricting will completely change how some sitting legislators view issues. Next year, some are going to represent entire counties that were not in their districts previously. Key support from a new area will affect a legislator’s votes, even in 2012. It’s a good time to identify those “new influencers” who are in your own organization.

The 2012 legislative session starts in May, and there might be very little time to pass legislation or fend off bad bills. Leaders in the North Carolina House have indicated they want to have an incredibly short session – possibly a few weeks. They are already working on their budget legislation with a goal of voting on the state budget almost immediately upon return in May. Now is the time to line up supporters around the state to protect budget items.

If you represent an organization with interests at the General Assembly, now’s a good time to ask a few questions:

Do I have high profile supporters in the districts of new legislative leaders?
Have the legislators I’ve relied on for support announced their retirement?
What am I doing to grow my list of supporters around the state to prepare for the new legislative reality in 2013?
What do I want to accomplish in 2012 and 2013, and where am I vulnerable?

An organization can’t just turn on public support for their legislative goals when their backs are against the wall. It’s vital to start preparing now to influence the General Assembly in 2012, 2013 and beyond.

Marketing and the Art of the Dribble

tcoats@capstrat.com (Todd Coats) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:16:51 -0400

Can you imagine the game of basketball without dribbling? It seems inconceivable. But in the heady days of 1900, somehow, basketball players didn’t dribble. They could bounce the ball once, and then they had to pass. In 1901, dribbling was introduced — a full ten years after the game itself was born. Today it’s an athletic art form all its own.

So what does that have to do with anything? We mention it not just to show off some wicked Wikipedia skills, but because it’s worth remembering that rules change — sometimes in very big, sudden ways. And when they do, the game itself can change.

That’s the moment marketers are facing right now. And yes, we’re aware that every year, someone announces the “new rules” for marketers. At this point, it’s predictable and maybe even trite. But the rules really are changing that quickly. If you don’t believe us, just dig up some old marketing plans from 2007. Chances are many of them would seem relevant but incomplete today. No mobile strategy? No social media? Riiiiiiiight.

Today, seven weeks’ worth of new material is being uploaded to YouTube. More than 300 million Twitter users will tweet over 300 million times, generating more than 1.6 billion search queries. Google’s one million servers will process about 24 petabytes* of user-generated data. That’s roughly ten times the entire capacity of the human brain. Every. Single. Day. If you want to get through to users in the thick of that online storm, expect to play by some new rules. Here’s our take on the three rules that have taken on new importance today. Full disclosure: There may be more next year…month…week.

Make it portable

While it may seem like everyone in the world has already gone mobile, in reality the mobile boom isn’t close to being over. In 2009 there were 360 million mobile broadband connections. By 2015 experts expect there will be 3.4 billion. And mobile marketing works — on average, mobile campaigns return 4-6% click-through rates, which is about ten times better than Internet advertising. That’s one reason why, when we asked 1,200 digital marketers about the future of marketing technology, most indicated that mobile- and location-based marketing are the future.

Why does mobile marketing work so well? Here are a few good reasons:

It’s truly personal. Each subscriber has a unique number, unlike a shared IP address.
It’s always carried. More than half of mobile users carry their phones to bed and to the bathroom.
Mobile is permanently connected. No other media is 24/7 for most users.
Only mobile has a native payment channel. Users receive one bill, making purchases easy.
Mobile is most available at a point of impulse. We have a camera, dictation, Short Message Service (SMS) and many other resources immediately available to record, review and research.
Mobile measures audiences accurately. Advertisers have debated the effectiveness of measurements for decades. Mobile has the ability to accurately represent the actual user.
Only mobile captures the social context of our consumption. It not only tells what, when and where we consume, but with whom and how much.
More than half of adult cell phone owners used their phones while holiday shopping in 2011 to help make purchasing decisions.*

Another way to look at this revolution is that mobile devices allow us to effortlessly connect the online and offline world. Life doesn’t happen on the desktop.

That adds up to big opportunities for marketers. If you’re not baking mobility into the strategy and execution of your plans, it’s time to get with the program.

Make technology adapt like people

This isn’t just another way of saying “be flexible.” It has real, immediate implications for our work as marketers. Here’s what we mean. Consider that a few years ago the average TV screen measured 34 inches, and the average computer monitor was 17 inches. If you wanted to design in pixels, those were your targets. Today we’ve added tablets and smartphones into the mix. The iPhone has a screen size of 3.5 inches. That means we’re designing for a range of screens with 1,700% variance — starting with portable devices. That’s one example of what we mean.

In fact, this rule applies to just about every application of technology in marketing. After all, people change in real time. The technology they interact with needs to change in real time too. Do you have tools and processes in place for detecting and monitoring these changes? Twitter and Foursquare aren’t just for broadcasting — they’re for listening, too.

Imagine all of the technology that exposes customers to brands. That technology can be like your greatest salesperson as long as we design it to respond correctly. Customer says “A.” Brand responds with “B.” Customer says “P.” Brand responds with “Q, and have you thought about R?” Marketing technology should allow the customer to work less to get value. That’s how you create more nuanced, integrated experiences for your customers — the mark of a world-class brand. Which brings us to the last point.

Provide value or die

Friends tell us that advertising doesn’t really work. More specifically, they think they’re immune to advertising.

Of course, they’re wrong. Maybe that’s because they’re operating from an assumption that advertisements are trying to make them do something immediately: must … buy … more … Corny Puffs. In reality, the best advertising works in much more subtle ways. Instead of succeeding through an argument or call to action, great advertising creates positive memories and feelings that influence our behavior over time. Advertisers understand where they can add value to their audience’s lives and generate messages that reinforce that value over time. It’s not a one-shot proposition. It’s a conversation that unfolds over time.

Game on

Here’s the thing about this game: you’re playing it whether you know it or not. If you‘re not playing by these rules, well…the bench is calling. Your customers are there. Your competitors are there. The clock is ticking. And there’s a lot at stake. Be portable. Be adaptive. Be valuable. You can’t say you weren’t warned.

^{* One petabyte is equal to one quadrillion bytes or 1,000 terabytes.}

^{** Pew Research 2012, www.pewinternet.org}

Lack of Standards Gives Advertisers HD Headache

aburtch@capstrat.com (Anson Burtch) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:36:25 -0400

Adweek has it wrong. Its recent post, entitled “Falling on Def Ears: Marketers Slow to Embrace HD Ads,” takes advertisers to task for not producing high-definition (HD) spots. The magazine cites a DG Systems estimate that only 16% of all TV ads are in HD, although HD ads have a higher retention rate. Therefore, Adweek concludes, advertisers are missing out.

However, the problem is not with advertisers; it’s with the distribution system. There is no standard for delivering HD spots to stations, because each network has different specs. Moreover, there is no way of knowing how people watching standard-definition (SD) will see an HD feed.

If you are an advertiser with an HD spot, you have only two options for presenting your spot to SD viewers:

1. Provide an HD spot that is center-cut safe. Center-cut means the sides of the HD 16:9 frame are cut off so it will fit into an SD 4:3 frame. This means you must keep all action and titles within a 4:3 safe area. Obviously this is less than ideal creatively, as you have a huge canvas to work with, yet are confined to its center.

2. Provide an SD letterbox version with the black bars on the top and bottom. This will allow the whole 16:9 frame to appear on a 4:3 SD TV. However, for those watching in HD, it will be much smaller, it will appear to have a box all the way around it, and will not actually be in HD.

As an agency producer, I run into this problem on every single job. Advertisers want their spots to be seen in the best possible format. Even the smallest client produces content in HD. There’s no reason not to -- it looks better on the web and any added HD production costs are negligible.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem for local and regional advertisers is that often local stations cannot even accept HD spots. As far as I know, there are only three TV stations in all of North Carolina that can accept HD spots for local or regional airing. So it's only national ads that stations can run in HD. Thus, an advertiser that is only running its spot in one market or one state, doesn't even have the option to supply HD.

Advertisers are justly concerned about how the SD viewer will see their spots. There are simply too many people still watching SD for advertisers to ignore them. Yet until there are entirely separate HD and SD feeds or until there is some consistency in standards, advertisers must still plan for the lowest common denominator. It would be ideal if advertisers could provide two versions to a TV station -- one in SD and one in HD -- but often this is too expensive. And frequently not even possible because their SD feed is actually the same as their HD feed, simply center-cut.

The problem rests with the lack of standards, and it’s giving today’s advertisers an HD headache. Fix distribution and you will see the number of HD spots suddenly skyrocket.

Closed for Good

Capstrat — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:51:02 -0400

Every fall, Capstrat brainstorms concepts for the holiday greeting the agency will send out to clients and friends. As part of our greeting, we usually try to raise awareness about a cause or make a donation to a charitable organization. But this year, we wanted to take it further.

So on Dec. 14, Capstrat “Closed for Good.” The office was empty and we were out at four volunteer sites — a community farm, a food bank, an assisted living home and a Habitat for Humanity site. Here’s a snapshot of the day:

65 employees
260 hours of service
1 roof built
83 senior citizens visited
500 emergency food kits bagged
1,500 pounds of vegetables harvested

The Search for Authenticity

Capstrat — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:47:09 -0400

Lana Del Ray may be the best marketing lesson out there for those trying to reach the Millennial generation. Over the past few months, the blogosphere has witnessed a raging debate about the trout-pouted songstress. She has faced an incredible backlash from underground blogs as well as the mainstream media who have called her “manufactured,” “insincere” and “talentless.”

The issue here doesn’t seem to be her music, nor the fact that she seems remarkably blasé about the whole experience. Critics and hipsters alike seem to think that Del Rey is perpretrating what is, essentially, fraud. Is that how she has always dressed? Does she really write her songs? Most people who dislike her seem to view her as a Barbie that has been dressed up and put on stage to perform and generate record sales. Take Lady Gaga – her sartorial insanity is acceptable because people believe that she herself is at the center of these choices.

What does this have to do with marketing?

This debate makes it easy to see a key trait that many Millennials are searching for in their brand of choice: authenticity.

As a Millennial, I feel that my generation is much more aware of marketing and advertising than previous generations. In some ways, this awareness has made us more accepting of the invasion of advertising into our lives — we understand why it’s there and we love to be entertained by it (see: Old Spice’s Isaiah Mustafa). In other ways, it has made us a cynical and skeptical lot. We are very wary of being pandered to and become suspicious of anything that seems a little too precious. With Millennials campaigns run the risk of either being ignored or, worse, being subverted – a danger both McDonald’s and RIM have recently discovered. While we understand that advertising will always portray a product in a particularly rosy light, Millennials don’t accept anything that seems too good to be true. Maybe this can be said of almost any cohort, but we’re a proactive bunch and the risk of angering the hivemind far outweighs the reward.

How does a brand create or maintain the appearance of authenticity?

As a Millennial, I have experienced a lifetime of growing up in a constantly changing world. I’ve lived through three wars, the rise of technologies like the cell phone and the internet and what at times feels like the end of the print industry. Brands that stay constant earn my respect. When Gap attempted to change their logo in October 2010, a familiar icon that I grew up with, I admit that I was one of the consumers angrily taking to Twitter to express my displeasure. Constancy doesn’t just mean image either – I know women who have bought 10+ tubes of lipstick knowing that in a few years, it will have been discontinued in favor of some newfangled trend. A brand can find success with Millennials by creating a few core products and relegating the innovation to trendier, evolving pieces.

Along with constancy, brands should strive to understand the premature nostalgia of my generation. Many older, more established companies seem to think that constantly reinventing or updating will give them an edge with us, but they’re wrong. It seems like everything has changed since I grew up – where are the floppy disks of yesteryear? – so it’s nice to be reminded of a simpler time. I still love purchasing the same scent of Tide detergent my parents used when I was growing up and every now and then I end up grabbing a train car of Barnum’s Animal Crackers on a road trip pit stop. Nostalgia is powerful for us, even nostalgia for a time we didn’t know. How else can you explain the popularity of shows like VH1’s “I Love the 70’s” with my set?

So, is your brand a Lana Del Rey?

In the end, marketing towards Millennials can’t serve as the be-all, end-all of a brand’s strategy – even if we will be out-earning the Baby Boomers by 2018. Even as I write this post, I have Lana Del Rey’s hit “Video Games” playing. It’s a great song and the more than 24 million views on YouTube say that I’m not the only one who thinks so. Brands that want to make an impact with me and my generation have to walk a fine line between the risk of becoming stale and the reward of being deemed a classic. We Millennials are a loyal bunch and we are more ready to commit to a brand than many marketers think – just lay off the lip injections.

Record Grammy Awards Ratings

milardi@capstrat.com (Melissa Ilardi) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:26:45 -0400

I've been anticipating getting my Monday morning Marc Berman TV Media Insights email, since the news of Whitney Houston's death on Saturday evening. The news is tragic, and many knew this year's Grammy's would be affected by it. The numbers are such a fun part of this work, and I love to see when news and tv ratings mix. I knew the timing of her death and the Grammy's was sure to draw more viewers. But how many more?

Just received the overnights in my inbox. Drum roll please..... The 54th Grammy Awards were up 44% over last year's awards! A massive 25.8 rating/38 share vs the year-ago evening (17.9/27 on 2/13/11). Last nights telecast could hover in the 37-38 million viewer range. Big numbers for an already high-profile program. Lots of happy advertisers out there this morning!

Youth Media Habits are Shifting

gives@capstrat.com (Greg Ives) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:28:16 -0400

As I watched the Super Bowl this past Sunday, the media planner in me couldn't help but notice something interesting. It wasn't the dynamic creativity on display or the well thought out placement of the ads. It was actually something happening in the next room, completely out of ear shot of the big game. My nine year old niece and five year old nephew were being completely captivated by their dad's new iPad. More specifically, they were navigating through old episodes of Scooby Doo via Netflix Online...and doing so with ease. So, when I saw Thursday's New York Times article on the recent Nielsen study that states younger audiences (12-34) are watching less TV on actual sets and more online, I just smiled. Not only are my niece and nephew ahead of the curve (no surprise to their proud uncle), but they represent how this next generation is consuming media....with more diversity than ever before.

We've been preaching to our clients for years that while TV is still king, it's the means in which the TV is being viewed that is changing. Today, the strength of most media plans lies in in the "complimentary" mediums. Whether it's pre-roll video, digital cinema or in-classroom TV, we are challenged to find new and effective ways of breaking through to today's youth. The bottom line is that younger audiences are being exposed to more screens than any other age group. But here's the catch... they're not paying attention to all of them. So it's more important than ever to find that perfect balance of media mix and frequency to make sure you're being seen.

Even then, the greatest challenge still lies ahead. Once you've implemented a well balanced plan, how do you successfully measure the results of the campaign? Providing metrics across multiple platforms isn't exactly comparing apples to apples. The answer to this is yet to be clearly defined. At a minimum, it will become more important than ever to clearly define what success looks like during the planning phase. And one of the best ways to define success is to clearly identify your audience. The New York Times article defines "young people" as 12-34 year-olds. Obviously, the consumption habits across this age range varies dramatically. For that matter, the differences in behavior of 12 and 16 year-olds are night and day. You have to dig deeper and completely understand who you're trying to reach. What motivates them? What are they exposed to on a daily basis? What sort of messaging do they respond to? And maybe most importantly, can my niece and nephew finally show me how to set up my online Netflix account?

Searching for social significance

kjones@capstrat.com (Kendall Jones) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:57:45 -0400

I have two basic ways of finding answers to questions: asking friends or asking Google. That system has worked pretty well for about a decade, but it’s all about to change. Google recently announced it is going to make search results more personalized by including results from your social network. In 2009, Bing announced it would start including results from Twitter and later it added Facebook to the arsenal. More and more search engines are beginning to incorporate social properties into general search results, effectively making me ask friends and ask Google.
I am a pretty active person on social networks. Like most, I have been known to use my social network to answer questions that the larger internet could answer. And when my fiancé makes me watch ABC’s #TheBachelor, I can’t tell you how much I love seeing the Twitter streams. It’s like watching TV with 20,000 of my closest friends that I’ll never meet.
However, I find myself turning to search engines for answers my social networks don’t know or for questions I don’t want to ask everyone. In other words, the entire reason I am using a search engine in the first place is because I can’t find what I need within my own social network. When I search, the most annoying results are typically Facebook profiles. Often, the social results actually get in the way of me finding what I’m looking for. I’m all for being able to find out what my friends are doing, but I’m not sure I need a search engine to do that for me.
There is another challenge for social search. I really think the size of people’s social networks will decrease over the next five to ten years. There are new apps starting to pop up that limit the number of people you can have in your social network. For example, Path effectively limits your social network to 50 people and it is getting a lot of buzz right now. Personally, I know I’m starting to get tired of all the clutter from people I a.) don’t really care about and/or b.) may never actually physically interact with ever again. I’m sure you’ve all seen the studies of how the average American has only two close friends. Maybe 50 friends is too small for Path to actually take off, but Dunbar’s number is only 150. When you only have 150 friends on a social network, do you really need a search engine to make sure you are getting their feedback on every search?
Once social search is fully implemented, Google, Bing and other companies might get some unexpected reactions from users. After all, we are not just echoing our friends’ ideas about the world. We still look for ideas, articles and posts outside of the people we know best. Put simply, we need the World Wide Web, not just the social wide web.

The new 52: What did it do?

cmataxis@capstrat.com (Carson Mataxis) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:47:38 -0400

As a kid I loved comics. I still have about 4,000 of them to show for it.

Six months ago, when DC announced the relaunch of their entire universe (a first in ~80 years), I decided it was a good time to rediscover an old love of mine.

Unfortunately, six months into the relaunch and with about 300 DC comics waiting in my “aren’t you gonna read me?” queue... I’ve only read seven. It turns out I just don’t have the down time for comics that I used to.

I’m stoked to hear that it’s been a good business move for them (see here: http://adage.com/article/special-report-americas-hottest-brands/america-s-hottest-brands-dc-comics/231168/?utm_source=mediaworks&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage).

I hope it brings in flocks of new readers. Kids reading and using their imagination is always better for society than kids playing first person shooter games in shockingly realistic 3D detail.

Despite DC's efforts to reinvigorate the readership, comics publication numbers are still dwindling (http://ifanboy.com/articles/ron’s-list-of-the-worst-things-in-comics-in-2011/). It appears that multimedia entertainment (including iPods, iPads, computers and video game systems) combined with a rise in pirated comics (shared online) has really put a dampener on things.

Well, at least I'm back to shelling out my hard earned greenbacks for the art, even if I don't get to read them all.

Fighting for lighting

emassey@capstrat.com (Emily Massey) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:08:20 -0400

In a recent article written by my colleague, Andrew discusses how public perception on energy infrastructure updates will affect policy and ultimately America’s energy future. Like many others interested in this industry, I’m anxious to see how governments, utilities, providers and consumers will work together to update our country’s energy grid to ensure we sustain our lifestyles and growing population. A recent example of how public perception has affected policy is the efficient lighting law that just came into effect in January 2012.

Background

The Energy Safety and Security Act of 2007 established that, starting in 2012, light bulb manufacturers must discontinue standard light bulbs. This means the Thomas Edison model we’ve been using since 1880 will phase out – starting with 100-watt incandescent bulbs in 2012, followed by 75-watt in 2013 and 60-watt and 40-watt in 2014. For those of you who are attached to your old-fashioned bulbs, consider that Thomas Edison’s great grandson even supports the transition away from the original incandescent in the name of developing more efficient lighting.

If this is news to you, you may feel urged to go out and buy all the 100-watt bulbs you can, or start selling them on the black market. However, these upgrades in lighting technology will ultimately help everyone save money on their energy bills and reduce the need for more power plants, and there are lots of online resources to answer your burning questions.

Four years later

While the bill was a bi-partisan effort in 2007, when it came closer to implementation the cries from dissenters (notably right-wing media) made an impact. A mere two weeks before 100-watt incandescent bulbs were to stop being made, the Senate and House passed a bill that cut spending for the Department of Energy to enforce these light bulb rules.

According to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, millions of dollars were spent over four years to make this transition so many companies intend to continue with the phase-out. Without government oversight, however, the companies won’t be penalized if they continue to make the energy-wasting bulbs. This action shows how legislation can come at the ninth hour to prolong the status quo.

A survey showed that 34% of Americans opposed not being able to purchase the light bulbs they’ve always used. Yet only 31% of Americans actually knew specifics about the lighting law.

No matter which side of the issue you’re on, it’s important to know what decisions your legislators are making about energy – because it’s something we all use and pay for. And energy providers continue to face the challenge of educating consumers about steps we need to take to secure America’s energy future. Because without change, we’ll be standing still – in the dark.

It's Community Manager Appreciation Day

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:51:24 -0400

In case you haven't heard, today is Community Manager Appreciation Day, affectionately known as #CMAD on Twitter.

This holiday may not yet be recognized by Hallmark, but to those in the social media world, it's a big deal. Community Managers are the face of a company, brand or organization online. It is their job to deal with all the mayhem that comes with the internet and keep a smile on their face while doing it.

They serve two masters: The community and their employer, and believe me it isn't nearly as easy as it looks. As someone who bore the title for three years, growing a community from zero to 13,000 members, I can tell you first-hand that you can go from laughing to crying in a very short period of time. It is frustrating, but rewarding work, and you often feel like you are the only one who cares about the work you're doing.

So how did this amazing group of warriors get a day of recognition? It all started with Jeremiah Owyang who launched the idea with a simple tweet that read "I think I want to start Community Manager Appreciation Day on the last Monday in January. Does one exist?"

It does now, and the rest is history.

So take a few minutes today and say or do something nice for the community managers in your life. They deserve it more than you could possibly know.

The use of tablets in the clinical sales enivironment

cmartin@capstrat.com (Christina Martin) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:45:35 -0400

A few months ago I wrote a blog article about iPads being used for business instead of play. We, at Capstrat, conducted some research with healthcare sales reps last year, who are on the front lines selling to clinicians, administrators and physicians. We wanted to gain insight on effective selling strategies and tactics.

What seemed to be a recurring theme was that reps wanted iPads. They fully believed tablets could help them sell more effectively in front of physicians. Just this week, I ran across an article by CMR Institute that discusses the “iPad revolution” taking place in pharma land. To better understand tablet use among today’s sales representatives, CMR Institute polled nearly 16,000 of its current and former students about their interactions with clinicians, focusing on the use of tablets. Here are some of the key takeaways:
•   Nearly 47% reported using an iPad, while 37% said they don’t use any type of tablet during sales calls
•   47% of those surveyed report that the use of tablets has made interactions with clinicians more meaningful
•   58% of respondents said that the use of tablets has not improved sales numbers
•   36% of respondents use tablets to present product information; furthermore 29% said that presenting promotional materials on tablets is more effective

In my opinion, iPads and other electronic tablets do have a solid future in healthcare sales. Tablets are a great way to start and backup conversations with physicians. Tablets shouldn’t replace traditional sales aids and other sales tactics and shouldn’t be relied on to tell the full story. In fact, I see iPads being most helpful in showing clinical data, when you want to isolate one point of the study, or use them to show product demonstrations and mechanism of action animations. While no single sales tool is going to be the sole driver of increased sales, it is important for pharmaceutical marketing teams to consider the value of tablets and use them as complementary sales tools in the field.

On the Grid, In the Loop

ameehan@capstrat.com (Andrew Meehan) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:44:37 -0400

With power plants, resource acquisitions and infrastructure investments that produce returns of 50 years or more, no other industry has a longer strategic timeline. But many of the industry’s leaders have not thought even six months ahead when it comes to public communications plans and influencing public policy.

Now is the time to make public outreach an integral part of long term strategy.

As the United States enters its next energy production and construction cycle, an increasing number of consumer voters are engaged in the debate on national energy policy. They are knocking down the doors at public hearings on power plants. They are clamoring for more renewable energy. They are demanding justification for the high cost of investment in new energy resources.

Nuclear power provides an example of the public’s nuanced opinions on energy and the need for continuing education. Despite increasing support for emissions-free nuclear power as an alternative to coal, ratepayers are taking notice of a nuclear plant’s significant costs. They are starting to understand the concept of risk. Utilities have learned that many business-friendly legislators are not ready to support nuclear power without public buy-in on the costs. It’s up to the industry to garner that buy-in. Even the promise of thousands of new jobs in a stagnant economy has not been a magic bullet for moving new plants forward at anything but a snail’s pace.

Despite increasing support for emissions-free nuclear power as an alternative to coal, ratepayers are taking notice of a nuclear plant’s significant costs.

In contrast to the challenges faced by new power plant construction, smart grid technologies have garnered support. State level policies are giving smart grid technology the right incentives, and there is increasing competition. But are these companies effectively communicating their successes while preparing for increased scrutiny of their performance over the long term? In the height of summer 2011, there were simultaneous news stories about smart grid technology helping utilities avoid blackouts and utilities catching heat for cutting off consumers’ air conditioning. Technology suppliers need to be helping their buyers prepare for greater public scrutiny over the long term.

Often, a voter/consumer’s level of engagement does not match that individual’s level of understanding. In this environment of uncertainty and fractured public opinion, government policymakers will continue to pick winners and losers in the marketplace. Successful companies tap their expertise and resources to put a long-term focus on educating the public.

A successful communications plan to influence energy policy must differ from a marketing or sales plan. It starts with a few simple questions:

How will public perception that influences public policy affect my company and sales in the future?
What additional voices can support my policies?
Who has the greatest influence on the energy policies that affect me, and how am I reaching out to them?
How am I highlighting the strengths of my industry?
Are my competitors taking the lead in public outreach and communications with policymakers?
What do I want voters to think of my policy proposals six months, one year and even three years from now?

The public is often lacking reliable information on energy, and companies that fill the information void could find themselves influencing government policies that pick winners in the energy industry. Gains could be in store for energy companies who position themselves as thought leaders and consider public outreach an integral part of their long-term business strategies.

Maintaining Reactors

dyeganian@capstrat.com (Dana Yeganian) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:44:21 -0400

No time in recent history have energy companies had so many opportunities to tell the world about safely operated nuclear power plants.

These communicators have done an outstanding job. Rather than seeing support of nuclear power plummet, support only slightly decreased in most national polls. However, polling continues to show significant gender, education and political gaps in support for nuclear power. These gaps, while perhaps more pronounced post-Japan, have persisted for some time. In a Gallup poll earlier this year, 56 percent of women said they oppose nuclear power compared to 36 percent of men. People who have completed higher levels of education are more likely to support nuclear power (63 percent of postgraduates) than those who have achieved a high school education or less (31 percent). Perhaps not surprisingly, 62 percent of Republicans support nuclear power compared to 32 percent of Democrats.

The challenge ahead is to maintain and grow that support as our country continues to determine how it wants to manage energy generation in the future. Here are a few ideas:

Make nuclear plants more accessible — physically and socially.

Post-9/11, most nuclear plant tours came to a halt. In recent years, many plants have started tours again, but not at the same level. Instead of tours, many plants relied on their visitor centers to teach students, community groups and other members of the public about nuclear. However, budget cuts have caused many visitor centers to close, while others are woefully outdated and don’t tell the story of nuclear energy’s environmental benefits, technology advancement and safety improvements. Upgrading or reopening these centers would be one helpful way to make nuclear plants more accessible.

Nuclear plants also can increase their presence in social media. The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) increased its presence on Twitter post-Japan, but individual nuclear plants also could begin using Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms to tell their stories — about employees, community involvement, safety records and more.

Redouble community outreach efforts.

Throughout the country, nuclear plant leaders and employees engage in a variety of community outreach efforts: serving on boards, hosting local events and working with teachers and students. It’s because of these efforts — which have been going on for decades in some cases — that support for nuclear continues to hold steady. Continuing and expanding these efforts, including having more plant employees out in the community telling the story of nuclear, can help grow support for new nuclear power.

Hundreds of companies in the United States are tied closely to nuclear development and construction, but oftentimes they do not explain how new nuclear development would impact the economy.

Don’t only rely on utilities to tell the story.

Hundreds of companies in the United States are tied closely to nuclear development and construction, but oftentimes they do not explain how new nuclear development would impact the economy — not just in the areas around the plant, but in the areas where companies involved in their development and construction are located. These include nuclear reactor developers, construction companies, engineering and design firms, even cleaning companies.

Ultimately, this is about keeping nuclear energy as an option for addressing our country’s future energy needs. And more than ever, communications about nuclear power will make the difference in this public policy discussion.

Communicating More to Consume Less

emassey@capstrat.com (Emily Massey) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:43:21 -0400

The concept of using less energy completely opposes the trends we see around us — iPad2, Android phones, 50-inch plasma televisions. Our cutting-edge devices are used more and more every day, and we need to prepare Americans’ energy grid for future demand. The logic is simple but not obvious to all consumers. If everyone uses less energy, energy providers reduce the need to generate more power — a costly enterprise that requires new plant construction and would raise energy prices at a faster rate.

Now is a critical time for energy communicators to emphasize the importance of energy efficiency. Customers need to know how they can take control of their energy use, and their energy bill.

California-based PG&E chose to tackle these issues and enrolled its customers to reduce and control energy use. A headlining banner on their homepage entitled “Control Your Energy” is dedicated to educating customers about making better energy decisions — showing exactly how much energy certain activities consume, and how much that costs the end-user. Customers are also encouraged to sign up for energy alerts, where their utility will call, text message or email them as they approach a peak energy time — where the customer should avoid using energy to prevent a higher bill.

Tools such as these are invaluable to consumers but will not impact energy usage without proper education. According to Chartwell, a researcher of utilities’ marketing and customer initiatives, over 70 percent of utility customers monitor their energy usage on a monthly basis. And customers are interested in seeing more real-time usage on a daily or weekly basis. However, a separate Chartwell study showed that most customers don’t know what a smart meter is — which is one way customers are able to monitor their usage. Energy communicators must continue efforts to bring the rest of us up-to-speed on smart grid technology. Empowering consumers to reduce their energy use means encouraging them to care about America’s energy future. Communicators in the energy industry should consider the following when starting an efficiency education campaign:

Drive conversation with customers. The energy industry is investing millions of dollars into building a smart grid, but the investment will only pay off with significant communication of what energy efficiency technology will achieve, and how consumers can use these tools to adjust their energy-using habits. Accomplish this through an online forum with a dedicated community manager to engage with customers.

Inspire your employees. The starting point for any education campaign is within your organization. An executive could host lunch-and-learns or an interactive webinar to kickoff the campaign and request company support and input. Your employees will be your best ambassadors.

Over 70 percent of utility customers monitor their energy usage on a monthly basis.

Mobilize your experts to educate others. Your employees and company are involved in the community, so take the opportunity to present your energy efficiency campaign. Develop a plan to conduct outreach and schedule presentations with organizations in different communities. Arm your speakers with an engaging presentation and talking points, a brief leave-behind document, and a list of potential questions and answers.

Without this education, energy efficiency will fail. Energy consumers need to understand how energy efficiency tools work and see tangible results of how these efforts will save money.

Frame First, Frack Later

lbrewer@capstrat.com (Laura Brewer) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:42:35 -0400

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a drilling procedure used to extract natural gas from shale rock formations. The procedure is illegal in several states and has grown increasingly controversial in recent months.

In many states with major natural gas deposits, drilling opponents have managed to negatively define fracking before industry supporters mobilized. The pattern forming in North Carolina echoes the experience in New York and Pennsylvania. Geologists see the potential for increased energy production in these states if fracking is allowed, but the coordinated message of support necessary to change that is not getting through. Supporters are missing a great opportunity.

As the producers who have worked to pursue horizontal drilling know, opposition to new energy production is in place in every state. It’s not enough simply to get political support for exploring new energy initiatives. Producers must reach out to the general public. In North Carolina, drilling opponents are already mobilized and active, particularly in the press. Coverage includes articles and editorials outlining the perceived problems with hydraulic fracturing. To date, not one of these pieces has included a quote in support of energy production from a pro-drilling source. This is just one state’s experience — similar campaigns against fracking are in states around the country and at the federal level.

In North Carolina, drilling opponents are already mobilized and active, particularly in the press.

Take the next steps at this critical moment

There is much work to be done. Fracking’s opponents have already begun to frame this issue. Now is the time for drilling’s proponents to act. Just as the opponents of fracking have aggressively sought out media coverage, harnessed activists to bolster their message and leveraged the support of their political allies — fracking supporters need to do the same.

To effectively combat anti-hydraulic fracturing messaging, supporters must engage in a comprehensive campaign to:

Develop messages that illustrate fracking’s benefits.
Engage appropriate surrogates and spokespeople to disseminate messages.
Conduct direct educational outreach to targeted audiences to tell the industry’s side of the story.
Turn average citizens into outspoken supporters.
Grow support among community leaders and inspire them to act.

Now is the time to start planning and executing. If drilling’s proponents continue their lethargic path, fracking stands to be framed negatively and permanently disallowed.

Aiming for gaming

kalbritton@capstrat.com (Karen Albritton) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:42:30 -0400

Consider social and mobile yesterday’s news. The next big thing is gaming.

Maybe you’ve heard the hype about integrating gaming with communications efforts: in-game advertising, product placement, even custom-built games. But think beyond gaming as a marketing tactic. Think about gaming as an immersive learning experience for both audiences and marketers.

Most marketers have bought into the need to engage with the audiences they want to reach. Rather than talking to the marketplace, communicators understand the new imperative for two-way conversations. Social media channels like Facebook and Quora are where this model of communication plays out.

Similarly, games represent a different way of communicating. Immersive experiences, like those in-gaming applications, go beyond conversations and provide consumers a rich engagement with your product or service.

Gaming also gives marketers the ability to transform customer interaction with their brand from mere spectator sport to full contact sport. It’s the difference between learning by hearing versus learning by doing.

The next generation of your customers, whether business or consumer, have grown up with digital gaming. And they aren’t giving it up as adults. The average video game player is 35 years old and has been playing for 13 years, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

So how do you get your game on? Here’s a three-step approach that I’ve labeled AIM for short – audience, interaction and medium.

Always start with your audience. Are they participating in gaming at any level? Don’t just think about console games. They may be gaming through social media or mobile. And, they may be involved in professions that are beginning to use serious gaming for online training.

Next, look at your current brand interaction with your audience. Break down the brand experiences customers currently have with your brand. Consider customer service, events, retail, etc. What elements of those experiences can you translate into an immersive environment?

Finally, begin to learn all you can about the medium or rather the gaming channel as it exists today. Even if it’s likely your brand will be on the sidelines for a while, it’s never too early to begin to understand the game so that you’ll be ready when it’s your turn to play.

The Experience Revolution

tcoats@capstrat.com (Todd Coats) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:42:20 -0400

People bring brands to life.

We fall in and out of love with them. We gain and lose respect for them and we’re constantly evaluating the importance of our relationship with them. Just like dating.

Also like dating, sometimes a brand overstays its welcome by intruding in our life where it’s not wanted. When a brand uses technology to intrude into our personal space without adding value, a break-up is likely to follow.

Twitter, RFIDs, foursquare and plenty of other technologies allow companies to get closer to their audiences, faster. But if the conversation happening is only about the product speeds and feeds, it’s not engaging. That would be like butting into a party and asking, "What do you like best about me?” Brands must use technology to create unique experiences for the consumer or they’re not upholding their end of the deal.

Have you ever seen a QR code on a highway billboard? It happens. Last week in the airport I saw that the TSA wants me to “Like” them on Facebook. While I’m at it, I’ll follow the IRS on Twitter, too. I’ll get a lot out of that I’m sure.

Communicators, don't let the technology tail wag the dog.

Like any good design, the best-used technology doesn’t draw attention to itself. It creates an adaptive experience that brings the message to life. As communications continue to advance, brands that employ adaptive technology will become so integrated into your day that you won’t know you’re experiencing advertising. Better still, you won’t care. You’ll be getting something out of the experience. Now that’s a memorable date.

To create this fluid love affair, ebbing and flowing like any other natural part of people’s lives, requires creative and critical thinking. How can technology support the concept of the brand and be more integrated into the consumers’ life without being too pushy?

Well, communicators are trying to figure that out. One thing we know is that buying stuff — whether it’s a product, service or philosophy — is complicated by distraction. The future of advertising is about being needed not pushy. Brand strategists tell us the more integrated experiences we have with brands the tighter the affinity created.

In 1964, pearl-of-wisdom-dropper Marshall McLuhan wrote: “Medium is the Message.” Interestingly, he went on to iterate that title to: ”The Medium is the Massage,” “The Medium is the Mess-Age” and “The Medium is the Mass-Age.”

As good communicators continue to use technology that adapts to create useful brand-building experiences, the title could change to “The Medium is Me.” Consumers change in real time. Our experiences with brands should do the same. Our technology should, too.

In just the past seven years, advertising has gone from the brand yelling about its product to respectfully discussing its product with you through social media. Now it’s time for brands to be an integrated utility that improve people’s lives. The quicker agencies move their brands toward that usefulness, the more valuable we’ll be for the clients we serve.

The next big renaissance for gaming

sjohnston@capstrat.com (Shane Johnston) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:42:09 -0400

Some of the earliest online games can be traced back to the late 1960s and early 1970s with war-gaming for the Department of Defense,consumer-oriented games such as flight simulators and the very first versions of role-playing games.

Since the days of dial-up access, three trends have inextricably linked gaming with
Internet access:

The spread of broadband access. Cable providers led the way with deeply discounted “triple play” deals for television, phone and Internet access. Telecom carriers, originally hampered by last-mile challenges to the household, started perfecting DSL access to help counter the cable threat.
The proliferation of connected devices and systems. Households went from having one computer connected to their access point to two or three computers and the laptop from work, the security system, the Skype account, the television, the Blu-ray player and even some appliances like refrigerators. All of these share the same connection, taking away bandwidth from the same pipe.
The rise of high-speed wireless access. Virtually, all wireless carriers have transitioned from 2G to 3G speeds and are now widely deploying 4G LTE technology. City-wide broadband services based on WiMax technology, offered by companies like Clear, are also competing in the wireless broadband space. And device manufacturers are joining in the race by creating smartphones with large, high-resolution screens and great computing power as well as tablets and laptops with integrated wireless hardware.

The next era of gaming for entertainment, education and training purposes will be hugely impacted by advancements in broadband Internet access. But the United States still has a ways to go.

As indicated in the trends above, the average home or work network has several computers and other devices accessing the Internet simultaneously. Whether they are sending email attachments, making VoIP phone calls or playing games online, their applications will have an effect on one another as they each fight for bandwidth in a specific network. The result is a slowdown in ALL applications causing the gamers’ scourge called “Internet lag.” Now compound this problem with whole neighborhoods, office buildings, etc sharing the access pipe and you have a serious
issue with providing optimal performance for online gaming. And U.S. telecom companies badly lag the rest of the developed world in broadband Internet service. Broadband providers in much of the rest of the world offer faster connections at generally much lower prices.

The average U.S. household has to pay an exorbitant amount of money for an Internet connection that the rest of the industrial world would find mediocre,” reported the Scientific American in October 2010. The Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University concluded that U.S. broadband service is “not just slower and more expensive than in tech-savvy nations,” such as South Korea and Japan, but the U.S. has also “fallen behind infrastructure-challenged countries such as Portugal and Italy.”

In the fall of 2010, the third annual study from the Saïd Business School, Oxford University, looked at broadband quality in 72 countries and 239 cities. The U.S. was not in the top ten in broadband leadership and there was not a single U.S. city in the top 20 for the Broadband Quality Score.

This disparity has negative implications not just for U.S. Internet users but also for the growth of the gaming industry as a whole. “There are still too many people and community institutions lacking the level of broadband service needed to fully participate in the Internet economy,” said Lawrence E. Strickling, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the arm of the Commerce Department that is overseeing the National Broadband Mapping project.

However, help is on the way.

Last year, the Federal Communications Commission released a national broadband plan that set a goal of connecting 100 million U.S. households to broadband connections of 100 megabits per second — at least 20 times faster than most home connections now — by 2020.

And for wireless access, President Obama’s administration has started an initiative that calls for nearly doubling the spectrum available for mobile broadband, providing at least 98 percent of Americans with access to 4G high-speed wireless, deploying a nationwide, interoperable wireless network. More than 10 times faster than current high speed wireless services, the 4G technology promises to benefit all Americans, bolster public safety and spur innovation in wireless services, equipment and applications – including gaming for education and entertainment.

High performance, ubiquitous broadband Internet access will usher in the next great era in interactive gaming. Connection speeds of 100+ megabits per second paves the way for high definition, 3D gaming for work or play. The next generation of gaming will allow immersive training experiences for remote workers. It will provide more advertising opportunities in entertainment gaming such as sponsorships and product placement from companies wanting to be associated with these highly interactive experiences. And broadband gaming platforms will provide more engaging educational experiences at home and in classrooms across the nation.

Social Media Trends to Watch in 2012

jdolan@capstrat.com (Jay Dolan) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:21:10 -0400

It's inevitable. Social media will change in 2012. Rather than trying to figure out what exactly will happen with each network, it's better to pay attention to the broader trends happening across multiple networks.

So let’s get to it. Here is what I’ll be paying attention to over the next twelve months:

Who’s monetizing and how?

Investors won’t foot the bill for a social network forever. It takes a sustainable business model to keep a social network with hundreds of millions of users afloat. Facebook has already announced that sponsored stories will play a role in newsfeeds this year, and Twitters latest changes also benefit advertisers. Watch how users react to increased ads as well as how brands and companies integrate these changes into their social strategies.

How can third-party developers use social networks?

As long as social networks have allowed access, third-party developers have been building new and insightful ways to use those networks. Outside of Spotify and a handful of social reader apps, we haven’t even begun to see the full effect of Facebook’s latest platform updates from September. Many of Twitter’s power users are looking to third-party tools after its latest updates removed functionality for power users. Pay close attention to new apps and developments to existing social networks, and how social networks then respond in turn.

Who’s new?

Pinterest is exploding. After a rocky start, Path is making a big break into the mobile scene. Instagram has become so popular that even the President has an account. New networks challenge and expand existing ones. How will these new services integrate into existing social networks, and how will they evolve in separate ways?

There’s certainly a lot more to watch for. We can’t begin to fully anticipate what the existing networks will do, and what new networks and apps will come from someone with their own great idea. But by watching the broader trends and business models, we can see which networks are going to last into 2013 and beyond.

What social media changes are you watching for in 2012?

Online shopping continues to grow, and so does holiday stress

milardi@capstrat.com (Melissa Ilardi) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:42:56 -0400

This is the first year that my daughter is old enough to really understand and experience Christmas in it's entirety. She's crazed by the neighborhood Christmas light displays, she can sing the majority of lyrics to A Very Special Christmas Volume 1, 2 and 3, and she understands that in 4 days Santa is going to come to our house.

I've been thinking a lot over the last week about the excitement and anticipation of Christmas, and all the 'To-Do' lists in the bottom of my purse, in various Notes apps, and the constant reminders I've been throwing at Siri. How can we possibly fit in one more trip to Target or to the grocery store? But we do.

Talking to my Mom the other day, she told me a story of one Christmas when I was little. I had one thing on my list, a doll that could roller skate. I believe it was called Baby Skates. Everywhere was sold out, and she spent hours on the phone calling stores in surrounding towns. As it turned out, my dad who was a pilot and had a plane at the time, flew to a store in another city to pick it up. There was no Amazon Prime in those days.

That got me thinking about how different Christmas shopping is now. We don't call around town, or even take the time to physically search stores. We can simply go online and see who has what in stock, either go to the store or order it online. When a last minute gift idea pops in our heads, we can just go online and get it 2 days later. I can't help to think, is this way of shopping making it too easy, and sucking the fun out of finding that special gift?

Mobile friendly e-commerce stores are making it even easier for us to cram in shopping from anywhere. For the week ending Dec. 9, comScore says online sales increased almost 16% compared to the same period last year. That is a huge increase, and will only continue to grow year after year.

Was shopping more enjoyable when price comparing didn't exist like it does now? We have so many shopping options in front of us. Brick and mortar retail and specialty stores continue to pop up everywhere, and online sites like Amazon and Etsy, give you an endless possibility of gifts. Is this what is bringing on all the stress? Too many options?

I'm overjoyed in taking on this role of 'Santa', and all of the shopping, searching and stress that accompanies it. I'm sure my parents will always remember the Christmas where my dad got to make his little's girl's Christmas complete with the perfect toy. I don't know that i'll ever have the opportunity to create a memory like that, but I'm certain my little girl won't care how Santa got those presents under the tree on Christmas morning.

Finding your niche on Twitter

aconnor@capstrat.com (Angela Connor) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:43:45 -0400

Twitter isn't rocket science, yet so many people are using it poorly. There is nothing to be gained by following random Twitter users with the hopes of amassing huge numbers of followers who really have no interest in your company, brand, product or service.

Twitter is all about defining your niche. Once you do that, it is much easier to focus and suddenly you stop feeling like you're wasting your time.

Consider this: If you're not a big consumer brand, particularly those that are constantly used as case studies by social media experts, that model of pushing product and blasting deep discounts and sales is not for you. It will not work if your product isn't in high demand and you don't have scores of loyal customers already.

But here's what will work: Taking the time to find the right people and tailoring your communications to provide value and build relationships. Here are six ways you can get started today:

Search by position and title. If you want to connect with Directors of Oncology at hospitals, make that a goal and seek them out. Putting in the time to find your target audience is worth the effort.
Identify relevant hashtags. Looking for journalists? Search the hashtag #journchat and see who's participating. Interested in nurses? Try #RNchat. Read the bios of active participants and follow those you deem relevant. Better yet, join the chat yourself and start communicating with your niche if you have something worth sharing.
Capitalize on existing Twitter lists. Before you start from scratch, look around to see if someone has already culled lists of your target audience. Chances are there is already a pretty good list of math teachers, CEO's, engineers or whomever else you may be trying to reach.
Use the right keywords. Conduct some preliminary research to determine how your audience communicates and shares information on Twitter so you can speak their language. There is nothing worse than wasting your 140 characters with made-up hashtags that don't resonate with your target audience or that no one ever uses.
Nix the narcissism and offer value. This may seem like a no-brainer and I really wish it was. But I can tell you with certainty that it isn't. Go back and review your last 50-100 tweets. Were they all about you or were they of value to others? If you are the number one topic, vow to make a change in 2012.
Refocus and clean out the clutter. It is never too late to unfollow. In fact, it's an action I encourage. Refine the list of accounts you follow so that it really makes sense and is aligned with your main goal. If you have not yet established a goal, that's the problem, and it's exactly where where you need to start.

Remember, you will get out of Twitter what you put in, Twitter is a powerful tool for business. But until you define your target audience, seek them out with gusto and forsake all others, you will never reap the full benefits or realize an acceptable return on your investment.

Author's note: Want to connect with me on Twitter? Follow @communitygirl.

Undermining the credibility of women?

mcbrawley@capstrat.com (Melissa Brawley) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:48:56 -0400

Marian Wright Edelman, the founder and president of Children’s Defense Fund and first African-American woman admitted to the Mississippi state bar, once said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Does this hold true for women seeking leadership positions? And what does that have to do with the PR and advertising industry?

A lot, actually.

Recently, I attended the first North Carolina screening of a new documentary called Miss Representation, a film that explores how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America.

The film walks audiences through numerous examples of disparaging or overly sexual portrayals of women in politics, news and the entertainment industry. Given that American teenagers consume 10 hours and 45 minutes of media a day (TV, music, movies, magazines, internet), the overwhelming message young women and men receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty and sexuality, and not in her capacity as a leader. While women have made great strides in leadership over the past few decades, some of the statistics highlighted in the documentary show we still have miles to go:

America’s women continue to earn just 77 cents for every dollar men earn.
Women make up 51 percent of the population and only 17 percent of Congress.
Between 1937 and 2005 (68 years), there were only 13 female protagonists in animated movies. All of them, except one, had the aspiration of finding romance.
Women hold only 3 percent of clout positions in mainstream media.
65 percent of women and girls have distorted eating behaviors.

Between the physically-impossible airbrushed cover models and badly behaved reality TV stars in the Real Housewives series, it’s hard to know what a real female role model would look like.

I left the screening wondering about the role PR and advertising professionals play in the representation of women in media. Agencies are not effective unless they can help a company drive sales, customer engagement or a business reputation. And if scantily-clad women sell products, do we have a responsibility to find an alternative approach? I would argue that our industry carries most of the responsibility for changing the portrayal of women in the media. And perhaps, clients who make a pledge to reject sexism in advertising could capture the 86 percent of purchasing power held by women in America.

Lowe Blow

keudy@capstrat.com (Ken Eudy) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:09:14 -0400

Lowe's home improvement advertised on a reality TV show "All-American Muslim" until this past weekend. Then came the Florida Family Association.

The FFA, as it calls itself, took out after Lowe's because it advertised on "All-American Muslim," which features "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

The organization has attacked Disney, Target, Macy's, GE, Pepsi and a long list of other companies because they don't measure up to FFA's pristine standards. Which seem to be: white, heterosexual, pious, Christian and politically conservative. FFA traffics in racism, bigotry and fear-mongering.

Okay. Some things can't be helped. But what about Lowe's, the No. 2 home improvement company in America?

Lowe's folded like a cheap suit in the face of FFA's criticism.

The company issued a statement saying that "All-American Muslim" "became a lightning rod for many of those views."

How sad. Companies have a responsibility to shareholders, customers and employees. But do they also have a responsibility to stand up to fear-mongering haters? Which way is Lowe's moral compass pointing?

Why you should root for the 49ers

kjones@capstrat.com (Kendall Jones) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:17:56 -0400

I’m a person who analyzes trends. I’m also a person who loves football. And this year’s 49ers are blowing my mind. Looking at the numbers, the San Francisco 49ers should not have the second-best record in the NFL. Their opponents have more offensive yards, more sacks and more third and fourth down conversions than they do. Season totals can be misleading, but when you see those same trends show up in individual games, it gets even more confusing. When the 49ers beat the New York Giants in week 8, Giants players had more passing yards, rushing yards and receiving yards than any San Francisco player. And yet, the 49ers have nine wins and two losses and could clinch a playoff spot this Sunday. Before I get into why the 49ers are so amazing this year, and why you should root for them, let’s have a little history.

This time last year the 49ers had just three wins and seven losses. Last year, everyone (including me) was wondering why the talent on the team wasn’t generating wins. This year, that same group of players is being described as the best team in football. (Don’t take my word for it. Listen to Super Bowl champion and two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Theismann around the 5:26 mark). So what changed?

One thing: Leadership. Jim Harbaugh took over as head coach. It’s not so much that Harbaugh is a football genius. But as the new head coach, Harbaugh stressed the importance of a team rather than the importance of a player. So many sports teams these days are built on the importance of one player or a small group of players. Remember when everyone was calling the Philadelphia Eagles a “dream team?” That dream team just lost their playoff hopes to the Seattle Seahawks last night. It’s easy to forget NFL teams are actually companies and there is so much “regular” companies can learn from Harbaugh’s leadership style.

San Francisco has good players, but the team as a whole is better than the sum of its parts. The 49ers rarely leave the game in the hands of their defense, or offense, or special teams. Each player takes responsibility—whether the team wins or loses—for their role on the team. (See the recent loss to the Baltimore Ravens). The coaches and leaders help the players develop instead of just telling them what to do. (See Alex Smith). That’s the kind of company I work for and that’s the kind of team you should root for. The 49ers win because they are more than just talented players. They are talented players that work together

A team like that should go to the Super Bowl, if only so you can profile them at your next staff meeting and talk about the importance of team work. Even if the 49ers lose in the first round of the playoffs, the things I’ve learned from watching them for hours this season will not go to waste. And whether you root for them, or just watch them beat your favorite team, I’m sure you’ll learn a little something about team work too.

Will cable and satellite TV follow the landline’s decline?

kalbritton@capstrat.com (Karen Albritton) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:34:30 -0400

The Capstrat employee phone list has three columns of phone numbers – office, home and mobile. We’re a communications agency and we have to be reachable outside of the office. A decade ago most employees listed office and home numbers and a few senior people also had mobile numbers. Then, seemingly overnight, the columns flipped. Most employees listed office and mobile numbers and only a few senior (code word for older) people also had home numbers.

The Capstrat phone list reflected a fundamental shift in the telecom industry – the move away from landlines to mobile phones. The young, mobile millennial generation does not see the need for a landline.

Now there’s another fundamental shift on the horizon for pay TV. According to a recent AdAge article Credit Suisse analysts are projecting 200,000 fewer paying TV customers in 2012 than in 2011. Reports say this is in part attributable to the sluggish economy and slow growth in new households.

But, I had a hunch if you poll those young, mobile millennials in our office who opted for a mobile phone instead of a landline, you’d find trendsetters who today are abandoning traditional cable or satellite television services in favor of online service like Hulu, Netflix or GoogleTV. I asked around and sure enough, there are a small, but growing number who are cutting the cord. It’s even easier with the latest HDTV’s and streaming video set-top boxes like Roku.

You might ask, what about local channels? News? Not a problem. This generation gets plenty of local information and news from social media. Why watch a 30-minute broadcast when you can follow the local affiliates or even celebrity anchors on Twitter and get the important news when it happens? Or catch up on headlines and features via free news apps on a smartphone?

Will this shift happen as quickly as the adoption of mobile phones over landlines? Who knows? But the implications for marketers will be even more significant because this shift will further complicate how you reach this young mobile audience as well as tech-savvy consumers of all ages. Marketers will not only have to track what’s being watched. We’ll also have to track how it’s being watch.

And, we’ll have to track where it’s being watched. This newfound freedom from the cable cord or the satellite dish will enable more viewing in more places. It’s tricky, but we’ve been there before. Remember radio?