Hoping to reach Moms, two different companies selling deli meats have launched new social media campaigns.

Sara Lee “Saga Solver” campaign
Targeting moms with a campaign centered on helping Moms simplify their lives, Sara Lee Deli has launched the “Saga Solver” social media campaign. The campaign follows the initial “Mama Saga” campaign started in 2009.

Spots cover “How to stop being a short order cook” “How to Fix A Broken Sandwich” for a total of 6 videos. Sara Lee hopes to help Moms by educating and entertaining her. But don’t look for it on their website unless you look for the PR release. You’ll find the videos on their Facebook fan page under a video tab. You can also find the videos on YouTube and Yahoo!Video. Second City Communications, the business arm of Second City Theater, created the videos and start by featuring a Mom who was the former host of the Food Network’s “Calling All Cooks” show. Nowhere on the Facebook page can you find an opportunity to post your own Mommy Saga Solver or a way to add to the tips and tricks page. It’s a shame since it was a missed opportunity to truly leverage social media’s strength by providing an opportunity for engagement.

Land O’ Frost “Land O’ Moms” campaign
Joining the long list of companies looking to connect with Moms online, with the launch of Land O’Moms, Land O’ Frost is hoping to connect with Moms through their new community site. The site features recipes, coloring pages, coupons and articles, as well as, three mommy bloggers as brand ambassadors. Jennifer James, the founder of the Mom Bloggers Club; Rachel Matthews, who writes a blog called A Southern Fairytale and has worked for brands like Old Navy and Velveeta; and Audrey McClelland, a founder of the blog MomGenerations.com who has worked for brands like Hanes, Hasbro and Johnson & Johnson.

The site very much feels like a website and not a community site. In fact, you would hardly know it’s a community site except for the headline telling you it is. The focus is on recipes and a coupon download opportunity, not the community dialogue. And the overall look feel very much like a brand website. And the Facebook fan page has postings from the landomoms.con site, but that’s about it.

So the study recently announced by Ruder Finn showing Moms are influenced by the teenagers as their “digital mavens” to join social networks and are using the networks as a new place to engage wasn’t surprising from a personal perspective. But I have to say I never thought about the implications from a brand standpoint.

As Moms are known for making purchases decisions based on the value to the family as a whole, this study introduces a whole new concept for how brands might reach this from a dual target view.

According to the study:
• 91% of mothers have had discussions with their children about online social networking sites and their child’s behavior online

• 57% of mothers are “friends” on the same sites as their children

• 78% of mothers reported that their children did not resist their request to connect online

So for certain brands this could mean an opportunity to reach Moms and influence the next generation. How? By creating digital tools that facilitate the conversation. For example, due to the recession, teens and Moms have discovered a common bond of finding good deals. Jansport integrated facebook into it’s website allowing users to share, rate and comment on products while shopping. It’s a perfect way to also get Mom’s opinion and her approval.

Looking out my window at yet another New York blizzard on Friday as I seriously contemplate taking a much-needed vacation. It’s been almost two years since the family has packed up bags and hit the road. The economy and other extenuating circumstances forced us to table the conversation, but in the course of checking out some vacation possibilities, I came across this WhyMomsRule.com survey.

BOHAN Advertising/Marketing conducted this 2010 survey, and it speaks to the sacrifices Moms are making to guarantee the family vacation this year. And we have to keep in mind Moms make 80% of the purchasing decisions for their families. The survey focuses on moms from Gen Y, Gen X and Baby Boomer categories. According to the survey, her top concerns were cost, safety and time away from work. So to afford the vacation she is making sacrifices. She is cutting back on eating out, spending less on entertainment, and foregoing major purchases.

Moms will also be spending less overall on vacations by choosing closer destinations and opting to stay in less expensive accommodations. Moms who work full-time are hesitant to be away for an extended period so they will take shorter trips. They will choose to drive to a destination rather than fly. Why? Mom is concerned with the safety of our airlines, and surprisingly more concerned with domestic air travel than international travel.

Surprisingly, the study showed 75 percent of the Moms were not using social media for travel planning. This doesn’t make sense when 80% of travel is searched and booked on the Internet. This is what Jamie Dunham of WhyMomsRule.com surmises:

“But while Moms recognize the wealth of information sources, they do not consider all of them reliable. The social media sources that appear to be the most trusted are user review sites such as TripAdvisor. More than 56 percent of Moms rated user reviews as somewhat or very reliable. While all other sources fared worse, the one additional surprise was in mobile usage. Gen Y Moms specifically considered mobile updates just as reliable as blogs.”

How do we see social media becoming a trustworthy and reliable travel research tool? Incorporate reviews and photo sharing while learning from other listening post sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Who is talking about your destination site and what are they saying? Post last minute deals that can be forwarded on to her family and friends. And enhance her visit with the use of a mobile application that puts your information services in the palm of her hand.

The Custom Publishing Council (CPC) just release its numbers for 2009 and there’s some interesting takeaways from the report for agencies looking to hit the sweet spot in the branded content space.  Over half the brands surveyed (54%) are using branded content for awareness-based campaigns while only 21% where concerned with up-selling or short term transactions. Even costumer retention rated low at 25%.  Of the average overall marketing, advertising and communications budgets, branded content accounted for 32% of funds.

This supports the theory that marketers and the agencies that serve them are finally getting the message that long term brand building via relevant, engaging and entertaining content is more effective than trying to bombard the audience with disruptive paid media.  There is an inherent mistrust with most brand messaging, owed to decades of mass media saturation. The road back to positive perception will most likely be paved by not initially subjecting the consumer to transact without a clear entertainment payoff.  In the web video space the popularity of roll-ins and commercials plays within rich media banners will most likely wane in the coming years.  The benefits that these channels provide in measurable reach is increasingly canceled out by their lack of relevance to the consumer.

One problem branded content still faces is the cost associated with “baking in” branding into longer form programs,  especially with web series that could go on for years.  What happens when the one brand looses it’s appetite to fund the content over time and another brand wants to take over?  New technology solutions are now coming onto the scene to address these issues.  One company, Seven Echo http://www.sevenecho.com/,  has created an interesting video delivery platform that allows for contextual “hot spotting” within the video to create ad inventory within programs that can be interchanged as easily as a roll-in.  Much like what Massive did for in-game advertising, Seven Echo uses virtual real estate in webisodes for placing branded messaging.

One thing’s for sure, brands are starting to realize the need to mold messaging to the realities of current on-line behavior (on all devices) and building the trust back with consumers seems to be firmly on the radar.

There’s nothing a Mom likes more than receiving or giving a personalized gift. And this is a great example of a new brand differentiating itself in a highly competitive category.

I stumbled upon this recent article by Ron Callari who asks, “How does a chocolatier break into the crowded “sweets” business – butting up against the likes of Ghiradelli, Hershey and Godiva? Similar to how Mrs. Fields used mail-order as her means of promotion in the 70s, Marcy’s Morsels is using the number tool of the 21st Century – namely social networking.

Since the world of social media can reach hundreds – even thousands of people with the click of a mouse, it is an ideal means of exposing a new product quickly. However, Twitter and Facebook followers are barraged with product launches every day and need to believe in the ‘goods’ before sampling. The ‘wisdom of crowds’ knows the difference between a ’sales pitch’ and a ‘meaningful brand.’ Bearing that in mind, Marcy Wexler Albert took it upon herself to offer personalized chocolate gifts that are appropriate for all holidays.

Personalized gifts are what is going to differentiate Mary’s Morsels from the traditional boxed chocolates! With Marcy’s Morsels, you have the opportunity to be the chocolatier yourself. You can choose your base chocolate and drizzle color over your selection, or let Marcy do the work for you. You can then finish up by designing your own packaging by adding the name of the gift recipient.

As all young start-ups, Marcy presently has a small number of followers on Twitter and Facebook, but plans to ramp it up with her message that chocolate clusters are the sweetest combination of milk, dark or white chocolate, peanut butter, marshmallows, crispy rice cereal, honey oats, almonds and cranberries. Not only do they come wrapped and are stored airtight, they will last up to two weeks at room temperature.

On Twitter you can find Marcy’s Morsels @marcymorsels

On Facebook, check out theses sweet clusters here.

And with Easter and Mother’s Day fast approaching, Marcy’s Morsels’ Springtime Cluster is a great add-on to those kids’ Easter baskets and that special personalized gift for Mom. It’s a Crispy Cluster all dressed up it its Sunday’s best! This is a great way to shake off those winter blues and take a bite out of these new tasty ‘morsels’ that will be sweeping the social media channels – a special treat that would even put a smile on Mrs. Fields face!

(As a testament to the use of social media, here’s how I came across the J&R blog posting:

• Back in March, I saw a cab pass by the office window with a sign reading “J&R: Complicating Divorce Proceedings Since 1971”
• I tweeted about said sign and the clever slogan
• Jrblog re-tweeted and followed me
• I followed jrblog
• Jrblog tweeted about their blog post
• I read said blog post and created my own blog entry referencing it

It’s a social media love connection, right? Anyway, back to the subject at hand…)

In his post, Dr. Iz analyzes the ACSI E-Commerce Report done by Fore-See Results, in which they surveyed nearly 10,000 e-retail visitors and finds that:

• 56% of shoppers to top e-retail websites who interact with social media websites have elected to “friend” or “follow” or “subscribe” to a retailer on a social networking site like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
• Facebook is, by far, the best place to reach shoppers–both because it’s where they already are, and it’s where they want to hear from retailers.
• Customers mainly interact with retailers on social media sites to learn about products and promotions – a marketer’s dream come true.

Dr. Iz believes these results validate the use of social media by brands, and I agree. He continues:

Of the 69% of online shoppers who say they use social media sites, more than half (56%) choose to proactively interact with companies on social sites by “friending” or   “following” at least one retailer. This is an amazing testament to customer loyalty and interest in social engagement.

Personally, I always look up my favorite brands on Facebook and Twitter. As an avid online shopper, I love finding brands that understand how to engage with their audiences- especially in the form of discounts and incentives. Nothing gets me to spend money more than the lure of free stuff, because I really love free stuff. I also love being privy to private sales and feeling as though my favorites brands are looking out for my best interests. And let me tell you, sales and free stuff are quite relevant to my interests. Have I mentioned that yet?

Creating an open connection with brands via social media also brings about customer satisfaction, according to Iz:

The highest levels of satisfaction with retailers’ own sites were found among shoppers who interacted on the largest numbers of social media sites. In fact, site visitors who also interact with a company on a social media site are more satisfied, more committed to the brand, and more likely to make future purchases from that company.

The consumer has the advantage when they have a public social media relationship with a brand. For instance, if I complain about a brand on my Twitter page, that complaint will be permanently stamped on the web and will come up in searches of the brand name for years to come. Obviously, brands do not want this to happen, and they will make sure any recorded complaints are followed up with recorded resolutions. Better yet, brands will work harder to prevent these issues from occurring at all within their loyal, publicly vocal customer base.

Defining social media ROI will always require further study, but creating a following of loyal customers is certainly a step in the right direction for any brand. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter facilitate the connection between brand and consumer by providing both with a channel for open communication. Now it’s up to brands to leverage these social media connections to translate loyalty into sales.

As the CEO of KickApps, Alex is responsible for building a world class technology, marketing, business development, finance, and operations team with the goal of providing web publishers the tools to easily enable their sites with User Generated Content, Social Networking, Premium Video, and Content Syndication capabilities.

Before joining KickApps, Alex was President and COO of JumpTV, a leading Multi-Cultural Internet Protocol Television Network. Prior to JumpTV Alex spent 8 years at AOL most recently as the Vice President of Product Marketing for AOL’s Audience business where Alex and his team were responsible for re-launching the AOL Portal and delivering an entire suite of web-based applications including: AOL’s Video Player, Video Portal, Streaming Video advertising platform, AIM and AIMpages social networking service. Prior to that, Alex was General Manager of AOLTV, where he established strategic relationships with DirecTV, TiVo, OpenTV and Philips Electronics. Prior to joining AOL, Alex spent ten years in the software industry participating in three successful startup opportunities.

Alex has an MBA from the Albers School of Business at Seattle University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado.

KickApps provides on-demand social media, online video and widget applications that enable web publishers and marketers to grow, engage and monetize online audiences. Its SaaS platform includes social networking, user-generated content, programmable video players, drag-and-drop widget building, WidgeADs™ and other applications that are tightly integrated with robust media moderation, member management and reporting. The KickApps Platform seamlessly integrates with any website using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, feeds, Widgets and APIs (REST and SOAP). Customers include: SOAPnet, CW Television, Guinness World Records, Scripps Network Interactive, HBO, Cinemax, Cox Television, the Phoenix Suns, the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers and thousands of other sites.

Here’s are the five most poignant and entertaining decks created on the topic of measuring the impact Social Media has on ROI.  Things I’m looking for are:

• good balance between conceptual and tactical
• shows a discernible link between common business mandates and social metrics
• case studies are a plus
• leaves us with actionable techniques
• entertaining
• fresh prospective

1. So, first up is Olivier Blanchard’s “Basics of Social Media ROI.  This presentation uses  frame grabs from old “B” grade Sci Fi movies to tell a very clear story about the “why’s” and the “how’s” of implementing a social media program.  It has a great conceptual set up, a clearly defined cast of stakeholders, defines the critical  linkage issues between latency business conceptions and emerging business drivers and has clear illustrations of impact.  Best of all, it’s really damn funny.

Olivier Blanchard’s Basics of Social Media ROI

http://www.slideshare.net/thebrandbuilder/olivier-blanchard-basics-of-social-media-roi

2. Next is from Yongfolk of Egg Co. out of Tokyo.  Yongfolk does a good job of setting the stage for Social Media ROI then backing it up with some interesting case studies from the likes of Burger King, Starbucks, Copyblogger, Dell Outlet and Rackspace.

Social Media ROI

http://www.slideshare.net/yongfook/social-media-roi

3.  Meteor Solutions came out with pretty extensive look at Social media ROI and what it lacks in entertainment value, it more than makes up for it in deep analysis of tactics, formulas and measurement criteria. This one goes deep so commit some time to understanding the hidden treasures and solid insights.

Measuring Social Media ROI – Meteor Solutions Webinar

http://www.slideshare.net/bstraley/measuring-social-media-roi-meteor-solutions-webinar

4. While Paul Gillin has created the ultimate social media RIO “frankendeck” by liberally “borrowing” from other’s (all properly credited),  he has none the less stitched together a very comprehensive story here.  He’s got insight and provides the glue that makes this one compelling. Good case studies as well

Unraveling the Mystery of Social Media ROI

http://www.slideshare.net/pgillin/unraveling-the-mystery-of-social-media-roi

5. Scott Schablow from Provenance Digital Media has packed in an impressive amount of case studies, measurement tools and actionable information in this classic social media ROI deck from way back (almost nine months to be exact).

The Hunt For Social Media ROI

http://www.slideshare.net/sschablow/metrics-measurement

Digital Beat’s LeeAnn Prescott recently posted a blog featuring some terrific data that shows the penetration rates of various social networks.  In her post she highlights December 2009 data from comScore that puts Facebook’s unique US visitor count at nearly 112 million. With a total estimated US Internet population of 205 million, that means that 54% of all Internet users are on Facebook. MySpace captured a still strong 57 million users in December — 27% of the Internet population.

Some surprises in the comScore data -

• Facebook users were more engaged than MySpace users, visiting Facebook an average of 27 times in December versus 14 for MySpace.
• Tagged, MyYearbook, and Orkut users were the most active, visiting those sites about every other day or more.
• MyYearbook and Tagged users spent 2 minutes longer on average on those sites than the average Facebook user.

Experian Hitwise offered trend data that demonstrates how big social networking has become:

• One in four (25%) US Internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in December 2009, up 83% from 13.8% in December 2008.
• Nearly one in 10 visits went to one of these sites in December 2009, versus 5.8% in December 2008.
• MySpace and Facebook virtually flipped positions over the course of a year — in December 2009, visits to Facebook accounted for 68% of visits to a custom category of 10 social networks, compared to MySpace’s 28%. In December 2008, Facebook had 29% of visits and MySpace had 64%.
• Facebook drove category growth, with its overall market share growing 286% from December 2008 to December 2009.
• The only other site to grow in market share in that period was Tagged, whose overall share grew by 35%.

When taken in sum, these data suggest that all of the attention directed toward Facebook in the past year is warranted. But the 57 million highly engaged users on MySpace are nothing to sneeze at, and the second-tier networks have millions of users. Expect them to begin to integrate with Facebook or MySpace over the course of the next year, just as vertically oriented sites have done (Flixster, a movie review social network is integrated with MySpace, and Goodreads, a site where users share book recommendations, is integrated with Facebook).

There’s no shame in doing what you do best, keeping your users happy, and allowing them to grow their network by sharing their activities on the largest social networking site in the world.

Social media has changed consumer’s relationships with brands. Brands and consumers are now able to communicate on a human level. And nothing is more focused on relationships than Valentine’s Day. So what a great opportunity for brands to connect with women and Moms and show some love for them and the world they live in.

It’s not too late. You can still be a Tweetheart. Schedule your love for your customers by sending them new reasons for loving your brand. You can set it all up in advance to automatically tweet. Be sure to include hashtags: Your one-stop #V-Day #shop! Receive #FreeShipping, #FreeCard. And be sure to intersperse the messages with just helpful tips. It shouldn’t be all sales driven or she will think it’s spam.

Take a look at what others are doing.

• The Sweethearts iPhone app allows you to share personalized Sweethearts candies via Twitter—you can create, order and share Sweethearts with creative and special messages.

• Target is splitting $1 million across five different charities that support educational programming. The online community can decide how those funds are allocated by sending cute, interactive Valentine’s Day cards. If you go to Facebook.com/Target and click on the Super Love Sender tab, you can start the process of sending a JibJab-like, NFL- and Valentine-themed greeting card. Before you start creating the card, you can choose from one of five charities that you think should get the most money.

• Joe On The Move is a Operation Valentines Connection campaign to raise $50,000 to provide free 5-minute phone cards to thousands of soldiers, so they can call their loved ones.

• WithLuv.com is a social community focused on love and romance. To enter, simply become a fan on Facebook and submit an entry via their promotions tab or sign up for a free membership at withluv.com. One grand prize winner will be selected to receive a $200 Vistoria’s Secret gift certificate. What could be more fitting for Valentine’s Day?

• OpenTable.com is giving away 5 limousine rides for the perfect Valentine’s Day date. To enter to win, follow @OpenTable on Twitter and watch out for their giveaway tweet of the day. Tweet back your reply and stay tuned. One limousine is being be awarded to one entrant, chosen at random, for five straight days. Winners will be announced the following day on Twitter.

• American Greetings is hosting a “Follow the Love,” contest which includes daily questions to be answered by Tweeps. A winning tweet will be selected daily (until February 12th) to win a $100 gift card to American Greetings and a $250 cash gift card. After the contest ends on February 12th, one grand prize winner will win $1000.

Just be sure to keep your social media relationship going beyond Valentine’s Day, then your customers will really love you.

Budgets across many industries are being moved more traditional media to social media. And everywhere companies are scrambling to get on the marketing-to-women, and specifically Moms, bandwagon.

But for many brands, it’s a mere toe in the water as they analyze the cost benefit of doing so. Few brands are fearless like Pepsi who has taken its entire advertising budget usually spent on the Super Bowl and put it against social media. And mavericks like E.L.F cosmetics are rare where there is no traditional media and social media drives everything.

Brands live in fear because they believe social networks are a place where anyone can say anything they want about the brand and it’s products–good and bad. However, even if a brand chooses stay out on the sidelines, conversations are happening all around them. Traditional media has always given a brand a sense of control over their objectives while social media feels a bit like a cowboy in the Wild West. Add to it the fact that Moms are natural conversationalists with passions and strong feelings and you have brands full of trepidation. What will they say?

But by choosing to not participate, brands are missing an opportunity to talk to with their prospects and customers. Many brands have turned negative dialogue into positive customer service experiences that can create avid brand advocates. And Moms are not destructive. Their intent is to inform and be helpful. Brands that reach out to her, listen and respond will find themselves with loyal brand advocates.

Websites are no longer destination sites and social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter are terrific conversation vehicles to drive site traffic. Better still is the opportunity to use digital tools like widgets to port content from a website to where the conversation is taking place. So let’s explode a few myths abut social media.

Social media is eavesdropping on people.

Maybe to some extent, but by their very nature, the conversations are being put out there because people want to be heard. And those dialogues are invaluable research that is naturally occurring as opposed to more traditional research that is controlled and scientifically structured. The real shame is a brand listening in on a conversation and then not joining the conversation in a real, genuine way.

Social media is only for young people.

Actually 2009 was the year Baby Boomers flocked to social media according to Deloitte, “State of Media Democracy Fourth Edition. They love Facebook and have chosen Facebook as their new hobby. And when it comes to twitter, boomers reported tweeting in percentages comparable to Gen X and Y users.

Social media isn’t measureable.

There has been much debate over the measurability of social media. If that is the case then maybe it is time to call on a new social media partner. But perhaps we should look at it from a different perspective. 

Case in point is Starbucks. To start, they have over 705,000 followers on twitter and 5,428,000 fans on Facebook. Starbucks social media efforts consist of being deep in the conversation with their consumers, answering questions and speaking to their audience and doing so consistently. They invite people to events, share video content, support charities. And they’ve made their content portable so their audience can carry their message to anywhere they like. They surprise, they delight and they are highly engaged with their audiences 

So for brands looking at social media relax and remember: “Those brands that have embraced social media wholeheartedly have garnered much success.”