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Milk-Bone Ties Social Media To Integrated Canine Assistants Campaign

socialmediaBiz — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:26:26 +0000

EMARKETER — Del Monte Foods is known for several of its heritage brands, including Contadina, College Inn, Kibbles ‘n Bits, Meow Mix, 9Lives and Pup-Peroni. The portfolio also contains Milk-Bone, the dog biscuit brand that is over 100 years old and undertook its first social media marketing program in September 2009. Milk-Bone teamed up with its longtime charitable partner, Canine Assistants, on a campaign called "It’s Good to Give." The brand gave a percentage of every box purchased to the Atlanta-based nonprofit, which trains and provides service dogs to people with disabilities or other special needs...

Your Brand On Facebook: TMI?

socialmediaBiz — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:21:26 +0000

MEDIAPOST — Yesterday morning, I logged into Facebook (as I do each morning) and saw a post from my cousin's wife that my cousin had suffered a major heart attack the night before and had open-heart surgery. Thankfully, he will be ok, but the shock of this happening to my cousin at such a young age was intense. His father wasn't too thrilled to learn this had been posted on Facebook before he had a chance to let family and friends know what was going on. He was fairly upset that another family member put it out on Facebook but concluded, due to her age, "That's just this generation, I guess." We are living in a time where generations are divided about what constitutes too much information, or "TMI"...

10 Steps To Building Successful Online Communities

socialmediaBiz — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:17:26 +0000

BLAISE GRIMES-VIORT — Following on from my article "10 key guiding principles for online community building and engagement", here is an overview of the steps you need to follow to build a strong, sustainable community. There are a number of questions your should ask yourself before launching a new community, and the first one is: Why?...

Facebook Advertising Will Perform In 2011

socialmediaBiz — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:14:50 +0000

E-CONSULTANCY.COM — The UK’s online advertising spend increased 10% to nearly £2bn in the first half of 2010 according to the IAB. For the first time the survey estimated spend on social networks, at 3% of total online spend. Though that’s a rough-and-ready figure, it probably represents around £40-50m in the first 6 months of 2010. There’s no doubt in my mind that a lot of that social spend is going on Facebook and we’ll see that increase considerably through 2011. The reason? Facebook is building a powerful performance marketing channel that takes advantage of the enormous amount of user data they have. Precisely targeted ads, priced by advertisers through an auction system can be shown to any of Facebook’s 500m active users...

How To Build A Booming Online Community (Video)

socialmediaBiz — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:11:44 +0000

MYCUSTOMER.COM — Lyle Fong cut his teeth in the online community space by driving the development of Gamers.com, which would become the number one independent gaming portal. Fong subsequently co-founded Lithium Technologies, which was recently awarded leader status by Gartner in its inaugural Social CRM Magic Quadrant. Here, Lyle Fong shares his tips on developing a thriving online community...

Jim Beam Black Fires Up Online 'Bonfire'

socialmediaBiz — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:08:15 +0000

MEDIAPOST — Jim Beam Black Double Aged Bourbon is building on its "8 Years Changes Everything" advertising campaign -- which spotlights the spirit's eight-year aging process -- with a bonfire-themed, Facebook-hosted online game and sweepstakes. Beamfire.com, which goes live on Oct. 15, will offer legal-age consumers the opportunity to symbolically discard aspects of their lives that they have outgrown over the past eight years by "throwing" photos or text descriptions of these into a virtual bonfire...

Pepsi To Emphasize Geo-Social In 2011

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:11:25 +0000

CLICKZ — The "huge amount of votes" that Pespi Refresh Everything participants have submitted on their cell phones will lead to a heavier mobile emphasis for that initiative next year, according to Shiv Singh, head of digital at PepsiCo. In an interview with ClickZ, Singh said the beverages company will do more geo-social marketing, while also premiering a Refresh Everything iPhone app within the next month. "One thing we are looking for as we move into 2011 is figuring out what is the best way to use Foursquare," he said. "We already have a relationship with Foursquare; we've done some different tests. But we are trying to discover how we can more strategically leverage Foursquare and maybe even Stickybits"...

How Much Are Social Media Shares Worth?

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:28:54 +0000

MASHABLE — Popular event ticketing site Eventbrite used its in-house social analytics tools to study the effects Facebook shares, tweets and other social sharing behaviors have on ticket purchases. Looking at data from the past 12 weeks in aggregate, Eventbrite found that each social media share equates to $1.78 in ticket sales, with Facebook shares proving to be the most lucrative. As such, Eventbrite believes social commerce -- or transactions driven through sharing on social platforms -- to be the next big trend in online commerce...

Study: 64% Of CEOs Not Bothering With Social Media Engagement

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:25:43 +0000

MARKETING PILGRIM — Weber Shandwick is one of my favorite PR firms because Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross–its Chief Reputation Strategist–is a kindred spirit, when it comes to reputation management. In particular, she’s fascinated by the role of the CEO in a company’s reputation management efforts and her latest report, Socializing Your CEO, does a great job of analyzing the social media habits of CEOs of the world’s largest 50 companies. What did Web Shandwick learn about the top CEOs of the world?...

Social Media Program Execution (Report)

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:16:54 +0000

RADIAN6 BLOG — A strategy is only as good as its execution. No, really. If you’ve come around here a few times before, you’ve probably noticed that we’re huge proponents of social media strategy development, program planning, and regular reassessment and tweaking of those things. But none of that matters if you can’t actually execute on the plans you’ve made. And, despite what you hear out there on the Internet, truly successful social media listening, measurement, and engagement takes time and resources; the good stuff is neither free nor easy. So, in October, we’re heeding the message of this post’s first line and sharing all sorts of information with you about how to actually move from planning to doing. And we’re starting with the October eBook...

Not Your Father’s CRM...This One’s Social!

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:15:56 +0000

DIGITAL INFLUENCE BLOG — We have been hearing a lot about the idea of Social CRM or sCRM as the next big wave in the customer relationship lifecycle. As more and more of us move our interactions not only with each other, but with brands to the online arena, many brands are scrambling to put in place the people and processes required to engage with today’s social customer. I recently read that the social customer is the one who owns the relationship, and that it is the job of the brand to earn the customer’s trust. While this may not seem like a far departure from traditional customer relationship management (CRM), the process of managing, massaging and nurturing these relationships has shifted dramatically. So what is Social CRM and how does it differ from Traditional CRM?...

5 Rules For Integrating Ads Into Social Games

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:15:07 +0000

IMEDIA CONNECTION — With 56.8 million consumers, or 20 percent of the U.S. population, playing social games (NPD Group), marketers need to have a social game strategy. Unfortunately, most marketers don't know how to successfully integrate their brand message into this incredibly dynamic and personal space. While engaging consumers through social games and turning them into passionate brand advocates is possible, there are certain rules to live by. In this article, we'll take a look at those rules...

5 Reasons Web Marketers Fail With Viral Video Campaigns

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:34:22 +0000

THE SOCIAL TIMES — You’ve slaved away, put your blood and sweat into creating what you think is surely going to be one of the most popular online video campaigns of all time. You upload it to YouTube, you post it on your Facebook and tweet it to your friends and you wait. And then you wait some more. And some more. And you wonder to yourself, where did I go wrong? Why isn’t anybody watching my amazingly awesome viral video? Unfortunately, this story is all too familiar to many online marketers and video creators. That’s why we’ve put together a list of five likely reasons why your online video campaign isn’t going viral...

Design Then Buy Your Dream Bracelet With Pandora’s Facebook App

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:28:58 +0000

INSIDE FACEBOOK — The Pandora Bracelet Designer application lets users design a high quality silver or gold bracelet with accompanying precious and semi-precious charms right on Facebook. Once your bracelet is complete there’s a variety of ways to interact with your design, ranging from sharing on Facebook or Twitter to purchasing the bracelet in a Pandora store. It’s a good example of how a higher-end retailer is using Facebook to create a social buying experience. The experience seems to be resonating with users, too...

Building A Great Social Media Strategy

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:26:42 +0000

E-CONSULTANCY.COM — When I’m writing about social media, I always try to hammer home the importance of transparency: Clear and open communication with clients by members of staff at all levels. Unfortunately there are times when this isn’t appropriate. There are hierarchies of information and responsibility in any company, which means social media expansion often requires a clear policy so that anyone with access to social media (which means everyone) stays on message and doesn’t accidentally destroy a lovingly crafted campaign with an ill-advised tweet. In order to roll out a social program across an entire company, you need to train and educate across your organization, and a properly honed policy is a good way to begin. Here area few quick points to consider when putting together a general use policy that will help you ensure maximum engagement and minimum risk...

How The Social Landscape Will Change Search – A Report From 360i

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:22:30 +0000

DIGITAL CONNECTIONS — Yesterday, Bing and Facebook made a joint announcement regarding a significant milestone in their partnership. Moving forward, Bing will be integrating Facebook as a social layer within its search results – initially around people-based searches, but with upcoming extensions to Product, Local and Video searches as well. The partnership, which dates back to 2007 when Facebook had "only" 7 million users, has now reached a new level. As the press event, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg rationalized Bing as an obvious partner on the grounds that they are "underdogs," and "innovative." However, it was implied that this social integration to search is not exclusive to Bing, but that the Redmond giant proved to be the most suited early beneficiary of this social context...

Social Media Mission Control, The Contact Center Must Evolve

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:17:52 +0000

WEB STRATEGY — Customers have been blessed –and cursed– by call centers where customers call into customer support phone lines when they have woes to solve. Now, expect similar strategies to now use Social CRM technologies (read the report) to first listen to customers where they already are, and respond in real time. In fact we know of Gatorade being the first to launch their Mission Control center (see video below) and Dell’s head of Social Media, Manish Mehta, announced at our conference last week they are going to launch the Dell Social Media Mission Control center at their HQ. Social media is not just a ‘new channel’ where existing processes are applied, there are significant changes required in approach or risk public customer backlash, support teams must be aware of the following changes:...

Buy Your Friends Starbucks On Facebook

socialmediaBiz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:14:27 +0000

MASHABLE — The generous types among us now have a convenient way to treat friends to Starbucks from afar. Facebook members can credit their friends’ Starbucks cards without ever leaving the site, thanks to an update added today to the Starbucks Card Facebook application. "Give a Gift" is the new feature that makes the Facebook exchange of Starbucks currency possible. Starbucks Card Facebook application users in the U.S. and Canada can use the application to load between $5 and $500 to a friend’s registered Starbucks Card...

Corona Light Aims To Be 'Most Liked'

socialmediaBiz — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:57:25 +0000

MEDIAPOST — Crown Imports' marketing push to make Corona Light the beer of choice for active men and women aged 21 to 29 is moving into social media, with an ambitious Facebook initiative that includes featuring fans' photos on a 150-foot digital billboard in Manhattan's Times Square. The program, from the brand's digital agency of record, Pereira & O'Dell, frankly declares its goal of making Corona Light the "Most Liked Light Beer" on Facebook. The efforts to woo active young adults to sign on as fans on the brand's Facebook page span display ads, digital out-of-home, search marketing and other social media...

We Were Right, Most Social Media Numbers Are Useless!

socialmediaBiz — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:53:26 +0000

MACK COLLIER.COM — Yesterday I posted two examples of how some social media numbers are completely useless. One of the examples was how I have almost 22,000 followers on Twitter, and yet I rarely get 1-2% of them to click on any link I share on Twitter. I said we’d check out my traffic from yesterday and see what level of engagement I would have with those 22,000 followers. Here’s the traffic sites from yesterday according to Google Analytics:...

The Rocky Road Ahead For Facebook Places

socialmediaBiz — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:48:56 +0000

E-CONSULTANCY.COM — As a big fan of location-based applications (I'm currently 'checking in' at various locations on five different apps...!) I have of course been watching the launch and subsequent spread of Facebook Places with great interest. Now that the first batch of dust has had a chance to settle, I wanted to look in a bit more detail at some of the hurdles 'Places' may face in the coming months, if past experience is to be believed. Applications like FourSquare, Gowalla, Yelp and SCVNGR have all gone through (or are going through) teething troubles and often come out the other side much stronger. Most commentators have speculated that Facebook's massive userbase alone will be enough for them to trounce all other applications with very little effort...

When Networking Falls Short, Your [Lack of] Success Will Follow

socialmediaBiz — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:45:06 +0000

TECHIPEDIA — Tools are a wonderful part of today’s information age, but if you’re going to use "social networks" or that thing we call "social media," it’s important to remember the common denominator: the social. Without an understanding of your community and an understanding of the influencers, you’re destined for failure. There’s no question about it. Social networks become popular because of the people using them. Social media "experts" recommend Twitter and Facebook because they know there’s a critical mass there to reach a desired audience. Of course, there are other sites, but these individuals know one thing: that there are people there who are willing to listen, just as long as you are willing to make a true effort to interact. You need to work to see results...

How To Integrate Video Into Your Social Media Marketing

socialmediaBiz — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:43:17 +0000

SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMINER — Video is hot! It adds a whole new dimension to your marketing. Are you looking to use video with your social media efforts, but feel a bit stuck? In this episode of Social Media Examiner TV, Mari Smith shares important tips, creative ideas and what you need to know to integrate video into your social media marketing. Also be sure to catch her ninja marketing tip at the end of the video. Be sure to share your feedback and see the show notes with lots of useful links below...

Study: 82% Of U.S. Consumers Bail On Brands After Bad Customer Service

socialmediaBiz — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:40:14 +0000

TECHCRUNCH — The spotlight -- or maybe the flood light -- shines on bad customer service online. Companies should worry about public complaints and reports of their brand failures more than ever, suggests a new report from RightNow and Harris Interactive. Contrarily, they stand to make more money if they can deliver a superior experience, the report says. The Customer Experience Impact 2010 report reveals that 82% of consumers in the U.S. said they’ve stopped doing business with a company due to a poor customer service experience. Of these, 73% cited rude staff as the primary pain point, and 55% said a company’s failure to resolve their problems in a timely manner drove them away...

OpinionLab Enters Social Media Monitoring Arena

socialmediaBiz — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:32:02 +0000

THE SOCIAL TIMES — OpinionLab’s [+] feedback symbol has been adopted by hundreds of brands and implemented on more than 6,500 websites worldwide. Millions of consumers each month provide their opinions using the company’s opt-in, open-ended feedback system originally patented for websites. In today’s announcement of Social Media Monitor, OpinionLab states that the new product enables companies to capture and analyze consumers’ social media conversations using the same methodology as its opt-in web and mobile solutions...

Alberto Culver’s Video Case Study: Making The Most Out Of Facebook For Brands

socialmediaBiz — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 20:11:15 +0000

Alberto Culver: Making the Most Out of Facebook for Brands, presented by Stephen Strong and Brandy Ruff from GasPedal on Vimeo.

Food, Drink And Entertainment Top Brand Discussions

socialmediaBiz — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 19:46:03 +0000

EMARKETER — The first edition of "TalkTrack Great Britain," commissioned by Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), News International and ESPN from Keller Fay Group, was the UK pilot of a study carried out in the US since 2006. TalkTrack surveys aim to discover how much consumers are influenced by word-of-mouth discussions about brands. Keller Fay analyzed 14,000 brand conversations by 2,500 adults during two weeks in May 2010. Subjects recorded details of their talk about brands, such as when and how these discussions took place, which media were mentioned, and what the prevailing mood of each conversation was...

How Size Matters In The Social Media ROI Debate

socialmediaBiz — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 19:42:34 +0000

CONVINCE & CONVERT — "ROI in social media is a luxury. And the only brands that can accept that are likely to be big ones with multi-platform marketing budgets. The larger the brand, the more likely they are to use social media without concerning themselves with its dollar ROI, when goodwill for them, is priceless. With mid-level brands the debate becomes more acute because the marketing budget is more thinly spread. And as for small brands, there’s no debate at all. For the most part, all they have is social media – so ROI is a matter of hope rather than measurable statistics." That was a comment I added to a great post from Matt Ridings called “Is Our Addiction to ROI Killing Social Media” on Convince & Convert. Understanding this equation goes to the very heart of modern marketing, not merely within social media but across the entire spectrum of marketing disciplines...

Why Marketers Shouldn't Give Up On Twitter

socialmediaBiz — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:19:07 +0000

MEDIAPOST — There has been much debate recently about whether or not Twitter is a meaningful tool for brands. But there's no doubt that consumers and marketers are having real, two-way conversations through Twitter that are producing measurable results for brands like Dell and Best Buy. Consumers want to communicate with brands -- and with the recent proliferation of participatory digital platforms, access to them and other consumers is easier than ever before...

Too Many Social Media Numbers Are Completely Useless

socialmediaBiz — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:10:53 +0000

MACK COLLIER.COM — And you and I will prove this together. As soon as I publish this post, I am going to tweet out the link to my 22,000 followers on Twitter. When that happens, click this link to see what SiteMeter says the traffic looks like for today. This will give us a good idea of how many of the 22,000 people following me on Twitter are REALLY following me and what level of engagement I have with those 22,000 people. I can tell you right now that at best probably 1 or 2 percent of those people will click that link I tweet out. Think about that, of the 22,000 people following me, only 1 or 2 percent are likely to click on a link I share...