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• Social Media “Ludicrously Complicated”… Just like every other business sector
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 11:00 am on May 21, 2012 | 1 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Social Business (6), WOM and Social Networks (700), WOM Trends (737)

  Last week, investment bank Luma Partners and software developer Buddy Media released an infographic that examined the complex relationship between all the different social properties.

  Click image for full size.

  

  Joe Chernov at Eloqua took issue with describing different social media properties as more complex than any other type of business. For instance:

  “Consider the automotive rental sector. The industry is comprised of complex relationships between and among auto manufacturers, rental fleets, used car dealers, delivery services, repair shops, aftermarket equipment manufacturers and suppliers, limo services, lease companies, loyalty/points systems, shuttle services, insurance carriers, and logistics specialists.”

  Key Takeaway: This is what industries look like when they mature – Lots of companies, different services, all competing and maturing the industry in the process. It’s called social business folks.

  Read Joe’s full argument at It’s All About Revenue, Eloqua’s blog.

  And check out Luma’s other graphics about mobile, digital capital, video, search and display. They’re very well done.

  

  

   

  • Christian Plewacki 1:02 pm on May 21, 2012 Permalink
    

    An accurate takeaway. People need to realize that, despite the ever-growing number of social media channels, the practice of social media marketing need not be confusing or “ludicrously complicated.” The fact is, anyone who hopes to be successful in business and marketing simply must adopt. Eventually, it will come down to sink or swim. But ultimately YOU are in control of how (and how much) you utilize the myriad of social media platforms available today. Come on, old schoolers…it’s not as complicated as the infographic makes it appear.

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• Talkable is Conditional
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 10:55 am on May 21, 2012 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Creative WOM Ideas (256), WOM How-to (591)

  John Moore has been producing a weekly video series on being Talkable. The episode this week, Talkable is Conditional, shows how brands can break from their ruts and become talkable.

  

  Key Takeaway: If you aren’t Talkable now, you aren’t going to be without a little change. Get creative. Break your mold. Surprise your customers. Take some advice from Bonnie Raitt.

  Watch John’s full series at Brand Autopsy

  

  

   

• The Best Call-to-Action I’ve Seen All Year
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 10:52 am on May 21, 2012 | 1 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Creative WOM Ideas (256), International (112), Mobile Marketing (65)

  Coca-Cola Columbia needed to promote their new online radio station, Coke FM. Naturally, they promoted it with a concert. Unnaturally, concert goers had to download songs from Coke FM to get the band closer to them.

  

  Results:

  • 16 million people reached
  • 50,000 downloads in one hour
  • 800% increase in website interaction
  • 337% more website visitors

  Read more at Digital Buzz Blog

  

  

   

  • iphone 3g unlock 7:12 pm on May 22, 2012 Permalink
    

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• 8 Essential Qualities of a Community Manager
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 10:06 am on May 18, 2012 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Community Management (133)

  Is your community manager a jack of all trades? A Renaissance man or woman? The person you go to when you don’t even know what question to ask? They should be.

  You can’t just be great at social media or PR or marketing. A whole suite of skills is necessary.

  Trish Forant at Radian6 found eight must-have skills for any community manager:

  1. A willingness to learn – Ignorance doesn’t fly in community management. Your community members use all the tools available to them to express their worries and compliments. Knowing how to communicate universally is key and that only comes with an eagerness to learn.

  2. Passion – The best community managers are also members of the community. They understand not only the lingo, but why certain things are particularly important. They respond accordingly. And the community grows because of this.

  3. Storytelling – Stories bring together otherwise uninteresting information. A community needs to stay informed and engaged. Without stories, it’s hard to do both.

  Read the five other qualities at Radian6

  

  

   

• [Infographic] Instagram Nation
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 9:54 am on May 18, 2012 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Infographic (22), Mobile Marketing (65), WOM and Social Networks (700), WOM Trends (737)

  Digital Buzz Blog posted a great infographic from Online Colleges that showed how mobile, social media, and photos are becoming more intertwined.

  

  Key Takeaway: Mobile will play a huge part in content consumption and creation. Create sharable experiences to ride the mobile photo wave.

  See the whole infographic at Digital Buzz Blog

  

  

   

• Four Social Media No-Nos
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 9:50 am on May 18, 2012 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Community Management (133)

  Everyone needs a reminder now and again. Ted Rubin penned some essential community management no-nos on Collective Bias’ blog:

  1. Broadcasting – People have decided to follow your brand because, yes, they have some sort of affinity for your products/services. But they don’t want to hear about them all the time. Audit your posts and make sure most are content-based.

  2. Immediately Taking Issues Offline – If someone tweets a complaint, tweet back a solution. Only take it offline if it can’t be resolved online.

  3. No Personality – A brand needs a voice. Even if you have a few community managers covering different times of the day or week, a consistent voice creates a familiar and comfortable atmosphere for your community. That is what you want, right?

  4. Direct Marketing on Social Media – There’s a time and place for everything. Mail a great DM flyer. Run a great community. Don’t let the two mix.

  Read his insights in more depth at Collective Bias

  

  

   

• Takeaways & Summer Reading from WOMM-U
  
  

  admin 9:57 am on May 16, 2012 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Advocacy (3), Community Management (133), Content Marketing (62), School of WOM (136), WOMM-U (30), WOMMA Events (100)

  WOMM-U may be over but the buzz is still viral as companies across the globe share their unique experiences.

  Brains on Fire President Robin Phillips and her team joined us in Chicago as they hosted two WOMM-U sessions, one of which featured the highly anticipated “10 Rules for your Community to Survive a Zombie Attack” presentation. Despite blood and guts on the screen, the room had a “think to yourself moment” after one attendee said, “you need to be lovable to be loved.” Is your brand lovable?

  

  WOMMA’s first ever Twitter Chat was a success thanks to Spredfast’s Jordan Slabaugh and Courtney Doman, but during WOMM-U, they co-hosted a packed session, “Social Media Across the Enterprise” with Aramark’s Tom Carusona and Whole Food’s Natanya Anderson. However, the Spredfast team hit the stage for our comedy hour session with Second City. Hear what Courtney thought about her “Will-Ferrell-in-Old-School-esque blackout” moment.

  

  Paul Adams’s, Steve Knox’s and Kristina Halvorson’s keynote presentations generated a lot of buzz in the Twitter and blogosphere. Likeable Media’s Jenna Lebel outlined her “4 Truths About Customer Advocacy,” and highlighted Knox’s main point that 100% of advocacy happens when we disrupt schemas. As is the norm, airplanes don’t land on water; however, people are still talking about Captain Sullenberger’s successful landing on the Hudson because it disrupted our schema. Great example Steve.

  

  Mr. Youth’s David Yarus, who generates word of mouth by just stepping into a room, provided us yet again with one of the best WOMM-U videos. Check it out.

  

  The Three Big Takeaways:

  1. Social Media has opened a huge new world of communication, but it hasn’t replaced the value of true face-to-face conversations (as is outlined in Ed Keller’s and Brad Fay’s new book set to hit the shelves May 22).

  2. Content has been a beast that grows and grows. The Content Strategist tames that beast.

  3. Word of mouth marketers have a sweet tooth. Attendees are still coming down from a sugar high after consuming over 300 pounds of candy!

  Want to recapture the moments of WOMM-U? The WOMMA Facebook page is up to date with all session, tailgate, happy hour and Chicago photos.

  

  

   

• Thanks for all the Marketing Lessons Mom
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 11:08 am on May 14, 2012 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Creative WOM Ideas (256), Working in WOMM (90)

  Say please and thank you. Tell the truth. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

  Moms everywhere impart nuggets of wisdom upon their children. It teaches kids how to function well in the world. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the same lessons that got you through grade school apply to marketing and communications.

  Rod Brooks was inspired to share some of these lessons yesterday for Mother’s Day:

  1. Be polite, friendly, and honest – These three should never be questioned. Brands who want a thriving community need to treat their members with the upmost respect. A smile accompanied with honesty is the best way to show that.
  2. Keep your room clean – The space your community lives in is online and offline, in inboxes and Twitter streams. But no one will want to be there if it’s cluttered. Audit your content and determine exactly what you need to be successful.
  3. Get your homework done first – Spend time learning. It’s key to understanding your target and their needs. Learn, learn, learn then act. You’ll do a lot better on the test/sales.

  Read Rod’s seven other tips from mom at Seeing the Edge

  

  

   

• Influence vs. Advocacy
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 11:05 am on May 14, 2012 | 5 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Advocacy (3), Influencers (60), WOM Trends (737)

  The debate is building. Ever since the word “Influencer” burst onto the scene, marketing wonks have tried to define, capture, and influence (not even ironically) influencers.

  Influence is relative to a lot of things – time, place, relation, topic, and more. It can be passive or active, like when I ask a friend who travels a lot about which airline to take. They’re influencing me because I asked them to. The dynamic changes when they tell me, unsolicited, about their favorite airline. That’s influence through advocacy. And it’s a different beast.

  Peddling influence has a seedy sound to it, but that’s how many marketers expect influencers to behave. They see five figure Twitter followers and just want to see one tweet endorsing their brand or product.

  Key Takeaway: Building advocacy acknowledges that everyone is influential in one way or another. Even if an advocate only influences a close set of friends, they are actively influencing. It’s brand building. Passive influence is more like point of sale marketing.

  Read Michael Brito’s take on the discussion at Britopian

  

  

   

  • Rod Brooks 12:16 am on May 15, 2012 Permalink
    

    The definitions of these and other key terns seen to be evolving. Here’s what I use. Influencers are those who recommend a specific brand, product, service, etc to another person, and/or offer a suggestion for improvement. An advocate is someone who will defend a brand, product or service, etc when you aren’t in the room. In other words, Influencers offer suggestions for improvement or use and advocates defend what is. A successful brand needs both.

  • Michael Brito 8:18 am on May 15, 2012 Permalink
    

    thank you Pat!! much appreciated!

  • Ted Wright 8:31 am on May 15, 2012 Permalink
    

    Pat - in twelve years of working with influencers I’ve never seen a true influencer “peddle” their influence. I’ve seen them share, discuss, point out and educate but never “peddle”. Influence is about sharing which you can not peddle. Salesmanship (a noble but different calling) is about peddling.

    As for Mr. Brito’s post he seems to be creating definitions so he can argue against them as well as for them. Quite simply, influencers share and sales people sell.

    Rod, you make an interesting distinction between advocates and influencers based on the force at which they communicate. That is an interesting point and one that I will ponder. Thanks to you for sharing.

  • Pat McCarthy 8:26 am on May 16, 2012 Permalink
    

    Rod, Ted and Michael - Thanks for the comments!

    Ted - I particularly like the line “Influence is about sharing which you can not peddle.”

    I agree that true influencers don’t peddle. My point was that some marketers expect influencers to be open to peddling influence. It’s an unreasonable expectation which, to your point, doesn’t jibe with how influence is gained - sharing, discussion, educating, etc.

  • Influence vs. (Social) Advocacy | SNID- Master in Social Networks Influence Design 3:59 pm on May 21, 2012 Permalink
    

    [...] to push the point a little bit further, here’s how Pat McCarthy differentiates the two: Influence is relative to a lot of things – time, place, relation, topic, [...]

• FTC Conducting Workshop on “Dot Com Disclosures”
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 11:04 am on May 14, 2012 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: FTC Guidelines (73), WOM Education (94)

  By Tony DiResta, WOMMA General Counsel

  On May 30, the FTC will be conducting a workshop on “dot com disclosures” to address the “clear and conspicuous” standard for new media platforms.

  I’ve been privileged to work with the FTC over the past couple of months in coordinating the sessions and providing input.

  WOMMA has been asked to participate in the workshop, and provide concrete, real world examples to illustrate the challenges presented by meaningful disclosure in social media.  James Dudukovich from Coca-Cola will be representing WOMMA through its Legal Affairs Committee on a panel, and Malcolm Faulds, co-chair of WOMMA’s MEAP, will be representing his company’s perspective.

  There are 4 discussion panels, and the FTC has announced the issues to be discussed as follows:

  Panel 1: Universal and Cross-Platform Advertising Disclosures

  • When, where, and how should required disclosures be made?
  • When and how can hyperlinks and similar techniques be used to make required disclosures?
  • What techniques increase or decrease the likelihood that consumers will actually read a required disclosure?

  Read about the three other panels at DiResta-the-Law

  Learn more from the FTC