Updates from pat RSS

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

  Pat McCarthy 11:00 am on May 21, 2012 | 2 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Social Business (6), WOM and Social Networks (702), WOM Trends (738)

  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.

  

  

   

  Reply Click here to cancel reply.

  Name (required)

  Email (required)

  Web Site

   

• 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 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Creative WOM Ideas (256), International (112), Mobile Marketing (66)

  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

  

  

   

• 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 (134)

  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 (66), WOM and Social Networks (702), WOM Trends (738)

  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 (134)

  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

  

  

   

• 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 (4), Influencers (60), WOM Trends (738)

  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

  

  

   

• 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

  

  

   

• The Web, Now Being Built Around People
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 10:41 am on May 10, 2012 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  

  

  Key takeaways from Paul Adams’ WOMM-U Keynote.

  The web is still in beta. Like other technologies, it will take decades for us to realize its full potential. Take the telephone for example. Alexander Graham Bell’s initially pitched the telephone as a broadcasting device. People could dial in to concerts and speeches to hear them live. He was a bit off, but his technology grew and changed communications forever.

  Like the phone, we fuddled around with Web 1.0-style pages for years before social media turned the experience into a two-way street. According to Paul Adams, the direction is clear – The web is being built around people.

  Many marketers look for big programs to build advocates for their brands. But Paul recommended going for the smaller lightweight interactions over more complex plans.

  People don’t share to “advocate a brand.” Sharing is a means to an end – building a deeper relationship through social signals. Think about meeting new people who eventually become friends. At first, they’re acquaintances who you try to find commonalities. Slowly through casual lightweight interactions, the friendship grows.

  Our brains have been hardwired for 10,000 years to socially interact with others. The web hasn’t suddenly changed this. And because of this, our closest friend’s photos from last night will always be more important to us than brands.

  To get consumers to love your brand, you need to build your relationship with them through simple lightweight interactions. On Facebook, your newsfeed is this tool. Creating interesting content for your users will slowly, naturally build relationships. As the it grows, then add heavier things like apps and contests.