Socially Adept

Brand Advocates Don't Invite Anyone to Contact Them

Based on my previous posts, it's safe to say that I wouldn't mind being contacted by Under Armour.  I'd love to know what they are thinking of next.  Maybe getting into the sneaker market?  Anyway, just because I talk about Under Armour, doesn't mean that I want to be contacted by the warehouse e-commerce sites that sell Under Armour.

The other day, I received a communication from an online retailer that basically supplied a link to a store where I could buy Under Armour products.  Well, I already know where to go to buy Under Armour... and it's not your online store. 

Now, if they wanted to appropriately contact a blogger who is a brand advocate, they might think about seeing if I mentioned their online retail location.  Of course, I never have. 

Even still, maybe I've mentioned previously that I am a big online shopper.  I could understand that... I talk about Under Armour and I mention that I shop online all the time.  Unfortunately, I've never mentioned my online shopping habits. 

Lastly, they could have tried to locate something in one of my previous posts that let me know that they knew who I was and understood the editorial nature of this blog.  Unfortunately, the message they sent didn't even make sense to me.  I'd say it was generic, but it wasn't even that... it was random.

Anyway, I've made a promise never to call out an organization directly for failed outreach attempts, only because the concept is so new to most organizations and everyone deserves a free pass.  Let this be a lesson to any organization or agency looking to conduct blogger outreach... it doesn't take much to get my attention.  I don't receive hundreds of emails a day as a result of this blog, so when I do... I read through it and care about the conversation that takes place.  After all, that is the point of social media... starting a conversation.

Wanna Chat? “I’m here For Everyone” on YouTube

Gone are the days when people used to fear posting their photos online or chatting with strangers in chat rooms. The rise of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter (to name a few) has broken the barriers to sharing personal information online. Now, some people are even encouraging connections offline…on their cell phone. Ryan Fitzgerald, a 20 year old unemployed Massachusetts native, recently posted his cell phone number via a :49 second YouTube video on April 20. Three days later, the video has spawned 110,000 views, 361 comments and 5,000 phone calls and text messages.

This isn’t the first time that someone has shared their cell phone number via YouTube, but Ryan is the first to commit to receiving 100,000 calls. He genuinely wants to speak with anyone, anywhere. His video has even prompted some to step up and defend his actions.

As usual, traditional media has picked up on the buzz around this video. The Boston Globe even spoke with a Criminologist at Northeastern University to discuss just how dangerous this experiment can be. “But the question is, why take a risk like that when there are so many other ways that are far less dangerous to be altruistic, to be generous, to be helpful to other people." So, feel free to check out Ryan on YouTube and view his response video where he addresses his naysayer’s directly.

Cross posted at Digital Influence Group's Blog.

Morgan Pozgar is the Text Message Champ!!!

Morgan Pozgar is LG's National Texting Champion and winner of $25,000!  I've been eagerly anticipating the conclusion of this contest since my previous post (read it here).  Morgan, who averages 8,000 text messages a month, successfully sent a text that read "Supercalifragalisticexpealidocious" from Mary Poppins fame in 15 SECONDS(I probably spelled it incorrectly, but who really cares)!

This is an amazing feat for a 13 year old, but LG unfortunately dropped the ball.  The site promoting the TXT Message Championship hasn't changed since the contest ended, LG is still featuring contest entries on the homepage, and there is no live footage of the event anywhere!

Why invest so much time and effort into an event only to have it go basically unnoticed?  Traditional media picked it up in some places, but they buried the story in their "Odds and Ends" section.  Maybe the 2008 contest will have a bit more interaction. 

A tip for LG... why not let people submit potential messages for the contest?  Sure, Supercalfarag.u.get.the.idea was tough, but this is the age of social media... engage the audience!

Recommending Blogs to Clients

A client asked me today to provide some blogs that I think would be valuable in helping understand the Web 2.0 space.  As they are new to Social Media, I spent some time thinking about who I should recommend.  They were well aware of some of the bigger names, but there were some people I thought would add value to any client looking to further understand the space.

So, below are the recommendations I made.

JaffeJuice

Church Of The Customer

Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog

Read/Write Web

Beyond Madison Avenue

HeeHaw Marketing (Because of Paul's recent post)

Of course, there are many more out there that I read, but I thought this was a good group to start with.  So, to the 6 above, you're welcome for the additional traffic and keep up the good work.  It's one thing to be recognized by peers and read by those in the know, but being recommended to clients as a place to learn and experience should make you proud.

Under Armour 2007 - Can My New Cleats Meet the Challenge of a New Season?

I talk a lot about brand advocacy in my daily conversations and thought it would be appropriate to let everyone know that I, too, am a brand advocate for a few things...like Under Armour. For any athlete, weekend or pro, Under Armour is a must. These are my new cleats...the first pair I have purchased that aren't Nike.

So, since Under Armour cleats are pretty new (at least to me) I figured I would document their durability for all of the other weeked warriors and corporate softball players like myself. After every game this season, I will snap a photo of the cleats and give you a brief update on the condition. As any power hitter knows, it starts with your feet and works it's way up. Don't worry though... I won't let this get in the way of the primary topics on this blog. After all, it will be interesting to see if Under Armour notices this little review!

Sent from my Motorola Q

Power in Pink - Under Armour Showcases Breast Cancer Survivors

Under Armour has been running the Power in Pink campaign for a few years now to help tell personal stories from those who survived Breast Cancer.  I always enjoy when a brand gives back to the community and helps generate awareness around issues that affect so many lives.  However, I really wish that Under Armour had taken this campaign a bit further.

The Power in Pink campaign encourages breast cancer to share their stories and 3 women will be selected for a photo shoot and feature in the future.  However, the only stories site visitors see are those of last years 3 winners.  Considering that so many people are affected by Breast Cancer and that Under Armour has invested in this initiative for a few years now, I would have hoped they would share all of the stories with us.

Under Armour is a brand that has exploded on the scene during recent years and has convinced many athletes to embrace their sports gear technology.  I admit, I have abandoned Nike, Adidas and all other brands when it comes to my softball gear (I just need them to start making gloves and bats).  In fact, my cleats (I purchased myself) came in the mail yesterday (I ordered 2-4 day delivery but they got here is 6 because DHL sucks as much as FedEx and UPS).

The Power in Pink campaign is a great platform for Under Armour to utilize Social Media, but so far they have not considered it.  This is a great place for a Social Network or a blog.  Let users vote on who should be this years "Power in Pink Faces."  Make the Power in Pink logo a badge so that others can show support. 

Hopefully, Under Armour will look into Social Media for the 2008 campaign, but in the meantime, I will be documenting the durability of their cleats on this blog throughout the summer.  After ever game I play (about 30) I will take a photo of the new cleats and let you know how they are holding up.

Coke, Crayon and Second Life

I love Coca-Cola (I have to write out Coca Cola because "I love Coke" just sounds bad).  I think I have single handedly put a few of the children of Coke executives through college.  It was great news today to see that they are using their Marketing money for something innovative and Social Media based...

"a competition in Second Life, the name of the project is VirtualThirst and involves the general public and residents of Second Life designing Coke vending machines that deliver “experiences”. (see the entire post from Experience Curve Here."

Coke has been working with Joseph Jaffe's new marketing company, Crayon to execute this project and as anyone who reads JaffeJuice knows, Joseph and the gang at Crayon are huge Second Life advocates.  (note to Second Life: Give Crayon some kickbacks).

All in all - I like this idea and hope that Coke is successful with it.  As I have said before, Coke is a brand that would value from Social Media immensely.  They have become a staple in society and have established a brand that people are passionate about.  (How many Coke drinkers would drink Pepsi?)

This news has encouraged me to jump into Second Life and check out the initiative (Find me in Second Life - Lukas Greene) but I am not sure it will result in the ROI that Coke may be anticipating.  Sure, it's a great way to connect with the existing Second Life crowd, but how far can it go beyond that?  I guess we'll wait and see.  See you in Second Life if you'd like to discuss.

Cultivating Bloggers - Is There a How To?

I've been an avid follower of Church of the Customer ever since I read Citizen Marketers a few months ago.  Today, Ben McConnell has a great post on The Myth of "Cultivating Bloggers."  I spend every day thinking about better ways to connect with Influencer's on behalf of my clients.  My goal is to lay the foundation for great relationships and hand them off to my clients to provide inside access to the blogger within the organization.  For anyone who thinks this is an easy task.... guess again.

Like Ben points out, sending traditional PR pitches is a waste of time and effort.  As many A-Lister bloggers will attest, they are already inundated with PR people sending out canned pitches that are irrelevant to their focus and audience.  For example, Joseph Jaffe recently posted about a good pitch he received and the approach that was used to get his attention.  The writing is on the wall, people!!!  They are telling you exactly what to do, which is something you won't find in other industries.

However, even though the writing is on the wall, effectively pitching an A-Lister takes time and effort.  I follow over 50 of the top bloggers to identify what they are talking about and what their specialty is.  Where do they work?  What do they do in their spare time?  What do we have in common?  My goal is not to have these individuals cover my clients (sure, it would be great if they did) but my goal is to learn from them and develop solid relationships.  Through them, I can help lead the agency I work for in effectively communicating with these valuable Influencer's, without interrupting them and wasting their time.

I agree with Ben's comments on helping clients "cultivate relationships with well connected customers" but would go a bit further in suggesting that your client won't always have this luxury.  At times, you will have to build relationships with Bloggers who aren't well connected because your brand is unknown.  You will have to pitch bloggers you don't know because of the current false expectations of the space.  Everyone is looking for numbers.  How many bloggers did you pitch?  How many covered the organization? What was our conversion rate?

Unfortunately, many brands are lumping Social Media in with either PR or Interactive Advertising and it is necessary that we begin to educate them on expectations and separate new media from old media.  The conversations on this have been started, but are they making their way beyond the blogosphere and into the boardroom?

For additional thoughts on this topic, check out BL Ochman's What's Next Blog here.

What Are Blog Links Worth? (Part 3) 6,750,000 Impressions on NYTimes.com

If it would take 6,750,000 impressions to return a click through rate of 4% that delivers 270,000 site visitors, it would cost $1,890,000 to run a leaderboard advertisement on NYTimes.com.

Remember... this is all just theory and there are several assumptions being made here, but it is interesting to note the difference.

The Currency of Blog Links - What Would You Pay? (Part 2)

Picking up where we left off yesterday, what is a link on an A-Listers blog worth to you?  I've spent a lot of time thinking about this and trying to come up with a method for understanding the value of being linked to by well established bloggers. 

In my previous post, I mentioned that Jaffe and Rubel average about 15,500 visitors a month between them (according to Compete... would love to know the real numbers if anyone has them).  For kicks, let's add some other MVB Contestants:

Mark Cuban: 18,000 visitors per month (remember...this is probably higher)

GapingVoid:34,000 visitors per month

So, the total visitors for just four of the 32 participating blogs is 67,500.  Not bad.  Now, if they are anywhere near as popular as Socially Adept (strong sarcasm there) then they probably see about a 50% rate of visitors clicking posted links.  Essentially, the winner of this contest would have 67,500 people see their name and 33,750 people actually click through to their site.  Remember, this is only 4 of the 32 contestants.

If we were to assume that all 32 contestants had relatively similar success, than the number may actually be around 270,000 people actually viewing your blog.  Here's the great part about this though... those 270,000 people actually are interested in your topic!  They aren't just being pushed an ad on a page where there is competing content.

What's the cost then?  In order to get a 270,000 click through rate on a banner ad (or similar) which normally receives about a 4% click through rate, you'd need to purchase 6,750,000 impressions.  Anyone want to take a guess at the cost?

Anyway, I won't get into too much detail and I am sure many people will point out the flaws in my concept, but it is interesting to think about.  Does anyone else have any ideas?  I'd love to hear additional thoughts about this process.  I'll follow up with more details on this in a Part 3.