Socially Adept

What a Week for Social Media!!!

Greg Verdino joins Crayon!!! Jaffe welcomes child number 3...and Twitters about it an hour later!!! Larry Weber's Book Released!!! 

I finally take a needed week long vacation to Hawaii and the Social Media Mavens make all sorts of moves in my absence.  Was it worth it?  Ummm.... YES... but so much has happened in just a weeks time.  The three stories above are just highlights of another active week in the social media world.

Well, I am back now and hope to keep the few readers I have up to date and educated on the things I find in my daily routine. 

First up, Mack Colliers review of the Monster Blog at The Viral Garden.  As a former employee of Monster Worldwide, I've seen a lot of progress in their social media involvement over time.  Unfortunately, the company just continues to struggle with leadership changes and growing competition.  Most of the content they offer is generic stuff you can find on any of their competitors sites and even if they do monitor commments, it doesn't appear to be taking up too much of their time as the blog doesn't seem to have any.

There are so many open possibilities for Monster considering the relationships they have with their huge Fortune 500 customers.  Having been on the inside, I know that the relationship folks have developed solid partnerships that could be tapped for content.  Monster could leverage the blog to generate interest in the million dollar customers and provide insight from those "in the know."  Who would you rather hear about getting a job from... Monster or the company itself?  Maybe I am way off base, but I know there are some customers who have great insight regarding the hiring process at individual companies and I would love to see how they differ. 

Another nice tip might be to have customer recruiters tell some horror stories... I heard some great one's while I was working with some of the Fortune 500 over there and I know they would be entertaining.

I am glad Monster is getting involved, but if they are going to beat HotJobs and Yahoo! they need to up the ante.  Give us a call (you know where we are)... we've got a lot of great ideas for Monster...and none of them are "When I grow Up!" (Best commercial!)

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.

Choose Your Agency Like You Would Choose a Doctor

Lee Odden, over at TopRankBlog, has a great post today about Getting Social Media Marketing Straight which is a must read for any biog brand looking at entering the Social Media space.  There is clearly some disconnect in understanding the community and it is important to understand the space when considering a consultant or an agency to work with your brand within the Social Media community.

I liken selecting an agency or consultant to selecting a Doctor.  Every big brand needs a Primary Care Physician (Traditional Advertising Agency, PR Agency) to help them bring their message to the consumer.  On occasion, you'll need to visit a specialist like a dermatologist to help you with a specific problem (Interactive Agency).  However, once the problem has been identified, both your Primary Care Physician (Advertising/PR Agency) and your specialist (Interactive Agency) will suggest that you meet with a Surgeon who specializes in your specific problem (Social Media Marketing Agency).

The current problem is, that you PCP and Dermatologist aren't recommending that you seek the help of a specialist.  Instead, they are telling you that they can help you with the problem.  The result is a huge scar on your brand like this one for Uncle Ben's that BL Ochman astutely points out.

Additionally, your PCP will tell you that they know the best people in the business, but in reality, they are pushing you to their partners instead of helping you get in front of the best people.  A Social Media Marketing Agency knows where the best people congregate and helps you join the conversation and make your own selection on who is the best for your brand.

There's more to come on this later...but food for thought when sending out an RFP.