2nd Annual Idaho Potato Video Contest
April 29, 2008 | 2 Comments
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For those of you who don’t know, I’m going to Tetonia Idaho this summer for my honeymoon. Whenever I tell people that, they look at me quizically as if, “Out of all the places in the world, why Idaho?”.
Don’t worry, I understand. After all, it is hard not to think of Potatoes when you hear Idaho, and that’s why when I saw the following video on B.L. Ochman’s blog, I just had to share.
While the video is pretty corny, it is a cute example of how a commission for potatoes can use social media to capture younger audiences and begin creating a brand identity for themselves in the process.
In my opinion,while I think this is a good step for the Potato industry of Idaho, I’m afraid that it will only hurt the tourism of Idaho even more :-).
Help Wanted: Ignite Social Media Account Manager
April 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Looking for a chance to join America’s fastest-growing social media agency? Well, truthfully, we’re not sure 100% positive that’s us, but it just might be! (We’ve hired several people in the last month or two, so we’re not just making this stuff up.)
We have an immediate opening for an account manager. If you’re really, really (I mean, like freakishly) organized, and you worry incessantly about deadlines and keeping your promises, we need you. We’re hoping that you balance that particular character trait, however, so you don’t cross over into that whole wildly-annoying thing… that would be bad.
But we digress… (See, we need you to keep us focused…)
Read the job opening here and then send me your best cover letter and resume. Spelling counts, but you’re so organized that you knew that already…
Ignite’s Travels are a Mystery… Can You Figure It Out?
April 28, 2008 | 5 Comments
As many of you know, Brogan & Partners is incubating Ignite Social Media, which has been tremendously helpful. Now, the Ignite team has been invited to participate in Brogan’s long-standing “Mystery Trip” tradition and, heck yeah, we’re going.
On Friday, May 2 and Monday, May 5, we’ll be closed. Here’s how it works. Really, really early on Friday, the whole team (7 of us now at Ignite) and the whole Brogan team (around 50 people) will be heading to the airport. Only then will we learn where we’re going from the one person who set it all up. (Seriously, I have no idea… None.) We’ll return late on May 5th and be back at work on the 6th bright and early.
It’s a wonderful employee benefit, but it’s not frivolous. Brogan has less than 5% employee turnover and we want Ignite to do the same (so far, so good… 0%!). Past trips have included: London, a Caribbean cruise, San Antonio, Amsterdam, Reykjavik (yes, in Iceland), and Washington (DC), among others.
So, wanna help us guess where we’re going? Let’s use the wisdom of crowds! Here are the clues we’ve gotten so far:
- Mystery Trip clue # 1: There is nothing like sleeping under the trees.
- Mystery Trip clue # 2: This is no lie, you’re going to love it, hands down!
- Mystery Trip clue # 3: Bring your hip.
Here’s what else I can tell you: A) We know it’s in the United States. B) The clues are designed to throw you off. They’ll be technically correct, but likely nearly impossible to figure out… So play along. I’ll Twitter where we’re heading on Friday morning, so follow me at twitter.com/jtobin.
Leave YOUR guess in the Comments. First one to get it right (if anyone does), I’ll mail you a cheap souvenir of some kind from our destination.
April Social Media Club: Web 2.0 Content Promotion
April 25, 2008 | 7 Comments
This month’s Social media club will be led by yours truly. I am going to be discussing the different forms of promoting content on the web today, and the inherent impact that has on the search engines, as well your site. 
This is a very vast field so I will try and focus on the impact promoting content through different sources has on your site, what sort of traffic should you see, what happens in the search engines when you do so, where you should be promoting it, where you should not be promoting it and so on.
Typically when traditional SEO’s tell you they will engage your site in social media marketing, this is exactly what they are talking about (although I will admit there is so much more to it the simply promoting content). I aim to dispel a few things with regards to what sites you should be promoting your content on and what sort of effect each avenue might have.
Here are the crucial details:
Location: Edge office
400 Glenwood Avenue
Raleigh, NC 27603
( Click Here to View a Map)
(Click here to view a tour of Edge offices)
When: April 30th, Wednesday @ 6:30pm
What if your competitor blogs about you?
April 24, 2008 | 1 Comment
Great story in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. Turns out that Anheuser-Busch was planning to release a new beer, Budweiser American Ale. Of course, they wanted to make a big announcement about their new product.
Problem is, Brew Blog, which is owned and run by rival Miller Brewing Company learned of the story first, and ran with it. The St. Louis Post Dispatch then ran with the story, as did industry trades.
I bet that someone at Anheuser-Busch was waiting to get approval for the press release from the legal department when they got scooped. 
Remember when PR teams thought CNN changed everything? Now we’ve got not just blogs, but competitor blogs, controlling the message. Hmm….
Honey Bunches of Oats and Pandora: A “Soundful of Joy”
April 23, 2008 | 2 Comments
Today I was listening to Pandora, once again rocking out to some John Mayer radio, and I noticed one brand trying to get close to “social media”, through somewhat a unique form of traditional advertising mixed with social media. .
The picture of the banner ad to the right screams traditional advertising. I think that I count 16 Honey Bunches of Oats logos in this picture: from the construction hats, to the T-shirts, and even to the box itself.
Now the social part of it (although somewhat hidden in the branding) was a Honey Bunches of Oats radio station, called “A Soundful of Joy”. What I found by adding it to my radio station was that this station would play:
- Sarah McLachlan
- KC and the Sunshine Band
- Train
- The Jimmy Castor Bunch
(and several other bands that were before my time..)
In short, I think this is a unique way to get a big brand into social media. Why? Because it shows that one of the best social media strategies is to provide value back to the customer. Even though I still am on my John Mayer station, the “Soundful of Joy” station is right there when I feel like something completely random.
Think Before You Ning
April 21, 2008 | 11 Comments
I just finished the rather fawning Fast Company cover story on Ning, and I must agree their business model is impressive to say the least. In fact, I envy it.
If you’re not familiar with Ning, it’s an easy way to set up your own social network, and more than 230,000 of them exist right now. It’s very easy. And therein lies the problem–not for Ning, but for anyone trying to gain traction for their particular network.
Here’s the specific problem:
Nobody wants to join a social network–and they never have.
If that’s true, you say, then why have they been so wildly successful? More on that later, but it’s similar to this age-old marketing truism: “Nobody ever wanted to buy an 1/8th-inch drill bit. All they wanted to do was drill an 1/8th-inch hole.”
One Facebook, Lots of Niche Sites
Facebook serves its purpose by being the mass site, the one that everyone joins, but it’s really not good for other things. Niche social networks, on the other hand, are smaller, but can be more powerful, more active and more fun. (CafeMom, FitSugar and many more have much better conversations than most Facebook groups I’ve ever seen.) But 230,000 of them? What’s the differentiator?
Recently, I was invited by Chris Patterson to join InSocialMedia.com. I did, of course–it is, after all, what I do for a living. But other than that, I’m not sure why I joined or what I’ll get out of it. The site is built on Ning. When I was asked my “relationship status” when I joined the group, it got me to wonder how that was relevant to working in social media.
Form Must Follow Function
If nobody ever wanted to join a social network, why have they proliferated? Simple. What people have wanted to do is this:
- Communicate with their circle of friends easily (and they got Facebook)
- Use their business networks for professional gain (and they got LinkedIn)
- Keep up with their ever changing address book (and they got Plaxo)
- Share tips with other moms (and they got CafeMom)
- and the list goes on…
Yes, these ARE social networks, but that’s because that was the best answer for the function that was desired. Social networking is just a tool, and out-of-the-box solutions must be tailored to match the purpose that they are meant to serve.
Now let’s go back to InSocialMedia.com (and I’m not picking on it, it’s just a perfect example of my point). Here are the questions I have for Chris and the rest of the group on there:
- What is the basic point of InSocialMedia.com?
- How is my relationship status relevant to that point? (I’m married. It’s no secret, and I’m not offended by the question, but it’s an example that the site hasn’t been tailored for its purpose.)
- Are we meant to be sharing the best articles and insights on the profession of social media (and if, so, don’t we have that in Social Media Today and Sphinn)?
- How are the tools you’ve chosen for your social network (and how you’ve arranged those tools) aligned with the goals of the site? Why would people “in social media” be looking for a place to upload pictures and videos, for example? We have dozens.
These are the types of questions social networks going forward must ask. Do people want to join a community around this topic and, if so, what is the minimal amount of effort they should be required to take to begin to benefit from it and what will they get back?
If you want to bang out a quick social network with all the basics, by all means use Ning. But if you’re trying to build a social network that will rise above the other 230,000+ floating around there today, it’s no longer likely to be based on your topic. You’re going to have to do a bit more work, and success is more likely to be based on how you execute.
For that, I’d look at a more robust application, something like KickApps. Because the social networks that will thrive will be those that think it out before they launch. If you really customize your site with KickApps, and choose only those elements that support the goals of the site, then maybe you’ve got a chance to beat the social network fatigue that is starting to set in.
This Week’s Social Media Posts That Are Igniting- 4.18
April 18, 2008 | 1 Comment
Here are some of our favorite posts coming out of the social media world this week. Enjoy!
Don’t Think Traffic - Think Demographics
This post by SocialMediaTrader.com gives a very in-depth look at one of the first things we evaluate at Ignite- your audience. It is a waste of time and money to engage in a social media campaign without knowing who you’re campaigning to and whether they care. (It also speaks to Jim’s last post about Firefox users vs. Explorer users. Firefoxers are typically more tech-savvy.)
Is Social Media Marketing Really Important?
My BestRatedWebhosting.com gives some great insight into some social media terms and why it is imperative that people don’t ignore social media marketing.
Barack Obama is Rocking the Youth Vote
Liana Evans gives an AWESOME critique of the Democratic candidates’ attempts at Social Media and how it is influencing the youth vote. We keep hearing that Obama has captured the younger generation’s votes when compared with Clinton. Evans explains just how that may be happening through social media.
U.S. Lags in Social Media Creation, per Survey
Brian Morrissey reports for Adweek about a new study that says Americans love social media, but don’t necessarily participate as much as people do in Asian and South America.
Are We Just Jumping On The Social Media Bandwagon?
Colin Walker discounts those who think social media will not become a daily part of everyone’s lives. The only thing I might add to Colin’s post is that I think social media will continue to be a term all its own instead of eventually being lumped with print, tv, etc.
The Danger of Assuming We’re Normal
April 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
We’re social media geeks. All of us who work at Ignite Social Media. Most of you who read this blog are, too. That means we’re not normal. I tell my clients all the time that nobody in the room is normal. They think about their product more than any normal person would, and I think about social media marketing more than any normal person would.
A post I read today brought that home in a compelling way. The writer noted that 60% of his visitors used Firefox, while only 23% used Internet Explorer. So I checked the stats for Ignite Social Media and found that 63% of our recent visitors used Firefox, about the same level it’s been for a long time.
Based on that, it’s easy to believe that Firefox is the #1 browser in the world. Not even close. In fact, Internet Explorer’s market share in March 2008 is reportedly 60%, while Firefox is 19.95%. Granted, IE share is down from 68.63% just one year ago. Here’s Microsoft’s market share (see the full report at e-janco.com here):
I checked the stats on one of my client’s sites. They target a very “corporate” type user. 80% of the visitors to that site use Internet Explorer.
So as we Twitter, check out different browsers like Flock, add extensions to Firefox to make it “ours”, and blog on the couch late at night, we need to remember that we’re not normal. That’s ok, until you choose a social media marketing strategy that’s based on people acting like us.
As you craft your social media marketing strategy, remember, you’re not normal.
J&J’s Camp Baby: A Social Media Mistake or Social Media Opportunity?
April 14, 2008 | 4 Comments
Today I ran across a Brandweek article that covered Johnson and Johnson’s latest social media attempt to reach and engage mom bloggers: a three day conference entitled “Camp Baby”. Now, I had been following this for quite some time, read interesting articles from Scoble and his wife, Maryam (who actually attended the event) - but hadn’t consolidated real value from the banter until now.
In case you are unfamiliar with this event, here’s the short end: J&J cre
ated a conference for 56 mom-bloggers, paid for them to attend, and had sessions ranging in topics from wine tasting to infant eye exams.
While this sounds like a great concept, Scoble quickly noted the following problems:
“1. You can’t bring your baby. Dumb.
2. They scheduled it at the same time as BlogHer. Double dumb.
3. They disinvited a couple of bloggers, one who had a baby, and another who was speaking at BlogHer. Triple dumb.”
While these all seem like costly mistakes at the detriment of J&J, I think these revealed a valuable lesson in social media, especially to a large brand like J&J.
What lesson does it present? The value of conversation, and the inability to define when it starts and when it ends. Put aside traditional marketing, PR, and even event planning practices. Put aside the notion that we ever understand our audiences completely. Instead, it reminds us (and big brands like J&J) that successful social media marketing engages and gains valuable input from its audience on an ongoing basis.
How could J&J have avoided these mistakes? By really connecting with these mom bloggers regularly instead of connecting at the conference, or in a few disconnected email invites. Or by allowing the community to help contribute and plan the details of the conference to increase the member buy-in (and therefore decreasing the amount of angry mom bloggers!).
At this point, I’m wondering what J&J is doing after the conference is finished. Will it remain a mistake, or will the company see it as an opportunity for beginning and continuing a relationship with these bloggers? I hope for the latter…