In-Depth Intro to Social Media Marketing: May 8th
April 10, 2008 | 8 Comments
If you're new here, and interested in the latest news and insights on social media marketing, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting Ignite Social Media.
Need to get up to speed on social media marketing? I’m leading a full-day workshop for the Triangle (NC) Chapter of the American Marketing Association next month and, since you found out about it through social media, I can hook you up with a $15 discount. But hurry, the early bird discount ends Monday.
The event is on Thursday, May 8th, at the RTP Hilton here in the Research Triangle Park (that’s right between Raleigh and Durham, NC for you folks from out of town) and it runs from 8:30 to 4:30.
I’m excited that my co-presenter is Julia Storberg-Walker, Ph.D., who teaches at NC State and focuses on social networks and communities of practice in her work. She’ll cover how and why social networks work, and the difference between communities of practice and social networks.
I’ll cover the 11 types of social media, as well as the 5 most common mistakes that people entering social media make and then we’ll do in-depth on how to use the tools that are out there, as well as practical examples of companies putting social media to work for them (successfully and unsuccessfully). We’ll leave some time to brainstorm some of the group’s challenges and how to address them, and give you the first few steps you should take to get started.
Book by April 14 and the rate is $149 if you’re an AMA member or $229 if you’re not. After the 14th, the rate goes up $50.
If you put in the double secret code “socmed” into the registration form, they’ll knock $15 off the cost of the registration and we’ll see how spreading the word works.
Hope to see you there. Seating is pretty tight (it’s already more than 40% full) and the promotion is just starting. If you’re interested, save $65 bucks and book today.
Social Networking for Your Chromosones!
April 10, 2008 | 1 Comment
Sure, you can join Facebook, you can put up a MySpace page, you can follow your friends on Twitter. You can pick your friends based on mutual interests or, gasp, actual friendship. I just joined a new social network today called “InSocialMedia.”
But you know what’s been missing (until now), don’t you? I mean, you feel it deep down. Really deep down. Like, in your DNA.
What if I could join a social network based on aligning myself with folks that have similar DNA? Now that would be something. Imagine the wall posts: “Hey, you’ve got the same congenital disorder of glycosylation type Id (CDG-Id)! Do you think that’s caused by homozygous mutation in the ALG3 gene, you know, a de novo mutation in combination with a segmental maternal uniparental isodisomy? Mine sure is!”
Yes, that giggly opportunity is now a reality if you join 23andMe. MIT Technology Review covers the social networking for the genome opportunity. All you have to do is fork over $999 for the genetic test and, poof, they throw in the social networking tools free! (Wait, social networking tools are usually free anyway… But I digress.)
While I make fun of it (because, well, it’s mostly dumb), I do see one potentially serious and very helpful application of this. People with genetic markers for certain serious diseases could find each other and share relevant science. That could be helpful. But I imagine that would take a lot of $999 investments to get to scale where that would really help. And that would mostly benefit 23andMe.
Tip of the hat to Bolaji Oyejide for pointing it out to me.
Is Google AppEngine Worth Checking Out?
April 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment
In short, yes it is. It isn’t for everyone, though. AppEngine is in the same space as that of Amazon’s EC2 service. Both offer virtual hosting services that can seamlessly scale up to meet demand. Unlike EC2, Google’s service is free and includes 500MBs of storage and ample bandwidth to boot (sounds good to me). AppEngine is a developer’s environment, which means you’ll need to have a working knowledge of programming languages. For the time being, this means knowing Python. From GOOG:
Google App Engine lets you run your web applications on Google’s infrastructure. App Engine applications are easy to build, easy to maintain, and easy to scale as your traffic and data storage needs grow. With App Engine, there are no servers to maintain: You just upload your application, and it’s ready to serve your users.
They keep saying “easy” a lot, don’t they? Personally, this is great news. I am very happy to see Python (and Django, by extension) get the exposure it so greatly deserves. Anyone interested in getting their hands dirty using Python should definitely jump on Google’s free offer.
Take a look at what’s been built so far…
Should Social Media Marketing Campaigns Even Be Measured?
April 7, 2008 | 3 Comments
I read a post from Jake over at 10e20 blog recently with a promising title, “Social Media Marketing is NOT a Direct Response Channel.” I could not agree more. Jake’s point that you should not expect social media to compete with your direct response channels, like pay per click, is 100% valid.
Social media is not a switch that you turn on and off like a light. Engaging in a social media campaign is a commitment to a new form of communicating with your customers. And that can pay huge dividends.
But here’s where I disagree. In the post, Jake writes, “Events in Social spheres are sometimes tough to track and tie-back, but more importantly, Social is not about individual sales nor is it about the individual.” He also says that, while it’s possible to track certain things, doing so can be more expensive and time consuming then the campaign itself.
Some truth to that, but at Ignite we recognize that the budgets that fund our client’s
social media marketing campaigns could be used for any number of other tactics. And, while this business is in its infancy, pretty soon we’re going to be expected to justify the existence of our budgets.
Social media marketing is powerful stuff. I’ve seen it repeatedly. And tracking the footprints of something you don’t control is hard to do. That’s why we’re building new systems to do just that. I hope everyone in the social media marketing field is doing the same thing.
It won’t be long before the early adopters turn to us and say, “Why should we fund you next year?”
We’re working hard to make sure we have our answers. You should too…
Social Media Posts that are Igniting - Week of 3/31
April 4, 2008 | 1 Comment
The following are Ignite’s favorite posts coming out of this week. Enjoy!
Nick O’Neil gives an overview of the latest study by the Canadian research firm Pollara, discussing that “influencers” are also determined from a number of factors including subject area credibility, and the context of associations.
More and more online retailers are going to start dipping their toes into Social Media in the coming year, however, spending is still very small.
An example .pdf file released by the BBC, outlining their guidelines to social media engagement. “The strategy relies on the BBC engaging with users on the sites where they go, in the conversations they are having, off bbc.co.uk as much as on bbc.co.uk, in part so that users who may consume little or no BBC content can discover for themselves and enjoy more of what we have to offer.”
Vivaty, a start-up based in Menlo Park, Calif., is creating 3-D virtual chat rooms that people can embed on their website. MMORPG meets Myspace, with a dash of Facebook. Unlike Second Life, which requires an application to be run off of your computer, Vivaty is completely browser based.
Crystal Light Case Study: When Brands Overpower Social Media
April 4, 2008 | 4 Comments
Lately I’ve been keeping my eye out for brands that are making a dive into social media, so I thought that I’d share one brand I came across a few weeks ago: The Kraft brand, Crystal Light.
I actually came across this effort in a very organic way. I was looking for social networks which skewed toward active women, and Crystal Light’s new social network entitled “UPumpitUp” came across my radar. Endorsed by Mandy Moore, the site greets you with a very polished flash intro to introduce the site as a place to:
“meet up with friends, inspire each other to do more of the things that make us feel great, and help share that feeling with others”
Here is my actual experience as a user of the site:
1) The site is emotionally frustrating. From the start, my computer has to load the ever lengthy flash intro from Mandy which is so large that I only can view small video fragments while the rest of my computer freezes. Now, I’m sure this isn’t everyone’s experience, but I found this quite ironic for a site about “overall wellness”.
2) Mandy Moore is not me. While I tend to like Mandy Moore in movies, I’m not sure I respond well to her in a community about sharing day-to-day challenges. This approach may work better in traditional advertising, but not so much in social media.
3) The site isn’t personalized. Now, I realize that Crystal Light wants the site to remain “branded”, but the icons below are all I have to choose from to “Express my individuality”. Do these remind anyone else of the Lisa Frank or Trapper Keeper designs? While I hold those dear to my heart, I think my picture would suffice.
However, with this being said, I did find that the site has quality content inside. Members create challenges like, “I need to schedule more time with my friends” and then other members connect around this challenge to share insight and tips in how they are also trying to tackle this challenge. As a woman, this member-to-member exchange is very powerful and inspiring. Additionally, the site also provides a desktop widget member’s can download to list challenges and track progress.
Overall, I think that this is a prime example of a great concept that needs some improvements in its usability and execution. Though a flash intro of Mandy is cute the first visit, it overshadows the quality of content being developed within the community itself. In order to make this a successful social media marketing effort, branding needs to move a few steps back in order to allow members to take ownership of the site and build a community over the long-term.