Geoff Livingston over at The Buzz Bin has an interesting post about how savoir-faire is needed in social media marketing, and how hard it is for companies to be genuine. He says, correctly, that relationship building is about trust and perhaps this is why the Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) of the world are having a hard time grasping social media.

That’s all true, and easy to say, until you’ve been in charge of marketing in an organization. Suddenly, how “it could be so hard” becomes obvious. The system around the CMO has not historically valued long, patient, frank, two-way dialogue. Far from it.

Advertising maintains its appeal to the CMO because he/she can control and measure it, you can buy as much “noise” as you want. PR has similarities, too. But with social media, the people you’re “targeting” have to want to talk about you. When you work for a social media agency, you learn pretty quickly that “targets” don’t have to want to talk about your client’s product. Or they may not want to today. But the CMO is being asked to move product—today.

Over the last 40 years we’ve all gotten away from the true “marketplace” mentality (like the picture here…) in which an exchange is negotiated via two-way communication). Professional marketers were trained to talk. They were the “spinners”, the ones who could come up with the talking points, the unique selling proposition. Whether a customer was ready to listen wasn’t a big concern. We just had to figure out what shows they were watching and hope they stayed on the couch.

Now, fairly suddenly, the “marketplace” concept is coming back through social media, and people are talking about the principles of community building. Accurate, all of it, but also a sea change. I have a Masters Degree in Public Communications that I got only about 11 years ago. We never once talked about community building. We basically talked message packaging…

Social media marketing is coming, more slowly than maybe it should. And big marketers are used to having control and doing big campaigns. That means they are going to make big mistakes. Should we call them on those mistakes? Abso-lutely. That’s what we do on this site (Example 1. Example 2.). But we also respect the ones that have their toes in the water, because some of them are getting it right (Example 1. Example 2.). And when they get it right, it makes communicating with these companies that much better. Hang in there.

Technorati Tags: social media marketing , social media agency , community building , social media campaigns

Ignite Social Media, the first social media marketing agency in the State of North Carolina, officially opened today after a soft launch period during which it built its web presence and hired staff. As one of fewer than 10 social media agencies in the United States, Ignite is a new form of organization that helps clients use emerging Web 2.0 tools, social media tools (such as blogs, podcasts, wikis and more), and social networks (such as LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and Ning) to build brands through customer conversations.

Company president Jim Tobin said, “From blogs to Facebook, many of the emerging social media tools were popularized by individuals. These same individuals are now beginning to expect companies to communicate with them in a whole new way. That’s what Ignite Social Media helps our clients do.”

As opposed to advertising agencies, PR agencies or search engine optimization firms, Ignite specializes in social media marketing – a new field of practice that combines expertise in content marketing (i.e., writing, audio and video) with web marketing (i.e., SEO, web development and widgets).

After significant experience in traditional marketing and PR, Tobin formed Ignite out of a need for businesses to better harness social media marketing. Tobin noted, “Today, customers want different kinds of information, and they want to be able to talk back. Traditional PR firms, ad agencies and SEO firms are not set up for that sort of thing. Social media marketing is fundamentally different. That’s where we can help.”

View Full Social Media Release Here

Contact Information:

Please contact Lisa McNeill to arrange an interview.

Robert Scoble has an interesting post about Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer and his attitude about social media. It’s a good post, worth reading, but here’s an interesting point that Scoble misses.

Microsoft won’t compete in social networking or social media for the same reason that:

• AT&T didn’t compete in cell phones (they had to buy their way back in the game);
• IBM didn’t compete in software or desktop PCs
• Coke didn’t invent energy drinks (and can’t come close to catching Red Bull, despite billions…)

Here’s the issue: Fragmentation in every industry leads to new branding opportunities, and the pre-fragmentation leader usually is not the post-fragmentation leader. This is all said brilliantly in The Origin of Brands by Reis and Reis.

That’s why the big ad agencies won’t be good at social media. Neither will the big PR firms. (How many messes will Edelman make for Wal-mart in social media??). It’s not that they are not smart people. They are. It’s just that they are colored by their day jobs… Natural. But watch for big social media agencies in a few years… That’s what I’m thinking anyway…. Thoughts?

I have no other reason to post this video except that I think it is funny, it says MySpace in it, and it reminds me of Jim (at least the socks and sandals part).

Enjoy.

People are still wrapping their arms around what a social media agency can do for them, so one of the questions I get asked a lot is, “Can’t you go out to the bloggers and pitch them to write about us?”

The answer, I suppose, is yes, even if that’s 1/1000ths of what a social media agency can do, and not really the idea behind true social media marketing.

Nevertheless, the popularity is causing the A-list bloggers to bristle at being pitched all the time, so Ogilvy PR has come up with a good code of ethics to use when you reach out to bloggers. I’ve summarized it briefly here, but it’s worth a read:

1. Reach out to bloggers you respect, who write about what your client wants to talk about;
2. Every social media campaign doesn’t need blogger outreach, use it appropriately;
3. Admit who you work for and what you want, right from the beginning;
4. Check the blogs “About” and similar pages to make sure they haven’t requested no contact;
5. Contact bloggers the way they ask to be contacted;
6. Don’t pretend you’ve read a blog you haven’t;
7. Say in the email why what you’re saying is of particular interest to this blog;
8. Be sure you can be contacted if the blogger is interested;
9. Encourage bloggers to acknowledge they were contacted to do a post;
10. The blogger can say whatever they think about the product, even if it’s really unflattering;
11. Ogilvy promises to keep a “do not call” list of those who’ve asked not to be disturbed;
12. If an interested blogger doesn’t reply, follow-up only once;
13. The first outreach will include a link to the blog outreach code of ethics.

This is a great start. Blogging has been the wild west, but like the wild west, we’ll need some sheriff’s and some laws. Ogilvy’s post is a good start down that path.

What do you think. What’s missing?

This morning I saw an article that Martha Stewart will be entering social networking through a new site called “Marthapedia”. This site, according to Adage will be “seeded with existing content from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, such as Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook, but will open for information and suggestions from the public”.

My heart skipped a beat.

Like her or not, the lady is good at what she does. Behind her cute mom bob and Suzie-homemaker ideas, the lady is all about business. She has built a powerful brand that I buy into every time – willingly, happily, and proudly. I’ve got BluePrint magazine, Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, and I shop at KMart simply because of her product line.

But what I admire the most about her is that she is consistently looking for creative ways to sell and grow her brand.

So it comes as no surprise to me that she would see the influence of social media. In fact in her interview of why she is starting the network she stated,”I especially like being the creator and the creative influence.”

Lead the way, Martha. Can’t wait to see how it turns out. I’m sure businesses will follow in your shadow.

UPDATE: After a product demo, I’ve posted an update to this post, focusing on Shoutlet’s product. This post is more about their launch marketing. You can read the update here.

Shoutlet is a new product that was announced at the DEMOfall 2007 conference in San Diego this week. In what seems to me to be more than a little hyperbole, the company has declared it: “the world’s first Web 2.0 marketing tool built for companies to use the latest social media technology to communicate to their core audience.”

Really, the world’s first web 2.0 marketing tool built for companies? That’s news, um, I guess. Not sure it’s true, though. iContact does a lot (but not all) of the same stuff and has 14,000 clients using it. But ok, I work for a social media agency, I’m interested. So I checked out their website and went to the big promo video. You can watch it here, but I warn you, it’s Shakespearean. (Ya know: “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”)

(Kudos to Shoutlet for including the video embed code, though…)

15 minutes into the website, I’m still not sure exactly what this revolutionary product does. After a few visits to some independent blog posts, it seems that it’s a way to use existing content distribution tools (RSS, SMS, e-newsletters, widgets) more easily and in a more trackable way. I guess the hype made me come to the website thinking it was more than that. But ok, having that tool could be cool.

So how come this blog says what it does more quickly and compelling than the entire Shoutlet website? I have info I want to send out in multiple formats and track: bam. This does it. Ok, thanks. Didn’t need the hyperbole.

I love what Read/WriteWeb has to say about Shoutlet:

Shoutlet is a front end for widget and feed publishing and management for marketers. Apparently general consensus is that marketers aren’t as smart as other people and need dumbed-down tools to perform basic web 2.0 activities. If that’s true, and it may well be, Shoutlet could be perfect.

Very funny. Is Shoutlet good? I have no idea yet. I’m really just commenting on how they are marketing it. Very Web 1.0. Hyperbole. Marketing buzz language. Just say what it does in two sentences. Then give me details. Save the fancy video with the cheezy voiceover and do a screencast instead. Do that well and if I need what you’re selling, I’m in…

If you’ve tried Shoutlet, let me know what you think. I may yet be their biggest fan and biggest client. Who knows? If you work for Shoutlet (I know you’re reading this), and want to chime in on the old school marketing strategies, that’s cool, too.

<supportEmptyParas]—> Lately, the sterotypical “anti-social” view of gamers is changing. First the Nintendo Wii showed that a successful game isn’t always the ones with the best graphics, but the one that brings people together. Now, the introduction of Halo 3 may show that a successful game encourages sharing, collaboration, and user generated content through social media.

An article in BusinessWeek stated that the game’s producers took clues from sites such as Myspace, Flickr, and YouTube and that Halo 3 is, “one of the first console titles that allows players to collaboratively create and swap content as well as keep tabs on opponents and teammates remotely from the web”.

Why do I think the folks at Bungie (the developers of Halo) know what they are doing?

1. They have been listening. Bungie has been listening and keeping track of fan feedback and how gamers interact with the company’s products. As a result, Halo 3 has user-inspired features that will help sell the game. One such feature saves gameplay and lets players use a custom camera to make video clips. Players can then edit these, upload, and share with friends online.

2. Revenue is extended past purchase. The game offers some free web space for uploads, but also allows gamers to opt into a subscription for more space. This opens up constant revenue for Bungie, and helps them maintain a consistent relationship and communication with their customers.

3. Relationships are nurtured, brand advocates form. The developers have obviously spent a good amount of time thinking of how to build community within their players – a tactic that builds customer relationships and brand advocates, and ensures the success of further products. Instead of just releasing Halo 3, they created a platform similiar to Facebook or MySpace that pulls the game’s features into one place, allows for statistics to be tracked, films to be saved, and increases collaboration with others. This keeps its players loyal, satisfied, and inspired enough to modify statues dressed with Halo gear(see pic).

Halo 3 proves that building relationships with customers is powerful. By building relationships, the developers were able to sell a million pre-orders. By using social media, I’m sure they will successfully continue the relationship. I challenge you to ask yourself: How does your company interact with your customers? Are there any ways you can improve this? Social media may be an option worth considering.

“MySpace is dead.” “MySpace is dying.” “Facebook is crushing MySpace.”

Well, maybe creaking, but certainly not dead. Consider some hot statistics from Comscore Media Metrix as reported by Fortune.

• MySpace served up 45 billion page views in July alone. And that’s only in the U.S.
• In 2005, MySpace made $23 million in revenues. In 2007, they will sell $525 million in ad space, 58% of the ads sold on social networking site. Facebook, in contrast will take in $125 million, or less than 25 cents for every MySpace dollar.
• In one day this summer, MySpace served up 7.3 billion ads to its users. In one day.
• 12% of all of America’s Internet time is spent on MySpace. With a zillion websites out there, that any site gets 12% is mind-boggling.

Sure, MySpace is ugly. They haven’t opened their API like Facebook did. Facebook is growing faster. But MySpace is still the leader, and our media team tells me they’d much rather work with MySpace than Facebook, as there are many more options in terms of advertising placement.

Of course, whether or not MySpace and Facebook even compete is another debate. MySpace president Tom Anderson says they do. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says they don’t. On the utility issue, they don’t compete—I’m with Zuckerberg. Totally different sites. For the ad dollar, they certainly do compete, and so far Anderson is winning that game, even as Facebook’s valuation rises to $10 billion.

Technorati Tags: MySpace , Facebook , social networking , social media , social media marketing , social media advertising

This weekend I was watching some home improvement television. It was one of those ironic Saturdays, spent watching how hard other people are working on their homes while sitting on the couch and gasping at how much money they spent on upgrading appliances. 8,000 for a refrigerator. I’m still too cheap.

Anyway as I was watching, I saw a commercial for “Blog Cabin” from the Do it Yourself Network. From the quick commercial I heard that it was a log cabin that was designed with the blog input from the shows viewers, to actually be built on the network, and to be given away in a sweepstakes. So I decided to check it out today.

Upon review, it’s an interesting connect between traditional media and social media, and it has potential to be a new source for advertisers to really connect to their audience. Below are a few thoughts I had on why I think it works:

1. It consistently fuels conversations. Blog posts are written to get feedback from the audience on the design of the cabin. So far, it seems to have worked by gaining over 4 million votes on the design a number of comments ranging for some posts over 100. By asking the audience for specific feedback on the design of the cabin, Blog Cabin’s viewers are obviously more engaged than me – a viewer who only sits on the couch and absorbs.

2. It reaches an advertiser’s niche audience. This show reaches a niche audience of viewers – the blog is an extra resource and platform for sidebar discussions and recommendations. By placing a “resources” page on the blog, the niche audience looking to build a log cabin can be connected to “Log Homes of The Smokies“

3. It makes me want to go to the Smoky Mountains. I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but the blog posts naturally talk about the beautiful surroundings of the Smoky Mountains that the cabin is built in, and promote the city of Kinzel Springs, TN. Comments by viewers supplement this by talking about their positive experiences visiting the Smokies. Conversations and tie-in’s like this have enormous potential in tourism advertising.

According to the site, this year’s cabin is finished and the sweepstakes are wrapping up. It looks like a 2008 Blog Cabin is in the works, so perhaps the network is also viewing it as a success.