THINKing

Social Media: Nothing New To See Here

Social Fresh, a conference on this thing we call social media, was held in Charlotte August 24.  The presentations were top-notch and the networking opportunities were excellent, but at the end of the day I can report there is nothing new about social media.

If you are in PR and have been practicing it correctly, you can handle social media. PR is about dialogue. So is social media.

If you are in marketing and have followed best practices, you can handle social media. Marketing is about crafting a relevant message and delivering it to the right person at the right time. So is social media.

The big questions about social media are the ones we have wrestled with in marketing for years: how do we integrate social media into the fabric of the organization, and how do we show hard-nosed business executives that social media does have an impact upon the bottom line.

Is social media new and different, or is it the same-old, same-old? We’ll be talking more about this in the days ahead, and would love to have your thoughts on the topic.

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Bad PR Call

So, let’s say you take your Audi to the dealer for some repairs and leave it overnight. The next morning you get a call from the dealership telling you that your tires and rims have been stolen. And, oh by the way, the dealership is not liable and is not going to pay anything. To make matters worse, the customer is a single mom with triplets.

This just happened here and is a very bad decision on the part of Audi of Charlotte. Oh, yes. I called them out by name.

According to Audi General Manager Bill Taylor,

“The dealership goes to great lengths to protect the customer’s property,” Taylor said. “We have these policies in place. Unfortunately we have to base our practices on the majority of things, not the minority of things. There are faultless victims here. I’m as faultless as the client is.”

Well, if you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know how I feel about someone saying the “P” word (policy).

This decision on the part of Audi of Charlotte is just wrong. I could understand if the customer had left a laptop in the backseat and it was stolen. That is stupidity on the customer’s part. But wheels and tires? Come on, man! Unless you are in a NASCAR pit crew, you don’t just pull wheels off a car in seconds. Was there no security at the dealership?

I’m suggesting that we use social media to spread this story, so that the dealership will be punished in the court of public opinion. So, start spreading.

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Get Social Fresh

I’m part of a group which is presenting a social media conference, Social Fresh, in Charlotte, Monday, August 24 at the Holiday Inn Center City. Consider this your invitation to attend. You can register here. Here’s what we have announced so far:

We are very excited announce our first round of speakers. From left to right above, Jim Deitzel of Rubbermaid, Keith Burtis of Best Buy, and Social Media evangelist Wayne Sutton, Laurie Smithwick of Kirtsy.com, Chris Harrington of @VoteWoz, and Social Media developer Mike Rundle. These experts and panel announcements can all now be found on our Content page. We have many other speakers in the works from Fortune 500 companies, hip new social media companies as well as social networking power houses.

This is a solid group of social media experts. If you want to learn about where technology is going and how social media can be harnessed for business purposes, then you need to attend.

Additionally, we are accepting sponsors for the event. If you are interested, please sign up here and we’ll get back to you to discuss our sponsorship packages.

Keep apprised of more announcements by following us on Twitter @sofresh.  Below is the rest of our contact information. Hope to see you at the first Social Fresh.

Links

Site - http://socialfresh.com
Tickets - http://sofreshclt.eventbrite.com
Twitter - @sofresh
Contact - info at socialfresh.com
Hashtag - #sofresh
LinkedIn - Fresh SM Pros
Facebook - Social Fresh Page

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A Holiday Gas

You have to love clients who clearly understand their brand, their audiences and have the courage to communicate with them in their vernacular. That’s why I love the folks at Newell Rubbermaid. They get it.

Their BernzOmatic brand LaughYourGasOff.com website that My Creative Team built has been redecorated for the holidays. It now features the bed of a plumber’s truck filled with BernzOmatic Fat Boy gas cylinders, which toot out holiday ditties. We call it the Fat Boy Farting Choir.

Please take a look and let me know what you think. I think we hit a home run. You also can view them as YouTube videos:

Fat Boy Farting Choir Does Deck The Halls

Fat Boy Farting Choir Does Jingle Bells

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Tweeting For Business

We talked not too terribly long ago about Twittering Tactically, that is using Twitter in a tactical fashion for business purposes. I’ve seen a lot more businesses adopting Twitter for making social connections that advance their business. Let’s focus on some of the better ones.

Cruise Source, a Charlotte-based travel agent specializing in cruise vacations, runs contests via Twitter. To enter, all you have to do is follow @CruiseSource and @CruiseDeals on Twitter and retweet this message: “@CruiseSource @CruiseDeals This is my entry to win the Free Cruise http://tr.im/WINACRUISE !”

This approach increases the number of people following the company on Twitter, which allows the company to reach more people with its message.  A highly cost-efficient method of marketing.

We talked recently with Jim Deitzel of Rubbermaid about some of his Twitter activities designed to advance the brand’s marketing goals. He often cranks up spur of the moment giveaways on Twitter using Top 40 radio methods, e.g., 12th DM wins.

Whole Foods is getting into the Twitter act from follower rewards to customer service. Check out their blog to find out how it is rewarding its Twitter followers with $25 gift cards.  JetBlue is using Twitter for customer service-related issues as well.

BusinessWeek had an article worth reading about how a number of bigger brands are using Twitter.

Are you using Twitter for your business? Do tell.

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Socialize With Us

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, let me say I appreciate the time you spend with us and your thoughtful comments on this blog. We are here to listen as well as speak to our peers and customers. You can subscribe to our blog via Feedburner.

Beyond this blog, My Creative Team is sociable in other ways. So, feel free to join our conversation through our other social media vehicles. Here’s how:

You can follow MyCreativeTeam on Twitter, or become an MCT fan at Facebook. We have a Friendfeed, or you can stumble along with us via StumbleUpon.

My Creative Team’s award-winning monthly enewsletter, Think, is another way to follow us.  Sign up here.

We love social media and believe every company should be using these tools to connect with their key audiences. What do you think? How can we do a better job connecting with you?

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Big Brand Blogging

Friend Jim Deitzel handles social media programs for the Rubbermaid brand, a Newell-Rubbermaid company. This is a big brand that truly gets social media, so I thought you might like to hear a bit about their efforts. The content of the Rubbermaid blog focuses on organization, one of their key brand drivers. Some of the recent stories on the blog include a Q&A with a professional organizer; laundry room organization; and festive holiday containers. The brand’s coordinated use of a variety of social media vehicles as a means of marketing content, I think, is the key to their success.

But you don’t want to hear me prattle on. Let’s hear from Jim Deitzel on Rubbermaid’s social media program:

Q: Not many major brands seem to have utilized or been as successful with social media as Rubbermaid has. To what do you attribute that?

Jim Deitzel: I’m not sure that’s an entirely correct statement. Most of the major brands have used or are using one form or another of social media. If you include reviews & ratings, polls, contests with voting, etc. then most brands are doing social media. But newer tools such as blogs, twitter and facebook - only a few companies are currently using them. Rubbermaid, Graco and Sharpie now have blogs. Rubbermaid and Graco both utilize Twitter. There could be many reasons for it. Some of it can be attributed to resources, people, time, etc. I do believe you’ll see some of the other brands beginning to engage soon.

Q: What was Rubbermaid’s primary objective when wading into the social media pool?

Jim Deitzel: Our objective was to connect with people who have an interest in organization. Professional Organizers, who happen to be heavy users of social tools, were the main focus of our outreach efforts.

Q: Can you briefly explain how you got the program started, which social media elements you included in the effort and how the program progressed?

Jim Deitzel: We started our blog and twitter usage at about the same time (actually we had a twitter account since nearly day 1 of twitter, but never used it). The blog began with content surrounding a specific product launch we had last spring. From there it expanded into a more general blog with content surrounding organization.

Q: What has been the most surprising result from the social media effort?
Jim Deitzel: The wonderful connections I’ve made with professional organizers. I have come to know some of them personally and it’s been great. The openness and willingness for them to participate with us has been outstanding.

Q: One of the things I like about your program is the way professional organizers seem to have embraced what you are doing. Can you tell us a little about how that has happened and evolved?

Jim Deitzel: As I mentioned before, one of the key goals was to get in touch with the organizers. Connecting with people online is not much different than connecting with people offline. You meet, get to learn a little about each other, and then begin to have longer and deeper conversations. We now involve professional organizers in our blog, the content on rubbermaid.com, they talk about our products online, and we actually meet up at professional organizer tradeshows. It’s been really great.

Q: You’ve used Twitter and your blog very nicely in a concerted effort. Please tell us how that evolved.

Jim Deitzel: Both tools have their own unique method of communication. Twitter allows for quick, ’stay in touch’, messages. It can also be used as a ‘look what’s new’ tool. The blog allows for longer length content as well as comments/reponses from our followers. We even ask our followers for input on home makeover projects we are working on.

Thanks, Jim.

If you know of any big brands doing it right, drop me a note or comment on this posting.

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Remember, You Are Naked Online

Here in the Charlotte area a number of teachers are in danger of losing their jobs because of online indiscretions. They posted objectionable items in their Facebook accounts. Last time I checked Facebook was the fifth most visited site on the web with millions of visitors each day.

Did these teachers not know that? Anyone can see what you are saying. When you utilize social media, you are naked online for all to see. If they are that dumb, should they be teaching our children?

I’ve seen many - mostly younger - people airing out too much online. Savvy HR people Google candidates before hiring them. How would you look in an HR search?

This gets back to personal branding, a topic on which I’ve written a lot. A brand rests on truth, not on a thin veneer of calculated actions. So, like any good brand, you must nurture and maintain your reputation. All of your actions - offline and online - add up to form your personal brand. As Warren Buffett said,

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you will do things differently.

It’s a little late for the Charlotte, NC teachers to heed that advice or to read my white paper on personal branding. But you may want to give it a whirl.

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Join My Cause

Today, I distributed a news release through PitchEngine about a new cause marketing program. Next week I’ll be announcing the details via the My Creative Team enewsletter, Think. I am making a $500 donation to Crisis Assistance Ministry, a non-profit that provides assistance and advocacy for people in financial crisis, helping them move toward self-sufficiency.

I’m involving readers by offering to give an additional $1 each time they forward the newsletter to a colleague. So, the total pot could be $1,000. Here’s how you can get involved. Sign up for my newsletter. When you receive the October 21 issue, use the forward feature in the newsletter to send it along to friends who might have an interest in marketing and PR. You must use the newsletter’s forward button so I can track the forwards.

Simple. You click a button and a very effective charity gets a $1 to help the working poor. Or, you can donate directly to Crisis Assistance yourself. I’m using Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed and StumbleUpon, to name a few social media outlets, as a means of publicizing the cause, too.

What’s your cause? Let us know if we can help spread the word about your cause.

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Social Media: You Are Wearing Me Out

Apparently, many people are tired of social media. According to a Synovate study about social networks,

We spoke with over 13,000 respondents aged 18-65 years in 17 markets around the world to find out who’s connected and who’s not, as well as attitudes and online behaviours. Some of what we found surprised us… like more than a third of social networkers say they are losing interest in social media. And how many people do not even know what it is.

Jay Small recently riffed on the topic. THINKing also has discussed the topic of social network fatigue before,

Like everything new, people will flock to it initially and then the ones from short-attention span theater move on to the next thing. Bound to happen. It does every time. But that doesn’t mean that social networks are a thing of the past. There still is value in them. I believe the biggest value is in those social networks that center on some niche. Smart marketers will develop their own networks. Think Apple. They had a network of brand evangelists before the term social media was in gestation.

Here’s my advice if you are going to be involved in social media, or anything for that matter: focus. Don’t try to be involved in every new network that comes along. I turn down requests everyday from someone trying to get me into some new network. Pick no more than four and work them.

What are your favorite social networks? Have you abandoned any because you are worn out on them?

UPDATE: I just ran across this and couldn’t leave it unremarked. Social networking has just passed porn as the most popular online activity.

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