Month: March 2011

Advocacy Drives “Social Sampling”

Kleenex made waves with its recent “Softness Worth Sharing campaign,” which encouraged people to have FREE Kleenex sample packs sent to friends and family.  Earlier this month, a reported 1 million Kleenex packs had been sent on behalf of Kleenex consumers!

What made this innovative campaign so successful?  Kleenex gave consumers the chance to not only interact with their product, but to also easily give their friends/family the same experience. In other words, Kleenex identified Advocates, who in turn sent more samples and encouraged their networks to do the same… they were energized and mobilized.  Social sampling at its best!

One important part of this campaign was providing a way for people to track the campaign online – including their own “chain of sharing,”  where a consumer can see if their sample-sending inspired someone else to send sample(s).  When consumers can see the impact of their action, it can easily inspire them to act again and spread the word to their friends about this “cool thing you have to check out!”  Again, it energizes and mobilizes Advocates.

We know how important it is to give our Brand Advocates the tools to market our products for us, and now Kleenex has taken this concept one step further by giving consumers the tools AND THE PRODUCT (samples) to share with their networks.  They have made it easy and fun for Advocates to create a buzz around a specific product and to share theexperience of the product.

Successful social sampling campaigns rely on consumer-to-consumer connection, and your Advocates are the most powerful way to create those ties.

Ted Rubin

Originally posted at Zuberance

Salesforce.com Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Radian6, the Industry’s Leading Social Media Monitoring Platform

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the enterprise cloud computing (http://www.salesforce.com/cloudcomputing/) company, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Radian6, the industry-leading social media monitoring platform, for approximately $276 million in cash and $50 million in stock, net of cash acquired. The transaction is expected to be completed in salesforce.com’s fiscal second quarter ending July 31, 2011, subject to customary closing conditions.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20050216/SFW105LOGO)

Comments on the News

  • “With Radian6, salesforce.com is gaining the technology and market leader in social media monitoring,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, salesforce.com. “We see this as a huge opportunity. Not only will this acquisition accelerate our growth, it will extend the value of all of our offerings.”
  • “Social media has made every business recognize the value of paying attention to the voice of the customer. Radian6’s technology is built for the new norm of customer engagement – real time, two way conversations that includes social channels,” said Marcel LeBrun, CEO of Radian6. “Joining the salesforce.com team will allow Radian6 to grow faster to meet the demands of our rapidly expanding customer base.”

Radian6 is the Market and Technology Leader in Social Media Monitoring and Engagement

Founded in 2006, Radian6 was created with the idea that companies need to monitor the social web in order to effectively join conversations with customers and prospects. Radian6’s unique technology captures hundreds of millions of conversations every day across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, blogs and online communities, and provides actionable insights in real-time.

Radian6’s products include a monitoring platform designed to help companies track and analyze their social media efforts, as well as an engagement platform to help companies connect with individuals and communities online. The intelligence gained from these conversations has become critical in helping companies better market and sell to prospects, service customers and understand what’s being said about their brand, products, competitors and services.

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10 Projects Moving Us Towards a Superfluid Economy

Over the upcoming months leading up to the Contact Summit in October, I’ll be highlighting various projects and initiatives working to construct a globally networked society. As humanity and technology co-evolve into higher orders of complexity, it can be said that social media is now facilitating the emergence of new forms of culture, commerce, and governance. We want to bring attention to the great and liberating stuff that’s happening, and encourage connections, conversation, and collaboration.

The past few weeks have been focused on technology infrastructure, starting with the Towards A Distributed Internet post and the resource list of mesh networks, and continuing on with the formation of a Next Net google group that’s thriving with over 90 members already!

We’ll continue to circle back and revisit conversations and progress, but for now I’ll move on to another hot topic: money and value exchange.

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We need to ask the Moms!

The recent Yahoo study suggesting that Dads rule the grocery shopping cart is causing a stir in the marketing community with article headlines like “Time to Rethink Your Message: Now the Cart Belongs to Daddy.”

The study shows that out of 2,400 US men (ages 18-64), 51% of them report they are the primary grocery shoppers in their households.  For Dads in particular, that number is slightly higher as 6 in 10 call themselves the primary decision makers on purchases of packaged goods, health, pet and clothing purchases.

We need to take this information with a grain of salt because, in my view, they asked the wrong people.  Instead of Dads, they should be asking the Moms the questions about who has the primary grocery shopping role. Dads, recently a bit jealous of the attention Marketers are paying to Moms and not to them, are making inflated claims about their decision making power and influence on household purchases… sorry Dad. Many a Mom will jump in and make it clear that although more Dads are doing the shopping, it is the Moms who are making the list… at least in the majority of cases.

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Why You Should Break Out of Your Social Media Shell

Don’t get me wrong – social media is great. You can make wonderful connections that way. I know I have.

But, it’s only part of the equation.

The real magic happens when you step away from the computer and transform those online connections to in-person relationships.

I’ve done business with people I’ve met online and have developed a cadre of colleagues and friends through social media connections. But, none of that would have been possible if I hadn’t stepped away from my computer to meet folks in person.

I know this isn’t always easy for folks, especially if you’re new to social media. Trying to determine when it’s appropriate to ask someone for coffee can be scary if you’ve never done it before.

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McDonald’s scales to meet social media demands

In a recent #MMchat session, I referred to McDonald’s as a social media best practice and said they should give me some free fries for the reference. In a tribute to the way McDonald’s is “tuned in” to its audience, Rick Wion, the company’s director of social media, responded to one of my tweets and said that he would indeed buy me some fries.

What resulted was even better … a lengthy discussion and a short video interview when I got to meet him live at SXSW. Talk about the business benefits of Twitter!

How does a global icon like McDonald’s — one of the world’s most important brands — engage with millions of customers? Well here’s the answer in this video. I think you’re going to love this interview. We touch on some very significant topics about the research that went into their effort, humanizing a brand, staffing up for an initiative like this, and where it will lead.

Would love to hear your comments about this. We may even be able to get Rick to answer a few questions.

Mark Schaefer

Here’s a link to the #MMchat with @MarkWSchaefer The True Business Benefits of Twitter

And a link to all of Rick Wion’s posts here @TheSocialCMO

Long-term Advocacy Enhanced by Emotional Connection

One of the most valuable returns of the social media proliferation is the renewed fervor around Brand Advocacy. The truly remarkable thing about Brand Advocates is that they proactively recommend brands and products without getting paid…but if they are not getting paid, then what is their motivator for advocacy?

The #1 reason Brand Advocates recommend brands and products is that they want to help others (source: “Engaging Advocates Through Search and Social Media,”comScore, Yahoo!, Dec. 2006).   In other words, there is an emotional component to their advocacy.  The emotional component is not just important for Brand Advocates and their social graph, it is also key to the marketer and brand relationship with their Brand Advocates. If you can make an emotional connection with your consumer, that will go far in building long-term advocacy.

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Guy Kawasaki on the Art of Enchantment

Guy Kawasaki is nothing less than enchanting. His vision and experience come to life through an inspired art of storytelling that is, well, inspiring. Guy possesses a truly unique and special talent to captivate your heart, mind, and attention.

I first followed Guy when he was chief evangelist at Apple. He introduced businesses to an entirely new art form marketing through engagement and empowerment. Over the years, I’ve also followed his work in Silicon Valley spanning from Garage.com to Alltop as well as pored over every book he’s written. I’m proud to call Guy Kawasaki a personal friend and I’m excited to share with you the latest episode of Revolution.

Guy stopped by the studio to discuss the release of his new book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. It’s a lively discussion that takes us on a journey that focuses on the importance of engagement, enchantment, and delivering “magical experiences.”

Brian Solis

Originally posted on BrianSolis.com

Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook

Everything you Need to Know about Twitter

If only Mark W. Schaefer and his excellent book, The Tao of Twitter, had been around when I first took up with Twitter a year and a half ago! I’d have saved a whole lot of time, frustration and energy and done a far better job on Twitter right from the get go!

A short and sweet, handy-dandy, how-to guide that’s chock full of friendly, easy to understand tips and advice, The Tao of Twitter is an absolute MUST read for anyone and everyone getting ready to dive into the social network’s rapidly flowing stream of news, information and salutations.

An internationally respected marketer, university prof and behavioral scientist, Mark Schaefer’s book humbly and humorously recounts his deep dive into the Twitter fire hose and how he lived to thrive and tell his story.

The Tao of Twitter focuses on business benefits derived from providing the Twitterverse with three key elements — targeted connections, meaningful content and authentic helpfulness. The book carefully explains how to meet and befriend like-minded tweeps; build and maintain a Twitter community through providing useful, authentic, meaningful news and information based on P2P – person to person connections; and the importance of human interaction that leads to valuable relationships, awareness and spread.

A joy to read and loaded with simple, actionable lessons on how to start, build and maintain a Twitter community, The Tao of Twitter should be required reading for PR and Social Media college students as well as shared with every CMO and Marketing VP you know! HIGHLY recommended!

Deborah Weinstein

@DebWeinstein

President, Strategic Objectives

Are you making something?

Making something is work.

Let’s define work, for a moment, as something you create that has a lasting value in the market.

Twenty years ago, my friend Jill discovered Tetris. Unfortunately, she was working on her Ph.D. thesis at the time. On any given day the attention she spent on the game felt right to her. It was a choice, and she made it. It was more fun to move blocks than it was to write her thesis. Day by day this adds up… she wasted so much time that she had to stay in school and pay for another six months to finish her doctorate.

Two weeks ago, I took a five-hour plane ride. That’s enough time for me to get a huge amount of productive writing done. Instead, I turned on the wifi connection and accomplished precisely no new measurable work between New York and Los Angeles.

More and more, we’re finding it easy to get engaged with activities that feel like work, but aren’t. I can appear just as engaged (and probably enjoy some of the same endorphins) when I beat someone in Words With Friends as I do when I’m writing the chapter for a new book. The challenge is that the pleasure from winning a game fades fast, but writing a book contributes to readers (and to me) for years to come.

One reason for this confusion is that we’re often using precisely the same device to do our work as we are to distract ourselves from our work. The distractions come along with the productivity. The boss (and even our honest selves) would probably freak out if we took hours of ping pong breaks while at the office, but spending the same amount of time engaged with others online is easier to rationalize. Hence this proposal:

The two-device solution

Simple but bold: Only use your computer for work. Real work. The work of making something.

Have a second device, perhaps an iPad, and use it for games, web commenting, online shopping, networking… anything that doesn’t directly create valued output (no need to have an argument here about which is which, which is work and which is not… draw a line, any line, and separate the two of them. If you don’t like the results from that line, draw a new line).

Now, when you pick up the iPad, you can say to yourself, “break time.” And if you find yourself taking a lot of that break time, you’ve just learned something important.

Go, make something. We need it!

Seth Godin