360DigitalInfluence

Social media continues to evolve, shaping not just our thoughts on connectivity and information consumption online, but how it applies to our everyday lives.

This is not breaking news. Still, there are many people, brands and companies that are still dipping their toes in the social media pool, trying to gauge the value of social media platforms and leveraging these sites to connect with their key audiences. As a digital strategist with a traditional public relations background, I can see the value in both online and offline media, but note the increased convergence between the two mediums. Yet many companies still grapple with social media and are tasked with demonstrating “the value” more than ever. What if these same organizations knew that mainstream media reporters were conducting a good deal of their research on social media websites, such as blogs, Twitter or Wikipedia?

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Over the last year, location-based social networks such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Brightkite have exploded among early adopters. It’s no question—with increasing adoption of smart phone usage, location-based social networks are rising in popularity every day.

Recently covered in GigaOM, CNN, Ad Age and The New York Times, Foursquare is currently one of the most buzzed about location-based mobile social networks. Intel and Ogilvy recently used Foursquare to drive traffic to and create buzz around Intel’s offline events and activities at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month.

For CES, Intel created a branded Foursquare page, featuring locations where Intel had activity and tips for Las Vegas visitors. Intel also rewarded check-in’s to key events with branded badges, paired with the chance to win an Intel-powered netbook for all badge recipients.

This exclusive collaboration allowed Intel to track and build relationships with online influencers active on Foursquare at CES. With more than 400 cumulative check-in’s to Intel-affiliated locations and events, the collaboration was a breakout success and proved to be an interesting event-based model for brands looking to work with Foursquare.

We interviewed Tristan Walker, head of business development at Foursquare, to learn more about their vision for what’s to come for brands, businesses and Foursquare.

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In his famous visit to the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin developed a theory suggesting a link between the environment and evolution. He cataloged the incredible biodiversity of plant and animal life and the unique evolutionary quirks that allows these creatures to thrive.

B2B Marketers are sometimes considered to be behind the evolutionary curve of most digital trends when compared to their B2C brethren.  But like Darwin’s turtles in the Galapagos, the B2B Marcom species is evolving in this space because the social web environment happens to be extraordinarily well suited for their needs as they work to build trust, generate and convert leads, and provide a mechanism for sustained engagement.

Here’s how… continue reading

Neatly six months after the feds officially dropped the “Swine Flu” term in favor of the scientifically-grounded “H1N1″, web users are finally showing signs of following suit as evidenced by recent shifts in keyword searches.

According to Google’s Insights for Search tool, worldwide searchers for the first time since the outbreak have searched for “H1N1″ in greater numbers than “Swine Flu.”

The data shows that while “H1N1″ never received the surge of search queries earned by “Swine Flu” during the height of outbreak, the science-based strain term has slowly climbed atop the level of swine searches.



So what does this mean for brands?

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Last night I returned from a whirlwind trip to Ogilvy in Mexico City, where I was lucky enough to conduct a day long training session for 15 of the office’s most social media savvy staff.  Having the opportunity to broaden my horizons beyond the US, and look at social through a more global lens was invaluable.  Below are FIVE key insights I picked up from my research, and great discussions I had with my Ogilvy team members and Jesus Hoyas (President of the Social Media Club – Mexico City):

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Every once in a while a new report or news story surfaces about a new social network targeted at doctors and physicians, or a study comes out about the growing use of the web by health care professionals and physicians are mentioned in passing. Aside from a general awareness that Sermo exists and that doctors are using it though, there is little understanding in the healthcare marketing community of how physicians are actually using the web and social media, as well as what opportunities may be present to use these tools to augment marketing and communications efforts.

Why Does This Matter?
By any estimation, the population of physicians online is growing rapidly.  Manhattan Research estimated last year (2008) that 88% of all physicians use the Internet to access pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device information. The same report noted that 41% of all the research physicians do takes place online, and that the majority of physicians expect that ratio to double in the coming year. Meanwhile, Forrester Research points to physician social networks as one of the biggest opportunities for Pharma marketers to engage and generate valuable learnings through active listening and other strategies.

In terms of the size of this population online, Sermo currently has over 100,000 members - and most popular and growing social networks for physicians such as Ozmosis, SocialMD, and DoctorNetworking report memberships between 3,000 and 10,000 physicians each. As a percentage of overall physicians in the US, this is rapidly increasing. Sermo even recently released an interesting survey of their members noting that 89% of physicians felt that the AMA does not speak for them, and less than 20% of practicing physicians are members of the AMA.

Insight & Analysis: 5 Trends In Physicians Use Of Web & Social Media

1. Rise Of Physician-only Social Networking. There are a number of sites such as Sermo, Ozmosis and SocialMD that offer physicians the chance to connect with others in their profession for knowledge sharing, networking and support. These sites do tend to have some overlap, but present walled (and safe) communities for physicians to share opinions and interact in a guarded environment. continue reading
   

This past week I had the pleasure of attending a few of the NY400 events in New York City, including the H209 Water Forum. The H209 conference was dedicated to bringing Dutch and American environmental and engineering experts and policy makers together to explore ways to tackle 21st century water-related challenges, and develop solutions for a sustainable future. A mouthful I know – and definitely not the sexiest topic – but I learned some interesting facts on water-management that made me take a second look at the relevancy of the issue and ways to use my DI skills to bring awareness of it online.

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According to a recent eMarketer report, Twitter - so far - isn’t all it’s cracked up to be for the marketing industry. Only 8% of those in the advertising world feel that Twitter is effective for marketing to their audiences - partially because of the lack of knowledge and awareness that the general consumer has around Twitter. Research from LinkedIn showed that while over 80% of advertisers knew Twitter, only 30% of consumers on the Web were familiar with the micro-blogging tool.

50% of consumers said Twitter was somewhat to very effective for marketing and promotion (while 58% of advertisers consider Twitter to be at least somewhat effective). eMarketer’s take is this:

“While marketers, and advertisers, media [and celebrities]…have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, the average US consumer has not. And without broader consumer acceptance - not to mention awareness- it can’t be considered an effective marketing tool.”

So how can we make the best use of Twitter in our marketing strategies?

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Mashable this week posted about the low numbers of teens on Twitter.  The post invited readers to weigh in on why they thought this was (e.g. they’re too private, they prefer texting, etc) – once the comment count spilled into the hundreds, Mashable wrote a follow up post further analyzing the issue.

At the risk of throwing my hat into an already crowded ring, here’s why I think Twitter sees low adoption among teens:  Teenagers, for the most part, do not yet posses weak social ties – the very connections that fuel nearly all of twitter’s growth. continue reading

During the  July 4th holiday weekend, two stories about Silicon Valley’s PR industry  - one in The New York Times and one on TechCrunch – were published, causing a bit of a stir among PR and social media practitioners, VCs, founders of start-ups and those who follow the PR space.  While both pieces take different, yet cynical perspectives, neither portray the PR industry in most positive light.

The New York Times article features one PR practitioner in particular, who places her success on the sheer number of contacts she has in her rolodex.  The TechCrunch piece says it all in the title – “The Reality of PR: Smile, Dial, Name Drop, Pray.”  The comments on the TechCrunch blog following the piece were mostly cynical toward PR folks and mostly painted all of us in the industry with the same, unfavorable broad brush. continue reading