360DigitalInfluence

The new era of consumerism is one in which each and every consumer has a powerful voice. It is one that touches brands across the spectrum, from the families of food, beverage and personal care brands within multinational CPGs all the way to modern B2B technology companies who are in turn focusing on the new voice of the consumer and how this affects their lead generation and sales cycles.

As marketers working with social platforms we focus a lot on influencers and building influencer relationships. However this new social consumerism means that we need to turn our attention to looking at the empowered customer as the new powerhouse that must be considered and included in any advocacy program. This does not need to be a huge expensive operation and can start with something as simple as a thank you.

Here follows five easy things any company or brand can do today in taking the first step to growing a new breed of influential and empowered customer advocates, both on and offline:

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On November 23, 1787 James Madison wrote:
“A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.”

When he wrote those words, social media was nowhere on the horizon, nor was the telephone. At that time, getting messages out in a timely manner was much more challenging than it is today… significantly more challenging. The smaller the society, the easier it was to make sure everyone was informed. Today’s technologies make reaching thousands of people in real time no challenge at all.

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I’ve noticed something lately I can only describe as the Personality Paradox (mostly because I’m a big fan of alliteration).

It’s simple:  When it comes to engaging in social media, bigger brands (alliteration! OK, I’ll stop pointing it out.) tend to have smaller personalities.  This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise.

In the case of a big brand there are myriad factors that can cause this Paradox.  First off, having a big personality takes a ton of effort and focus.  Add to that regulatory/compliance issues, organizational challenges, multiple marcom agencies, new management and a million other things, big and small.  Or worse, simply losing sight of the customers who got you there in the first place.

The perfect parallel is a rock band.  The unsigned band playing half-filled clubs is going to cherish every fan – no autograph unsigned, no photo request denied, no interview not granted, no Tweet unanswered.  But as that band gains a following and eventually breaks, the demands on their time and attention increase, forcing them to (1) triage inbound requests and (2) start speaking to their fanbase as a whole, rather than as individuals.  Oh, and as their egos inflate, they often quickly forget their most loyal base.

(photo courtesy of Arne Hendriks)
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Right now, many of us have a solid grasp on how to leverage Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Tumblr to build online communities, promote their latest events/products/services and generate overall buzz about our clients’ brands. But what about LinkedIn?

What about the fact that LinkedIn is reaching 100 million members worldwide as we speak?

Maybe the fact that LinkedIn has company pages that smartly showcase how users are connected to brands and make it easy for them to recommend them?

The knowledge of LinkedIn’s growing recommendation engine that provides insights on companies & jobs that may be perfect for its members?

Today’s launch of LinkedIn’s student job portal that leverages the networks of students & recent graduates to recommend jobs & illustrate connections that may have been forgotten?

Or even LinkedIn’s API development that allows brands the opportunity to tap into LinkedIn’s growing network?

Every one of these opportunities benefit both the user and the brand. Every one is an opportunity for the brand to extend its reach, showcase its prowess, grow its credibility and have the best talent at their companies. We can help our clients do this with LinkedIn. continue reading

A few hours ago, Scott Goodson published a post on Forbes.com entitled, “Why is Quora Exploding?” In his post he muses, “Today, Quora has… built… a lovely space where genteel thought leaders ask questions, provide answers and debate ideas in an open forum.”

This is truly one of the best explanations of Quora that I have read to date.

Like many others in my circle, after hearing much to do about Quora at the end of last year, in 2011 I decided to finally dive in and begin to explore what this new platform had to offer. A few weeks, a few topics and a few hundred followers later, for me it’s been love at first sight. Quora feels a bit like Facebook and a bit like Twitter. It provides answers to questions like Yahoo answers. And yet the feel of this community is quite distinct than the feel of any of the other platforms that I’ve just mentioned. It is not set up to just provide answers to questions. It is not set up to merely provide updates to a community of followers and friends.

It’s set up to create thought provoking dialogue and conversations about different topics that run the gamut from social media to business and philosophy.

For me the feel of Quora is reminiscent of some of my favorite graduate level courses at Cornell University.

It is that exploration that is so attractive.

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For many of us, the holidays bring more than decorations, parties and presents - they bring stories – everything from the classics like: The Christmas Story, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas to the stories our families pass down through the years. About this time every year, my niece and nephews start asking us to tell them stories about holiday traditions and their parents, grandparents and others when they were their age. And the stories that are replayed or continue to be passed down from generation to generation are usually the ones that are told in a way that is compelling and entertaining.  It’s not just the story, or the ‘what’, it’s the way in which that story is told, the ‘how’ that makes it memorable and interesting.

As the year closes out many communicators find themselves planning engagement and even conversation strategies for the new year. This season is a great time to reflect on your brand story or the story you want to tell. The ‘what’ or the content is just as important as the ‘how’ or the way in which the story is told. Does your story resonate with the audience you are trying to reach? Is it more than a laundry list of features and benefits? Is your story or message easy to tell both online and offline?

In the digital world, a good story is not enough anymore to bring engagement and the plethora of likes we all desire; the ‘how’ a story is unveiled and the details are what breed engagement. So as you begin to think about your communication plans for 2011:

1. Stop and consider all the mediums that are available to you and use them to build wider reach.
2. Engage your advocates and invite them to participate in your programs - embrace their content.
3. Remind and invite your audience to spread your message both online and offline.
4. Participate in discussions about your brand generated by the community - not just the conversations you start.

So, whether you are planning for 2011, the next quarter or the next month, take a minute to reflect on your engagement strategies. Are you telling a story that is worth telling?

We all know that women are an influential customer, but did you know that American women are currently the decision makers for 80% of U.S. household spending? This makes her a powerful force to reckon with and determining the best ways to reach her is paramount to our work.

Today, I’m delighted to announce the newest addition to the Ogilvy blog network… WomenOlogy. Through WomenOlogy, we hope to foster a dialogue around how to reach the world’s most influential customer – the woman.

Our diverse perspectives reflect our work across multiple locations and practice areas including Healthcare, Consumer, Social Marketing, Digital and Corporate Affairs. However, there is one common denominator among our work – the woman is a key customer and determining the best way to reach her is paramount to our work.

Our hope is that this blog will serve as a forum for discussion and provide a platform for sharing insights and diverse points of view on how to reach different groups of women with compelling communication strategies.

Here are a couple of our first posts:

Trends and Developments that Will Affect Communications in 2011

Looking to Reach Women about Healthcare? Don’t underestimate the Power of Blogs

So stop by and join the conversation, share your insights, feedback and questions and help us explore the anatomy of marketing to women: http://womenology.ogilvypr.com

The World Cup, the biggest sporting event in the world, is quickly approaching. Starting June 11^th, 32 teams representing different countries from around the world will compete for the soccer title that has been given every four years since 1930 (with an exception of 1942 and 1946 due to WWII). But 2010 is a particularly special and relevant year. Why, you ask? Because of social media!

Social Media as we know it did not exist during the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Twitter did not launch until July 2006. Facebook didn’t become public until September 2006. YouTube existed but videos looked like this #6 most popular YouTube video of 2006. Now, only 4 years later, Facebook has over 400 million members and more than 50 million tweets are sent each day. These platforms, which were infants during the last World Cup, are now globally available and hugely popular.

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We are very excited to announce that we are a proud sponsor and participant of an upcoming virtual conference brought to you by our friends at PRWeek next week. With new applications and social media tools emerging every day, staying up to date on the latest trends in social media innovation is critical to our business as PR professionals.

The PRWeek Lab will take place Wednesday, June 2 and Thursday, June 3, 2010 and will provide an online resource for PR professionals on the most recent social media trends, tools, and strategies, thought leadership, and case studies- all without leaving one’s office. The online platform includes live webcast sessions, keynote speakers (such as Jeffrey Hayzlett, CMO of Kodak and Ben Edwards, VP of Digital Strategy and Development, IBM), as well as exhibitor booth environments for follow-up questions, live chats, and material downloads. PRWeek Lab will be a fully interactive experience, with Q&A throughout, as well as polling of all participants on the quality of the content and the future of social media. No other PR event will bring you closer to the action that is driving today’s social media innovation.  Please visit here for additional details.

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From Meetup.com

During the WOMMA Summit in Las Vegas last week, I attended a session with American Express OPEN to learn about their nation-wide Meetups geared toward bringing small business owners together to learn, share and grow.

With over 7 million registered users, American Express OPEN Forum is an online “trading post” bringing together small business owners to share advice, insights and ideas to facilitate the types of connections needed to re-energize the economy. Of course, the more small businesses grow, the better American Express fares, too.

Despite featuring content by Guy Kawasaki, Anita Campbell and Mashable, OPEN Forum wasn’t seeing large adoption among its target audience, so American Express partnered with Meetup to provide 30 local small business Meetup groups across the country with curriculum and financial support to help them perform better in a down economy.

Program Goals:
1. Pair OPEN with local small business Meetups to leverage their reach and develop a scalable program
2. Generate lift in OPEN brand attitudinal metric, showing it resonates among participants
3. Increase OPEN brand sentiment, ensuring small business owners understand OPEN is committed to serving their interests
4. Increase Meetup group organizer activity and morale

How It Worked:
1. New York City Retreat - Discerning What Meetup Organizers Need
OPEN flew 30 Meetup organizers to New York City to better understand their needs as community organizers and small business owners, their members’ needs and how OPEN could add value. OPEN invited influential guest speakers and ultimately found that Meetup organizers wanted to increase the value and credibility of their groups and add more members.

2. Curriculum Development -  Empowering Meetup Organizers
OPEN developed a 6-month curriculum for Meetup organizers delivered as a monthly “Meetup in a Box” and leveraged its existing partnerships to provide special offers and exclusive webinars to Meetups. OPEN also periodically brought Meetup organizers together in between sessions as a focus group, enabling OPEN to continuously evaluate and evolve the program.

3. The Results
Meetups provided OPEN with a nation-wide presence it wouldn’t have otherwise achieved.

• 82% of Meetup organizers responded that OPEN sponsorship improved their Meetups
• Pilot program measured a success - OPEN has now grown to 80 sponsored groups worldwide

• Organizers are a valuable resource to each other
• Each group has different needs
• Need better scale - can’t always fly organizers to NYC, sending Meetup packs got expensive