advergirl

Get an Advergirl social media handbook at Marketing Vox

Thanks to Marketing Vox for reprinting some of my social media manifesto series. You can see the second part of their coverage on the site today.

And, thanks to Ologie - my agency home - for helping me put together a longer handbook / Q&A document on the topic. In it, you'll find great printable versions of the content from this series PLUS a lot more specific content on various uses of social media.

Want a copy? Download the PDF at the end of the Marketing Vox article. Or shoot me an email.

Social Manifesto: What will change in the future

The Death of MySpace
The use of “macro” communities — like Facebook and MySpace — will decrease as adoption of semi-private “gated” communities grows. These smaller communities will allow:

• Deeper sharing
• More relevant conversations
• More personal experiences

Bridging Social and the Store
Mobile technologies will bring social media to physical experiences.

• Scanning any bar code with your cell phone will pull up consumer reviews
• Friends will broadly co-shop using tools as widely varied as wired dressing rooms and interactive mirrors attached to online stores

Polarized, Passionate People
Social media will make it easier and easier for us to self-select into groups filled with “people like us.” Savvy leaders will energize these “microsegments” and create powerful emotional connections.

“Main Street” Customer Service
Consumers will increasingly expect personal, relevant experiences with the brands they choose to do business with. The hallmarks of these experiences will be proactive problem solving and dedicated points of connect — across multiple media.

Social Manifesto: What's changing right now

The single biggest change is the end of the 1% rule. The 1% rule is a widely shared behavioral theory that states that the number of people who really create content on the Web represent only 1% of the people actually viewing the content. It suggests that 99% of Internet users are just reading and watching. But the latest from Forrester Research paints a very different picture of participation:

What else?

Bloggers are beating out friends. New research from Jupiter and BuzzLogic shows that people who read blogs are more likely to take buying advice from their favorite bloggers than from their friends.

Mass adoption of mass communities. Facebook has 120 million active users, adding now at a rate of about 10 million per month. And no longer is it just more of the same — the fastest-growing population is 35 and over.

Social Manifesto: Social Media Etiquette (by Miss Advergirl)

Technology changes our expectations for behavior, our standards for etiquette. Social media is no exception. The things that are important here are vastly different than the broadcast Web. A few live-by rules:

• Be real: Be honest about your identity. Speak with your true voice. Share your personality.


• Be responsive. Engage in conversation. Reply quickly. Answer questions.


• Be a good host. Thank your community. Make people feel comfortable. Translate new terms, insider references, etc.


• Set expectations and deliver on them. Try to be consistent. Focus on a topic. Let people know when things change.


• Be personal, don’t broadcast. Don’t be one sided. Don’t be overly promotional. Don’t repeat, repeat, repeat.


• Listen, then talk. Know your community. Be relevant. Hear other opinions.


• Edit. Don’t overwhelm with frequency. Be brief. Be compelling.

A quote worthy of its own post

From a great Wall Street Journal article about job swaps between Google and P&G and the digital struggles of a consumer product company:

"The worst answer you can hear from an agency is, 'Don't worry, we have a group to handle interactive,' said David Bell, a Google consultant, during a session with some P&G job-swappers at Google's New York office. 'Interactive isn't a group, it's everybody's job,' said Mr. Bell, who himself formerly headed Interpublic Group, a major advertising-business holding company."

The article is subscribers only (but well-worth finding a friend with a login to download):
A New Odd Couple: Google, P&G Swap Workers to Spur Innovation

Auburn University asks about social media - part 2

Onto Emily's interview.

New camera, smaller head, less editing.

(Watch for the special guest star at 9:30)

Advergirl Interview 2 from Leigh Householder on Vimeo.

Auburn University asks about social media - part 1

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by two students - Anna and Emily - from Auburn University about a class they're taking in public relations. Their current assignment: to interview an AdAge Power150 blogger about social media. Here, I answer Anna's questions. Tomorrow, I'll share my interview with Emily.

(Incidentally, I think I'll try the Flip camera instead of the Web cam for the second interview. My head is not actually this enormous.)

Advergirl Interview 1 from Leigh Householder on Vimeo.

The only question I didn't answer on video is this: Explain how important it is to use social media?

I couldn't say it any better than Kyle Lacy in his post 20 Reasons Why You Cannot Ignore Social Media.

Social Manifesto: How brands SHOULD use social meda

There’s really just one essential thing to keep in mind: It should provide value to the customer and to the brand. Looking at it another way, the circles could read: true to the core of your brand and new or unexpected.

Landing in that happy middle is tough to do. And, it often has more to do with a commitment than a campaign.

Too far to the left/Just information: Most corporate Web sites (after all, they were designed to communicate specific information, not to be part of a social conversation).

Too far to the right/Just buzz: The Office Max elves. Remember those delightful holiday dancers? People made over 100 million of those custom elves, helping Office Max win the distinction of being the #2 holiday greeting site two years in a row.

The problem? It had nothing to do with the brand. Despite the enormous number of impressions, same store sales dropped 7%.

In the happy middle/Real social: Zappos. You can’t talk about social media and not talk about Zappos.

CEO Tony Hiesh has set out to do nothing less than create personal 1:1 relationships between his team and people who use the social Web (and wear shoes). His thesis is that people want to interact with people — not call scripts or advertisements. They want to feel a connection to the places they spend their money and the people who help them do it.

So hundreds of Zappos customer services employees are on Twitter. Some solve real service problems. Some just build relationships. Thirty to forty more are writing blogs. Getting the Zappos culture out to the people who want to connect to it.

PRSA: The Biggest Influencers You Don't Know

Thanks to everyone who attended the PRSA event today. Walker, Alaina and I all really enjoyed the conversation.

You can download the few slides I shared here. Or connect me with me in the real world here.

A few of my other recent posts and presentations on blogging and social media:

• What Now: Straight Talk About Your Brand and Social Media
• 7 Ways to Engage Talk Leaders and Readers (And answers to follow-up questions from the event)
• Social Manifesto: An Ongoing Series
• PRSA International Conference: Social Media Panel
• Get Interactive: Teaching Social Tools in Your Organization
• Social Media in Action:  Learnings from a Successful Flop
• Fundraising and Social Media
• Crisis Communication and Social Media

Social manifesto - How companies are using social media. Part 4 of 4

#4 Give people something they need

The toughest way to use social media is also one of the best: give people something they need. Fill a gap, provide a bridge, be the tool people can’t live without.

Pros:

• Tends to create significant conversation / word-of-mouth
• Builds brand perceptions / attachments rather than acting as direct marketing

Cons:

• Hard to do. It’s finding the idea that will challenge you
• Tends to be a long-term commitment; not a campaign

Make sure you:

• Test the concept with users of social media before you go live. This is one area where being a little tone deaf to the medium can have very negative results.

An Example: FexEx Launches a Package

FedEx wanted to participate in social media, but needed a relevant way to do it. So, they studied how people use the various tools, looking for a gap.

They found it on Facebook.

One of the limitations of Facebook is that you can’t attach a document or image to a message they way you can in email.

So, FedEx built an application called “Launch a Package” that met that need AND fit their core brand perfectly. The results were immediate: 100,000 installs in 48 hours, 1st branded app to make #1 on Facebook’s Most Active page, and 0ver 50% of users returning more than 10 times after install.