5 Tips for Brands in Social Spaces

I was lucky to be part of a great panel moderated by Gordon at media140 on brands and personality. A topic similar to the question I get asked most often by our clients at H&K — “How should my brand behave in social media?”

So here are my Top 5 Tips for social success. Please add yours in the comments.

1. Listen first:  People have always talked about the brands and products they love or loath. The amazing thing is that now we can listen in real time as these conversation happen in public. So we help our clients explore the many free online tools, as well as using more sophisticated listening platforms to track and analyse brand sentiment. For real insights, be open and truly interested in what people have to say. Even when they are not talking about you.

2. Think before you speak:  There are many examples of brand faux pas in social media spaces. Which mirrors human foibles. If you don’t want those student party pictures on Flickr, don’t post them. Better yet, don’t get drunk. The brand version of reputation protection is to have clearly written social media strategy and guidelines.

3. Be hands-on :  The only way to really understand web 2 tools is to use them yourself. So I run Digital PR Acceleration training for clients as a fast-track way to experience social media the way consumers do. We are also big Yammer fans at H&K. An enterprise microblogging platform, it's a great way to connect staff across offices, while organically learning best behaviour in a private community.

4. Share: Try some internal crowd sourcing or fun events to bring your tribe together. For example, WPP Digital holds the yearly Stream unconference where everyone must lead a talk or workshop. Brand teams can learn a lot from new ways of working together that can apply to how their brand can bring something of value to the social media party.

5. Embrace beta: Here's one secret you probably won't hear from your agency. There is no such thing as a social media expert. Digital is not a channel. Better to view it as a river. By the time you think you understand the Twitter phenomenon, along comes Foursquare and Gowalla. You’re a pro with Facebook, but have never tried FriendFeed. So my advice is to keep up with the tech platforms, but with all the enthusiasm of a perpetual student. Party on! ;-)

You should follow me, my agency and all the smart folks from the media140 event on Twitter

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Adapted from an article written for Marketing Magazine 14 October 2009 Issue13

Time to rebrand Cannes Lions

Sitting in my inbox is an email from the organizers asking, “How can we make Cannes Lions even better?”

My answer: Change your name and focus from "Advertising Festival" to "Marketing Festival".

If you followed what won in June, it was all about: Interactive. Integrated. Influencer (code for PR). To hammer home that point, Tourism Queensland's "Best Job in the World" campaign won the Grand Prix for Cyber. And DR. And PR. (Strangely, nothing for Integrated, but that is another post...) Significantly, this is a campaign where the only paid media ads were of the typically lowly "help wanted" kind.

The PR Lions, which were new for 2009, only had 431 entries. The “Film” Lions (aka TV ads and/or digital video) in contrast had 3,453 entries — which was a whopping 25% less than last year. Clearly the organizers hope to boost entries from the "newbie" PR, Design, and other earned or owned media categories. (Hummm...Social Media or WOM in 2010 perhaps?)

So when pretty much everybody agrees that keeping the marketing disciplines in silos is so 1999, now might be the right time to rename and rebrand Cannes Lions as the champion of creative in all aspects of marketing. What do you think? If you were an expert in the Ballet, would you enter a Ballroom competition? Call it a Dance Lion, though, and you just might give it a whirl.

Shall we follow each other on Twitter?

Late for the party (but ahead socially) at Cannes

As excited as I am about PR being included this year at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, there is a certain irony in being invited for the first time during a recession. 2009 is predicted to be much more subdued on the party front. Pity…PR people may be newbies at Cannes, but they are the gurus of stylish events.

But the more serious quirk of fate is that 2009 is the year social media took centre stage in marketingland. So our debut at Cannes coincides with all the other disciplines discovering the power of the influencer and admitting that a positive brand touchpoint in earned media is worth exponentially more than a paid impression.

I looked up the criteria for the PR Lions. They are all about  “...the creative use of reputation management by the building and preservation of trust and understanding between individuals, businesses or organisations and their publics.”

It is a bit of a mouthful, but Internet empowered trust between people, even across time and distance, is the fuel that makes the web 2.0 technologies work. So whether it is social networks like Facebook, or some of the more fascinating communication tools like Twitter, the intersection between technology and marketing is right where PR has always been. We have decades of practice helping brands earn their way into the public conversation.

I am too superstitious to predict what will win a PR Lion at Cannes, as we have several noble horses in that race. The rest of the field is easier to call. Burger King Sacrifice is a safe bet imho and Advertiser of the Year, Volkswagen, always does well in the Cyber Lions. When it is all done and dusted though, I foresee 2009 as the year that not just the Cannes folks, but all of adland finally “got” modern PR.

Please follow me — as well as the agency account — as we micro-document our Cannes coming out party and our Tweet-up seminar with Biz Stone. If you can’t make it to Cannes this year, tweet your question for Biz now to the @hillandknowlton account with hashtag #HKcannes
 

LEAVE SUSAN BOYLE ALONE ! ! !

I had to lol at the radio this morning. They were screaming how the stressed out Susan Boyle story is all over the news. Well, it is everywhere because mainstream media loves singing the same tune. Old media's own re-tweeting system means bits of sensationalized gossip gets relayed from outlet to outlet, building up an ephemeral thundercloud of noise.

But why the rush to judge and jump on the unlikely celebrity they helped build up? Why must everybody have an opinion? Amanda Holden — who has buffed, blonded and botoxed her own naturally beautiful body — even had the nerve to tell this less genetically blessed woman not to change a thing.

Personally, I think the clever chaps behind Britain's Got Talent have manipulated this whole song and dance. Rather than allow the Susan phenomenon to destroy the drama of the final show, they gushed about the other contestants. Anything to avoid viewer perception of a Ms. Boyle fait accompli win. So the new stars are an adorable little boy, then a darling little girl, then a lovable father and son. (Who strangely are allowed to celebrate flab and funny hair.) Now Susan is on the brink of quitting the show. Or so says Piers Morgan. Oooh noz.

OK, it is admittedly none of my business what Susan Boyle does. But as a fan and another person with an opinion, I hope she follows her Elaine Paige dream into musical theatre. She’d be perfect as Mother Superior in the Sound of Music, don’t you think? No need to dance around or act up. Just look good in black and sing your heart out. Climb ev’ry mountain, Susan. FTW.

Follow me on twitter as I root for #SusanBoyle

New Tricks for Dogs Trust

Last night our agency had a sweet evening event (#hksocial) which I was jazzed about because we invited one of the best UK examples of a brand embracing social media.

Dogs Trust is a wonderful charity that helps educate folks that “A dog is for life, not just for Christmas®.” They live and breathe their brand promise to “never put a healthy dog down.”

Founded in 1891 (wow), Dogs Trust has over 600,000 members and supporters. Like many charities, they traditionally communicate with their base mostly through direct mail and a lot of the messaging is around fundraising. They're a client of my last agency, but mostly I follow them because I sponsor a smiling pup called Smudge.

About a year ago, they hired Alex Goldstein to be web editor. In her presentation last night she told us that the marketing department didn't have big spreadsheets and endless PowerPoint strategy decks proving the ROI of new media. But Alex and her boss, Jacqui Darlow, did have the conviction that their brand needed to be where their audience was. And more and more that is the social spaces of the web. So they tried a Facebook app and built from there. My admiration comes from how they have brilliantly and instinctively use multiple 2.0 platforms — mostly unpaid or earned spaces — to talk with the different segments of their community, like their young supporters on Bebo. It is classic listen and learn from the very people you are trying to reach.

Our own David Jones detailed how to assemble a Social Media Team in his talk. The heart of it needs to be the Community Manager, who is human, not a message machine. That's Alex. Responsive and helpful and a personable face for a brand that's already warm and cuddly.

Last year, Dogs Trust looked after over 16,000 dogs through a network of 17 Rehoming Centres. Since they started tweeting, they have rehomed three lucky dogs via the twitterverse. Those pups would consider that awesome ROI, don’t you think?

Follow me and Alex on Twitter, even if you are a cat person (we are too ;-)

Check out Dogs Trust around the interwebs:
Website
Dogs Trust Blog
Facebook Page
MySpace Profile
Bebo
YouTube Channel
Flickr Photostream
Twitter
 

Consumer / User / Chooser

Have been busy at work recently thinking about words. We are all guilty of playing buzz word bingo via Powerpoint, even though the game is so deadly dull.

One word that is omnipresent in marketing decks is Consumer, while those of us that come from the interactive space have adopted User from the software dudes. I like the latter because it is active (and doesn't make me think of people as giant mouths). Not a new debate; others have written good stuff on this topic. Plus, real people don't really like being labeled Consumers. Do you?

For your consideration, I offer another term: Chooser.

Wikipedia tells me that: "Choice consists of the mental process of thinking involved with the process of judging the merits of multiple options and selecting one of them for action."

I think that's spot on, if a bit run on. The work we do should simply help a person choose our client's brand. The Purchase Funnel has been replaced by the Consideration Colander. Don't know if Chooser will catch on, but it helps me speak in their vernacular when trying to influence an audience.

I'd be flattered if you'd choose to follow me on Twitter

Last. Twitter. Post. Ever.

I am so tired of defending Twitter. (Not that they need me to. These are guys that have Google on caller ID and Stephen Colbert on speed dial.)

I am just so bored with how mainstream attention is gained only along side the sneer of unengaged pundits pretending it is all a passing craze.

Human to human communication is a hard wired need. Think about it like music. Every tribe does it. Differences are executional, not emotional. Tools get better. Genres come and go. But some stay and change what comes after forever.
Mainstream media tried to treat Blogging — and now Microblogging — as a fad. They want Disco. I see Rock & Roll.

Blogging, like Rock in the 50s, is an irrepressible uprising with many offspring. Twitter is simply a venue. A microblogging platform. It is just a well designed space where casual communication (a cappella music maybe) happens. But unlike legendary music venues, CBGB or the Royal Albert Hall, Twitter is nonpartisan. Country, Punk, R&B, Classical. Even self-echoing Jazz. The Twitter club doesn't care. There is no booker. There is only infinite space. No matter what freaky music you are into, there's a room where it is playing. Sure the Wossy room gets a crowd. Doesn't mean that is where the most lasting conversations are found, the music that could change what comes after forever.

My stretched metaphor's point is mostly that this new old media obsession with Twitter only trivializes a successful, innovative venue. But does nothing to understand a whole new kind of music.

Follow me on Twitter - if only to quote Donna Summer lyrics @ me.

Insanely great.

The Macintosh turned 25 on 1/24/09. Here is my first Mac. It really did change my life, because it shaped my career. Technology for the artists, not just the scientists. So Happy Birthday, my friend. You are the only computer brand I have ever bought and the only one I’ve ever used. (Except for two traitorous weeks starting a new job with a temp PC while IT got me sorted.)

Now, for all the publicized cult love of the Mac, and all the PowerPoint presentations (some of our own making) most of us have sat through celebrating Challenger Brands!, Apple still holds a secret other companies find hard to decipher. The products have real personality. (Their ads are usually good simply because they express that personality, they don’t have to invent one.) The reputation and image match to the extent that most users become natural evangelists. Our Macs are companions, not just computers. In fact, I may have to go buy my MacBook an iPhone as a present. She’d like that.

Um, Crispin Porter, do you want fries with that Cyber Lion?

No doubt in my mind that another slew of awards will follow the launch of the most on brand, site specific app I’ve seen (probably ever). Whopper Sacrifice is such a fun, fresh concept it makes me want to go actually buy a burger in tribute.

"What would you do for a free WHOPPPER? Now is the time to put your fair-weather web friendships to the test. Install WHOPPER Sacrifice on your Facebook profile, and we'll reward you with a free flame-broiled WHOPPER when you sacrifice 10 of your friends."

As one of the 736 friends of the agency’s popular interactive ECD, I fully expect to be axed. Jeff, just remember we knew each other way back when online advertising was all about optimizing gifs. This app is so clearly spot on and wicked funny that it is even getting what I’d call *real* PR, meaning mass coverage well beyond the expected marketing rags and ranty ad blogs. Way to make your client famous. This story’s everywhere, from the HuffPost to the NY Daily News.

Plus, crossposted on Brand Street.

Okay amigos, delete me on Facebook, but please follow me on twitter

Advertising as a Service, from Stove Top

 Have you seen this? I am totally loving this spot-on simple concept. Kraft’s Stove Top Stuffing brand is heating 10 bus shelters in Chicago to literally warm up consumers this December.

This is such an on-brand idea it is almost amazing it hasn’t been done before. As the NY Times quotes, “Stove Top as a brand has a great equity in the area of warmth,” said Ellen Thompson, brand manager…”

What a great way to prove your brand values, rather than just promise them. (And get some nice bonus PR well beyond the marketing blogs.) Chilly commuters will be both surprised and delighted. Credits and kudos to Kraft, JCDecaux, and Draft FCB.

Seeing this really reminded me of how powerful a brand message can be when it is of tangible benefit to the user and not merely a passive advert. I was reminded of an old boss, G.M. O'Connell founder of Modem Media, who’s oft quoted goal was to do "advertising so good that people will embrace it as a service.” (Check the date on that link btw.) As old as that idea is, I think it couldn’t be more relevent in today’s (chilly) climate.

Join me on twitter where customer service trumps brand advertising

Twilert makes is easy to follow tweets about your clients. (And your agency.)

One of the best things about the twitterverse is that new apps  pop up to fill needs that the main system doesn’t cover. For client-centric agency types — especially those who grok the warning of the Motrin twitterstorm —manually monitoring twitter (via the search tool formerly know as Summize) has become part of our day. Now you can use Twilert, in much the same way you use Google Alerts.

Motrin, twitter and the two-headed #Hashtag

Seems almost mandatory for me to write about the Motrin twitterstorm. (Dan has a good post here.) This is a perfect example of a gulf between a brand image (that ad) and what became a reputation crisis. Of course, agencies pushing out ads that the target audience doesn't find half as clever as the copywriter does, is tired news. The fascinating freshness, imho, is the power of the Hashtag.

"Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They're like tags on Flickr, only added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag."

By adding the hashtag #motrinmoms to their tweets, irate bloggers found each other and created a strong, searchable voice that outweighed its actual size. They got to the top of the "trending topics" on twitter (which is how the rest of us found them). Then, their blog posts feed mainstream media, and the results are history. Results literally, as in on Google for a long, long time to come.

It doesn’t matter exactly how many moms were angry enough to contribute. Or that other tag along bloggers (mostly the non baby wearing , male skewed demo, btw) thought they over reacted. The lesson here for our client brands is Hashtags. Keywords you can’t buy. Sounds like  mandatory place to be.

 

Follow my hashtagging trail on twitter
 

Live from SF: Web 2.0 Summit

Wow, here I am in San Francisco. Epicenter of technology. And progressive tech fueled activism. Home! I used to find it a conflict that this conference happens on or around Election Day. This year it all ties together. Get ready for endless new media marketing lessons about the Obama campaign, even though many of us have always picked up on 2.0 communication innovations (like Meetup.com) via grassroots netroots politics.

For us marketers, a fun fact is that the phrase Web 2.0 was actually coined for this conference. And therefore they get to define it. (Talk about a catch phrase going viral; a copywriter’s dream.)

This year, the conference is organized around the theme “Web Meets World”. Which means “...how the Web...might be tapped to address the world's most pressing limits. Or...its most pressing opportunities.” Well I certainly agree that it is the interwebs to the rescue, or rather people using 2.0 technologies, that can change the world. There are some cool start-ups here that I’ll link to in next post. Lots of reporters too. The organizers rock at PR.

More on the conference live (PST) on twitter. Or just follow twitter newbie, Al Gore.
 

Silver Surprise & Delight from BA

For many of you frequent fliers out there this no doubt is old hat. For me, a happy surprise from a brand. Yesterday I got a nice mail pack announcing I was now a Silver member of the BA Executive Club. Whoo-hoo.

It was an unexpected upgrade. Although I love me some miles, tracking how many I need for status levels in the different airline systems was never a priority. So this made me think about how much the surprise part adds to the delight.

For a piece of member comms, it was quite upscale in design and paper weight. Plus, they include two extra cards with straps to go on your luggage. That's the magic part because now I can swan through the fast track check in or hang in the lounge in spite of my lowly coach ticket. Well done BA. Sure I earned it, but it feels like a gift. I am quite fond of Virgin, but between my BA Amex card* and my new Silver specialness, this classic mileage junky is falling for the loyalty scheme that shows me the most love.

Look for me twittering in the lounge

(*shameless former client product plug) 

Social PR

Everybody's buzzing about Social Media these days. Even if most companies aren't sure what to do with it.

Might be less palatable for the paid media centric among us, but it makes more sense to me to call it Social PR. Because isn't it simply about having a relationship with the public?

And the not so secret key to success is to participate the way people do. Less press release; more conversation starter. Hardly new thinking, but very hard to find brands doing it right. (If you have a favorite example, let me know.)

I've been admiring Whole Foods. They're active on twitter, which lets them talk one on one with folks, plus offer links to their group blog, flickr sets and vodcasts (a tweet link = a micro-release). When the floods hit Texas, Whole Foods HQ used twitter to tell customers what stores were closed, as well as share concern for their homes and let them know the WF staff was ok. They have won me as a brand fan and I don't even shop there.

What makes this an even better story in my eyes is that Whole Foods is also an example of a blogging faux pas. Back in the day, the CEO famously used an anonymous screen name to post comments on forums. Cleared of any financial wrong doing, he learned his lesson and the brand is now a best practice case study. Clearly a crisis PR story with a happy social ending.

Follow me on the hunt for more social brands on twitter